Potter County Memorial Stadium

Vacant

6\10

The outside of the stadium is largely barren, save for a team logo.

The field itself didn't look too bad, but did have some dead spots.

And here it is...you can see plastic bucket seats in front of the roof, followed by wooden bleachers and "Hoot's Pub" at the very very back.

I ended up back in Texas in late August of 2015, waking up early in Albuquerque to nail down the 4 hours on I-40 to Amarillo, Texas. This was the only new park I would have been able to take in from Albuquerque and with the game being a matinee and in the Central Time Zone, I had to get at it early. I drove it all in one shot, and ended up there very early, as I still needed my ticket. Anyway...

This park is a very Jekyll and Hyde kind of place. You simply don't have places like this in affiliated baseball anymore, outside maybe some Appalachian League parks, but that's it. This stadium has been known by several names in the last ten years, including the "Dilla Villa", "Amarillo Bank Sox Park" and "Thunderheads Stadium", reflecting the change from the Dillas, to the Sox, then for 2015, the Thunderheads. The American Association entry in Amarillo had gone by "Sox" for a few seasons, in homage to the Texas League team that moved out of here in 1982, before a summer league team in California threatened legal action for the similar name. I had to buy my tickets at the game, as this is the only team I've come across, of the 75 or so I'd bought tickets from at that point, that didn't have anything set up to buy tickets online. You could buy in person, or charge by phone, that's it.

The ballpark itself is old, built in 1949 and is showing the effects of it's age,with chipping paint and rusty streaks visible throughout the building. It has a ground level concourse with an asphalt floor that is not in view of the field, another large aisle in front that is and an elevated walkway that provides easy access to the higher seats in the stands.  The park got a paint job on the outside to make it brown to match the Sox colours, but hasn't received anything since the Thunderheads name was taken. Two large Sox hats that used to be over the entrance are now lying on the concourse. The urinals are filled with ice before games to keep them from smelling. The park was renovated in the last 5 years, but this was mostly to fix the glaring issues from before, including the backstop being somewhat rotten and numerous bucket seats missing from the lower seating area. The scoreboard is very simple, featuring the count, inning and score. Evidently the previous board had parts stolen from it and the team was unable to order replacements, as it hadn't been paid for. So the team downsized. "Hoot's Pub" is at the back of the concourse and features patio style seating on a platform at the back of the grandstand.  The parks' lack of amenities is so profound, that it's actually passable as "character".

During the game itself, there are numerous other quirks, including every foul ball having (the same) corporate sponsor. A large bell under the grandstand roof is run for every Amarillo home run. At any rate, this was the final home game of the 2015 season, with Amarillo looking to miss the playoffs and their opponents, the Laredo Lemurs, looking good to take the wild card(and eventually the league title). About 1,100 people or so bought tickets, with maybe 750 showing up, Amarillo being last in the league in attendance. The game itself was a wild 17-7 victory for the Lemurs. It took until the bottom of the 4th for either team to be held scoreless and until the 7th for Laredo to put up a zero, hence the Amarillo loss. The game got a little chippy a few innings in when a Laredo batter was struck by a pitch, causing the benches to clear, although little more than harsh words were exchanged. When 2 batters later the same thing happened and an umpire got in between the two clubs and told them, in rather profane terms, exactly where to go, the crowd booed, but disaster was averted. The ball flew in the dry Texas Panhandle Air and a good time was had by all.

The concessions at this park are simple, but very cheap. I ended up with a Hot Dog, Frito Pie a couple of Dr. Peppers and a water for under 15 dollars. There are no vendors, until the later innings, when the unsold food is paraded through the grandstand for about half price including the brine from the pickle jar as "Frozen pickle juice", 25 cents a cup. Easily the weirdest concession item ever(and Boise had Rocky Mountain Oysters...).

Overall, this provided a nice bookend for the night before and the modern park with modern amenities in Albuquerque. This is very raw baseball, there is no bouncy castle, or footlong hot dog, or anything...except a mascot,I'm pretty sure it was a coyote? Anyway, this is the way most minor league parks used to be, before my time. Now, it's a rarity, so grab your 5 dollar general admission ticket, a frito pie and enjoy...

