PK Park

Eugene Emeralds (Northwest League)

8/10

No doubting who the landlord is here. Nice facade though.

A decent crowd takes in a Sunday evening contest versus cross-state rivals Hillsboro.

Overall, this is a decent little place.

My first visit to PK Park was on my 2014 summer loop. The Ems were taking on the 2nd year Hillsboro Hops in a Sunday evening match up. We arrived after a long drive from Sacramento and I was looking for a good game to move on from a disappointing night there. This was the first time I'd seen a team in 2 different parks, after seeing the Emeralds twice in Civic Stadium.

The Emeralds ended up moving in here after their old park started to show it's age. Fortunately for them, the University of Oregon brought it's Baseball program back up to the varsity level and built PK Park, in the parking lot of Autzen Stadium, where the football team plays. "The Autzen Zoo", where the ticket office for the Emeralds is located as well, dwarfs this relatively small ballpark.

PK Park has a relatively steep seating bowl, with some suites on top. The field has not the greatest backdrop, of the practice facility for the school's soccer teams and some tall trees. Concessions are slightly above average, featuring such random items as the Bison(Buffalo) corn dog. The atmosphere here was also slightly notable, as having been here 3 times, I can tell you Eugene is a baseball town.

Overall, this place is a sadly much needed upgrade to Civic Stadium that the Emeralds badly needed and all they had to do was switch landlords. I'm in no hurry to go back, but this place is worth at least 1 visit.

Update 2019: The Emeralds are now the Cubs affiliate in the NWL. They continue to draw decent crowds, averaging just over 3,400 a game. I can't find a reliable number for how the Ducks draw at their park, but for 2019, it was less than this. Eugene is not on the chopping block as part of the reorganization of MiLB and I'd be very surprised if this changed. This is the last park until the bay area, so it always has a decent chance of snagging me for a game on the way through.

Linescore
2014-08-17
                                          123   456   789 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17  R H E
Hillsboro Hops(ARI)              100  330   000  0  0   0   0   0   0   0    2   9 17 1
Eugene Emeralds(SD)          500  200   000  0  0  0    0    0   0   0   0   7 16 3
Time: 5:28 Temp: 79F  Att: 2,543

Civic Stadium

Demolished

9/10

 

 

Approaching the park, the wooden facade with peeling paint lets you know what you're in for.

I wasn't as proficient at ballpark pics, but these two give you the general idea.

The long side of the L-shaped grandstand.

Back in 2009 for the last night game here ever against Salem-Keizer.

 We first attended Eugene's Civic Stadium in 2007 as part of a 3 game loop of the Northwest League, which was really our first ballparking trip. We had seen a game in Spokane the night previous and started off towards Yakima afterwards. I went again on the way home from my big 2009 loop for one last game, which turned out to be the 2nd last game and last night game for the Emeralds here. This drew over 5,000 people. Approaching, the park looks like something out of Bull Durham. A peeling wooden facade greets you on the way in.

The park is very simple, lots of wooden bench seating made up the bulk of this WPA era ballpark. There was nothing fancy or modern about this place, it was baseball, pure and simple. But, as much as I like wooden, WPA era bandbox style ballparks, there were some drawbacks about this park. 

 Firstly, food was difficult to buy here at best, there just weren't many concessions and the ones there were lined up quickly. Parking was almost non-existent, as the small parking lot was reflective of the time in which the stadium was built. The almost entirely wood construction made the park seem like a bit of a firetrap.

Still, I thoroughly enjoyed this park. It was absolutely a baseball-first atmosphere, as a wooden ballpark from 1940 was hardly a place to be seen. There was really nothing distracting from the game, with the possible exception of an overly talkative neighbour. This place is a time machine, 9/10.

The Emeralds moved across town to the University of Oregon campus to share a park with a newly formed Ducks varsity team. Locals wanted to preserve this one, which was on the National Register of Historic Places. The plan included purchasing the stadium and renovating it somewhat so it could host lower tier soccer. Funding to buy the stadium was raised in the summer of 2015 and it looked like the plan would go ahead.


