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'Chase Field', also known as 'The BOB' (after its original name, 'Bank One Ballpark'), is a stadium located in Phoenix, Arizona. It is best known as the home of the National League's Arizona Diamondbacks. Starting in 2006, Chase Field also became home to the annual 'Challenge at Chase', a baseball game between in-state and Pac-10 rivals Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.

Contents

History

Stadium funding furor: a county supervisor's assassination attempt

Features

Other Events

External links

History

Construction on the park began in 1996, and was finished just before the Diamondbacks' first season began, in 1998. It was only the second MLB stadium at the time to have a retractable roof (after Toronto's SkyDome; others are now in Houston, Milwaukee, and Seattle). It was also the first ballpark to feature natural grass in a retractable roof stadium.
It hosted Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 of the 2001 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees. The Diamondbacks, who won all four games at The BOB, won the world championship that year in dramatic fashion. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning of game seven, D-Backs outfielder Luis Gonzalez sent a bloop single over the head of Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter to score the game winning run from third base. The Diamondbacks overcame Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera, arguably one of the greatest postseason closers of all time, to claim the state of Arizona's first major league professional championship.
George W. Bush used the stadium for a post-debate supporters rally in October 2004, during the Presidential Election.
Chase Field was originally named Bank One Ballpark after Bank One of Chicago, giving rise to its nickname ("The BOB"). After Bank One merged with New York-based Chase, the name change was announced on September 23, 2005.
In March 2006, Chase Field played host to three first-round games of the World Baseball Classic.

Stadium funding furor: a county supervisor's assassination attempt

In the spring of 1994, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved a quarter-cent increase in the county sales tax to pay for their portion of the stadium funding. This came about at a time that the county itself was facing huge budget deficits and lack of funding for other services. The sales tax being levied was very unpopular with local citizens, who were not allowed to vote on the issue of funding a baseball stadium with general sales tax revenue (usage of public subsidies for stadium projects was actually prohibited by a 1989 referendum). The issue was so controversial and divisive that in August of 1997, Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox was shot and injured while leaving a county board meeting by Larry Naman, a homeless man, who attempted to argue in court that her support for the tax justified his attack. In May of 1998, Naman was found guilty of attempted first-degree murder.^[1]
Costs for the stadium were originally estimated at $279 million in 1995 [1], but cost overruns (in part because of rising prices for steel and other materials) pushed the final price to $364 million [2]. As part of the original stadium deal, the Diamondbacks were responsible for all construction costs above $253 million. These extra expenses, combined with the Diamondbacks and Devil Rays not being allowed to share in the national MLB revenue for their first five years of operations, left the club in a less-than-desirable financial situation, which would come back to haunt Colangelo and his group later on.

Features

Chase Field's roof is opened or closed depending on the game-time temperature. When the decision is made to close the roof, it is left open for as long as possible before game time in order to keep the grass alive. Even when closed, the park's design allows just enough sunlight to play in true daylight without overheating the stadium.
The roof is closed three hours before game time, and a massive HVAC system drops the temperature inside the park 30 degrees by the time the gates open. However, due to technical limitations, the seats above row 25 of the upper deck are exposed to the full force of the oppressive heat that can overtake Phoenix during the summer.
Chase Field also has a swimming pool, located in right center field, which is rented to patrons for $6,500 a game. The ballpark also features a dirt strip between home plate and the pitcher's mound, one of only two current ballparks to do so (Comerica Park in Detroit is the other). This dirt strip was very common in old-time ballparks.
One drawback to the park's design is that foul territory is somewhat larger than is the case for most ballparks built in the 1990s. With 80% of the seats in foul territory, the upper deck is one of the highest in the majors. However, the park's luxury boxes are tucked far under the third deck, which keeps the upper deck closer to the action.

Other Events

The stadium was once the home of the Insight Bowl, a college football bowl game from 2001-2005. In 2006, the bowl game moved to Sun Devil Stadium, to replace the Fiesta Bowl, which moved to University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. The football configuration was notable because of the lack of nets behind the goalposts and the dugout behind the south end zone. The final Insight Bowl played at Chase was between the hometown Arizona State Sun Devils and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Arizona State won the game in a shoot-out 45-40 before a near capacity crowd.
The stadium also hosts occasional concerts and international soccer games. For football and soccer, the field is set up with the end lines perpendicular to the third-base line and temporary bleachers added on the east side.
Chase Field has also staged nine women's college basketball games. The second game, which was played on December 18, 2006, was shortened by rain with four minutes and 18 seconds remaining and Arizona State leading Texas Tech 61-45. Venue staff closed the roof in an effort to finish the game, but officials deemed the court unsafe. In 2000, ASU had played Tennessee at the same facility.[3]
The Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series tour held an event at Chase Field in February of 2006.
Monster Jam comes to the field every year.

External links

★ Ballpark Digest visit to Chase Field

★ Chase Field section of Diamondbacks' website

★ Chase Field Page at S&E News