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Updated San Jose Giants Info -- 2008-05-07

Hi -- Just thought I'd update this information about seeing the San Jose Giants play at their home ballpark, San Jose Municipal Stadium. Parking is now $7, and current ticket prices are $9 GA adult, $12 Upper Reserved (behind home plate), and $14 Box (first seven rows or so around the entire stadium). GA youth (ages 5-12) and GA Senior (65+) are both $6. Scorecards are now $2. The team has upgraded the outfield scoreboard, and for this season (2008) has added a very large tent along the left field near the BBQ area, which will be especially welcome during the summer months when day games can get a little hot. A few seasons ago they added a "cute" mascot, a large orange gorilla called Gigante, which the kids love. Also for the kids, they expanded the small area outside the concourse with more inflatable games, including a single batting cage. BTW -- the team won the California League championship in 2005 and 2007

Charly in SJ

Additional notes -- 2003-06-06

Just a couple of extra comments to add to Steve Ferenchick's. I am a San Jose native who lives fairly close to Municipal Stadium, and I go out to enjoy our Giants' games whenever I get the chance. Steve is right about the people who show up early just to eat at Turkey Mike's before the game; the food really is quite delicious and the atmosphere very homey and fun.

The staff at Municipal Stadium, from the parking lot attendants and ticket takers to the concessionaires and ushers, is very efficient and friendly. The ushers are also very vigilant about the rules, and enforce them pleasantly but firmly.

There are fun little games and contests between innings--you can win prizes if they call your lucky number, printed in the scorecard which is available for $1, as well as a bingo card that comes with the scorecard that you fill out based on the batting efforts of the home team.

A small correction: the Beer Barrel Batter that Steve mentioned is actually simply called the "Beer Batter," who is a player on the visiting team. Prior to the start of the game, the announcer tells the crowd which player the Beer Batter is, so you can figure it out from the lineup. Then, whenever that player comes up to bat, the old tune "Beer Barrel Polka" is played over the PA (and after each strike), and the crowd gets very lively in its attempts to get the beer batter to strike out, after which, as Steve said, the beer is indeed half-price for the next fifteen minutes (from specially designated "beer only" windows--maximum 2 per person, to keep the line moving quickly).

I also like Steve's mention of the dearth of high-tech companies represented at Municipal Stadium. Long before the San Jose area was called Silicon Valley, it was known as the Valley of Heart's Delight, in reference to the acres and acres of orchards that covered a good portion of the valley. Agriculture was very much an important part of this area's past, something that is often overlooked today.

A game at Municipal Stadium helps recapture a bygone era: genuinely friendly people, young kids who really take delight in baseball... oh, and hardly any cell phones! If you love baseball, or even if you don't, a visit to Municipal Stadium is unexpectedly rewarding.

Dean Harpster

Ballpark food and other musings -- 2001-08-02

Scott Walker and Jack Walsh addressed the stadium in such detail, there's not much I can add, but here's one area: San Jose Municipal Stadium has probably the best food of any ballpark I've visited. I've been there about five times, and each time I've hit Turkey Mike's barbecue (a/k/a Baseball and Barbecue). Walk in the main gate, behind home plate, but before you go under the grandstand, turn left and walk past the large panels painted with the history of the minor leagues and details of San Jose baseball (including S.J. alums who made it to the big leagues)--it's good to be located in an area where it doesn't rain from April through October--and you'll be behind the left field bleachers, home of Turkey Mike's. A sign nearby tells you that the stand is named after Turkey Mike Donlin, San Jose native who was a star outfielder for most notably the New York Giants in the first years of the 20th century.

The experience at Turkey Mike's begins with the mouth-watering smell of meats cooking on the huge charcoal grills. Next, you peruse the menu, and what a menu it is: hamburgers, hot dogs, Polish sausages, Italian sausages, hot links, Tri-tip steak sandwiches, garden burgers, Philly cheesesteaks, chicken apple sausages, half-a-chicken platters and barbecue ribs platters. Side dishes include garlic bread, potato salad, baked beans, and applesauce. Once you place and pay for your order, you're handed a ticket with your choice marked on it, which you then hand to the huge team working the grills. Someone behind the stand picks your items fresh off the grill and you're on your way. Usually, I'm on my way first to the beer stand, though, to grab a 20 oz. cup of Gordon Biersch Marzen or Pilsner (a San Francisco microbrew). They also have the usual suspects--Coors Light, Bud, Miller--to choose from.

