In general, I prefer day games for lots of reasons, many of them mentioned by mhendo. I certainly grew up going to afternoon games, in pre-lights Wrigley, and have a soft spot for them for that reason if nothing else. But Really Hot Days can be an issue.
Some years ago, when the kids were little, our local minor league team decided to do a series of Saturday afternoon games. Great! No worrying about keeping the kids up too late, baseball in the sunshine as God had intended, time for decompression after the game.
We got tickets for a couple of the day games in advance (small ballpark, 4000+ seats, high attendance). The first game was on a day when it was hothothot. There’s no roof in this little park, so basically no shade at all on a summer afternoon, unless you want to hang out under the grandstand, and what’s the point of that? We stuck it out, sunscreened and sweating, but it wasn’t loads of fun.
The second game? The hottest day in the history of the region. The newspaper headline the next day read “106 degrees: Never been hotter.” (I saved the headline and tucked it into the scorecard.) Miserable.
That was twenty years ago. They basically do one day game a year now, not counting Sunday games that typically start at 5. You can understand why.
In a place like Wrigley, with a lot of overhang and a pretty reliable breeze (especially in the second deck), or a stadium with a retractable roof, the problem obviously isn’t so significant. But direct sunlight can be an issue anywhere. I remember going to a game in a ML stadium on a beautiful August day a few years back–72 degrees, sunny, low-ish humidity–and feeling uncomfortably overheated in the sun. I moved a bunch of rows back to sit in the shade.
RickJay, I’m curious: how often do the Jays open the roof? I have been to the Sydome/Rogers Centre twice, both day games with the roof closed on afternoons when it was cloudy but no rain and no real threat of rain. No one around us seemed to find it worthy of being remarked upon, but I felt kind of cheated both times…
