Cashman Field

Las Vegas 51s, Pacific Coast League

7/10

                  To say the exterior of the stadium is somewhat plain is a bit of an understatement.

The design of the park is very functional, and is somewhat similar to Camelback Ranch in the Cactus League.

The hometown 51s battled Tucson on a beautiful night.

I stopped in Las Vegas on my 2013 loop down to Phoenix. The way it worked out, the only park between Los Angeles and Phoenix, that gave me enough time to make an afternoon game in Phoenix the next day, that I hadn't seen, was this one. Despite the bad reviews, I headed out. I rolled into town on a Sunday night and after settling in at the Plaza Downtown, I headed over to the ballpark. The matchup saw the 51s, who had already clinched the division flag taking on the Tucson Padres, who were playing their 2nd last game ever, after a 3 year pit stop in Tucson, between being the Portland Beavers and becoming the El Paso Chihuahuas.

I arrived super early and as a result, got lots of photos. Concessions were not bad, mostly with standard ballpark fare, although there were many varieties of the Burgers/Chicken Burgers. Parking is ample, but apparently, can get crowded when other facilities in the same complex as the ballpark have events as well. The crowd on this night was around 3,000, which in a 9,000+ seat park, left a lot of wiggle room. After the previous night of being packed in at Dodger Stadium, it was a welcome change.

Baseball in Las Vegas has always been a bit of a tough sell, as not too many places have more entertainment options on any given night. Some tourists do wander off the Strip and out of Downtown to catch a game, but it seems like a more local crowd. Besides the team heading to the playoffs(and a subsequent first round exit), the chatter around the ballpark was about a proposed replacement to Cashman, to be built in Summerlin, a wealthier planned suburb of around 100 thousand people, to the northwest of downtown. Ownership and the PCL commissioners office both support the move, while the mayor of Las Vegas favours a redeveloped Cashman instead. The 51s apparently have a 10 year lease, but can escape with 2 years notice. With the lack of any real proposed MLB stadiums, the Vegas ballpark saga could be one of the more interesting ones in the near future.

As for Cashman, after reading largely mediocre, or negative reviews, I found it was right around a 7, which is my average rating. The exterior is bland, the interior has a sleek, southwestern look to it. Food options are simple but with good variety and for the average ballpark crowd, parking is more than adequate. The location just north of downtown is good for luring tourists, although the neighbourhood leaves something to be desired. I wouldn't go out of my way to go back, but I wouldn't mind either.

Update 2016: As alluded to earlier, the Tucson Padres moved east to El Paso after the season, though they did have to play a handful more games in Tucson as the El Paso Chihuahuas as the park in El Paso wasn't done on time. As for a new park in Las Vegas, there hasn't been a whole lot of progress other than the city making it clear they will not help fund the proposed new park in the Summerlin area and are planning on redeveloping Cashman Center, with or without a renovated Cashman Stadium. So if nothing else, the lines in the sand have been drawn, but not much officially in the 2.5 years since I went here. Maybe next update?

Linescore
2013-09-01
                                     123     456    789   RHE
Tucson Padres(SD)         010    001    001   380
Las Vegas 51s(NYM)       000    100    100   291
Temp:91F    Time: 2:38   Att: 3,464