Update 2019: It turned out that the game I saw was the last home date ever for the Thunderheads. The league ended up losing a team for the 2016 season and rather than operate with an odd number, or run a "road team", the American Association honchos decided to merge this team with the one in Grande Prairie, brand it as the "Texas Airhogs" and have them split home games, with a hastily arranged summer league taking up the extra dates. This only lasted 1 season before the Airhogs, according to local media, wouldn't come back, because of the field conditions. The Pecos League, always keen to pick up other league's scraps, went as far as announcing the "Amarillo Lone Stars" and unveiling a logo, but it fell apart somewhere between working out a lease and again, the poor condition of the facility.

In retrospect, I was far, far, too kind to this place, which has raw authenticity by the truckload.....but it's still a dump. The field was not the greatest, the whole place was dirty and poorly maintained, it really should lose a point on facility. The food was cheap, but selection was limited and quality was slightly questionable. The atmosphere....was largely not a thing, as there was hardly anyone there. Those that were were subdued. The revised score is a 6 with a point off for facility and a half point for atmosphere.

The good news, for Amarillo, which I honestly enjoyed visiting, is that the Texas League, which left town after playing at this park in the 1982 season, is somehow coming back, in a brand new park, as the San Antonio franchise, displaced by the incoming AAA team from Colorado Springs, moved here, to become the "Amarillo Sod Poodles". It seems like a solid choice, as the city is big enough to support that level of baseball, just not in this park. I'll hopefully be back to check out the new place soon enough, but this place will be fortunate not to get knocked down.

Linescore
2015-08-30
                                       123   456   789       R H E
Laredo Lemurs              133 162  010          17 17 0
Amarillo Thunderheads 132 000  100         7 14 1
Temp: N/A  Time: 3:16  Att: 1,032

Tuscon Electric Park

Vacant

8/10

10,000 plus for the last D-Back home game at TEP.

This park was an excellent venue for spring training games.

This place was jammed.

I went to my one and likely only game at then Tucson Electric Park in 2010, during Spring Training. The Arizona Diamondbacks played their last game as a full-time tenant here against the Milwaukee Brewers. I dragged my stepfather out here, as he wanted to take me to the Pima County Air Museum and I shoehorned him into going to the game as well. I had to agree to leave early, but a deal was struck.

We arrived early enough, but got stuck in a large line to park, had to buy tickets(military buy 1, get one free, yay!) and got inside in the 2nd inning. Stayed for 5 innings, then left at the end of 7, to beat the crowd.

I thought from a baseball standpoint, the park was well laid out, concessions were good and not very expensive, but we only had some light fare(Ice Cream Sandwiches and perhaps some Beer). It's a relatively straightforward layout with a wraparound concourse, a decent view of some nearby mountains and a 2nd level with some shaded seating.

This stadium is a somewhat cautionary tale. The spring tenants left for Phoenix when that trend continued. The Sidewinders suffered from low attendance, because of Tucson's 100+ degree summers. The AAA Padres were clearly a temporary resident and struggled to draw over 2,500 in their three seasons here. Now, it hosts 4th tier soccer(sometimes) and two or three Cactus league games a season. This was strictly a location issue, as the park itself is new and at the time of its being yanked, was still better than at least 2 of the stadiums in the Phoenix area.

 Overall, this is still a relatively nice park, with the location being the main reason that someone isn't training here. The capacity crowd was a strain on everything, but it was still an enjoyable place to catch a game. Hopefully someone will move back in here soon, but with the Arizona summer being what it is, Spring Training is the only thing that seemed to work.


Update 2018:  I still have not been back here, but since my last review, another tenant has come and gone. The Pecos League put the Tucson Saguaros here and while the team played well, baseball in the summer heat of Tucson just didn't sell to anyone and with sparse crowds, the expense of playing here just wasn't justified. They will move to a city park with a capacity of around 1,000 for this year. The team only played here Thursday-Saturday, with Sunday home games in nearby Bisbee, although this year, Sundays will be in Winslow, 4.5 hours away.  The park is known as Kino Veteran's Stadium again, after the sponsorship deal with Tucson Electric expired.

