I love going to the ball park.
Unfortunately, there have been times when a relentless stream of fans, vendors, and people who apparently haven’t eaten in a week and need to go to the concession stand at every entrance have ruined my experience.
Depending on the stadium and the quality of the team, you can often find yourself surrounded by people who would have a hard time naming 5 players on the home team. What that means is that they don’t really care what happens that night in the stadium. The fruits of that include appearing in the fourth inning and leaving in the seventh.
Another part of that is the tendency to casually walk down aisles and block the view of fans trying to watch the game. I wish everyone would be courteous enough to wait until between entrances to walk down the aisle. Since this probably won’t change any time soon, here are some things you can do to make sure your excellent view is safe from pedestrians.
one. sit behind the plate
By sitting on the top deck, there’s more of an advantage to sitting in the section right behind home plate. Imagine that you are right behind home plate; it will be hard for people in the hallways to block your view of the action. This is especially true if you’re sitting in the middle of the row. While the upper deck seats behind home plate traditionally cost a few bucks more than their counterparts down the line, I’d say it’s worth it in most cases.
two. Avoid the aisle seats closest to home plate
Imagine that you are sitting on any level, between first base and right fielder. If you get aisle seats closer to first base in that section, you’ll have a relentless flow of traffic in your face for most of the game. Until the fourth inning there will be confused fans and an accompanying usher helping them find their seats because they just arrived. Starting at 6, you’ll see people heading home regardless of score. Combine that with bathroom trips and concessions along with vendors and you’ve missed half the game. (Let me point out that this hasn’t been my experience at all stadiums. Stadiums with a high level of intensity and a reputation for knowledgeable fans don’t have this problem to the same extent.)
In my example above, a better option is to request aisle seats on the side of the row closest to right field. There will still be people walking next to you, but this time they will be on your right and the inner field will be on your left. God help you if a ball is hit to the right field corner, but at least you have a generally unobstructed view of the infield where most of the action happens.
3. Sit in a low row
Again, it sounds obvious, but I want to convince you why sitting in row A is more important than you think. (See my stadium-specific guidelines for instances where row A might have the opposite effect.) Sit in row n. 1 on the field level isn’t something you’re likely to do often, but sitting in the first row of the upper deck is usually doable. The concept of what I’m saying revolves around the fact that the fewer people in front of you, the fewer people will stand up and move in front of you. This is especially true on the lower levels where the concourse is at the top of the section. Everyone will get up and walk back to go to the bathroom, so if you’re sitting in the back row, there’s a chance that everyone in front of you will walk back and block your view for a moment.
On most if not all of the upper decks, you have to walk down to reach the concourse. In many stadiums, such as the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, the eye level is raised so that those in Row A don’t have people walking back and forth in front of them. These are also ideal in Cincinnati because people walking up the steps will enter the upper deck behind you and never block your view. You may think I’m making a mountain out of a proverbial molehill, but it makes a world of difference to the experience, especially if you care about baseball.
In my Cincinnati example, I would move from behind home plate down the lines on the top deck if it meant I could sit in row A. If I can’t sit in the first 3 rows of the section, you’ll find near the top top of the stadium. Once it’s that high, what’s the difference in row M and row Z? Not much in my opinion. The benefit of being near the top vs. in the middle it’s just that fewer people will walk past you, so you may have fewer obstructions.
I hope this gives you some ideas. Remember that not all cheap seats are the same.