Kansas City/Kauffman Stadium Review

Our family started an annual tradition this year to follow the Twins to an opposing team's ballpark to take in a few games over a weekend. With the newly renovated Kansas City stadium being fairly close to us, we figured we may as well start off there. I took in a Friday night game with a buddy...then the whole family attended the Saturday night game (so we are 2-0 while attending)...here are some of the memories I'll take back with me:

• The ballpark itself is amazing...I'm not exactly sure what was renovated and what was there prior to the overhaul, but everything was perfect. It sits really low, just like the new Twins stadium will. So the minute you walk into the gates, you can see the field immediately.
• The outfield concourse is a great gathering point. Lots of different activities for all different ages of fans. Quick recap: outdoor bar, indoor bar, Royals Hall of Fame, waterworks display, carousel, other baseball activities for younger kids (almost like our State Fair, but better), and a variety of different vendors for food and drinks.
• On Friday night, we had seats right in front of the "Waterworks" display. This was cool up until the 3rd or 4th inning when the constant mist felt like we had a rain cloud plopped over our heads.
• Royals had a discount vendor selling jerseys of former Royals players in the stadium. I thought this was an excellent and original idea from a small market team that usually ends up losing their better players anyways, however there was no one to choose from other than Coco Crisp. How cool would it be to sell and get jerseys from former Royals: Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon, Bob Hamelin, etc? Or how about getting jerseys from guys that actually had a big league career because your team was so bad and/or unwilling to spend money at a certain position? Twins fans could expect a Tony Fiore, Lew Ford, or a Tony Batista jersey...the ideas are endless.
• The scoreboard was huge and centered perfectly in the outfield. Even if you were sitting in the outfield, you could still gather any information from the scoreboard you needed without any issues.
• Beer was $7.25 (which is probably standard) in the park. If I was to do it again, I would've tailgated for the experience (for one of the games) in the parking lot, but to also save money on the back end (in the stadium).
• Potty training our twins (Caidence and Cullen) at a public restroom at a ballpark is not how you avoid the swine flu. Their hands were all over the seat...we washed them up, but that still that gives me the chills thinking about the germs on that toilet seat.
• The ballpark is great, the atmosphere and surroundings (as places to go afterwards) outside is virtually dead besides the tailgating done before games. The city itself is pretty industrial...but, there was absolutely no where to go except your hotel restaurant to eat, much less drink.
• On Friday night, my buddy and I sat in between a Kansas City couple on our left and two New York guys on our right who were in town for a wedding on Saturday. Can you have a more random seating arrangement than that at a baseball game? I'm sure one would be able to top that, but the dialogue was interesting and diverse throughout the whole game.
• The George Brett Bridge...blows...what kind of tribute is that to your Hall of Famer? It's a regular overpass over a highway that has a sidewalk on both sides that's narrower than a balance beam. They just slapped a sign that says, "The George Brett Bridge". No colors, no significant design on the bridge to honor him...maybe you could get away with this if he was dead...but, he's alive and has to look at this piece of shit that is supposed to be in honor of him. Good job, Kansas City!

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