Peoria Sports Complex

Finally, I got to see MY Padres play. I make no excuse for being a shill for the San Diego Padres. I lived there for 12 years and anyone who has been a Padre fan has suffered enough pain to give them the right to boast or brag about the Padres any chance they get...which is rare. I wish I could say the the Peoria Sports Complex was the best of the Cactus League; it’s not. But it is a very nice venue. Located next to enough shopping centers to make Zsa Zsa Gabor swoon, it is a newish, solid, nice ballpark. It reminds me of some of the nicer Florida State League venues.

My visit had a few unique features. It was my one and only night game for the trip, it was cool enough I had to wear a jacket and comedian Will Ferrell came on to pitch to one batter in the latter innings. It was some sort of cancer awareness thing. He got the batter to bounce one back to him, which he fielded and threw the batter out. In reality, the Padres could use him in the bullpen. I also got there just as the game was starting instead of my usual hour or more before game time. This is because it was my second game of the day, and the only day I was able to squeeze in two games in a day. That’s a lot of hot dogs.

HOT DOG

Bun-it was squished. This make Tom no happy-3.5

Taste-I like my frank a little greasy. But the Hillshire Farms offering was oily enough to do a lube job on a locomotive-3.5

Toppings-sigh….more of just mustard and relish-2.5

Price-the very reasonable price of $4 made that greasy dog slide down even easier-5

Portability-a nice, large foil wrapper-5

It Factor-there were a few other variations of the dog, but none very creative-3.5

BALLPARK

Location-in the middle of a large shopping area. I expected to see an Orange Julius somewhere-4.5

Access-easily walkable from all of that shopping-4

GA Ticket Price-$10 is a little steep-3.5

Cleanliness-another spotless venue-5

Ambiance-nice but not very original-4.5

Fans-it looked sold out and they fans were stoked-5

Dog		Ballpark		Total Dog/Game
Bun	3.5	Location	4.5
Taste	3.5	Access	5
Toppings	2.5	Cleanliness	5
Price	5	Ambiance	5
Portability	5	GA Ticket Price	4.5
It Factor	3.5	Fans	5
	23		29	52

If you love the Padres like I do you, you will visit this ballpark on your Cactus League sojourn. But if you are looking for a great dog at one of the top Cactus League ballparks, this isn’t it. Not to say you wouldn’t have a good time, it does come in high in the ratings, but I’d hit a few others before the Peoria Sports Complex. It also has a enclosed concourse which sort of dates it. Open concourses keep the fans connected to the game.