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<\/a>Great seats abound at Bright House Park<\/p><\/div>\n
A lifelong baseball fan, this was my first spring training game and it was worth the wait. The game was played at the Phillies\u2019 home field, Bright House Field. Home to the Phillies since 2004, Bright House Field (named for the area\u2019s dominant cable TV company) is a state-of-the-art venue that raised the bar for spring training ballparks in Florida. Now seen as an important cog in the tourist industry, cities in Arizona and Florida are in a competitive race to maintain their spring training connections with Major League teams. In the past decade, the sprawling suburbs of Phoenix built expensive new ballparks to attract teams, several of them with deep Florida roots.<\/p>\n
Borrowing some of the design features seen in many new Arizona ballparks, Bright House Field offers a 360-degree main concourse open to the playing field. It boasts 7300 fixed seats with grass berm seating for an additional 1,500. I went on-line and bought two seats down the third base line which turned out to be a hotbed of Tiger fans. It was also nice to have the sun at our back since at game time the temperature hit 83 degrees\u2014not that I was complaining.<\/p>\n
The Tigers didn\u2019t disappoint their snowbird fans as they routed the Phillies 10-1. To top it off, Triple Crown batting titleist Miguel Cabrera hit a monster home run that literally flew out of the ballpark and went viral when seen later on video. When making a stroll around the stadium a worker told me it was the longest home run he\u2019s ever seen at the field.<\/p>\n
But really, the score is a secondary consideration when it comes to a spring training game. It\u2019s more about taking in the atmosphere, the ambience and especially the warmth of the Florida sunshine. And yes, exchanging some baseball talk about prospects and veterans too. I liked how one Tiger fan asked his friend what he thought of young outfielder Nick Castellanos who was coming up to bat. \u201cHey, he\u2019s got potential and remember he was a first round draft pick by the Tigers,\u201d the friend replied. Moments later, Castellanos was rounding the bases after a well-struck home run.<\/p>\n
A neat feature of the ballpark is a tiki-hut pavilion in left field, a sun-bathed seating and table area ideal for soaking in the game and suds. The food fare is also eclectic with a variety of traditional and healthy menu items including gluten free selections. And over at the Beers of the World concession 75 different bottled beers and seven tap beers are offered. As noted, you can walk around the ballpark via the concourse and once in the outfield can even peer down in the bullpen, carved out of the berm, and watch the relievers warm up. All in all, Bright House Field is an ideal venue to watch baseball.<\/p>\n