The Hangar (or Where I Spent My Easter)

Lancaster Municipal Stadium (aka The Hangar)
Opened: 1996
Capacity: 4,500 seats plus lawn seating
Team affiliation: Arizona Diamondbacks
Date of visit: April 11, 2004

One of the extra benefits of this tour will be visiting cities and parts of California that I may never otherwise visit. Lancaster is a perfect example. After a night of recuperation at the HoJo in Norco, the tour Saturn headed north along the 15. Once we were through the Cajon Pass, we left the freeway for some interesting back country sightseeing. Soon enough, we were in the high desert, admiring burned-out buildings and abandoned cars, noting the distant snow-capped mountains, laughing at the fact that the worst traffic we'd encountered was in a place called Pearblossom.

We made it to Lancaster and the stadium an hour or so before first pitch. Because it was Easter, we took a moment to reflect on His glory; actually, we applied generous amounts of sun screen, grabbed our cameras, and made our way across the free parking area/theater parking lot to the Hangar for a JetHawks game.

The Rankings:

1. Seat Comfort: Unsure of what size crowd to expect on Easter, Geoff called ahead for some premium seats. Like in Elsinore, we sat directly behind home plate, this time on the second row. The seats were comfortable with plenty of leg and elbow room. The green chairs did seem to soak in a bit of the sun's heat, so the bum tended to feel uncomfortably warm after returning from my brief smoking breaks. Score: 8 (out of 10)

2. Quality of hot dogs: After a breakfast at Coco's that included a healthy helping of French toast, I couldn't force myself to try one of the Hangar's hot dogs. I did hear a kid a few seats over say that his hot dog tasted funny. Not sure what to make of this, but I'll be generous. Score: 5

3. Other concession stand fare: Pretty much your standard baseball concession items: hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, peanuts, beer. Nothing stood out or made me want to reconsider dinner plans. Score: 6

4. Signature concession item: Something called the Jet Pack, which was basically a hot dogs, chips, and a drink. Score: 5

5. Smoking: The Hangar prides itself on being smoke free, and signs throughout the park remind those of us who love to light up that we would be violating some strict code of conduct. Instead of allowing one or two areas away from the action or tucked in the corner of the concourse, smokers are asked to exit the park through the main entrance. A ticket stub is required to re-enter the Hangar. Again, no radio broadcast pumped outside, so smokers should budget their urges or smoke in a hurry else miss a sizeable portion of the action. Score: 5

6. Bathrooms: The Hangar may have the most cavernous bathrooms I've ever seen. With attendance announced at just over 1,000, though I'd say less than 500 really there, I almost felt afraid standing at the urinal. I'm usually more than happy to have a bathroom to myself, but one this big only elicited the heebees. Clean and orderly, but with so few people how could it be otherwise? Score: 8

7. Scoreboard: We were told just before the first pitch that the scoreboard that indicated balls, strikes, and outs was malfunctioning, so the player panel under the matrix board was used to display this information. The game scoreboard, at the base of the right field wall, was manual and pretty bland. The matrix board was often difficult to see clearly because of the bright sun and seemed underutilized (no nice animations to bring a happy Easter smile to one's face). Score: 6

8. Quality of public address system: Is it really necessary to make the pre-game one long advertisement. The PA announcer seemed enamored by his own voice, enough so that from the time we arrived we heard nothing but advertisements. Musical choices were adequate and I'm glad I didn't have to sit through one song from the Top Gun soundtrack, though we did hear "Footloose" and that's almost enough to give this a zero score. In between the music and the announcer, when there should have been silence, an annoying buzz came from the speakers. Last and maybe least, even though it's early in the season, every announcer should know that the seventh inning stretch should fall in the middle of the seventh inning. Score: 5

9. Fun stuff to do besides the game: The ubiquitous grassy knolls on both sides of the field serve as the best place to both catch foul balls and keep the kids entertained. Plus, they have a bouncy thing and a pitch speed area. We happened to be there for some radio station promotional day and in-between innings prizes were awarded to random ticket holders. Geoff scored two passes to Raging Rivers. As usual, I went home empty handed. And of course, what Easter day game celebration would be complete without a mascot dressed as a dog in a pilot suit, a dog that seemed to constantly beat itself over the head with one item or another. I think most of the two dozen kids simply wanted to skip to the post-game Easter egg hunt.Score: 7

10. Exterior architecture: The Hangar was designed by HOK Sports, the same group responsible for SBC Park and numerous other venues. It has a very modern feel and looks as if it could be a small office complex in a suburb near you. There is little to no scenery surrounding this park, unless you count a strip mall and a movie theater complex. In fact, we avoided the $2 parking by opting for the theater parking lot and playing frogger across the four lanes of traffic. Score: 7

11. Interior architecture: I'm still trying to figure out why there were only two main entries to the seating area. Part of the reason must have been because they decided to stick the concourse with its bathrooms and concession area beneath the seats. So instead of being able to watch the game and order a soda, one has to go beneath the stands where one might as well be in the movie theater across the street. Not a positive design point, but I remember this also being the case at PacBell, so it must be an HOK design preference. I'm also not sure why the stadium wasn't situated so that the snow capped mountains would be visible from behind home plate. Maybe it's just me, but that seems a better option than big rigs on a freeway. Score: 6

12. Access: Easily visible from the 14 freeway. If you can find Lancaster, you can find the stadium. Not many signs pointing to the parking area, but it doesn't take a fighter pilot to figure it out. Score: 8

13. Ushers: Thanks to the ushers, I was able to go through the correct turnstile. You know, the other one, the one for regular ticket holders, not the one for the season ticket people. All of the ushers at the Hanger seemed to be high schoolers. Friendly enough and not paranoid of two strangers sitting in the second row. I did like the fact that they took the time to wipe the dust off of every seat before the game started. Score: 7

14: Knowledge of local fans: With all the fans disguised as empty seats, you'd think it would be hard to find the knowledgeable fan at the Hangar. But instead, we had an old grizzled veteran in front of us. He came early and didn't leave until after the final pitch, and in between, he spoke of past teams and rode the umpire with the grace of a little league mother after her kid is called out. In fact, the JetHawk fans enjoyed going after the home plate umpire. I didn't hear any original jeers, but they stayed on the guy throughout the game, especially after Wally Backman treated all of us to some nice F bombs during an argument. Score: 7

15. Wild-card: The big jet at the front of the stadium gets the nod as the Hangar's wild-card. If you've never stood next to a fighter jet that appears to be flying, then you haven't been to Lancaster. It really gets you in the mood for some baseball action. Score: 7

Total Score for The Hangar: 91 (out of 150); 61%

The game: Another game, another loss for the home team. Lancaster had some problems gettting any timely hitting. The High Desert Mavericks had an easier time of it, and the wind seemed to always shift in their favor. The lone highlight for the JetHawks was the performance of shortstop Phil Avlas. He collected two hits and made several nice plays in the field.

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