I have been to Safeco Field, the home of the Seattle Mariners, quite a bit. Now, I am by no means an expert on the ballpark and couldn’t even begin to tell you everything about it, but for those who have never been to see a game at beautiful Safeco Field this should be at least helpful and informative.
I live about 300 miles from Seattle and I can get there by going straight West on Interstate 90. It takes about 4.5 hours if the traffic isn’t horrible. The drive through Washington starts beautiful, then goes to the Palouse/Columbia River Basin area which is very similar to a desert and finally once you get to the Cascade Mountain Range the scenery is beautiful. You can see two awesome views on the way there. On a clear day sometimes you can see Mt. St. Helens to the south and after you get into the Cascades, keep an eye out for Mt. Rainier – Washington State’s highest peak. Seattle itself is a beautiful city and you can see two awesome sights when you cross the bridge to the city. On the north you can see the University of Washington overlooking Lake Washington and to the south you can see the ever prevalent Space Needle.
More recently is has become increasingly easy to get decent Mariner game tickets. I have found ticket prices for baseball games to be fairly reasonable if you account for seat location and the fact that you really get 3-4 hours of entertainment. This season (2008) the Mariners increased their ticket prices again, but you can still sit in the lover level infield for about 55 dollars. I know it seems like a lot, but it’s worth every penny to sit where the action is. I have sat in every possible location for a Mariner game, and there is not a bad seat in the house. No matter where you sit you will get a great view of the game. So if you’re looking to save a lot of money and don’t care where you sit, then I highly recommend the center field bleachers at 8 dollars a ticket. That’s a steal. Now there are a ton of ways to get tickets. You can go to the link to get tickets, which seems to be a very popular option. Another option is to go to a Seattle Mariner team store if there’s one in your area. This is helpful because here you can talk to a live person who can find more specific tickets for where you want to sit. Another good option since the Mariners aren’t selling out every game is to go directly to the same-day sales windows at Safeco Field. This is really great because sometimes you get lucky because season ticket holders give up seats for games the day of, or night before, the game. Another good, and legal option, is to buy tickets off of scalpers that are found everywhere around the ballpark before game time. I iterate that this practice of scalping is perfectly legal in Washington state so long as the tickets are not sold for more than face-value. However, if you are going to a high-profile game, then scalpers do often sell tickets for greater than face value. How else could they keep doing what they do? Now a game can be high profile for several reasons. 1. The opposing team is either the Yankees, Red Sox, Athletics or Angels. 2. The opposing team has a very high profile player that everyone wants to see play such as Johan Santana, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez. 3. The opposing team is has a player or manager that was once a member of the Mariner organization and is either absolutely hated or loved by current Mariner faithful. Here’s a prime example; the last Mariner game I went to was a high profile pitching matchup between Seattle’s Felix Hernandez and the Yankee’s Randy Johnson, whom is also a former Mariner. I was lucky to find an amazing seat only 15 rows behind home plate (I could see the filth of Randy Johnson’s slider). I didn’t have tickets before the game. I asked several scalpers and tickets were going for about 80 dollars for cheap seats. I pressed my luck and went to the ticket window to find my prized ticket for regular game-day prices.
So now you’re in Seattle for Mariner game day. If you are there for an evening game, which I often am, I have a few pre-game recommendations. Parking is everywhere. If you arrive a few hours before game time, then you should be able to find a spot near the railroad tracks north of the ballpark. You can park in the garages on either side of the park for $20 and fight some serious after-game traffic. There are also a lot of little lots where you can park for 10-15 dollars depending on the location. I highly recommend that when thinking of a place to park that you map your exit strategy accordingly because the traffic is awful and you don’t want to get turned around in downtown Seattle.
There is a lot of stuff to do before the game starts. You can get yourself some Mariner gear at the Team Store located at the ballpark from the Edgar Martinez Blvd. side. If you are hungry there are a lot of options. Across the street is the Pyramid Alehouse serving good American food and a reasonable price. The wait can be long so plan accordingly. You can also go over to the Outback beer garden and get a Bloomin’ Onion. There are also a lot of venders cooking up hot dogs, chicken, burgers and sausages all around the stadium. Or if you are looking to get a real up close look at Safeco Field then I recommend taking the Safeco Field tour, which is about 8 dollars and leaves from the Mariner Team Store at various times during the day (depending on when the game starts). The tour is awesome because you get to sit in the press conference room, sit in the dugout, see the stadium from the field (sorry, you can’t walk on the grass), and get a feel for what it’d be like to see a game from nearly every vantage point in the game. Oh, and you get a glimpse into the life of a broadcaster from the press box – watch for flying balls!
The turnstiles begin moving about an hour before game time. Hopefully while you were walking around the park you decided to grab some candy, peanuts and cracker jacks because you are allowed to take your own food into the game, but you can’t take your own drinks. So grab that reasonably priced bag of peanuts from the vendor outside or spend an arm and leg for a much smaller bag in the park. There are a lot of awesome things to do inside the park before the game starts. Often, the Mariners can be found taking batting practice. Since you don’t have to go to your assigned seat right away, you can run down to the dugout and maybe snag an autograph or two. I’ve gotten Willie Bloomquist, Yuniesky Betancourt, Jose Lopez, Raul Ibañez, and Adrian Beltre. The players are encouraged to interact with the fans a bit, so take advantage of it if you can. Another great option is going to the bullpen marketplace to see the starting pitchers warm up through the chain-link fence. There’s nothing cooler than hearing the pop of the catcher’s mitt from a 90 mph fastball. You can take a look at the art around the stadium as well if that interests you.
There is every kind of food you can imagine in the park. You can get everything from a classic hot dog to sushi if that’s your thing (I’ve had the sushi and it is very good). The only food that I recommend are the garlic fries. When the smell of those fries hits my nose it is amazing. It’s almost worth the price of admission alone. Now, if you like to consume beer, I recommend doing it before the game at a local pub within walking distance because beer in the stadium is way overpriced and often warm and flat. But that’s baseball for you, I guess. So now it’s time for the first pitch. You have your peanuts and soda. Hopefully you brought your glove to catch that foul ball coming your way. Just sit back and enjoy the sights and sounds of Major League Baseball. Stand up and sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the 7th Inning stretch and cheer on the Mariners.
