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Creative fans can still have nice view - Albany Times Union

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Tucked under the center field seats at Fenway Park, down some stairs from Lansdowne Street in an area previously used as the visiting team's batting cage, is a sports bar that is preparing to reopen from the coronavirus shutdown.

Largely windowless and decorated with sepia photographs hung on dark wooden walls, the main source of light is the sunshine streaming in through a thick metal screen that reveals the true treasure of the location: a view of the Boston Red Sox field, from Green Monster to Pesky Pole, that could make the Bleacher Bar one of the few spots to watch a major league game in person this season.

"It's one of a kind. It really is," said Joe Hicks, who runs the restaurant and three others in the area. "Kids and families, they get excited when they walk in here and they see how cool this is. People, they walk in and they're just naturally happy.

"Being able to see inside the park, it doesn't get much better than that."

Major League Baseball suspended spring training on March 12, and the season that was scheduled to open on March 26 never did. Last week, players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teams' home ballparks.

In this June 25, 2020, photo, a reporter photographs the view of the baseball field at Fenway Park from the Bleacher Bar in Boston. Tucked under the center field seats at Fenway Park, down some stairs from Lansdowne Street in an area previously used as the visiting teama€™s batting cage, is a sports bar that is preparing to reopen from the coronavirus shutdown. If Major League Baseballa€™s plans remain on schedule, it may be one of the few places fans will be able to watch a game in person this season. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
1of13In this June 25, 2020, photo, a reporter photographs the view of the baseball field at Fenway Park from the Bleacher Bar in Boston. Tucked under the center field seats at Fenway Park, down some stairs from Lansdowne Street in an area previously used as the visiting teama€™s batting cage, is a sports bar that is preparing to reopen from the coronavirus shutdown. If Major League Baseballa€™s plans remain on schedule, it may be one of the few places fans will be able to watch a game in person this season. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)Elise Amendola
FILE - In this Monday, July 9, 1990, file photo, spectators watch an All-Star Game practice session from the roof of a building just outside Chicago's Wrigley Field. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)
2of13FILE - In this Monday, July 9, 1990, file photo, spectators watch an All-Star Game practice session from the roof of a building just outside Chicago's Wrigley Field. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)Seth Perlman
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 1992, file photo, spectators look out at the field of the SkyDome in Toronto, from a window of the SkyDome Hotel before Game 5 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy, File)
3of13FILE - In this Oct. 22, 1992, file photo, spectators look out at the field of the SkyDome in Toronto, from a window of the SkyDome Hotel before Game 5 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy, File)Rusty Kennedy
FILE - In this July 12, 2013, file photo, baseball fans watch from the roof of the Detroit Opera House before a baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and the Texas Rangers in Detroit. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
4of13FILE - In this July 12, 2013, file photo, baseball fans watch from the roof of the Detroit Opera House before a baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and the Texas Rangers in Detroit. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)Carlos Osorio
FILE - This October 1929 file photo shows baseball fans on the roofs of row houses overlooking Shibe Park to watch the Philadelphia Athletics play against the Chicago Cubs for $5.00, in Philadelphia. The windows are taken out of the second floor window frames. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/File)
5of13FILE - This October 1929 file photo shows baseball fans on the roofs of row houses overlooking Shibe Park to watch the Philadelphia Athletics play against the Chicago Cubs for $5.00, in Philadelphia. The windows are taken out of the second floor window frames. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/File)
In his photo taken June 25, 2020, man wears a face mask during the coronavirus outbreak while walking past partially covered fencing outside Oracle Park, the San Francisco Giants' baseball ballpark, in San Francisco. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
6of13In his photo taken June 25, 2020, man wears a face mask during the coronavirus outbreak while walking past partially covered fencing outside Oracle Park, the San Francisco Giants' baseball ballpark, in San Francisco. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)Jeff Chiu
FILE - In this July 28, 2015, file photo, fans at a Wrigley Rooftops' building down the right-field line outside Wrigley Field watch players during the first inning of a baseball game between the Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs in Chicago. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Andrew A. Nelles, File)
7of13FILE - In this July 28, 2015, file photo, fans at a Wrigley Rooftops' building down the right-field line outside Wrigley Field watch players during the first inning of a baseball game between the Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs in Chicago. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Andrew A. Nelles, File)Andrew Nelles
FILE - In this April 29, 2015, file photo, baseball fans watch from a hotel across the street during a baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox that was closed to the public due to security concerns. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Gail Burton, File)