Pima County, who own the facility, made a push at the end of 2017 to have the Milwaukee Brewers relocate their Spring Training here from Maryvale, after a possible new park in Gilbert, on the east end of Phoenix, fell through. This doesn't appear to have gotten any traction, as the Brewers are reportedly now negotiating a long term lease to stay in Maryvale, which I'm glad to hear about.

I would give this place a point for facility, if only barely, so it remains an 8.

Linescore:
                      123    456    789   RHE
Milwaukee       000    000    100   1XX
Arizona           104    100     21x  9XX

Temp: N/A  Time:  N/A   Att: 10,009 

Foothills Stadium

Vacant

No Rating

The ballpark is fenced off with motion sensitive cameras, so this was about as "inside" as I got.

This is through a chain link fence....

And my best one probably, you can see the melting snow on the ground.

 I took a walk around Foothills Stadium in March of 2016, when I was in Calgary overnight and it was right across the street from my hotel. This place hosted the PCL Calgary Cannons for many years and when I moved to Alberta in 2011, the North American League's Calgary Vipers were playing here. Famous Cannons such as Bret Boone and Alex Rodriguez played here. I casually looked at a few dates, but didn't go. Of course, the end of the 2011 season saw the end of the North American League and most of it's franchises in short order. The Vipers were controlled by what I call a "hobby owner" and unfortunately, he had gotten very sick and needed to step away, leaving the Vipers without really any chance of operating for the year. Calgary was out of the league by the end of September 2011, leaving the Edmonton Capitals a lot more vulnerable, without a travel partner 3 hours down the road.

This place is simply put, well past it's prime it's a mostly wood and metal ballpark with a very high outfield fence that when I visited, wasn't painted. All I can say is that this place has almost certainly seen it's last pro game, as it's not even the nicest park in the area anymore, as the summer league Okotoks Dawgs play in Seaman Stadium just a few miles south of the city limits, which from photographs is around Pioneer League calibre. Still, I would have liked to have gotten a game in here. It serves as a reminder to get to the vulnerable parks sooner rather than later.

Royal Athletic Park

Vacant

6/10

The exterior of the relatively modest park is equally modest.

On this summer night before a home game vs. the Chico Outlaws, the field was in great shape. However, this wasn't always the case.

One of the bigger crowds of the 2010 season watches the home opener against Maui.

I let out a big sigh before I started to write this. Victoria is my hometown, and while it's a hotbed for baseball, it doesn't have a good track record when it comes to most kinds of teams. Victoria had the Northwest League for 3 years in the late 70s/early 80s, then Royal Athletic Park(RAP) saw semi-professional fastball(softball) as the summer tenant for many years. But, in the 2000s, pro baseball came back....for about 5 minutes, as the Canadian Baseball League's Victoria Capitals played for two months before the league folded. I never went to a game in person, as I was working on the east coast at the time, but did see them play a road game against Trois-Rivieres on TV, for one inning, before it was rained out. The Capitals did poorly on the field, finishing the short season in last, but had the best attendance in the league, averaging 1,700 a game.

After a 1 year run in summer league baseball(I went to the opening game and never went back), Victoria was awarded a franchise in the Golden Baseball League in 2009. The Seals, as they branded themselves, would play home games at RAP. I went to a getaway game against the Yuma Scorpions my only time that season, but it just never fit into my schedule and I couldn't be convinced that they'd even be around the next season. But, they finished an entire pro season in Victoria, for the first one in nearly 30 years and that off season, I suddenly became interested.

In 2010, I went to the home opener against Maui, a sparsely attended mid week game against the Orange County Flyers and their apparently potty-mouthed manager, Paul Abbott, Military Appreciation day against the Calgary Vipers, A June game against the bottom-feeding Tijuana Cimarrones, the Canadian debut of the "Knuckle Princess", Eri Yosihda and the Chico Outlaws and my going-away party, against the Tucson Toros. I left for work in August of 2010 and missed the rest of the year. While I was still gone in early December, I got a text from my brother that the Seals had folded.

The park itself is a big rectangle, with an L-shaped grandstand that starts off on the third base side, before meeting a wall where the soccer/football grandstand is. Some kids sat in the soccer stands against Maui and around 500 people were in for the Yoshida game, which drew around 5,000 people.

