PHOENIX — As longtime readers are aware, I’m something of a ballpark connoisseur, so when I discovered the Arizona Diamondbacks were playing Colorado in an exhibition game Friday night at their downtown ballpark, Chase Field, there was no doubt how I’d spend my evening between games of the NCAA West Regional – and this would have been true even if downtown Phoenix wasn’t one as drab and lifeless at night as it has proven to be.
Since the ballpark is about three blocks from my hotel, it was easy to stroll over and add to my list of places I’ve seen games — a list now at 42.
And I have to say, I’m happy I made the visit.
Part of it was that weather-wise, the night couldn’t have been better. Locals will tell you this is the best time of year in Phoenix, and this evening could not have been more of an advertisement for the local Chamber of Commerce. With the roof rolled back, the game-time temperature was about 80 degrees with a light breeze.
I suspect I would not have liked the ballpark as much with the roof closed. Even with the roof open, no one is ever going to call it a beautiful facility — it’s a little too utilitarian for that — but in terms of sightlines, at least in the lower deck, it’s certainly not a bad place to watch a game. My ticket was down by the right-field bullpen — row 12, officially, though the second row from the field — but I spent the last few innings wandering around and checking out different vantage points, and they all seemed pretty good.
The stadium’s signature feature, of course, is the swimming pool in right field, but what really makes the place interesting — and maybe this is the sort of thing you can’t really appreciate until you’re physically in a ballpark, as opposed to watching on TV — is how many little quirks there are to the outfield. One of the Rockies tripled off one of two balconies that are in play in center field. The center field wall has a few pillars in it, creating the possibility for some very odd bounces, and there are some odd angles in the corners near the foul poles as well.
Beyond that, the place is pretty much the standard new-era ballpark — lots of food choices, ranging from a Fatburger to a Cold Stone Creamery to more conventional hot-dog fare. (Sadly, I didn’t choose particularly well. My pulled-pork barbecue sandwich was essentially bread and barbecue sauce, with a little pork as a condiment, although the seasoned fries were good.) There seems to be an impressive amount of good handicapped seating — since my dad spent time in a wheelchair, and I have a good friend temporarily confined to one while recovering from leg surgery, I tend to be more aware of this — there’s no shortage of souvenir stands, and the hitting backdrop in dead center hides a little shopping-mall-type play area, as well as a giant arcade, in case the kids aren’t particularly captivated by the game.
All in all, not a bad place. No ballpark with a roof is ever going to rank too high in the pantheon, because it’s hard to make a roofed field attractive, but you also wouldn’t want to be stuck outdoors when it’s 115 degrees in midsummer, so this is basically a pretty good compromise between esthetics and utility.
One of these days, I’ll probably tackle a full-fledged ballpark review — it’s probably been more than 10 years since I last wrote one — but at the moment, here’s how I’d rank my top 10 parks I’ve been in:

1. Wrigley Field.
2. Fenway Park.
3. PNC Park, Pittsburgh.
4. AT&T Park, San Francisco.
5. Dodger Stadium (probably slightly undervalued because these days, I spend most of my time there in the press box, which is awful).
6. Oriole Field at Camden Yards, Baltimore.
7. Angel Stadium (though I wish they’d do away with the cheesy Big Thunder Mountain rocks in center field)
8. Coors Field, Denver.
9. Kaufman Stadium, Kansas City.
10. Comerica Park, Detroit.

Chase Field would land somewhere in the next 10, which includes (in no particular order) Jacobs (oops, Progressive) Field, Safeco Field, Yankee Stadium, Petco Park, Turner Field, Ranger Ballpark (or whatever they’re calling it this week) in Arlington, Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Rogers Center in Toronto, and Miller Park.
That leaves, at the bottom (also not in any particular order) Macafee Coliseum in Oakland, the Metrodome, U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago and Shea Stadium. Not visited, and therefore not ranked, are the current parks in Houston, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Tampa Bay and Miami.
The now-defunct parks where I’ve seen games are Arlington Stadium, the Astrodome, Atlanta Fulton County, the previous Busch Stadium, Candlestick Park, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Comiskey Park, Exhibition Stadium (Toronto), Jack Murphy Stadium, the Kingdome, Metropolitan Stadium (Bloomington, Minn.), Milwaukee County Stadium, Mile High Stadium, * Olympic Stadium (Montreal), Riverfront Stadium (Cincinnati), Three Rivers Stadium (Pittsburgh), Tigers Stadium and Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia).
*—Full disclosure: I never saw a major-league game at Mile High Stadium, but since I regularly attended minor-league games there, and there were no significant alterations when the Rockies moved in, I feel comfortable including it in my tally. On the other hand, I don’t count Dolphin Stadium in Miami, even though I saw USC play there in the Orange Bowl, because I think seeing football in a stadium — and probably in that one in particular — is a lot different from seeing baseball there.