Welcome back

“Welcome back” — that’s what the ballpark sound system was playing as fans entered AT&T Park for tonight’s exhibition game against the Mariners, the first time the Giants have played at home this year.

One of the more noticeable differences tonight is the absence of PA announcer Renel Brooks-Moon, but it’s for a very good reason: Renel has been selected to be the ballpark announcer for Saturday’s Civil Rights Game in Memphis, Tenn. This is a huge honor for Renel, who hopes to be back in time for Sunday’s exhibition finale vs. the A’s.

Yesterday, the Giants held their annual media open house, the highlight of which — other than the eagerly anticipated sampling of new ballpark food, which included a phenomenal catfish po boy sandwich from McCovey’s Restaurant — involved the two new luxury suites being built at the ballpark. The Legends Club, located in the left-field corner of the Club level just below the retired number plaques, is a large, all-inclusive entertainment space that can hold up to 120 people.

Cove_loftThe other suite, the McCovey Cove Loft, is a quirky addition, a 40-person space built into the right-field wall. Fans who sit in Section 150 of the Arcade are probably very happy to note that the “shed” originally constructed to house Rusty, the reviled mechanical man who used to appear at the park, is gone, no longer obstructing right-field views. In the shed’s place is the opening for the McCovey Cove Loft, which sits just to the right of where the out-of-town scoreboard crew does its work.

Also new this season will be added food offerings on the View Level, including another outlet of the very popular Orlando’s Caribbean Barbecue (home of the famous Cha-Cha Bowl) and a carvery station. They’ve also installed a glass wind screen along the top of the outer wall, along with a drink rail, so fans wanting to check out the magnificent city and bay views from the View Level concourse will be more comfortable.

Some other cool things on tap for the ballpark this season:
* If you bring your wireless-enabled device to the park this year, you’ll be able to get instant replays on the in-house WiFi network. Wireless food ordering is coming soon.
Bengie_gamer* The View Level will have a timeline display of photos from the last 50 years of Giants baseball, and 16 new display cases on the Promenade and View levels will showcase Giants jerseys from 1951 to today.
* On the streets around the ballpark, the light-pole banners feature a pretty neat advertising campaign centered around the “Gamer” theme the Giants are using this season. My favorite is the one for catcher Bengie Molina, which says “Stands in front of freight trains — Bengie is a gamer.”

Some photos of stuff from the media open house are available here.

Hitting the ground

I’ll have more about some of the exciting events and ballpark additions for the 50th Anniversary season in the coming days, but first a quick update about a change at AT&T Park:

The Giants have hired Greg Elliott as their new head groundskeeper, only the second top turf man in the ballpark’s history after Scott MacVicar’s distinguished eight-year tenure.

Field_2

Elliott comes with impressive credentials, having been the South Atlantic League Groundskeeper of the Year four times for his work with the Lake County Captains. Twice he was named Sports Turf Manager of the Year for all of Class A baseball. He’s a graduate of Michigan State University’s Sports and Commercial Turfgrass Management Program and has worked for USA Baseball and the Arizona Fall League.

Some fun facts about AT&T Park’s field:
* Spare turf is grown in the “sod farm” located directly behind the center-field wall. Scott once told me that other things, like tomato plants, have been grown in the sod farm.
* The grass is a custom Kentucky Bluegrass blend, grown especially for the Giants in the Delta.
* The Giants have never mowed any pattern into the field, per the wishes of managing general partner Peter Magowan. For the 2007 All-Star Game, a splashing-ball logo was painted into the grass and etched into the infield.
* Contrary to some fans’ concerns, offseason events like football, concerts and motorcross don’t affect the field, since the turf is entirely replaced prior to the baseball season. For concerts and other on-field events during the season, a special flooring that prevents the grass from being crushed is used.

Amores perros

Horse682

Img_0650After a historic week at AT&T Park, things are still quite busy here. Saturday saw not only the wrapup of Heritage Week with Latino Heritage Day, it was also the return of the Dog Days of Summer event.

Pregame festivities included a dog parade around the field, a concert by a youth Latino band (the boy playing the guitar at right did a pretty fair Carlos Santana impersonation) and a doggy costume contest — in that order. During the game, the canines and their companions enjoyed the contest from their special seating section in the bleachers.

The extremely large canine seen above, who’s been a costume contest finalist before, won the contest this year for her horse-racing outfit. Others competing included a pair of dogs asking to be "eliminated" by Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow, "Crazy Crabby Abby" and a dog sporting a kayak motif. Check out photos of Dog Days here.

Missing in action

Img_0647_2I haven’t blogged in a good long while about what’s going on at AT&T Park, and ironically, that’s been because there’s been so much happening that I’ve been too busy. Perhaps you took note of a few festivities that took place around here around July 8-10? And now the place (including the pressbox) is packed because of the exploits of the left fielder.

During All-Star week, I was asked to help out SportsJunkie.TV, an offshoot of San Francisco’s own incredibly popular Justin.TV. Dr. Doug, a dentist from Yountville, wore a webcam on his cap and took in as much of the All-Star week activities as he could. MLB.com helped him out by getting him field access for part of batting practice before the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game, and I showed him around the ballpark.

While serving as Dr. Doug’s tour guide, I remembered why I started this blog in the first place — to share some of the cool things happening at AT&T Park and also provide an insider’s view of this beautiful ballpark. And I’d slacked off because of the crush of my regular job as an editorial producer for MLB.com.

But I’m going to try to be better about it. Though Barry Bonds’ run at the record is all-consuming at this point, I hope to provide more regular updates. I’ll also try to catch up on some things I documented over the last few months and never posted.