No Wind = Warm at SBC

Upper Deck at SBC Park
Originally uploaded by jmharper.

Mark Twain once said "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."? Every summer evening, the wind blows the famous fog through the Golden Gate to cover the city and the bay with a cool mist. It makes the nights great for sleeping with the window cracked open, but it isn't the best weather for watching baseball.

The designers of SBC Park did all they could to keep the fans as warm as possible during those notorious San francisco nights. They modeled the wind, and various configurations to come up with one that kept the wind off of fans. I can personally vouch that they succeeded, though I suffered from an unintended consequence of the design, I believe.

Note the glass panels at the steps going up to the reserved seats. These panels help to screen the wind, keeping it from blowing onto the fans in the boxes below. The panels behind the first few rows of seats accomplish the same thing.

Of course, in September, things start warming up in the Bay Area, and days in the 90's aren't uncommon. During my afternoon at the park, it was 89 degrees, and thanks to the wonderful design of the park, there was no wind or breeze to cool off the fans sitting behind the plate. It was HOT!