Tag / San Diego Comic-Con

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Ballpark Tour: Padres

As pitchers and catchers start reporting across Arizona and Florida, we continue our tour of all of the baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. This week, we travel to southern California for the baseball homes of the San Diego Padres. Between the two stadiums that have been located in the paradise that is San Diego, I’ve seen four games. So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my history with Qualcomm Stadium and PETCO Park.

Stadium Name: Jack Murphy Stadium/Qualcomm Stadium

Years in Service: 1969 – 2003

Visits: 1

San Diego Stadium opened on August 20, 1967, as the home of the AFL’s Chargers and opened for baseball the following spring for the final season of the minor league San Diego Padres.  The following season, San Diego’s expansion team, also named the Padres, moved in and stayed as the main tenants until the end of the 2003 season.  The stadium was renamed in 1980 for local sportswriter Jack Murphy, who had championed support for the building of the stadium, after he passed away.  That name stuck until 1997, when the naming rights were sold to technology company Qualcomm.

In 2003, I was in San Diego for what, to date, was my 3rd and final Comic Con.  On the afternoon of July 17, I skipped out on the con and took the trolley out to Mission Valley to take in the day’s contest between the Padres and the Diamondbacks.  I don’t remember much about the game, which the Diamondbacks won handedly 9-1, other than Curt Schilling taking the bump for the Dbacks.  The park, one of the last remaining cookie cutter stadiums that popped up in the late 60s and early 70s and designed to house both baseball and football teams while doing service to neither, did not really register one way or the other and holds no particular space in my memory.  I do seem to remember a giant outdoor escalator, but that might have been Candlestick.

Stadium Name: PETCO Park

Years in Service: 2004 – Present

Visits: 3

After 35 seasons at the Murph, the Padres moved downtown in 2004 with the opening of PETCO Park.  The new stadium was initially supposed to open for the 2002 season, but legal battles and political tomfoolery delayed the project for two years.  The first event held at PETCO Park was an NCAA invitational tournament hosted by San Diego State University, whose head coach was former Padres great Tony Gwynn.  The Padres themselves christened the stadium on April 8 with a 10-inning victory over the Giants.

With the Cubs, coming off their surprising run towards the NL title in 2003, scheduled for a weekend series at the newly opened PETCO Park in the middle of May in 2004, a trip out to the coast was in order.  The Cubs swept the three-game series against the Padres, and a tremendous weekend was had.  The new park was a vast improvement over the old Jack Murphy.  I had a return trip planned in the spring of 2020, but COVID had other plans.

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Travelling The 50 States – California

Over my 47 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we start today with the 31st state to be added to the Union: California.

State: California
Joined the Union: 1850
Visits: 11

With eleven visits between 1998 and 2019, the Golden State is the state I have visited the most, outside of those I have lived in and/or attended college.

My first visit was in 1998 to attend Comic Con International in San Diego.  I went early, spending the entire week and enjoying some pre-Con time checking out the sights, including the San Diego Zoo.

I returned the following year for Labor Day weekend, but this time up to the San Francisco Bay area, to visit my old friend Scott, who had moved out there after graduating to work at AMD.  What I remember from that trip is my first Giants/Phillies tilt at the former Candlestick Park, my first trip to the toilet that at the time was called Network Associates Coliseum, and a car trip over the Golden Gate Bridge.

I returned to San Diego for Comic Con in 2000 and 2003.  I don’t remember much of the 2000 trip, but the 2003 trip included my one visit to the former Jack Murphy Stadium to see the Padres face the Diamondbacks.  At the Con, I managed to see many of the stars (or, at least, bit players) from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Smallville, and Tru Calling.

With the Cubs coming off their first division title since 1989 and a new stadium opening in San Diego, my friend Pete and I planned a trip for the Cubs mid-May road trip.  We attended all three games at PETCO Park, which the Cubs swept, while also taking in the local sights and the ambience of the Elephant and Castle bar in our hotel. Continue reading →

by admin

Ballpark Tour: Padres

Spring training is right around the corner as we continue our tour of all of the baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. Today we travel to southern California for the baseball homes of the San Diego Padres. Between the two stadiums that have been located in the paradise that is San Diego, I’ve seen 4 games. So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my history with Qualcomm Stadium and PETCO Park.

