Fun Facts About Puerto Rico

[Benjamin Grimm]

Composite panoramic photo of Hiram Bithorn Stadium, prior to Monday night's game. (June 28, 2010.)

More to come...

[Guest Edgy DC]

How are we supposed to win if the left-field foul line isn't even straight?

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Absolutely loving these travel posts!!!

[Benjamin Grimm]

We stayed in two hotels in San Juan. We started at the Caribe Hilton, which was a nice hotel but not in a great location, beach-wise or neighborhood-wise. But while we were there, we did have an interesting next-door neighbor, an old stadium named after legendary Puerto Rican boxer Sixto Escobar. (No, I had never heard of him either.) I later found out that the stadium, which appeared to be currently used for soccer, was the baseball park that Hiram Bithorn would replace in 1962. The Escobar stadium was built in 1935 and was the spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds in 1936. (I learned all this from Wikipedia, so take that as you will.) Although it's still in use, it's in definite need of repair, like much of Puerto Rico.

Here are a couple of photos:


This is the statue of Sixto Escobar in front of the stadium.


This is the main entrance. One of many many buildings in Puerto Rico that's well past its prime. You'd think it was an abandoned structure, but it's still in use. The field (as I was able to see between the gates) had well-maintained turf, equipment, and uniformed players practicing.



Continuing the theme of next-door stadiums, here's the Roberto Clemente place I mentioned the other day. The arena named for Clemente is a Soviet-style monstrosity next door to Hiram Bithorn. It features a statue of Clemente placed in front of an ugly lime-green backdrop.






More to come...

[Guest themetfairy]

Very nice BG!

[Zvon]

That statue ain't right.......
They stuck a bat in Roberto's hands!
They removed the ball AND Ed Kranepool!

[Guest Edgy DC]

To go from that disrepaired but still beautiful Spanish Colonial-Deco hybrid to that brutalist monstrosity is, well, brutal.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

what was the other place you stayed in? Better or worse than Caribe? Was looking at that one on the net for our trip.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Let's name an outdoors sports venue after a boxer and an indoor one after a baseball player. Sure!

[Benjamin Grimm]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: what was the other place you stayed in? Better or worse than Caribe? Was looking at that one on the net for our trip.

We moved to the La Concha on Condado Beach. Much nicer, largely because of the location. It's directly on the ocean beach, and it's in a neighborhood with easily accessible shopping and restaurants. On previous trips to San Juan we had stayed at the Marriott in Condado, but we couldn't get a room there this time. Isla Verde is another San Juan spot with hotels, but I've never stayed there or even seen the 'hood, so I don't know what that's like. But we really wanted to leave the Caribe because it was kind of confining. Unless you wanted to eat the Hilton's food, you had to either grab something at the one mini-mart, or get in your car and drive somewhere else. And the food at the Hilton was very expensive. A glass of orange juice? Eight bucks.

I'm not sure when you're planning to go to Puerto Rico, but when I was previously there, in 2002 and 2003, it was much cheaper to go after May 1. Our original plan, for 2002, was to go during the last week of April, but I then discovered that on May 1, the hotel prices dropped nearly in half. I don't know if that's still the case, though, but I suspect it probably is.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Thanks! We are prolly going to go during school spring break aka peak $$.

[metirish]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Thanks! We are prolly going to go during school spring break aka peak $$.

Have you checked out hotels in Isla Verde?, it's on the beach and right next to San Juan.....plenty to do there , you'll be renting a car ?.....in the past we found a guy that rents out his studio right on the beach in Isle Verde....12th floor views...I have his # if you want...he's an american , very nice guy....full studio amenities .Not in the link below but Hojo's Hotel is

http://www.hotels.com/de1634920/hotels-isla-verde-puerto-rico/



We stayed at the San Juan Hotel & Casino once..... spectacular, and expensive of course.

[Benjamin Grimm]

More photos, taken outside Hiram Bithorn before the games. The first two were taken on Sunday, when we were there to pick up the tickets. (That's why there's no crowd.)







And here's Billy Marlin. He's probably reacting to my Mets cap, but his posture also could mean he's wondering why there are no Marlins fans at these "home games." Given the Mets nature of the crowd, we really should have had Mr. Met on site.