But, what I alluded to earlier became a reality that same year. Several youths, playing with matches in the press box, managed to set a fire, which quickly spread out of control, and destroyed the stadium in about an hour. Throngs of people turned out to watch the local institution burn to the ground. The "Friends of Civic Stadium" are planning to use the money they raised towards something similar, but haven't decided what as of yet. It was disappointing to hear about their dream dying the way it did, but I'm interested to see what plans they come up with as an alternative.

Update 2018: I've added the linescores of the two games I went to here. I cannot find any more information about the plans for the stadium site, and the website for "Friends of Civic Stadium" now defaults to some random "sports" site. Under the new grading system, this place likely shouldn't have scored so high, but it's a moot point. Besides, I'd rather not take anything away from this gem. 

Linescores
2007-07-16
                                                    123  456  789  R H E
Vancouver Canadians(OAK)             023  020  012  10 16 0
Eugene Emeralds (SD)                    002  030  201  8  11  1
Temp: 79F Time: 3:48 Att: 2,987


2009-09-02
                                                         123  456  789  RHE
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (SF)               001   030  300  771
Eugene Emeralds (SD)                        100   000  022   593
Temp: 83F Time: 2:32  Att: 5,815 

Volcanoes Stadium

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, Northwest League

7/10

 Batting Practice just wrapping up prior to the Canadians/Volcanoes. That van is on I-5. It's that close.

 The seats in the back are all club seating.

The masses enjoy a decent night at a decent park.

I went here in July of 2008 for the final game of my 2nd Northwest League trip. We had driven by on the way out of town from a Eugene Emeralds game the previous year, with the park all lit up, having just finished a game as well. I noted at the time it was literally directly next to Interstate 5, which seemed a little interesting.

Well. Fast forward to the next year and we pulled in for a game between the Volcanoes and Vancouver Canadians. The Volcanoes were in the midst of a stretch of amazing seasons, which resulted in a period of around 4 years where they were at least tied for 1st place every day of the season. The Giants take their farmhands seriously, and it showed.

Anyhow, this is a pretty average ballpark located, as mentioned, right next to I-5, which honestly, imposes some pretty big limits on the experience right away. I-5 is busy and traffic goes by constantly throughout the game. In addition, there is a driving range style net, which is required to keep homeruns from ending up on the freeway, which they reasonably could without it, it's that close. The most mind boggling thing of all though is that while access was ok, getting out of the parking lot, back onto the highway, was quite time consuming, as there's only one overpass in the area. Most other off-ramp ballparks have a few, to divide up the traffic.

Besides my location rant, the ballpark is pretty decent. The configuration focuses pretty heavily on a club behind home plate, but still leaves plenty of good seats for the rest of us. The food here is above average, with lots of unique options. The team store featured clearance bobbleheads of team mascot, "Crater" who is a half-baseball/half dinosaur. For 7 dollars, I decided to get one. The park does have the smallest video screen I have ever seen. It was difficult to really watch, but it turned into a decent auxiliary scoreboard once the game started.

Overall, this is an average park, which has the plus of a good menu, but the big knock of being pretty much on the shoulder of an Interstate highway.

Update 2016: I have still not been back here, it'll be 9 years between visits this year, so it's at the top of my list in the northwest this season. I thought the team was continuing to draw acceptably, but attendance has dropped from 2,900 to 2,100, which in 2016, was the lowest in the NWL. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but with no obvious market trying to lure a team and the ballpark still being acceptable, I don't expect much controversy surrounding this team for at least 5 more seasons.

Linescore
2008-07-15
                                                 123   456   789   R H E
Vancouver Canadians(OAK)          510  000  101   8  8  0
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes(SF)        000  531  00x   9 11 2
Temp: 84F  Time: 3:13  Att:  2,628

PGE Park

Vacant

8/10

The exterior of the Stadium was one of the best features.Ivy, a old-fashioned neon sign and a schedule out front? Absolutely.

                                   

From the street, prior to the gates opening. You can see how much of PGE was in a hole.

         The giant, ivy colored wall and hand-operated scoreboard were unique touches.Was that giant bell for homeruns? I didn't see one, so I'm not sure.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Oregon minor league team leaves old-time ballpark for uncertain future(Eugene?).  I drove to Portland from Everett, not a very long drive at all and took in a game featuring the Portland Beavers, who were the San Diego AAA affiliate at the time and the Tacoma Rainiers. I stopped in the southern suburbs of Portland and drove all the way to San Francisco the next night.

