Ballpark: Great American Ballpark

I attended a Brewers vs. Reds game at Great American Ballpark on a Saturday night. Great American Ballpark is located on the south end of downtown Cincinnati on the north shore of the Ohio River. I parked a few blocks west of Paul Brown Stadium (home of the NFL's Bengals) and walked over towards the tall white light towers of the ballpark. The walk to the stadium took me up a set a stairs paralleling a cascading fountain and through the grassy lawn of a riverfront park. On the opposite end of the lawn were numerous bars where Reds fans were preparing for the game against their division rivals.

Directly outside the main entrance to the ballpark is a plaza enclosed by adjacent buildings containing the Reds Hall of Fame Museum and the Reds team store. I would have loved to explore the Reds Hall of Fame but I decided that it wasn't worth the $10 admission. For perspective, many other organizations have hall of fames as part of their stadium but the admission is included with the game ticket. The public part of the plaza was filled with small grassy lawns, statues of Reds greats, and slogans of former radio broadcasters. The other half of the plaza was considered inside the stadium and a ticket was needed for access. This half of the plaza was home to numerous booths for the Reds corporate sponsors. The booths included a Proctor & Gamble giveaway wheel and a golf net sponsored by another company. Maybe it was because the corporate booths were concentrated in a small area, but it seemed like there were a greater focus on corporate sponsorship at Great American Ballpark than other stadiums.

The field level concourse between the foul poles were wide and overlooked the field. The concourse narrowed slightly along the outfield and the view of the field was obstructed by the right field stands. However, one of the two bullpens was located underneath the right field stands and fans are able to look down into bullpen from the outfield concourse. Looking from concourse away from the bullpen is a great view of the Ohio River. I think the right field stand might be some of the best seats in the ballpark: they are close to the field and have a view of downtown Cincinnati above the upperdeck down the third baseline. In dead center field, the concourse again opens up for one of the signature features of Great American Ballpark: the Power Stacks, which are meant to look like the towers of a riverboat steamer. The representation of the steamboat is aided by a deck above the hitters eye in centerfield which looks like a hull of the boat. When the Reds strike out a hitter, fireworks are shot out of the top of the Power Stacks and the resulting smoke looks like the plumes of a steamboat. Like the field level concourse, the upper level concourses are open and contained a variety of food and souvenirs. My kept my food selection pretty tame since I bought an all-you-can-eat-seat which was limited to hotdogs, peanuts, popcorn, and pop (I did buy my souvenir cup). One negative of the otherwise good concourses was I notice that there were a few pipes from the ceiling that dripped water down onto the lower concourses.

My seat was in the third deck near the left field foul pole. Although I was a long way from the field, I was close to the basic but functional scoreboard above the left field bleachers. The bleachers in left field are a little unusual in that they are located on the second deck. The second deck bleachers in left and the steep outfield stands in right field make the field feel cozy. Coincidentally, Great American Ballpark is perennially one of the best hitting ballparks in the league.

The game started a little rough for the home team as the Brewers took a 2-0 lead in the second innings with three straight hits and a sacrifice fly. Reds starter Bronson Arroyo then settled down and matched Brewers starter Wily Peralta to keep the Reds within striking distance. Leading 2-1 in bottom of the sixth, the Brewers pulled Peralta and the Reds quickly took a 4-2 lead with 2 homeruns in the first 3 batters against the relief pitcher. The Reds added a couple more runs and turned a 6-3 lead over to their Cuban closer Aroldis Chapman. Chapmen lit up the radar gun and the power stacks by striking out the side with his 102 mph fastball to give the Reds the victory.

My take-away from Great American Ballpark is that the ballpark effectively uses the Ohio River to cultivate a baseball environment that is unique to the city.  Although slim on defining features, the steamboat in centerfield and the plaza at the main entrance are enough to distinguish the ballpark from the others in MLB.