Fancy Pants

Last fall my husband asked if I had any ideas of what I might like to do for my 35th birthday.  At the time I mentioned that I'd like to go to a Phillies game and sit in the "fancy seats."  Of course this would have been hard to do since my birthday is in January but my husband did say that maybe we would look into doing a game with fancy seats next season if the price was low enough.  I was hopeful as words like, if and maybe were used.  They are much better than, "we'll see," which is just another phrase for, no. 

Although it has been sad that The Phillies have had such a disappointing season, it worked to our advantage. Tickets are no longer being voraciously snatched up like in past years.  My husband kept an eye on Stub Hub and found the right tickets at the right price so we could be fancy pants people and sit in the Diamond Club.


From the moment we entered the Diamond Club's lobby we felt special.

The staff were so polite and kept welcoming us and telling us to have a good game.  We looked at each other and said something to the effect of,

"Tonight we are not mere mortals." (Okay that's exactly what I said).

After getting our tickets punched we descended the super special stairs and received fun bracelets that let everyone know that we were special diamond people.

The Diamond Club has its own restaurant that is only for Diamond Club ticket holders. Nice! 

Even the menu was friendly and polite. 

The restaurant had different stations that you could choose from.  You told your waitress/waiter which station you wanted and she/he gave you a little card that you took to the station. The chef at that station then makes your food to order right in front of you.  I chose the Stir-Fry station and got the Thai Stir-Fry.

It was yummy and tastier than a semi-warm hot dog wrapped in foil, not that there's anything wrong with the occasional ballpark frank.  My husband had a Cuban pork sandwich. 

They also had a salad bar that was included with your entrée.  It was a very nice salad bar that had marinated olives, dolmas, baby corn and a lovely bowl of fresh berries, just to name a few things. 

After our meal we went out to our seats.  We were in the 12th row behind home plate.  We were so close to the field and the Phanatic.

We were in stadium falcon territory.  For those who do not know about stadium falcon, I have lamented that all baseball stadiums should have a stadium falcon that patrols the area behind home plate.  When people who are sitting behind home plate are on their phones chaotically waving to the camera and saying things that I can only guess are,

"Hey, do you see me (wave, wave, wave)?  Look, I'm waving. Do you see me waving (wave, wave, wave)?  Yea?  Here I'll wave more (wave, wave, wave). Make sure you DVR this so I can see myself waving on t.v. when I get home..."

See in this instance the stadium falcon would swoop down and yank that guy's phone from his hand  and maybe give him a light non-injurious tap on the head.

The Diamond Club has staff that walk up and down and up and down the stairs in their areas just waiting for the moment when you might need something.  I wish I had wanted something, but I was stuffed from dinner and was happy to sip on my water.  I did enjoy watching other people summon the staff who returned minutes later with boxes filled with treats. The Diamond Club also has its own Diamond Club bathroom that is nicer, cleaner and lineless.

It turned out to be a good game and everyone was excited when Cody Asche hit a home run. It was an added bonus that our fancy pants game was one the team actually won.

The other great thing was that it was free hat night, and I loved the hat this year. My current collection was lacking in hats with ear flaps.

The Diamond Club was a fantastic experience.  It made me want to hunt down and thank the person on Stub Hub who sold their tickets at a significant loss so that we could afford to have such a special evening.  Our only regret was that the game, unlike the never ending fireworks game (where we sat in the 400 level), went by too quickly and we wished it had gone on longer so we could have savored the experience of being among the special fancy pants fans for just a little more.