This place is also a depression-era park, it’s a unique setup as it’s built on a slight hill, so the park is sunken below street level. The concourse isn’t usually a favourite of mine, but this one looks great, has good souvenir stands and lots of food options, definitely a plus. But, there must be progress. The Beavs’ summer roommates, the Portland Timbers soccer team moved into Major League Soccer in 2011. One of the caveats? No more turf and no more dirt. So the Beavers had to move. There was talk of going to Beaverton, Oregon, there was also a possible temporary home at the Clark County Fairgrounds in nearby Vancouver, Washington, across the Columbia.

Still, the Beavers' attendance at PGE(Now JeldWen Field) was terrible, as they drew under 7,000 for their home opener in 2010. I couldn't believe it was so poorly attended. “I’d hate to see Portland get their team taken away after fighting to get them back” was what I said when I reviewed the park in 2010 after a 2009 visit, but that’s exactly what happened. The team and city couldn’t settle on a new site for a stadium, and the Beavers were sold to a group that will have them play in Tucson for 2011, then Escondido(a suburb of San Diego) for 2012 in a new park. Such are the ups and downs of having a minor-league ballclub.

As of 2014, this team finally has a permanent home. The plan to build a park in suburban San Diego failed to gain support from local legislators, once their preferred method of financing was shut down by the state government, so, the Tucson Padres, as the Beavers became, ended up making a three year run from 2011-2013 before finally building a park in El Paso, TX and taking the name, the El Paso Chihuahuas.

The area around PGE was residential, I can’t think of too many others where’s that’s the case. Large condo buildings, a hotel and a gym(The Multnomah Athletic Club, which has a seating area overlooking the park) are in the neighbourhood, as is a stop for the MAX light rail, so if you’re set up to stay the night in Portland, take the train to the park. There is a decent looking sports bar in the basement of a condo building on Morrison Street. Parking was in a parkade across the street and was around 15 bucks, but there were so few people in the area that it was ok to get out.

It was quite empty, but it’s a nice park. There's so many unique quirks, the layout is pleasant and shows the results of some prudent renovations the last time the Beavers moved away. Don't even get me started about the feral cat colony for pest control(didn't see one). There is an electronic video board, but it’s small enough that it augments the nice hand operate scoreboard in left. The park being in the middle of the city is always a plus in my book, that’s where they belong. There are plenty of places to hang out before or after the ballgame. 

The only criticism of the park that I had was the relatively poor attendance, which is one of the reasons they left town, still everything else was top notch. It was a pretty place to watch a ballgame and is probably one of my top 5 parks period.

Update 2016: In the end, the Chihuahuas, as they're now known, got a shiny new ballpark in El Paso, Texas. PGE Park is now Jeld-Wen Field and home to Major League Soccer's Portland Timbers, who won the 2015 MLS Cup. There is a whole new stand across the former outfield, plus a grass field. Both the franchise and city seem better off without one another.

I have had to seriously revise the rating here though from a 10, down to an 8. While there's no doubt in my mind of PGE being a good ballpark, the atmosphere was lacking, as only 4,000 in a stadium like that seemed empty. The only other person in my section left very early. I also didn't eat here, my fault, but I don't give out the food point if I didn't. It's still too bad things didn't work out, but at least with Hillsboro's new park, there's an option for local fans.

Linescore:
2009-08-26
                                          123     456     789  10   RHE
Tacoma Rainiers(SEA)         000     001     000   1    250
Portland Beavers(SD)           001     000     000   0   160
Temp:81F   Time: 2:57  Att: 4,052

Hillsboro Ballpark

Hillsboro Hops, Northwest League

7/10

             The ballpark has a pretty basic exterior. On the left, you can see the football grandstand.

The Eugene Emeralds' hitter, clad in his tie-dyed jersey, tries his luck at the bat.

A pretty decent crowd on one of the last nights of the season.

I got to see the Hillsboro Ballpark in its first year in 2013 as the 2nd stop of my ballparking trip for the year. I took the scenic route down from Tacoma, enjoying some great views on the Oregon coast before making the trip inland to Hillsboro, a western suburb around a 20 minute drive west of downtown Portland. I arrived to find the newly minted Hillsboro Hops, the Arizona Short-Season A affiliate battling the Eugene Emeralds, the Padres' team, with the Hops attempting to reel in the Boise Hawks for the division flag. Not every fan was aware of the pennant race, but those that were very interested in the game, which was fun to be around for.

