Product Description
On April 9, 2004 the San Diego Padres inaugurated their new ballpark, Petco, with a win against upstate rival San Francisco Giants. The Sweet Spot lays out the story behind the construction of Petco, considered by many to be America's most beautiful ballpark. From commemorative bricks to acres of peat moss and sod to each and every one of the 42,000 seats, The Sweet Spot's 350-plus color photos, park trivia, interviews, and more clearly and beautifully reveal each step of Petco's four-year path from pre-groundbreaking to completion. Detailed behind-the-scenes information, including collaboration with Padres stars such as Phil Nevin and team MVP Mark Loretta, allows The Sweet Spot to deliver up secrets for curious fans. The only authorized history of San Diego’s Petco Park, The Sweet Spot features a foreword by Padres legend Tony Gwynn and is a vivid visual commemoration of Petco Park's backbreaking construction and victorious grand opening. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Sweet Spot: The Story of the San Diego Padres Petco Park
A minority owner of the San Diego Padres baseball team, Jennifer Moores, writes in this book that "the magic of baseball is that everyone can play-the brilliance of it is that only a few can do it well."The same might be said of the genre of promotional pieces of which this book is a part:The magic of this kind of writing is that everyone tries to do it-the brilliance of it is that only a few do it well.As one whose livelihood has been dependent on reading books carefully, I'm convinced this book is one of the few of its kind that has done its job right.

Early in the book one of the writers explains its title, stating that hitting a ball on the sweet spot gives one the "exquisite feeling" of putting the "fat part of the lumber on the belly of the ball.The sensation is solid and satisfying.The same sentiments were felt by a collective front, which conceived and raised PETCO Park.With a focused and steadfast team, the resulting ballpark is not only alluring-it offers a home that is solid and satisfying for the players, neighborhood, and fans alike."

As someone who enjoys the game but who is naïve to much that is part of the culture of professional baseball, this book provides me with a helpful look into the sweet spot where much of it is staged-all the way from conception and design through the mechanics and Herculean struggles of construction through placing it in the context of the environment of San Diego and culminating in its dedication to "San Diego, baseball fans, and the women and men who built a dream."

What is most remarkable to me is the tribute this book pays to those women and men-most of whom are residents within the San Diego community-who actually constructed the ball park.Many of the names of the over-2000 construction workers can be found on the inside lining of both front and back covers of the book.Wonderfully detailed, full-page photographs of varied individuals posed on site adorn its pages.Almost one-third of the over-350 photographs are of workers active on the job, doing what they do best-hitting their own sweet spot, which will endure far past their time.As further tribute, majority owners John and Becky Moores purchased 2,084 memorial bricks on which were inscribed individual names of the workers with a hardhat emblem and had them installed along the walkways of Petco Park.

From the conception of a park within the Park-with its own diamond for kids to use and the low-cost seating sections available-to the tributes to players and military personnel stationed nearby, the movers and shakers of the Padres organization have made their priorities clear.One well used construction helmet shown center page partway through the book contains a Biblical reference to Romans 10:9-10, which reads, in part, "For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved."On this project their talk has been followed by their walk.

Doug Rich
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This digital document is an article from Notable Sports Figures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2768 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Takes a close look at the people in sports who have captured attention because of success on the playing field, or controversy off the playing field. This work features biographies on more than 600 people from around the world and throughout history who have had an impact not only on their sport, but also on the society and culture of their times. It also includes not only the record-breakers that dominated and changed their sport, but also the controversial figures that made headlines even apart from athletic events. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Baseball Digest, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1638 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Warm up tosses: has time arrived for National League to adopt the DH rule?(Hall of Fame award from Baseball Writers' Association of America)
Author: John Kuenster
Publication: Baseball Digest (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 65Issue: 9Page: 17(4)

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This digital document is an article from Winnipeg Free Press, published by Thomson Gale on May 26, 2007. The length of the article is 660 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Gwyn Jr. comes home with dad on his mind.(Sports)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: Winnipeg Free Press (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 26, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: d9

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This digital document is an article from Winnipeg Free Press, published by Thomson Gale on July 30, 2007. The length of the article is 739 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Three cheers for 2 of the good guys.(Sports)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: Winnipeg Free Press (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 30, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: c11

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