Stadium Name: Jack Murphy Stadium/Qualcomm Stadium

Years in Service: 1969 – 2003

Visits: 1

San Diego Stadium opened on August 20, 1967 as the home of the AFL’s Chargers and opened for baseball the following spring for the final season of the minor league San Diego Padres.  The following season, San Diego’s expansion team, also named the Padres, moved in and stayed as the main tenants until the end of the 2003 season.  The stadium was renamed in 1980 for local sportswriter Jack Murphy, who had championed support for the building of the stadium, after he passed away.  That name stuck until 1997, when the naming rights were sold to technology company Qualcomm.

In 2003, I was in San Diego for what, to date, was my 3rd and final Comic Con.  On the afternoon of July 17, I skipped out on the con and took the trolley out to Mission Valley to take in the day’s contest between the Padres and the Diamondbacks.  I don’t remember much about the game, which the Diamondbacks won handidly 9-1, other than Curt Schilling taking the bump for the Dbacks.  The park, one of the last remaining cookie cutter stadiums that popped up in the late 60s and early 70s and designed to house both baseball and football teams while doing service to neither, did not really register one way or the other and hold’s no particular space in my memory.  I do seem to remember a giant outdoor escalator, but that might have been Candlestick.

Stadium Name: PETCO Park

Years in Service: 2004 – Present

Visits: 3

After 35 seasons at the Murph, the Padres moved downtown in 2004 with the opening of PETCO Park.  The new stadium was initially supposed to open for the 2002 season, but legal battles and political tomfoolery delayed the project for two years.  The first event held at PETCO Park was an NCAA invitational tournament hosted by San Diego State University, whose head coach was former Padres great Tony Gwynn.  The Padres themselves christened the stadium on April 8 with a 10 inning victory over the Giants.

With the Cubs, coming off their surprising run towards the NL title in 2003, scheduled for a weekend series at the newly opened PETCO Park in the middle of May in 2004, a trip out to the coast was in order.  The Cubs swept the three game series against the Padres, and a tremendous weekend was had.  The new park was a vast improvement over the old Jack Murphy.  One of these days, I’ll need to take a return trip.

by admin

Autograpghed Books – Critical Space

criticalspaceIt’s week 13, and our final look back at the novels I’ve gotten autographed over the years.  Once again, we return to Greg Rucka, who was responsible for over half of the signed books in my collection.  Today’s entry is Critical Space, the fifth entry in the Atticus Kodiak series that was both published and read in 2001.

I’m going to guess that the autograph was acquired at Wizard World Chicago, as I would not return to the San Diego Comic Con until 2003.  And with that, we draw this series to a close.  I certainly hope to add new books to the collection as time goes on, so we may revisit the topic at some point in the future.

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Autographed Books – Finder

finderIt’s week 11 of our look back at the novels I’ve gotten autographed over the years and we return once again to Greg Rucka and his second novel Finder, continuing the Atticus Kodiak series.  Published in 1997 and read in 2000, this is the sixth Rucka novel that I’ve covered in this series to date.

Thanks to Mr. Rucka, who put the date along with his signature, I can say that the source of the autograph was the San Diego Comic Con.  2000 was my second trip out to San Diego for the nation’s largest con.

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Autographed Books – Keeper

keeperIt’s week 5 of our look back at the novels I’ve gotten autographed over the years and we return to Greg Rucka and the first novel in the Atticus Kodiak series. This was the first Rucka novel I read way back in 1999 and the third I have covered in this series to date.

