Roger That

Rogers Centre, and from where I'm at centre is spelled correctly I assure you, is the home baseball stadium of the Toronto Blue Jays in Ontario, Canada. Me son Frank and I picked it up last night as part of our years long stadium tour. We try to attend a ball game at one new site each season.

Rogers Centre is the first retractable roof stadium, opening in 1989. The roof can be opened for good weather while closed when conditions are poor. They weren't poor yesterday but it was chilly, so it was closed.

The stadium is nice, thought it's a bit weird to see baseball indoors. As Frank remarked, baseball seems intended for the open air. Still, the sight lines were good all over, and we felt reasonably close to the action. The top level where we sat looks steeper than it is but not so much when you're actually seated.

The Jays hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won 12-2. Not a pretty game for the hometown nine.

Stadium amenities were good, and prices weren't bad. Our hot dogs (you gotta have a dog at a ball game) were $6.75 each, but as Canadian money is at a discount against US funds they came out to $5.10 I think through the use of our American debit cards. My souvenir Toronto baseball cap cost $49 from a Canadian start of $67, so prices were comparable to what you would pay in the States. I choked at the $490 tag on an authentic Toronto Blue Jays jersey (Frank said I audibly gasped) but I wasn't going to buy one anyway.

The park was very clean, and felt older than it is. As I said, it opened in 1989, making it I believe the fifth oldest baseball venue in use in the major leagues. It's not the best ball yard, but I do like it. I kind of expected not to. I thought it would be a concrete and steel monster, yet it was rather homey in its own way.

Would I go back? Sure. After all, it is baseball. And I am curious to see the place with the roof open.