Chicago Cubs: Visiting Chase Field- home of the Diamondbacks

The Arizona Diamondbacks come to town this week, looking to escape that desert heat. But Chicago Cubs fans on the road should check out Chase Field.

Note: This is part of an ongoing series dedicated to my recent travels, following the Chicago Cubs and some affiliates. If you want to catch up from the beginning, you can start here.

“Can we go in the pool?” my daughter asked as we came to right-center at Chase Field last month during a stadium tour. The temperature outside was 109 degrees. Do you know that the highest temperature ever recorded in the Chicago city limits (Midway Airport) is an unofficial 109 degrees? Even I wanted to go in the pool!

Chase Field opened its doors in 1998. It was the first stadium built in the United States with a retractable roof over a natural-grass playing surface. The retractable roof weighs 9 million pounds and is made of lightweight structural steel.

It takes about four minutes to open the roof due to the lightweight steel and pulley system technology and costs the Diamondbacks only $2 every time it is opened and closed. The Diamondbacks turn this “closing” into a focused event at the beginning of the game with a countdown and all. Once retracted, it doesn’t actually close shut but kind of overlaps and the cooling begins.