Similar to the previous two, I can narrow down the autograph to either the San Diego Comic Con or the Chicago Comic Con, which eventually became Wizard World Chicago. I attended San Diego in 2000 and 2003 and all of the local cons between the books release until the late 2000s. Rucka was a regular attendee at these cons, as he was moving back and forth between Marvel and DC at the time.

by admin

Autographed Books – Shooting At Midnight

shootingmidnightWeek 3 of our look back at the novels I’ve gotten autographed over the years and we return to Greg Rucka and the fourth novel in the Atticus Kodiak series.  This was the second of the 3 Rucka novels I read in 2000 and have subsequently covered in this series.

Similar to Smoker, I can narrow down the autograph to either the San Diego Comic Con or the Chicago Comic Con, both of which I attended often in the early 2000s.  The quote that went along with the autograph this time is a Neil Young lyric, which ties in wonderfully with the plot of the book, at least as I remember it 16 years later.

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Autographed Books – Smoker

smokerFor the next 12 weeks, we will take a look at the 12 hardcover books that I’ve managed to get autographed by the author over the years.  We start off today with Smoker, the third entry in Greg Rucka’s Atticus Kodiak series.  Released in 1999, I read the book in 2000, one of 3 Rucka novels I consumed that year.

I can narrow down the source of the autograph to one of two locations: San Diego Comic Con or Wizard World Chicago (nee the Chicago Comic Con).  I attended San Diego in 2000 and 2003 and all of the local cons between the books release until the late 2000s.  Rucka was a regular attendee at these cons, as he was moving back and forth between Marvel and DC at the time.

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Vacation Recap: San Diego

SanDiegoThe long-awaited trip to San Diego got off to a rocky start when illness struck 2 days before I was supposed to leave.  So, I was a bit shaky when the car arrived to take me to the airport at 3:30 on a Wednesday morning.  For some reason, a 6 AM flight didn’t seem like a ridiculous idea back in January when I booked it.  So, feeling a little queasy, I boarded the plane heading to Denver.  Which also seemed like a good idea back on the cold January day.

After landing in Denver, the connecting flight to San Diego was close enough that I got off one plane and got right on the other.  Another quick 2 1/2 hour jaunt and we landed in beautiful San Diego around 10 AM.  A quick bus ride later and we arrived at the Manchester Grand Hyatt.  While we checked in to the hotel and got all of our conference information, our luggage was supposed to be delivered to our rooms.  So imagine my surprise when later that morning, I got a call from someone in the other tower of the hotel saying my luggage had made it to her room.  Not a huge deal, but issue #1 of the trip.

After getting the luggage situation worked out, I ventured out to reacquaint myself with the city.  It had been almost 10 years since my last visit, so I tried to retrace some of the steps from my previous visits.  First was a walk past the convention center, where I had attended a comic con or 3.  Next stop was PETCO Park, which is just up the street from the convention center.  When I first found out the dates of this trip, the first thing I checked was the Padres schedule.  Unfortunately, a game wasn’t in the cards this time, but I did get a look in to the stadium thanks to their open center field concourse.  From there, I headed off to Horton Plaza, looking to try and grab something for lunch.  This is where I ran into a little trouble because, for the life of me, I couldn’t find it.  I eventually had to resort to looking it up on my phone to see how to get there.  I guess 10 years really is a long time.

Wednesday night was the big gala event on the USS Midway.  Due to the chilly (for southern California) weather, we were moved from the flight deck down below, but still had access to roam the retired aircraft carrier.  Both before and after dinner, groups of the winners were called up to shake hands and get their picture taken with Suren and their AVP.  It was a nice way to wind down the first day in San Diego.

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by jim

A Long Time Ago

vmars-shirt

As you may remember, way back in March we contributed $100 to the Kickstarter campaign for the Veronica Mars movie.  Well, the initial rewards, the t-shirt and stickers, have arrived, a little later than initially expected.  I believe the initial plan was to have the shirts out in time for Comic-Con, but that obviously didn’t happen and, as I was not planning on attending this year’s Comic-Con, it didn’t really bother me.

I’m still looking forward to the movie, due out next spring.  I might need to re-watch the series in preparation.