Mike's has tables set between the bleachers and the grandstand where you can sit and eat while watching the game--unfortunately the rail along the left field line is precisely at eye level as you sit, so between that and the sun glaring in your eyes, I recommend you only sit there if you're early for the game and you don't mind straining to watch BP. During the game I take my food back to my seat.

The food itself is delicious. I've had burgers, several of the sausages, tri-tip sandwich and ribs among my meals there, and I have nothing but praise. The ribs are a bit messy, so grab a bunch of napkins. The chicken is supposedly a fan favorite as well, although I haven't tried it yet. As for the side dishes, the potato salad and applesauce are my top choices. All-in-all, it's hard to beat the combination of a sunny early evening, minor league baseball in a sixty-year-old park, real grass (needless to say) and a tasty barbecue and cold beer. I hear there are people who go to the games just for the barbecue (especially on one of the many free ticket nights the Giants have), and I believe it.

Other ballpark offerings are more standard--hot dogs, french fries, funnel cakes, peanuts--but I can't say I've ever had them. One event of note is the Beer Barrel Batter. About twice a game, the P.A. announcer plays the Beer Barrel Polka when an opposing batter steps to the plate. That means he's the Beer Barrel Batter, and if he strikes out, beers at all stands throughout the park are half-price for the next 15 minutes. With two strikes, dozens of people stand up and start to walk toward the tunnels in anticipiation of strike three--then the rush is on (because the beer lines get pretty long). You can't always count on a strikeout, but it's a nice bonus when it happens.

Finally, when you're in San Jose Municipal Stadium, you have no clue you're in the heart of Silicon Valley. Recently I looked at the ads along the outfield walls, and I think I counted just two or three companies that were arguably even tech-related. This was probably good news for the Giants, since they didn't have to worry about uncollectable advertising bills as the dot-com bubble burst. It's also a nice bonus for those who live and work in the area to be able to so thoroughly step back in time to a sleepy San Jose of 30 or more years ago. I suspect the stadium is more appreciated by those who live in the Valley than by visitors because it really is one of the relatively few links to the past still standing.

Steve Ferenchick

Expensive, but pleasant enough -- 2001-07-30

I took in a game at San Jose on July 26, 2001. While I can't really find too much fault with Mr. Walsh's comments, I do have a few things to add.

First off, Mr. Walsh mentioned that San Jose is an expensive place in general. He didn't mention that the Giants do their part to uphold this reputation: GA seats are $7, box seats $9. Programs are $5, and if you want a scorecard, that'll be an extra buck (I'm far more accustomed to $2.50-$3 for a program with the scorecard included). Concessions were similarly high, though not as bad as I'd feared when I saw the program price.

Parking was $3, and at least was immediately next to the park. There appeared to be sufficient parking for an overflow crowd, as I arrived about 20 minutes before game time for a near-sellout game and had no trouble finding a spot, albeit one near the far end of the lot. The directions on the team's web site are pretty good, and the stadium isn't hard to find. One tip I'll add is that if you're coming from I-280 on 10th Street, you'd expect that you'd want to be in the far left lane so that you can turn left onto Alma. Don't do it, at least not until after you cross Keyes Street; the left-most lane is a left-turn-only lane at Keyes. Should you make the same mistake I did, it's a simple matter to go two blocks on Keyes, then turn right on Senter and right onto Alma at the ballpark.

