Lindquist Field

Ogden Raptors, Pioneer League
8/10

 

This park's facade is somewhat famous amongst the ballparking community.

So is this view.....

A relatively large crowd on Public Schools night saw the Raptors mop the floor with their crosstown rivals from Orem.

I came into Ogden after seeing a game in Helena the night prior as part of my 2015 summer loop. This marked the beginning of 5 new parks in 5 days. This place has a reputation that precedes it as on the the top parks anywhere in the minor leagues, so I was very much looking forward to it. Ogden is a suburb of about 85,000 at the north end of the Salt Lake metro area.

The park is in the middle of town, in a more or less average area, on street parking is free. The home Raptors were in a pennant race with Idaho Falls and were facing their rivals, the Orem Owlz, who also had won the first half title.

The park itself is different than what I'd expected, as I thought for some reason it had a wraparound concourse. It doesn't, but the third base side has a concourse going all the way to the back wall of the park, while first base has one under the seats, as the park is literally sitting right next to an alley. The view from behind home plate is often cited as the best in the minors and it's easy to see why, as Salt Lake and Orem both have similar mountain backdrops. This place outdoes them both.

There are two minor drawbacks to this place though. The concessions are very straightforward, but expensive. The token specialty items are just not here. The selection of beer is pretty limited as well. I ended up getting a BBQ chicken sandwich that cost something like 7 or 8 dollars and looked like something you'd get for 2 off the value menu at your favourite burger joint.

The atmosphere was somewhat disappointing. Nights with lots of people who don't normally go end up being a little annoying and this was the case here. It was a group night for a local school board, who were restricted to general admission only, but quickly spilled into the main seating area once it was "full". I ended up with a family of 4 sitting in 3 seats beside me. The teenaged ushers checked my ticket when I showed up, but didn't do anything other than complain when someone refused to leave their seat after it was determined they hadn't paid to sit where they were. Further to that, the sound effects, which I normally don't notice either way, were over the top. Every time the count sat at 2-2, with two out, the PA announcer shouted "dueces!". A full count brought out "The Count" from Sesame Street, and the announcer's version of the count's voice saying "The count is full....blah!" I ended up moving to the left field concourse for the last few innings.

Overall, this is hardly a bad park, but the concessions were suprisingly behind the curve and I caught it on a bad night for sure. Still, the place is a cut above average, if only slightly: It's in a good spot for roadtrips, so I know I'll be back soon enough.

Update 2018: I have not been back, but with the 2019 season upcoming, a return trip here does make some sense. It'll be in my maybe pile for this year. The Raptors are still going strong, leading the Pioneer League with 3,400 a game for 2018.

Linescore
2015-08-28
                                     123   456   789   R H  E
Orem Owlz(LAA)            000  120   102  6  8 4
Odgen Raptors(LAD)     030   080   30x  14 15 3
 Temp: 92F Time: 3:02 Att: 5,876