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It will always be the SkyDome to me because that was such a cool name. It’s also one of my favorite parks to visit. Located near Lake Ontario and at the foot of the CN Tower right in downtown, the location is amazing.
My wife and I arrived on Friday, July 6 for a Saturday game against the MYFs, which makes it easy to decide which team to root for.
This is my fourth trip to the stadium, but the first in a long time.
Went to a game during the first season, 1989, when the moving roof was state of the art and the talk of baseball. Back then, the concessions were pretty limited to McDonald’s and there was plenty of parking, with much of the land around the stadium not developed.
That’s all changed, of course.
We had reservations at a hotel within walking distance, and parked in a nearby garage. On the first night we headed over to the CN Tower while the game was on. There are three levels of observation decks, the lowest with a glass floor in on spot and an outdoor area that wraps around. We also headed up to the very top observation deck, roughly 144 stories above the ground. We could look right into the stadium and even make out the white and gray specks that were the players. The sunset was beautiful, too!
Saturday morning we headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame, which was a block from the hotel. It’s kind of small and seems like it’s located in the lower level of a mall. But they did a nice job with it and you can touch the Stanley Cup. The musem is heavy on hockey jerseys — they call them sweaters — and light on history. But the Islanders do get a little section for their brilliant four-year dynasty. Lots of people in baseball jerseys, so there were a lot of people like us killing time before the game.
Gates at SkyDome open two hours before game time, so we were there at 2 p.m., walking around and snapping photos.
It was a Jays Wives food collection weekend, collecting canned goods and selling “mystery bags†at tables outside the stadium. For $25 you got a cap — not a crappy one, either — signed by a Jays player, coach or alumni. For $40, you got a cap and some other stuff that seemed like leftover giveaway items, like bobble heads and jump ropes.
I was planning to buy a cap anyway, and the $25 Canadian is probably around $21 American, which isn’t bad at all for the quality of the cap. Plus it goes to a good cause. We went for the cap-only bag and pulled out one signed by Jays pitcher Joe Biagini, a third-year player. There’s a sticker on the under brim so you know who did the scribbling on the top. I was happy with that, popped it on my head and we entered the park with the obligatory back-pack search and question about the Gnome of Victory and Celebration.
I snagged seats on the lower level, third base side so we could easily see the CN Tower rising above us, and my wife was thrilled to learn we already were in the shade.
Walked around a little bit to snap photos and check out the concessions, food and otherwise. Foot was plentiful and typical ballpark fare. Other than a barbecue place, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, like a Canadian version of a Shake Shack. Prices were a little step, even taking into account the exchange rate.
But, I did find a booth selling hotdogs for $3. They were large and were popped into a large fresh bun. Yum. All kinds of toppings available. Is there anything else than the dog you get in most parks, slid into a bun that’s wrapped in foil and stowed in a steam drawer so it’s a soggy mess by the time you tried to eat it. I got that and a drink in a souvenir cup, which got me a free refill later in the game.
My wife got a pretzel and some rum drink that was over-priced and under-sized and under-alcoholed. She’s spoiled by the drinks at the local minor league team!
I liked poking around the authenticated shop, which had locker name plates for $10 to $15. I would have pounced on a Curtis Granderson, but there were none to be found. The team was selling balls from the Mets series —telling they were pitched by Corey Oswalt — but a little steep. The shop also had bases from the Mets series. I didn’t check the price, figuring they were ways out of reach.
I was pretty please with the Bigiani cap, and my wife suggested we get another bag as a gift for my baseball fan nephew. I made the provision that if was a player I really liked, Zack was gettig Biagini. So I plunked down some more colorful Canadian cash and walked away with my wife. We stopped at a table, opened the bag and pulled out the cap with the autograph visible first. It was neatly written and appeared to say, “Roberto Alomar, 12†I flipped it over and saw that R. Alomar was printed on the sticker on the underbrim.
Hold on.
I walked back to the table and checked with the people behind the table, at least one of which I presumed to be a player wife or significant other.
“Is this Roberto Alomar?†I asked. “The Hall of Farmer?â€
“Yes. The bags have current players and alumni.â€
I was giddy, explaining to my wife that Alomar wasn’t just a Hall of Farmer, but a former Met Hall of Farmer, and that we got far more than our $25 worth. And, Zack was getting Biagini. I texted him and he was cool with that.
Making our way to our seats, we were smack in the middle of the section, which kind of sucks. And the seats were narrow. It was a little difficult to keep score and keep my elbow from hitting the nice older woman next to me.
The game did not start well for J.A. Happ, who surrendered first-pitch homer to Brett Gardner and followed by allowing Aaron Judge to launch one, too. He walked a couple batters, then one of the Skanks dropped one into shallow center with a bounce that seem to surprise Kevin Pillar, since it bounced over his head and kept rolling. Bad guys were up 4-0 within just a few minutes.
The roof is still cool. You start looking at it, and it sucks you in with all its beams and details. The Jays play a video with a “Roof Report.†A player said, “It’s open!†It was funny because everyone in the building could see that it was open.
The centerfield video board was considered over-the-top huge when it first opened. Now it seems like the boards everywhere else. It was fun to see people posting signs on the windows of their hotel rooms overlooking the field.
I remembered that the Jays had a mascot named BJ Birdy and that he had a cool “OK, Blue Jays†song that played during the seventh inning stretch. There’s a new mascot who looks like a tougher version of BJ Birdy named “Ace.†Doing some research, I learned that BJ left in, like, 2000 after a dispute with the ownership.
The song is still fun and I found it on iTunes, adding it to the All-Canada playlist I made for the drive.
I did make my way out of the section mid-game to get some more food, only to find that every other person in the stadium seemingly had the same idea, with lines that were nuts. I also couldn’t find a concession stand with a Granderson shirt in her size. She likes Curtis. Well, we all do. He had a great game, too, with a sweet diving catch.
Here’s an interesting observation. The Jays went back to their classic uniforms — with slight tweaks — a Frew years back after wandering through the Roided Jay Era and the absolutely awful stuff that followed for what seemed like a decade, with uniforms heavy on black and graphic and light on blue.
Jays fans gear up, for sure. Lots of logo ware. But I bet I saw just two caps or t-shirts from the lost era, which struck me as odd considering how long it lasted. Good for Jays fans for embracing the classic look.
I did notice that some of the criticisms of Citi when it first opened might apply here. There are the pennant banners in center field, and a ring of honor with names in part of the upper deck. (Joe Carter is listed! Excellent!) But no Jays Hall of Fame or really other murals or other team-centric displays other than player banners hanging out side.
But that’s minor. Rogers Center is fully recommended and Toronto is a beautiful city!
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