That's around the time when things came to a head in Victoria. The ownership of the Seals scored a bit of a coup by getting Yoshida to pitch a road game, when the Outlaws came to Victoria for a mid-summer roadtrip. The Seals promoted the game well and drew their largest crowd ever, by a wide margin, even exceeding the number of people that could be comfortably seated for baseball.

Bonus Picture: The seats are jam packed against Chico.

 This is the long side of the L, the short side was full too.

But, the problem that soon emerged was the same problem they'd had all year, the concessions were very slow. The Seals were a tenant of the city at RAP, which meant that concession staff didn't work for the team, which meant staffing levels were set by the city. When the team tried to have the city call in extra staff(whether this was before or during the game I don't know), they refused and lines ended up being nearly 2 innings long for pretty much anything, with items selling completely out.

This was one of a few issues with RAP the Seals had, the other was the condition of the field, namely, the temporary outfield fence. The city insisted that the fence be able to be removed, so the outfield could be used with the rest of the soccer field while the Seals were away. The Seals, wanted something more permanent for the entire season, but removable for the winter.  The pitcher's mound was in such bad shape for a game against Calgary during a rainy May that a relief pitcher for the Seals came out and ended up borrowing the tools of the befuddled grounds crew to fix it himself.

These issues became even more important when the Seals discovered that the Golden League would merge into the North American League the next season and travel costs were likely to go up. Apparently, building their own park in suburban Langford was considered, but never went anywhere and the Seals folded. Their rights were purchased by a group that intended to set up shop in Fort McMurray, Alberta, a rough and tumble oil town of around 75,000 with a brand new rec complex, but that didn't go anywhere, especially with Calgary going broke and Edmonton suspending operations.

Anyway, especially in their last year, the Seals gave RAP the feel of a legit minor league ballpark, which, considering the commissioner of Minor League Baseball once reportedly said it would be one of the three worst facilities in the whole of MiLB if the Portland Rockies moved there, says a lot(The Rockies became the Tri-City Dust Devils, more on them later). The food, if you could get some, wasn't bad, as a local sports bar had a BBQ pit on the third base side, which wasn't well advertised. The beer was fantastic local microbrews. The park looks old and dingy. There isn't one stadium seat in the entire place, but the atmosphere was electric and almost always about baseball, which is like a precious gem these days. Casual sports fans in Victoria don't go to baseball games, but baseball people do. The park is quite old and I would have hoped if the Seals could have strung together a few good years, a baseball-specific stadium would have been built. Sadly, they are gone and with Independent level baseball well and truly dead in the Northwest, it looks like Victoria's last pro ballclub.

But, there is some relief, as the Victoria HarbourCats of the summer league West Coast League, just finished their first season, hosting the WCL all star game and finishing 2nd in attendance averaging around 1,400, which for summer league isn't bad at all. Still, memories of summer nights at RAP in 2010 will always be amongst my most precious in baseball.

Update 2016: The HarbourCats continue to draw well, averaging 1,900 this past season, best in the WCL. This is still around a thousand less than the 2,957 the Seals drew in 2010. This is ahead of 4 teams in the NWL for 2015, with 45 home dates compared to 38. Victoria would be a great market for the NWL, minus the travel and the unsuitable ballpark. 

This place must be rescored, a little more realistically. Firstly, the facility is inadequate for any level of professional baseball. The fence isn't permanent, there weren't any actual seats anywhere(there might be now) and it's mostly wood and concrete. The concessions, while having some good options, suffered from a reputation for slow/poor service, as even a crowd of 3,500 led to long lines. The atmosphere here was great though, people in town are big on baseball and it showed when you went here. I give it a point for atmosphere, but take a point for facility and food, leaving a 6 as the new(and likely more accurate) score.

The team ended up leaving not just because of the concession issue, but because they simply didn't make enough money, as the city took most of the revenues generated and with a 1.2 million dollar budget, the team simply didn't come close to breaking even. Hopefully, someday somehow, the region gets a better facility with a better business model. Until then, the Cats will continue to draw well.

