It's All About Perspective...

After the Rockies game tonight, our group has visited five stadiums. In each venue, we've sat in a different spot. Even in stadiums where we're watching the team twice (Kansas City, Colorado, San Francisco, etc) we will sit in two new places. I hadn't quite realized how much placement can affect how I view the game and how I interact with it.

For instance, our first game at Target Field, we sat up high, overlooking home plate:

We might have been a little high up, but we had a great view. Although I felt a little disconnected from the game, I still felt like I could keep score with confidence and stay in touch with the action on the diamond. The jumbotron was straight ahead and full of good information to give me the most current news. 

When we were at Miller Park in Milwaukee, the dome keep us closed in and we were much closer to the field than at Target Field. Our seats were on the opposite side of the diamond, looking onto the field from the viewpoint of the right fielder. 

Instead of having a bird's eye view, we were only a little higher than the field. It brought us closer to the game, yet we were still away from the plate. While I still had a good view of home plate, I missed the aerial view of Target. 

Our viewpoint at Wrigley Field was unlike the other two. We were the closest to the players and we were sitting in the bleachers behind the outfield. The only thing that separated us from the field was a yellow fence. We were higher up than at Miller and a little different angle from center field. 

When we arrived at Kauffman in Kansas City, we were greeted with nice weather and a perspective similar to Target Field. 

Just like Target Field, I enjoyed this perspective because I could see everything play out. The only thing I believe we have a poor angle of is the strike zone. I had to rely on the umpire's call as opposed to being in the position to make a judgement (like when you watch baseball on TV).

Our return trip to Kauffman brought us to the third base side.

This view was definitely another close-to-the-field perspective. We had the best chance to snag a foul ball and a better view of the infielders than the batter.  

Finally, at tonight's game at Coors Field, we were up in the second deck between the right and center fielder. 

Our section was directly above the bullpits and our view was obstructed making it unable to see any balls that hit the walls of the outfield. In order to get a little bit better view, we had to stand and even then, the view wasn't perfect. Lucky for us, it was a pretty slow game with not a lot of hits, so we didn't miss much with our view. Again, being in the outfield created a sense of disconnectedness from the game and this was by far the most distracted I had been at the game. Still, it was a nice view, different from the other seats we had been in. 

I am still not sure how I feel about this perspective. I didn't realize how much the game could shift and I still haven't fully articulated my thoughts on perspective. I know I will keep taking pictures at the games and keep writing down my ideas as they come to me. Check back for more blog posts on perspective and feel free to comment below if you have any ideas on this topic!

Hailley