When we were in Arizona in February, we headed downtown for a tour of…

…Chase Field [formerly Bank One Ballpark (“The Bob”)]: home of the 2011 All-Star Game.

Just inside the gate (but still outside of the stadium), our guide showed us a display case holding the 2001 World Series trophy and a bunch of cool memorabilia from the Diamondback’s championship 2001 season:

And next to the case, Tim posed with his third baseball Mickey Mouse:

Compared to Dick, my uber-cool tour guide at Target Field, our tour guide was a dictator.  He snapped at anyone (including me) who walked even five feet away from the group.  Therefore, my first panorama of the day (of section 132) was from way across the concourse:

We received a special treat that day:  they were laying the grass for the 2011 playing field:

Our tour started out by section 132 (3B side), and headed clockwise around the field level concourse toward the RF foul corner.  Our tour guide told us a lot of stuff, but I didn’t really retain much.  So…lets just look at some pictures of this fairly interesting looking ballpark.

Here is a closer panoramic view of Chase Field section 132:

One thing I do remember is that Chase Field is used for motocross and monster truck shows each January.  They bring in tons of dirt to make all of the jumps and it totally destroys the field from the previous season.  Therefore, the Diamondbacks get all new grass every season.

Here is a panoramic view from the infield side of section 136:

And another from the outfield side of section 136:

Looking across the field toward RF, we could see the party area where the famous Chase Field swimming pool is located:

Here is section 137:

Here is Chase Field’s odd looking outfield wall in CF, which reminds me a lot of Miller Park:

Our group stopped to chat behind section 137, so I snapped this picture of the concourse:

And then I got a closer panoramic view of the Chase Field infield and the work crew laying the new grass:

I already showed the view from section 137.  Well, its hard to tell, but this is an ever so slightly different panoramic view from section 137:

Section 139:

How about one from section 140 too?  Here it is:

While we walked the LF concourse, we passed this cool picture of the 2001 world series trophy:

Hey, another (slightly different) shot from section 140:

The bullpens looked interesting because they had removed most of the outfield wall that usually contains them in the outfield corners.  Here are a couple shots of the LF bullpen:

Keeping going…we passed by section 141…

…sections 143 and 144…

…and then we stopped at section 144 to chat about the stadium:

…and here is another, almost identical, panorama from section 144:

As our guide told us about the ballpark, Tim took it all in (the ballpark, not the guide’s stories):

Check out this thing:

Not sure what it is, but they were dropping it down from the roof in the LF corner:

Behind section 144, there is an all you can eat picnic pavilion:

Here is a view toward the RF corner bullpen…that was part of the staging area for the grass project:

This picture looks a lot like the section 144 shots, but it is a bit further toward CF…or even the RF side of CF, but I’m not sure what the section is called:

When you fly into Phoenix, you fly right by downtown and you can see Chase Field if you’re on the left side of the plane (at least that is what side it was on for me).  You can see those same airplanes from inside Chase Field:

Here is another panorama as we crossed the concourse in CF:

And another at the “hinge” in the wall at RCF:

In that last one, you can see a rock wall in the bottom left of the panorama, my mom and Tim stood in a little corner spot and looked down toward that area…

…it was the Chase Field swimming pool:

The pool is essentially like a party suite.  A group can rent it out for a game.

I replaced my mom and Tim in that corner spot and took some more pictures of the grass laying operation…

…and these lights that help the grass grow:

Next, we made our way across the RF concourse toward foul territory.  On the way, I got this panoramic view of Chase Field from section 102:

Those pictures of the swimming pool (from the “corner spot”) were taken at the close end of that section of seats hanging out over CF to the right side of that last picture.

Before hoping into an elevator in foul territory, I took this shot of the concourse in the RF foul corner:

We headed up to the suite level.  Here is the suite level hallway:

We visited this suite no. 23:

Compared to Safeco Field, Citizens Bank Park, and Target Field (the only fields where I have spent time in the suites), this sweet was really small and unimpressive.  Small, cramped suite.  Small seating area outside of the suite.

Here is the first of several panoramas I took of Chase Field from suite 23:

Unlike the suites, the scoreboard / jumbotron at Chase Field is really big and impressive:

Here is a shot of the RF corner from the suite:

Notice a couple things in RF:  (i) the area is called “UptoWn” because Justin Upton is the D-Backs rightfielder, (ii) the “Arizona Baseball Club” restaurant is on the second level and its open to all fans, and (iii) the only number the Diamondbacks have retired (other than Jackie Robinson’s universally retired no. 42) is Luis Gonzalez’s no. 20.  I’m not Diamondbacks aficionado but doesn’t it seem like Randy Johnson did as much (or more) for the Diamondbacks as Luis Gonzalez?  Maybe his number hasn’t been retired yet because he just retired from baseball in 2009.

Anyway, this patched together view of Friday’s Front Row shows that there is a kids play area in the upper deck, complete with a batting cage:

Here are some random shots of the seats behind home plate…

…, the yellow arrow is pointing to what I figure is the umpire tunnel.

Next, we headed down into the bowels of Chase Field.  Here are some shots of the things we saw in the tunnel:

Top left:  directional signage;

Top middle:  Baxter’s jeep;

Top right:  MLB and league signs painted on the wall;

Bottom left:  entering the Visitor’s Clubhouse; and

Bottom right: a little motorcycle…Baxter’s??

Let’s head into the visitors clubhouse:

The green door in the picture above to the left is a players-only lounge…no reporters.

Here is a closer look at the player lockers…

…complete with lockable cabinets so your teammates or stadium staff don’t steal your stuff during the game!

We didn’t get to go into the Diamondbacks’ clubhouse (standard protocol for stadium tours) because the players keep their stuff in their year round and they don’t want tour participants disrupting the clubhouse.  We did, however, get to watch a 5 minute video tour of the Diamondbacks’ clubhouse, it’s a great looking clubhouse…blows the visitor’s clubhouse out of the water.

Next, we snaked through some more tunnels and hallways and out toward the field through this walkway:

Our destination was the “dugout suite”:

The dugout suite is available for groups to rent.  Its pretty cool.  It shares a wall with the 3B dugout.  There is a sign to warm people not to bug the players during the game:

Here is a view from the dugout suite into the 3B dugout:

And back-to-back-to-back, here are three panoramas of Chase Field from the dugout suite:

Next, we headed back up to the field level concourse and we were right where we started, in the concourse by the Team Store…

…and section 130:

And there you go, that was our tour of Chase Field.  If you’re in Arizona, be sure to stop by for a tour because (while this blog entry showed it in pictures) the tour guide offered a lot of inside info about the team and the stadium.

One last parting comment.  Our guide asked if there were any questions a couple times.  Tim (I think) was the only person who had any questions.  One of his questions was “why did the Diamondbacks change colors?”  Recall, they used to be a really ugly purple and other accent colors combo.  Apparently, the color change was “suggested” (strongly) by MLB because the Rockies complained about another team being so close to them geographically and also having purple as a primary color.  At the end of he day, I think they made the right choice.  The current Diamondbacks colors are much better than the original colors.