Linescores

2009-07-09

                            123    456    789   R H E

Yuma Scorpions    101   012    101     7 13 0

Victoria Seals        020   000    010    3 5 1

Temp: 19C  Time: 2:38  Att: 2,846 

2010-05-21

                                    123   456     789    RHE

Maui Na Koa Ikaika        001  001    000    271  

Victoria Seals                012  101    00x    592

Temp:13 C  Time:  3:02  Att: 3,521

Temp is Afternoon High

2010-05-27

                                            123   456   789    R H E

Orange County Flyers             000  400   101   6  13  4

Victoria Seals                        301  000    310    8 7 4

Temp: 14C  Time: 3:25  Att: 1,157

Temp is Afternoon High 

2010-06-08

                           123    456   789    RHE

Calgary Vipers      011   110   101     6 10 2

Victoria Seals       000   101   001     3 6 2

Temp: 15C  Time: N/A Att: 2,537

2010-07-02

                                     123    4  5  6  789      R H E

Tijuana Cimarrones          100   0  0  0   000      1 8 1

Victoria Seals                  000   0 11 0   100     12 11 0 

Temp: 17C Time:  3:48   Att: 4,310

Temp is Afternoon High

2010-07-29

                            123    456   789   R  H  E

Chico Outlaws        210   021   000   6   10  1   

Victoria Seals         063   100   020   12  6  2

Temp: 18C   Time: N/A  Att: 4,763

Temp is Afternoon High

2010-08-06 

                           123   456   789   R H E

Tucson Toros        000   023    201  8 13 2

Victoria Seals       001   000    020  3 6  2 

Temp: 16C  Time: 3:07  Att: 1,623

Temp is Afternoon High

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

Telus Field

Vacant

6/10

The park actually has a relatively pleasant, redbrick exterior.

Then you get inside....with the turf infield and grass outfield. A sunny June afternoon saw the Edmonton Capitals play the Lake County Fielders.

                                

Here you can see the unusual configuration of the field, seats on top, suites on the bottom.

We went here for two games(I think in 1998 or 99) to watch the Edmonton Trappers play the Vancouver Canadians during Vancouver's final year in Triple A when we went on a Vacation to Edmonton. The Trappers were either an A's or Angel affiliate at the time. The field was a still unique to me with the combination of a grass outfield and a turf infield. Not too sure why. Attendance was higher the second game, because Chubby Checker had a post-game concert. That’s right, the King of the Twist, reduced to AAA post-game entertainment, plus fireworks.

Eventually, the Trappers moved away, after getting a few more years than Calgary, thanks to building this new park. They were replaced by an independent team in the Northern League, the Edmonton Cracker Cats. The 'Cats moved to the Golden League after 4 seasons and after one there, became the Capitals under new ownership. After two more seasons in the GBL, the Capitals took to the field with their new counterparts from the remnants of the Northern League and the United League for the North American League's first and subsequently only season.

I went back in 2011, with Edmonton now the closest park to my house. The Capitals were in the first month of the inaugural North American League season and playing the Lake County Fielders. The park is a very nice facility, with a brick façade and roomy concourse, it’s a legitimate minor-league park. They STILL had the turf infield with actual outfield which is a bit ugly. I would go back to see the Capitals play the Chico Outlaws, the Yuma Scorpions twice(even seeing an aged Jose Canseco whiff going for a homerun), the Calgary Vipers, then the Rio Grande Valley Whitewings for the NAL flag. That series was played entirely in Edmonton with the Whitewings having to borrow players from the San Angelo team they'd just knocked out. This was necessary because many of their Central American players were refused entry visas into Canada. 

Edmonton won in 5 games and never played again, as the entire league slowly withered away over the summer, leaving only just 4 teams lined up for the 2012 season. The Capital's owners, the group that owns the Edmonton Oilers hockey team, elected for a yearlong hiatus, to try and find a new league. As of 2016, that hiatus is ongoing, leading most to consider the team defunct. A big handicap is the lack of progress in Calgary, which most consider essential to having baseball here, as it allowed teams based in the US to rack up 8 or so games with one border crossing.
 
