Camelback Ranch

Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox (Spring Training)

9/10

Crowds line up at automated kiosks to print their tickets.

Another clear day in Glendale.

I made sure to go out into left field to get a shot on my first trip here.

This place is the spring home of both the LA Dodgers and Chicago White Sox. The Dodgers were coaxed west from their longtime spring home in Vero Beach, Florida and the White Sox left Tucson to join them here. It is technically just inside the city limits of Phoenix, but is on land owned by the city of Glendale, which is also the home of the NFL Cardinals and NHL Coyotes.

The stadium is visible from nearby Camelback Road and has a pronounced western theme, starting with the name, which is historically the name for the land and continuing with the rustic looking wood finish on the press boxes. This is definitely one of the new breed of Cactus league parks, which are more than just AAA calibre parks that host 20ish games a spring. It compares somewhat to Cubs Park or Salt River I have now been here a total of 7 times, 6 Cactus League and 1 Fall League game, so it's a place that I'm becoming familiar with, which is great, because there's lots to like.

Firstly, this place actually captures the possibilities of building a unique new park. There's no park you can point at and say it looks like Camelback Ranch, because there's not one. The theme of the architecture, wide open concourses, that somehow always seem to feature a gentle breeze on a hot day, some shade, some sun, lots of good places to stand, there's not much about the place to dislike. Parking is still free, egress is easy before the game, as long as you're 20 minutes early. Leaving can be a bit of a hangup, but traffic control here is good too, so it's not as long as it ought to be.

Food here is also good. The Dodgers naturally have the Dodger Dog on feature, but there's Vienna Beef for the Southsiders as well. There are some specialty places, but I haven't tried anything besides pizza and dogs here.

Atmosphere is pretty good too. There used to be disastrous sellouts here, with large crowds. My stepfather was even more averse to big crowds than me, so we'd usually head for Goodyear, Surprise or Maryvale. When we finally went in 2012, we both really liked it, the crowds for Dodger games are a little bigger, but only so much. The White Sox crowds are just fine, at around 6,500 or so.

Overall, this place is at the cutting edge of the newer spring parks and in the west valley, is always a good option to take in a game. I give it an extra point for the food and half points for atmosphere and the park. 9/10.