8of13FILE - In this April 29, 2015, file photo, baseball fans watch from a hotel across the street during a baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox that was closed to the public due to security concerns. This week, Major League Baseball players and owners reached an agreement to play an abbreviated, 60-game season that would start July 23 or 24 in teamsa€™ home ballparks. But the seats will be empty. Instead, fans hoping to see a game in person will be have to settle for pressing their faces up against hotel windows, squinting through metal grates or climb to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Gail Burton, File)GAIL BURTON
In this June 25, 2020, photo, Joe Hicks, Bleacher Bar director of operations, looks out at Fenway Park from the bar in Boston. Tucked under the center field seats at Fenway Park, down some stairs from Lansdowne Street in an area previously used as the visiting teama€™s batting cage, is a sports bar that is preparing to reopen from the coronavirus shutdown. If Major League Baseballa€™s plans remain on schedule, it may be one of the few places fans will be able to watch a game in person this season. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
9of13In this June 25, 2020, photo, Joe Hicks, Bleacher Bar director of operations, looks out at Fenway Park from the bar in Boston. Tucked under the center field seats at Fenway Park, down some stairs from Lansdowne Street in an area previously used as the visiting teama€™s batting cage, is a sports bar that is preparing to reopen from the coronavirus shutdown. If Major League Baseballa€™s plans remain on schedule, it may be one of the few places fans will be able to watch a game in person this season. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)Elise Amendola
This June 25, 2020, photo shows the view of the baseball field at Fenway Park from the Bleacher Bar in Boston. Located inside the outfield structure at Fenway, it might be one of the few places where fans can watch live MLB baseball this year. Like the Knothole Gangs of the sport's early days, fans hoping to catch a glimpse of a ballgame in person this season will be pressing their faces up against hotel windows, peering through metal grates or clambering up to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
10of13This June 25, 2020, photo shows the view of the baseball field at Fenway Park from the Bleacher Bar in Boston. Located inside the outfield structure at Fenway, it might be one of the few places where fans can watch live MLB baseball this year. Like the Knothole Gangs of the sport's early days, fans hoping to catch a glimpse of a ballgame in person this season will be pressing their faces up against hotel windows, peering through metal grates or clambering up to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)Elise Amendola
This June 25, 2020, photo shows the interior of the Bleacher Bar in Boston. Tucked under the center field seats at Fenway Park, down some stairs from Lansdowne Street in an area previously used as the visiting teama€™s batting cage, is a sports bar that is preparing to reopen from the coronavirus shutdown. If Major League Baseballa€™s plans remain on schedule, it may be one of the few places fans will be able to watch a game in person this season. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
11of13This June 25, 2020, photo shows the interior of the Bleacher Bar in Boston. Tucked under the center field seats at Fenway Park, down some stairs from Lansdowne Street in an area previously used as the visiting teama€™s batting cage, is a sports bar that is preparing to reopen from the coronavirus shutdown. If Major League Baseballa€™s plans remain on schedule, it may be one of the few places fans will be able to watch a game in person this season. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)Elise Amendola
This June 25, 2020, photo shows the view of the baseball field at Fenway Park from the Bleacher Bar in Boston. Located inside the outfield structure at Fenway, it might be one of the few places where fans can watch live MLB baseball this year. Like the Knothole Gangs of the sport's early days, fans hoping to catch a glimpse of a ballgame in person this season will be pressing their faces up against hotel windows, peering through metal grates or clambering up to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
12of13This June 25, 2020, photo shows the view of the baseball field at Fenway Park from the Bleacher Bar in Boston. Located inside the outfield structure at Fenway, it might be one of the few places where fans can watch live MLB baseball this year. Like the Knothole Gangs of the sport's early days, fans hoping to catch a glimpse of a ballgame in person this season will be pressing their faces up against hotel windows, peering through metal grates or clambering up to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)Elise Amendola
In this June 25, 2020, photo, general manager Maggie Flynn opens a large window with a view of Fenway Park from the Bleacher Bar in Boston. Located inside the outfield structure at Fenway, it might be one of the few places where fans can watch live MLB baseball this year. Like the Knothole Gangs of the sport's early days, fans hoping to catch a glimpse of a ballgame in person this season will be pressing their faces up against hotel windows, peering through metal grates or clambering up to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
13of13In this June 25, 2020, photo, general manager Maggie Flynn opens a large window with a view of Fenway Park from the Bleacher Bar in Boston. Located inside the outfield structure at Fenway, it might be one of the few places where fans can watch live MLB baseball this year. Like the Knothole Gangs of the sport's early days, fans hoping to catch a glimpse of a ballgame in person this season will be pressing their faces up against hotel windows, peering through metal grates or clambering up to rooftops when baseball returns this month in otherwise empty stadiums. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)Elise Amendola

