Easter Sunday at AT&T Park

When many of my friends started talking about how they'd be spending yesterday afternoon at church in celebration of Easter, I joked that I'd also be spending the day at the local synagogue for my religion. I made my first trip to San Francisco's AT&T Park yesterday to watch my Braves cap a three-game sweep over the Giants, and now consider the afternoon one of my favorite regular-season in-person baseball experiences ever.  From the wonderful weather and notoriously beautiful ballpark to the exciting nature of the game and a desirable outcome (a Braves victory), I couldn't have been more satisfied with my much-anticipated first trip to AT&T.

We got to the stadium 90 minutes prior to first pitch to make sure I was able to explore every aspect of the stadium.  We entered through the main gates, where a great looking brick facade makes the stadium fit in extremely well with the apartment complexes and office buildings that surround it.  Once inside, we walked around the outer loop of the park to the walkway between Levi's Landing (the right field wall, see below) and McCovey Cove, the famous waterway that borders the back of the stadium.  Again, here the stadium perfectly blends with the surrounding area, as the walkway and back facade are the perfect complement to the bordering harbour.  Everyone told me that AT&T was a beautiful and well-designed park, and they were right.  The stadium is very "San Francisco," from the local and well-integrated sponsors to the female public address announcer, and is exactly what I wanted out of a Bay Area baseball game.

Levi's Landing and McCovery Cove are among the visual highlights of San Francisco's AT&T Park.

Inside the concourses of the stadium were tons of food options, with perhaps the best selection and diversity I've seen outside of the new Yankee Stadium and Citi Field (both of which have great concession offerings).  The concourses were a great combination of an old-time baseball feel (classic signage and brick facades) and modern technology (LED screens both showing the game and displaying menu choices).  As for the game itself, we sat in the bleachers in left center field and had a surprisingly good, clear view of the action.  While I'm normally more of a behind-the-plate kind of guy (even in the upper deck), I realized that you can more clearly watch plays develop from behind the mound (just like you watch it on TV).  The AT&T Parl viewing experience might cause me to reconsider bleacher seating as an affordable option at other stadiums in the future.

Easter Sunday at AT&T featured blue skies from warmups to the final out in the 10th inning.

All in all, it was a great day.  The sellout Giants crowd was passionate but (mostly) respectful, and it's clear that the fans love their Giants.  Just as the stadium has become a part of the city landscape, the team itself has also become part of San Francisco culture following their 2010 World Series championship.  While I was obviously rooting for the Braves yesterday, I'm excited to go back to AT&T Park to root alongside the Giants fans against a more hated opponent.  Time to check the schedule and see when the Mets are coming to town.