Accessibility Review: Chase Field

Over the years we have sat in many parts of Chase Field. The best seats ever were when we decided at the last minute to go to the Cubs @ Dbacks game several years ago. It was the first time we went with just Mom and the first time we tried handicap seats. The seats were the best available and they were located dugout level a little down the first base from the visitor's dugout. Basically you are as close to the action as the players and coaches in the dugout. It is not exactly the best way to see the whole action of the field because you are down below the field, but it is a very cool one time experience. The best part is that there is a fence instead of bars in front of you. Sure it makes the view a little harder, but for Mik it was awesome because he could hold onto the fence and stand up and watch the game very much like someone in a dugout. We have never been able to get those seats again, although we have not really tried since they are pretty expensive and the view from the 100 level is much better for seeing the game beyond the infield.

Many times we have sat in the 200 Club level section, but there really is not handicap seats and those games Dad would carry Mik to the seat and then take the wheelchair to guest relations. These seats are not bad if you park in the garage behind the stadium (by the way this is the cheapest garage in the area and always our choice) because you can get into the club level right from there and park on the third level to entirely avoid the elevators. If you park elsewhere, though, you will have to deal with the elevators, which can sometimes be a crowded annoyance, but they do have some that they enforce as only for those cannot take the stairs that the wait for is rarely long.

The choice area for handicap seating in our opinion, though, is the 100 level, which is where we sat for the game on this trip. This is the level you enter the park on, so no elevator hassle and since we get the handicap seats when we sit on this level no going to guest relations to store the chair. The section we sat in for the trip was 105 and not that great, as the scoreboard can barely be seen, but we have sat closer to center field before and had pretty much no view of the scoreboard before. Also, the bar in front of the wheelchair seating is kind of high and gets in the line of sight for those who are short and especially those in wheelchairs and cannot stand up to see over the bar when there are exciting plays. Mik could get a good view by leaning down under the bar. It is an annoyance and poor planning in my opinion, but the bar seems to be a pretty standard thing with handicap seats. At least the seats are located far enough above the next row that there would have to be a very tall person standing up to block your view of the game. By the way the better view of the field along with the scoreboard are in the 100 level sections along the baselines and not behind the outfield like we sat, however, the ones behind the outfield bleachers like 105 are the cheapest and worth the savings, especially when we are going on a two and a half month road trip to see all 30 ballparks.

Mik's Food Scrapbook: Chase Field

At Chase Field Mik tried the meatball sandwich from Hungry Hill Sandwiches, which is supposedly the trademark food restaurant for Chase Field, but the guidebook is 5 years old and the food service here changed drastically after it went from being the BOB to being Chase Field. Mik liked the sandwich, but he only ate part of it because it was filling.

The other food item he tried was a Jolly Rancher slushie, since it was something he never heard of before. He sent Dad to get it and did not request a flavor, so he ended up with Green Apple, which he does not like as a flavor anyways and would have chosen Cherry if he had gone to choose. He says even if the flavor was good he would not rate it very high because it was a very liquidy slushie and not very frozen.

Accessibilty Review: Play Ball Exhibit at Mesa Historical Museum

The Play Ball Exhibit is located inside the Mesa Historical Museum. The first accessible thing we noted was the lack of any handicap parking. There might be another parking lot for the museum, but in front the sort of street parking does not have any handicap spots. It worked out fine, though, since it was not crowded and there was easy to park so that there was space to get the wheelchair on the side of the car for Dad to get Mik into it.

The Museum's main entrance is several stairs, but they clearly have a sign that points to the ramp on the right side of the building that leads to the side entrance. Once inside you are in a hallway that the museum's exhibits are in rooms off of. About halfway down the hall is the info desk, where you pay admission ($5 for adults, $4 over 65, $3 ages 3-12, and free under 3).

The whole museum is located on one level, so very accessible. The Play Ball exhibit and the other exhibits we went into (did not do it all, though) all had plenty of room for the wheelchair to navigate through. The Play Ball exhibit even had some Knotholes at an eye level that Mik could easily look through. The other main part of the exhibit Mik cared about was the interactive exhibit playing the Backyard Baseball on the Wii. The controllers were located in an easy to reach spot for him and since it was not actually a sensor bar important game it worked out fine for him. To start the game after turning the system on, however, you did have to aim it higher and from farther back then was easy for him to do.

Kj's Baseball Collection: '09 World Baseball Classic

In the '09 World Baseball Classic section of merchandise at the Dbacks Team Shop I found two baseballs that were only $1. I could not decide which to get and since they were only $1 each I just got both. One just has the '09 World Baseball Classic logo on a plain white baseball. This one comes with a little stand, but it is actually just a pathetic very thin plastic packaging type stand. The other is an image baseball with an image of the logo, a trophy, and the flags of participating countries.

Mik's Mini Bat Collection: '09 World Baseball Classic

Mik did not really even expect to get one bat at the Dbacks game, as he already has a lot of Dbacks mini bats, but he did find a new Dbacks one. We also found a section of on sale leftover '09 World Baseball Classic merchandise. In the section they had a mini bat for only $1, which we could not pass up. The bat has the World Baseball Classic logo, flags of participating teams, and a R Rawlings logo (note: I think this is his first Rawlings mini bat, as most if not all of the others are Louisville Slugger brand).

Kj's Baseball Collection: Home of Your Dbacks

My baseball from visiting the Arizona Diamondbacks's Chase Field is an image one with a street map of the downtown Phoenix area. It has a big star where Chase Field is located with the label Chase Field. It also oddly has the nearby U.S. Airways Center (I think this is the basketball arena) identified in big letters. There are other landmarks noted with small dots and lettering, but the U.S. Airways is identified in the same big lettering as Chase Field despite having a small dot. The ball says Home of Your Dbacks in the middle of the Map. One side has a black D logo and the other has a red A Diamondbacks logo.

Mik's Mini Bat Collection: Black Dbacks

There were no mini bats at the Play Ball exhibit, so Mik's first bat from the All the Ballparks trip was from the Dbacks game. He already has a lot of Dbacks mini bats, but he found one with a different Dbacks logo than any he has and it is black, which is a color he did not have in his Dbacks collection yet. The mini bat has a silver Louisville Slugger logo and a red A Dbacks logo with Diamondbacks written below it.