Telus Field hosted the Women's World Baseball Championships in 2012, which drew some large crowds for certain games, but has as the primary tenant, the Edmonton Prospects, a summer league team that averages a few hundred people, but boosts the totals with a few days they almost sell out. The Prospects have been relatively poor in the last few seasons, but have shown slight improvement. I went to a game in 2013, but didn't enjoy it and left early. Apparently the players only enjoyed it so much as towards the end of the 2013 season, the manager and numerous players walked off the team, in protest of how it was run. Their prime example? Not ponying up for a hotel in a city 4 hours away, leading to the team busing back and forth, some late nights and poor results. The team seems a little better run now and went from a .200 record to .450, partially because of bringing on the Capitals old manager. I might be convinced to go back this year.

The city of Edmonton, which owns the field was reportedly considering knocking it down in 2014, to redevelop the entire neighbourhood it's in. This idea got shut down, with the wood bat league continuing to operate.

Telus itself isn't too bad of a park, it was built in the mid 1990s with the hope of keeping the Trappers around, which sort of worked, they played 9 seasons there, before moving to Round Rock, Texas to become the Express. It's a nice looking park on the way in and on the concourse for sure. Concessions are straightforward, but what's there is good and lines are usually short. The atmosphere was quiet when the Capitals were there and for the Prospects, it's limited to friends and relatives most nights. The choice of having the suites on the bottom meant that the whole seating bowl got lifted up, so sight lines aren't as good as they could be. I would take a point off for the stadium because of this, plus the field consisting of a turf/dirt split with the turf looking rock hard. Atmosphere was a half point off as well.

I previously gave Edmonton a 6.5, but I've since bailed on half-points. Is it closer to a 6, or a 7? I'd say 6. It's built where the previous ballpark was, with parking being in a grassy field and not being within a walk of much besides the river valley, there isn't much to do in the area before or after a game. Location is the biggest knock in my opinion. Still, with Edmonton being my home for awhile, I certainly hope the Oil City can lure an Indy league team back soon, but I know I'm hoping for an awful lot.


Update 2016: 2016 brought a deal where the Prospects agreed to operate the park themselves for two years. The city itself seems to have accepted that professional baseball of any kind is no longer viable in Edmonton, largely because of it's location. I left the rating at a 6.

Linescores:

Notes: I cannot find all the games I went to. I had two AAA games here in the late 90's but not much more info. Just looking at the limited players I remember, I think the AAA games here may have been in 1998, or possibly earlier. I may have a program around the house somewhere, it will linger as an unsolved mystery on the blog.

2011-06-11
                                    123    456   789   R H E
Lake County Fielders     002   000   020    4 4 1  
Edmonton Capitals         020  121   02x    8 10 3
Temp: 19C  Time: 2:31  Att: 1,311

 2011-07-23
                                   123    456    789   RHE
Chico Outlaws              001   000     000  180
Edmonton Capitals        023   000     000  552
Temp: 15C   Time: 2:36  Att: 1,373

2011-08-12
                                    123    456   789    R H E
Yuma Scorpions             013   011   100    7 13 0
Edmonton Capitals         021   001  202     8 15 1
Temp: 23C  Time: 3:32  Att: 4,155

2011-08-16                      123    456   789    R H E
Yuma Scorpions             302   402    000    11 17 2
Edmonton Capitals        351   210    11x     14 19 0
Temp: 21C   Time: 3:30  Att: 1,736
Temperature is afternoon high, gametime temp not available

2011-08-25
                                    123    456   789    R H E
Calgary Vipers               100   000   102     4 8 0         
Edmonton Capitals         022    043   00x    11 15 0

Temp: 19c  Time: 2:46  Att: 3,932

2011-09-08
                                                      123    456   789    R H E
Rio Grande Valley Whitewings          000     010   000    1 7 1     
Edmonton Capitals                           101     130   10x   7 12 1
Temp: 29C    Time: 2:50  Att: 3,083

Yakima County Stadium

Yakima County Stadium

Vacant

5/10

The Stadium's Exterior was very plain.

 The stands were built on top of the clubhouse, meaning that sightlines could be very poor, especially towards the back. There was however, an excellent view of the rolling hills outside of the park.

Boomer the Bear works the crowd. Unbeknownst to him, his career would end 5 years later, his faithful service forgotten.

