 Phil- I firmly believe that the first 10 rows of the left field stands at Citizens Bank Park have to go. The Phils really dropped the ball when they had the stadium designed. Do you believe there is any serious interest on the part of their "Brain Trust" (I use the term very loosely) to do this, or something else to solve the problem? | |
| Mark T. Dietrich, Tucson, AZ 9/07/05 |
I agree with you. I think the Phillies will handle this the same way they handle decisions on players. They'll rationalize that things aren't really that bad, and could get better on their own, and let it slide. I'm sitting in the park as I type this and it's odd: The leftfield seats include two little oddly shaped sections that make it look like there was an original outfield plan and more seats were forced in. It looks to be about eight rows' worth of seats in front of what looks like the original contour out there. Might just be a quirk of design, but it makes me wonder... | |
| Phil Sheridan 9/07/05 |
Sure enough, a close look reveals that Sheridan isn't lying. Take a look at the seating chart, starting with sections 146 and 147 in left center field. Notice how a small wedge of section 146 sits awkwardly in front of the corner of section 147 (the lower left corner of the section on the chart)? Now imagine that the outfield extended out to that corner, that there were no seats in front of the corner, and imagine a line drawn parallel to the existing outfield wall coming out of that corner. See how perfectly it matches up with a very similar corner in section 141?
Verrrry interesting...
A look at a couple photos and designs shows the same thing. In this photo you can see that the railings at the front of the oddly placed sections actually continue into the stands exactly as they are when they're in play. This aerial rendering shows it too. A couple other looks at the strange center field section can be found here and here. It seems plausible to me that the outfield wall was originally supposed to be back farther between the two odd corners, but more seats were added to the plans at the last moment. Late enough that the seating couldn't be redesigned less awkwardly. And those awkward sections really do stand out in a park full of hard, straight lines and clean corners like Citizens Bank Park.
Somebody with an architecture background or something may have to confirm or deny that this last minute change is even possible, but it makes sense to me. It would certainly help explain all those routine outs that turn into home runs out there in left field. And the fact that the 369' marker on the outfield wall mysteriously moved further toward center field (and thus away from home plate) in the middle of last season (because maybe they first put the 369' sign where it would have been under the original plans, then realized that where it actually was was more like 350' or less).
Just a li'l something to think about. Like Sheridan said, nothing is likely to ever be done about it, but still... intriguing, isn't it?
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