Beer, baseball make a winning pitch
Train and bike rides, farm food await visitors
Savvy Giants fans eager for their first glimpse of Hunter Pence back in right field aren’t studying the schedule for AT&T Park.
They’re checking the train timetable to Sacramento.
Before Pence dons the blackand-orange of the San Francisco Giants, he’ll almost certainly play a couple of warm-up games in the black-and-burgundy of the Sacramento River Cats, the Giants’ new AAA affiliate.
So, in all likelihood, will Matt Cain, Jake Peavy, Travis Ishikawa and every other player who lands on the Giants’ depressingly overcrowded disabled list.
Minor-league baseball has a charm all its own, with its hot-dog cannons and goofy between-innings stunts. On a warm summer night, Sacramento’s riverfront, 10,600-seat Raley Field is an unbeatable venue for watching rehabbing Giants and the stars of tomorrow.
It’s even better when you take the train. Amtrak’s Capital Corridor service is punctual, clean and friendly, and the two-hour ride from Oakland or Richmond drops you off within walking distance of the ballpark.
Nearby hotels and a gratifyingly large choice of brew pubs and innovative taprooms make for a car-free, carefree weekend of baseball and beer in the state capital.
Why now? With luck, Pence, Cain, Peavy and Ishikawa will be playing rehab games in Sacramento over the next month. It’s a good time to go, before the beastly heat of midsummer settles in.
Backstory: For the last 15 years, Sacramento was the top minor-league affiliate of the Oakland A’s, the place to develop young talent and rehabilitate major-leaguers coming back from injury. This past offseason the team agreed to become part of the Giants’ system; the A’s’ AAA team is now in Nashville. When majorleaguers aren’t rehabbing, the River Cats’ roster is filled with once-and-possibly-future Giants, including Hunter Strickland, Adam Duvall, Brandon Hicks, Kevin Correia and Brett Bochy, son of Giants manager Bruce Bochy.
Checking in: The Embassy Suites Sacramento River Promenade is a five-minute walk from Raley Field. For not much more than the price of a budget hotel you get a two-room suite, cooked-to-order breakfast and complimentary evening wine.
Spend your day: What goes better with baseball than beer? Within the Sacramento metro area you have your choice of 30 eclectic and innovative brew pubs, taprooms and craft breweries. Ruhstaller Tap Room feels like the world’s hippest speakeasy: You ring a doorbell and descend to a basement decorated in cheap chic. Make a reservation first, though (see below). At the Federalist Public House, they pour a vast selection of Sacramento-area brews and serve wood-fired pizzas (including an eggs Benedict brunch pizza) inside a room made from metal shipping containers left open to the breeze. Or pedal your own pub crawl on a 15-person peoplepowered trolley with Sac Brew Bike.
Dining: In Old Sacramento, Ten22 exemplifies the town’s “farm-to-fork” ethos by focusing on locally sourced ingredients — which is not hard to do when you’re located in the heart of the Central Valley. On Thursdays and Fridays they serve a special prix fixe dinner focusing on the bounty of fresh produce and meat from area farms. Another good farm-to-fork choice is the Hook and Ladder Manufacturing Co., with its rustic-chic dining room.
Don’t miss: The Old Sacramento Underground Tour. Led by the Sacramento History Museum, it’s a fascinating look at how the city lifted itself up by its own jacks to avoid wintertime floods. Some of what’s under the old streets requires a bit of tour-guide euphemism around younger visitors. It’s also a good way to stay out of the midday warmth.
Don’t bother: Avoid walking more than a few blocks in the heat of the summer afternoon unless you want to arrive with a damp shirt clinging to your sweaty back. Take a streetcar, or a bus, or a taxi, or an Uber.
Word to the wise: You really don’t need to bring a warm jacket to most Sacramento night games. I do it every time — it’s a lifelong habit for Giants fans — but it’s almost always shirtsleeves weather through the ninth inning.