Chukchansi Park

Fresno Grizzlies, Pacific Coast League

7/10

The front entrance to the park after the game.

The small crowd didn't do the park justice.

Another small crowd watches Fresno play a getaway game against Reno.

We went to Fresno in the midst of our 2014 loop of the Western States. It was our first 2 week roadie together, which meant less parks overall, but it worth it. This meant we were coming from a baseball-free night in Las Vegas the night before, headed into Fresno to watch the Grizzlies, the San Francisco AAA team at the time, take on the Oklahoma City RedHawks, who were Houston's.

It was a Wednesday night, which saw a sparse crowd, officially in the area of 3,000. Considering they would draw 10,000 for the game on Saturday, the park was very slow, the seating bowl was nearly deserted. The park is located in downtown Fresno, which is a little shady, with not much else even open after the game.

I caught this park on a bad night. Without many people, it just appeared slow, even though this wasn't an average crowd. The food wasn't particularly memorable and the facility itself looked to be maybe a little above average for the PCL. They were advertising the upcoming "Taco Throwdown" where local taco trucks would park in the left field corner, with a winner being crowned before the end of the game. The product on the field was good, with a late inning comeback by Fresno fought off by the RedHawks. I plan to swing back through here as part of a "California Retreads" roadtrip, to give some misinterpreted California ballparks(I'm up to 4) a second chance. Until then, this one's markedly average.


Update 2015: The Grizzlies got caught up in the massive affiliation shuffle in the PCL and are now the AAA stop for the Houston Astros.

Update 2019: Fresno is now the affiliate for the Washington Nationals, starting this season. I made it back in 2016 for a getaway game against Reno. The noon start time meant this crowd was possibly even smaller than the first time. I remember Socrates Brito,  A Diamondback prospect who eventually had a cup of coffee with the Blue Jays having a good day and the box score confirms that my memory is correct. I will have to go out of my way to go here a third time on a night where people might actually be present. Until then, this one is still a 7.



Linescores: 
2014-08-13
                                                          123   456    789   RHE
Oklahoma City RedHawks(HOU)                                     4
 Fresno Grizzlies(SF)                                                     3

The boxscore on MiLB.com no longer loads and I wasn't able to find an alternative. I'll dig more next time.

2016-05-05
                                            123   456    789   RHE
Reno Aces(ARI)                     000   120    000   390
Fresno Grizzlies(HOU)             000    000   101   271
Temp: 63F Time: 2:59 Att: 2,830