The Portland area had been without pro baseball after the Beavers moved away following the 2010 season. The Yakima Bears were dissatisfied with Yakima County Stadium, as well as the state of the local economy. Combine that with Portland being the biggest market for the NWL without a team, and the local government in Yakima not budging on renovations and the writing was on the wall. A proposal in Vancouver(the other Vancouver) just across the state line from Portland fell through, so the Hillsboro group made their play and got the job done, pro baseball is back the Portland area.

The park was built on a pre-existing rec complex, attached to a 7,600 seat football stadium, Hillsboro Stadium. It works out that the ballpark and football stadium share a concourse, on the third base side. You can see the football stadium clearly in the photos I've posted. Because of this, things like parking and access routes have already been figured out, so there weren't any headaches here. The concessions have numerous offerings, including local beers and there are more than a few of them, on the third base side, they're shared with the football stadium.  The atmosphere was enjoyable in general, nothing too overbearing, but nothing particularly unique either.

Hillsboro has a very sleek, clean looking park, with ample concessions, but there are a few issues that arose. First of all, the main entrance is just offset from the third base side and shared used with the football stadium. This means most fans head in this way. The only way to the seats on the first base side is to walk past the entrances to the suites, on a relatively narrow concourse. I got out of there prior to the game ending, but could see it being a chokepoint. As well, I watched the last inning from the third base side, to facilitate a speedy getaway.

Not.

So.

Fast.

Security gave us the stop sign going down the stairs, so we all waited. Out a side door the vanquished Eugene Emeralds had to walk right in front of us, to go down a path to the football stadium, to access the visitors clubhouse. I don't know if this wasn't planned, or if a tunnel for the visitors isn't ready yet, but awkward doesn't even begin to describe this. About 500 people or so had built up by the time the team was walking out and one fan broke the silence: "Well, thanks for comin'" After the team was gone, we filed out. It sticks out as probably the single worst logistical error at a ballgame I've ever come across. After an ugly game, it has the potential to turn into an ugly scene. I really hope it gets fixed.

Anyhow, besides that, Hillsboro has turf. Fair enough, most places seem to these days, but Hillsboro has A LOT. Including two different colours between the infield and outfield(this is supposedly an error by the company that installed it, which they are fixing for free during the offseason) as well as something else I've never seen before: turf base paths. Combine this with a few hours of rain before the game and sliding became an interesting proposition. I'm hardly a physics expert, but as I saw, it's pretty difficult to stop while sliding on wet turf. A torrent of water came up every time and even the slowest minor leaguer looked like Robbie Alomar doing a headfirst slide. The Hops' players seemed to know their park and were hooking at least one foot every time, or sliding right at the base, while a few Eugene players literally slid into the base coaches box, having to scramble to avoid a close play. I realize the Pacific Northwest is hard place to keep grass serviceable(I grew up in BC after all), but maybe dirt base paths aren't a lot to ask for at a pro game? I'd hate to see a bad injury or something...

Overall, don't get me wrong, I liked this park and it's a noticeable improvement for the club when compared to Yakima. I'm also glad Portland has a pro ball club right next door after losing the Beavers THREE TIMES. This looks like a good home for the team, and hopefully with time, it'll get a bit of a personality and some of the more obvious issues(as little as they probably matter in the long haul) will get ironed out. I'd be open to going back in a few years to see how things are coming along. For now, it's a 7/10.

Update 2016: Not much else to add here. The ballpark is now Ron Tonkin Field, named after a dozen or so car dealerships in the northwestern part of the state of Oregon. The Hops have won the NWL flag the last two seasons and are 3rd in attendance, only drawing behind Spokane and Vancouver. They have about twice as many fans on average as they did in Yakima. I would consider a return trip, but if I had a choice, my review in Salem needs to get touched up first.

Linescore
2009-08-29
                                        123    456   789    R H E
Eugene Emeralds(SD)        000   002    000    2 7 0
Hillsboro Hops(ARI)            004   301    01x   9 11 0
Temp:72F    Time: 2:59   Att: 4,535