But they're not yet ready to crowd the seats with tens of thousands of fans.

Instead, those hoping to see a game in person may have to settle for places like the Bleacher Bar, the Rogers Centre hotel or the Wrigley rooftops, pressing their face up to the windows or squinting through fences like the Knothole Gangs of yore.

The Roberto Clemente Bridge provides a look into PNC Park and a hotel in Baltimore might offer rooms with a view of the field at Camden Yards.

Janet Marie Smith, who helped build Camden Yards and worked on renovations for Dodger Stadium and Fenway, said ballpark designers have tried to find new ways to connect with their urban surroundings after moving back from the suburbs in the 1990s.

The result: a picnic area in San Diego, a waterfront promenade in San Francisco, a street plaza in Baltimore, a nightclub in Miami.

And now those new knotholes could be a foot in the door for fans if teams and government officials deem them safe to open before the actual seating bowls.

Most teams contacted by The Associated Press last week said they were following guidance from local officials on whether fans would be allowed to watch games from these areas. In many states, a key distinction is whether they are designed for ticketed fans or outside the turnstiles; in Massachusetts, for example, the Bleacher Bar can reopen as a restaurant even while Fenway and other large arenas remain closed.

The Toronto Marriott City Centre is awaiting word from the Blue Jays on whether it can rent out the 70 rooms with perfect views of the field, general manager Anup Israni said. (As of Friday, the hotel had "Baseball Stadium view" rooms available for booking for late July and into August.)

A Chicago Cubs spokesman said it has not been decided if the rooftops along Waveland and Sheffield avenues will be open.

San Francisco's Portwalk, a promenade next to McCovey Cove that has views into Oracle Park, will remain closed, a Giants spokeswoman said. Kayakers are still hoping to paddle around, scrambling for splash shots.

The Clevelander Marlins Park, a nightclub with a swimming pool beyond the left field fence in Miami, also will not open, the team said. The San Diego Padres said the Park at the Park, a ticketed grassy area beyond the center field fence, will be closed for the regular season; it will be open for the spring training reboot, though, with fans required to social distance.

Eutaw Street, which runs beyond the right field wall in Baltimore, helped popularize the trend toward seatless viewing areas. On game days, it is typically filled with fans who hawk for home runs or purchase sandwiches at Boog's BBQ.

But it is inside the Camden Yards gates, and it will remain closed, the team said. It was also off limits when the Orioles played a game without fans in 2015 because of protests over Freddie Gray's death in police custody — until now, the only major league game played without fans in the ballpark.

Some resourceful Orioles fans watched that game by crowding onto balconies at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, which offers a mostly unobstructed but distant view of the field. (For now, the hotel is closed because of COVID-19 and is not taking reservations until July 14 at the earliest, a Hilton Hotels spokesman said.)

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has ruled out fans in the Fenway seats through at least August.

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