My brother Mark and I visited Chase Field many years ago, and this was my first time back; he lives not far from the ballpark and he and his wife Michelle were gracious enough to host me for a warm-but-not-TOO-warm weekend in May. The three of us and their friend Bob went to the Saturday evening game, which the Tigers won 8-3, and then Mark and I headed back for the Sunday matinee, which they lost 6-4. Michelle, like most sane people, doesn’t really NEED to see multiple baseball games in the same weekend.

I decided a few weeks before that I would fly in for a quick visit and a couple of games if flights were cheap enough, and they were; this one was about a hundred bucks, I think. We started the festivities at an Irish pub in downtown Phoenix called The Kettle Black, where we had a couple of beverages and some delicious appetizers. We discovered, because of all our Tigers gear, that we were sitting next to some of the family members of Tigers’ reliever Jason Foley; they had driven in from SoCal to cheer on their nephew (or, in the cousin’s case, their cousin). This was the first of about 7,000 fun interactions with Tiger fans over the course of the weekend; they were EVERYWHERE in Arizona.

We were able to walk over to the game from The Kettle Black, giving a “Go Tigers” every few feet along the way. Chase Field has a retractable roof but I don’t think it’s open all that often any more. It was the last time I was here, about eight or nine years ago; they kept it closed until nearly game time and then opened it up (this was a night game), and with the air cranked it was surprisingly cool inside. For both of these games the roof stayed closed. I don’t particularly love indoor baseball; it just feels a little sterile for my tastes. At Chase they seem to want to compensate for that by blasting a lot of ‘get-pumped-up’ music, like it’s an NBA game and the shot clock is winding down, but nobody seems to be all that pumped up. Everyone is friendly and they seem to be somewhat into the game, but it’s not an electric atmosphere by any means. I would have been very interested to have seen it during last year’s World Series.

The Tigers have fallen off quite a bit in the time it’s taken me to write this entry, but in mid-May they were playing pretty well, and in fact were coming off a 13-0 drubbing of the D’Backs the night before; it was one of those games that causes fans to worry that the team somehow scored too many runs and wouldn’t have any left for the rest of the weekend. And for most of the day on Saturday, that appeared to be the case. Detroit was shut out by Zac Gallen through the first six innings and trailed 2-0 thanks to a Joc Pederson two-run single (by the way, did you know Joc graduated from Paly, where I teach? Probably you know this if you know me, since I’ve mentioned it about a thousand times). But they exploded for six runs in the top of the seventh thanks in part to a three-run triple by rookie Wenceel Pérez, then tacked on a couple more in the eighth for good measure to win going away, 8-3.

On Sunday, Mark and I started the festivities at El Portal, a delicious Mexican restaurant about a mile-or-so from Chase Field. Owner Earl Wilcox bought the place 24 years ago, after having worked there as a teenager many years before that (and also after being fired from that job, he told us with a laugh). We first noticed Earl not in person, but rather on the wall behind the bar. “Hey, I think the guy in that painting is here,” Mark said, as he pointed to a mural where a somewhat younger Earl was depicted shaking hands with Cesar Chavez. El Portal is a staple in the local Latino community, a meeting place for discussions on issues like housing discrimination and veterans’ rights. Earl told us that they were closed for a bit recently while President Biden was a guest. We also had a chance to chat with Earl’s grandson Rolando, who professed his love for the Lions after seeing my shirt. The food was excellent, and the service was even better. Check this place out if you’re in Phoenix.

Before the game started, I chatted with my little brother about his baseball history; he’s eight years younger than me, so while I clearly remember going to the World Series in Detroit as a 10-year-old in 1984, he had not yet turned two. While my formative years were full of highlights by Chet Lemon and Willie Hernandez and Kirk Gibson, his were mostly of Cecil Fielder and a string of pretty awful Tiger teams. Alan Trammell, who played 20 years in Detroit, from 1977-1986, is by far the strongest link between our eras. You can listen to my Chase Field interview with Mark by going here.

I also had a chance to catch up, albeit briefly, with my friend Paul Hoeprich, who was a teaching colleague of mine at Paly and now teaches in Arizona and moonlights as a Diamondbacks’ camera operator. I discovered via a Facebook post from Paul that he was working the game and Mark and I wandered around to center field to say hello; Paul’s got a great gig, where he can watch baseball and get paid for it. I’m just a tiny bit jealous. While we were strolling around the outfield concourse, Tiger first baseman Spencer Torkelson hit a homer directly in front of us; it wasn’t close enough to grab the baseball, but the guy who did get it let me take a picture of it!

Sunday’s game didn’t go the Tigers’ way but we did see a spectacular ALMOST inside-the-park home run in the top of the seventh that likely would have changed the trajectory of the game. At that point, Detroit had gotten as far down as 3-0 and 4-1 before chipping away at the D’Backs lead. With two outs in the 7th and down a run, Tigers’ slugger Kerry Carpenter crushed a ball to dead center that Corbin Carroll was unable to corral. Spencer Torkelson scored the tying run easily on the play, and Carpenter was waved toward home as well. A perfect relay nailed him at the plate, and Arizona would tack on a couple of momentum-runs in the bottom half of the inning to secure the win. There’s an excellently-detailed story on the play by MLB writer Steve Gilbert. It would have been the second inside-the-park HR I’ve seen since starting the blog, although the first was in a minor-league game last July between Modesto and Stockton. And the next (spoiler alert!) DOES happen a month later for me, when my wife and I saw the Tigers play in Anaheim. Read about it here eventually, if I can remember to put the link up.

Chase Field is about how I remember it; a nice enough place to catch a game, but not a must-see ballpark. The pool beyond the right field fence is probably the most notable feature, but I can’t really picture it being on most people’s bucket lists. It’s quirky and a fun talking point, but are you really gonna spend most of the game dog-paddling around in front of a bunch of random people? There’s also, oddly, a workout facility along the third base concourse, which also makes wonder just how into baseball people are when they come to a game. Still, I had a great time at the ballpark; having a chance to see the Tigers win a game, and catching up with family was definitely a blast!