July 23, 2019, Oakland, CA - A home run hit over the stadium wall into McCovey Cove is called a "splash hit." Oracle Park proximity to the bay allows this and also has to make it one of the most beautiful stadiums in MLB.
We did not see a splash hit, but we did see an exciting 13 inning ballgame that ended with a home run hit that bounced off the left field wall giving San Francisco the win. The Cub fans that attended had to be disappointed as this was the second game in a row where the Giants narrowly defeated them.
And there were plenty of Cub fans in attendance. At one point in the game I looked at the crowd and most of the lower level seemed to be be a wave of blue jerseys. I'd guess that this venue is mostly about the tourists to the Bay Area as the pricing of the seats and the food was at resort level. My friend who lives in the Bay area says he can't afford to be a Giants fan.
Our seating was lower level to the right of home plate. Getting to the seating involved getting to a lower level tunnel which had a private concessions and restroom area devoted to that level of seating. The seats offered a great view of the game but access to the rest of the stadium was a pain to get to. As is customary (and probably required), a pregame announcement about evacuation procedure highlighted to us that we probably did not want to be in that tunnel during an earthquake.
The stadium is easy to get to if you stay in the tourist area of San Francisco. We walked to and from our hotel and stopped on the way at 21st Amendment Brewery which was extremely crowded.
Stadium Ratings are exciting, good, meh, bad, disastrous.
Facility - This has to be one of the most beautiful stadiums in major league baseball. The upper seating has a view of the bay and I was impressed by the LED field lighting. The staff was friendly and the Giant fans were talkative. Rating: Exciting!
Food - The food was very expensive (beer at $14.75 for premium draft - cha-ching!) and the stands had lots of bay area themed choices with local connections. Think garlic fries and bread bowl chowder. The hot dog was fine and the condiment station had a slicing machine to dispense onions. The Crazy Crab'z sandwich was pricey at $18 but it may have changed my life. Rating: Exciting!
Mascot - Lou Seal (a seal, get it?) - She was not around very much. I actually saw more of her on the airport monitor where she was demonstrating how to get through security. Where the heck was the Crazy Crab? Rating: Bad