This is as good a place as any to start, because it's the namesake of the blog. Boomer the Bear was the mascot of the Yakima Bears of the Northwest League, who, after the 2012 season, moved to Oregon. Boomer the Bear was a good mascot, he tried hard, he minded his own business and like so many others in baseball, the game left him after a few short years. All that are left for him are memories.

I went to my one and only game at Yakima County Stadium in 2007, as part of a 3 game loop of the Northwest League. The Bears, who we had seen two nights before in Spokane, played the Eugene Emeralds, who we had seen the previous night in Eugene. I had read poor reviews of it prior to going and wasn't able to find much to the contrary. It was honestly, nothing too special. The stands were blue plastic seats and aluminum. Sightlines, as mentioned, could be very bad. The atmosphere was not the best, as at a lot of other poor parks, the game was a secondary attraction. Without a lot of options, the game was about the only thing going on. Still, the little things that make the game such a pleasure to watch were in full effect. We made fun of a pitcher's stretch, the incredibly hot day gave way to a hot, windless night and..there was baseball. Future major leaguer Josh Collmenter was a member of the Bears I cannot remember if he played.

The Bears had moved to Yakima in 1990 and moved into Yakima County Stadium in 1993. Only 19 years later, the Stadium was no longer adequate for the team's liking. Attendance was suffering and the worst of all for a Minor League team, the grass appeared to be much greener elsewhere, namely, in Portland, where there hadn't been professional baseball for two years after the Beavers moved away. Eventually, the Portland suburb of Hillsboro was selected, a brand new park was built and the Yakima Bears moved to become the Hillsboro Hops. Yakima County Stadium will host a team in the summer collegiate West Coast League in 2014, perhaps retaining the Bear nickname and perhaps, giving Boomer the Bear's life meaning again.


UPDATE: Yakima's WCL team will be known as the "Yakima Valley Pippins.

Update 2016: While the Bears are gone, the Pippins are drawing only slightly worse. The Bears drew in the around 1,600 a game in their last year and the Pippins draw around 1,400, good for 3rd in that league. While some people have clearly abandoned the seemingly lower brand of baseball, most have not and the stadium at least gets some use if nothing else.

With the new ratings system, the score is still the same, the somewhat tacky, baseball last atmosphere took a point, off, as did the stadium itself, for being entirely too much aluminum and the seating being on top of the clubhouses. Without major renos, this park will not be getting back into affiliated baseball, but for a summer league park, it's entirely adequate.

Linescore
2007-07-18

                                      123   456   789  R H  E

Eugene Emeralds(SD)      402   000   100  7  7  1

Yakima Bears(ARI)           211   000   000  4 12 2

Temp: 80F Time: 2:30 Att: 1,941

Olympic Stadium

Vacant

On my tour of Olympic Stadium, they were setting up for a rave.

In 2007, the baseball dugouts were still intact.

The Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes take on the Toronto Argonauts.

Firstly, I won't be rating this place, as I haven't seen baseball here, but I will include it, nonetheless.

I went here twice in 2007, the first was on my first day in the city of Montreal, for a tour. The second was for a Canadian Football game. This place was of course famous for hosting the 1976 Olympic games, in which Canada became the first host nation not to win a gold medal, a feat that would be repeated in 1988 in Calgary, before 2010 in Vancouver saw the streak broken.

The Expos moved in shortly thereafter and after having an amazing season stopped in its tracks in 1994, attendance began to drop sharply, from 25 thousand in 1994, to just over 10 thousand in 2000, to the team moving to Washington for 2005. This dome is cavernous, the concourse is dark and the seating is quite confusing. I got directed all over the place by various ushers. I didn't eat anything here, as nothing looked any good...

The stadium gets very limited use without the Expos, as the Montreal Impact use it for the first few home games of the year, and matches where big crowds are expected and the Montreal Alouettes use it for their last home game and playoff games. It is hard to believe that baseball lasted as long as it did here. Still, the Toronto Blue Jays have taken to hosting a pair of exhibition games here the last two seasons and all 4 have been sellouts. The mayor is very vocal of his support for baseball, and has met with the commissioner to discuss this. A new ballpark will be a near requirement. Will Montreal get baseball back, or will the Expos be the only chance? One thing is for sure, besides exhibitions, this stadium has to have seen it's last MLB game.