Inside the park, there's not much to distinguish between GA and box seats; the box seats are chair seats in the first eleven rows of the grandstand, and the remaining fourteen rows are GA, with bench seats (with backs, at least). There are also several sections of portable bleachers along the right field line, and a couple more, along with a "Baseball and Barbecue" outdoor dining area, along the left field line. Visibility is good throughout the main grandstand area -- there's no awning or roof, and consequently no supports to block the view. First base side seems preferable at least until dark -- sitting on the third-base side, I had quite a bit of glare from the setting sun to contend with. The rows seem awfully close together -- I'm only 5'8", but my knees were nearly grazing the back of the seats in front of me. On a night with a decent sized crowd (like the 3,800 for the game I saw), it starts feeling pretty cramped, particularly since there are only a few aisles and people sitting in the middle of a row have to make their way past lots of other people with very little room to maneuver. I got tired of jostling and being jostled pretty quickly and gave up on the main grandstand and headed down to the bleacher seats in the second inning. At the time, they were fairly sparsely populated, but they filled up pretty well by the middle of the game. Tip: don't sit in one of the top rows of the bleacher sections if the game is well-attended. There are no aisles, just rows of aluminum benches with wood floorboards, and it's very easy to become completely hemmed in by people filling up the rows in front of you, as happened to me. In the bleacher seats down the right field line, it's also a bad idea to sit on the left half of any bleacher section; the railings around each section will obstruct your view even if the people in the next section don't. On the positive side, the bleacher seats are quite close to the action (as is the grandstand), with only a chain-link fence twenty feet or so from the front of the bleachers separating them from the field. There is a rule, quite zealously enforced by the stadium staff, that patrons must stay at least six feet back from this fence, however, so it's not quite as easy to get that "on-the-field" feeling as it is in the right-field plaza at BellSouth Park in Chattanooga. It is a great place to wait for a foul ball, being as close to the field as it is. As you'd expect, many of the bleacher patrons are families with kids, who spend as much time running around under the bleachers and up and down the seats as watching the game.

There are a couple of noteworthy items about the playing field itself. One is that the bullpen areas are actually carved out of the playing area, making a couple of indentations in left and right field that are only 310-320 ft from home plate. The orientation of the field, with the home plate-to-second base line running more or less exactly southwest, means that the grandstand, trees, and light standards along the first base side throw distinct shadows across the playing area, and particularly the infield between the mound and home -- I suspect that batters have a tough time following the ball in the early innings of night games. It also means that the patrons along the third base side have the sun in their faces until it sets. Another feature that's only obvious from the bleacher seats is that there's a pretty sharp dropoff from the infield to the outfield that's especially steep right behind first base (it's less steep, but still noticeable, behind second). It didn't cause any problems during the game I saw, but I suspect it's been the cause of more than a few stumbles in the last sixty years.

The grandstand itself is an unremarkable concrete quarter-circle, without much in the way of ornamentation on the outside. It seemed older than 59 years -- I suppose in part because there are so few stadiums that were actually built during the forties, so anything that old seems older. The outfield fence seemed to be in fairly bad shape, with lots of gaps between the panels -- I'd be surprised if there aren't quite a few balls lost in the fence every year. From the upper rows of the grandstand, the view is at least interesting, with the mountains in the distance, though the industrial area around the park isn't much to look at. There was a steady stream of airplanes on final approach to SJC passing from left to right throughout the game, close enough to identify the model of plane and airline livery readily, but not close enough that the noise was a distraction. I silently gave thanks for being male as I passed the single women's restroom late in the game, as the line extended out the door and quite a way down the concourse area.

All in all, I didn't enjoy myself nearly as much as I'd hoped to, though the size of the crowd (closing in on capacity) had something to do with that. Any ballpark is at it's best when it's about two-thirds full, and Municipal Stadium doesn't hold up well beyond that. I notice that attendance of between 1,500 and 2,000 is much more common (only the Independence Day fireworks games have had bigger crowds this year than the game I happened to attend), and it'd be far more enjoyable with that size crowd. I expect to find out in a week or so, when my business travel will have me back in San Jose. I'll probably spring for box seats next time around, so that at least I'll have a little spot to call my own instead of having to contend with my neighbors for an ever-dwindling slice of bench space (an extra $2 seems worth it, especially since you're already dropping $16 for parking, GA ticket, program, and scorecard).

Scott Walker

San Jose -- 2001-06-12

I like Municipal Stadium for a lot of reasons. First, it’s called Municipal Stadium and not named after anyone. The outside has an old twenties/thirties kind of feel to it, with a cramped parking lot and a wooden façade. Inside there’s just one big grandstand with no amenities. In fact, it’s a little but uncomfortable, but that’s just part of the charm. San Jose also has a lot of drawbacks. Most prominent is the cost of getting there and staying. It’s the most expensive city not just in the Cal League, but in the United States (the Motel 6 is over $70 a night) and it’s the most remote of the Cal League cities. Plus the Sharks’ huge glass panelled training facility is right behind the right field fence, costing the park some of its authenticity. But overall Municipal Stadium is the best of the old parks.

Jack Walsh

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