Cheney Stadium

Tacoma Rainiers, Pacific Coast League

7/10

       2013: The façade is totally redone. From the outside, it doesn't even look like the same place.

                                      

2007: The relatively more modest exterior of Cheney.

                                    

2007: The outfield wall is wooden, with large ads, the scoreboard is a simple electronic line score with a message board. They moved this thing out to right field.

 2013: The outfield wall is completely transformed.  There is an LED messageboard over the power alley, plus a full colour video screen.

                                       

2013: This is the biggest change by far.The two story plus building featuring the "Suites and Clubs" as per the exterior signage.

  2007: While not the greatest shot, this gives a bit of an impression as to the way the grandstand used to be laid out.

I have been looking forward to writing this one. I have been to Cheney Stadium twice, once in 2007  and a second time in 2013, after the park had undergone extensive renovations.

I went to Cheney Stadium for a midweek game against the Portland Beavers in 2007, after seeing the Mariners play the Red Sox the previous two nights. I went again in 2013, making it my first stop after a visit to my hometown of Victoria and saw the Rainiers play the Salt Lake Bees.

In 2007, I wasn't doing ballparking trips or anything quite like it, so I wasn't "reviewing" it per se. The stadium appeared to be a largely average minor league ballpark and reminded me a bit of Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver, as that's about all I had to compare it to. The atmosphere was low key, as the Mariners were at home to the Yankees that night as well. The main quirk was Rhubarb the Reindeer(get it?) the mascot, who apparently had a background in ballet, and challenged an "umpire" to a dance off. Cheney Stadium in 2007 simply came across as a decent place to watch some pretty high level baseball for not much money and that was fine with me.

In 2013, I returned, eager to see what the renovations had turned Cheney into. It is a much different place. Firstly, the park's grandstand is larger, with a building of suites at the back that was two stories tall. Secondly, and this is a big plus for me, the concessions were of Major League quality, with me enjoying a bread bowl of Ivar's clam chowder.(Ivar's is outstanding fast seafood, track one down if you're in Seattle).

On the whole, while the park likely did need renovations and the lease will keep the Rainiers in the park until 2041, I found the post-renovations atmosphere to be a little more obnoxious. The team is clearly gravitating towards the trend of having AAA teams in wealthier suburbs, as opposed to mid-sized cities and with all the amenities that weren't there before are definitely targeting suburban families with disposable income, as opposed to putting on a good baseball product and hoping for a good crowd. Fans have apparently let out a collective yawn, as the team's attendance is virtually unchanged from before, 2nd last in the PCL, ahead of only the temporary Tucson franchise. Still, the renovations headed off any talk of a move, as opposed to letting things drag out. I gave the park a 7 in 2007 saying it was average and would also give it a 7 in 2013, with the plus of great concessions cancelling out the negative of a somewhat obnoxious atmosphere.

Update 2016: I disagreed with my own review until the end. 7/10 is still applicable. There have been only a few minor changes here. Firstly, the Rainiers finally abandoned the Mariner colour scheme and have reverted to red and white, which is more consistent with the old Seattle Rainier uniform. Secondly, the team has made modest (like a few hundred) gains in attendance. Probably won't be back here anytime soon, unless I have no other option.

Update 2026: I haven't been back here yet. But next trip south it could easily factor in. The Rainiers, as a condition of the massive renovation are locked in here until 2041. The natural affiliate is Seattle, so it looks like the status quo here for a long time to come. 

Linescores 
2007-06-27
                                        123   456   789    R H E
Portland Beavers(SD)         007   000   000    7 12 1
Tacoma Rainiers(SEA)       000   200   001    3  7  1
Temp: 72F  Time: 2:37  Att: 4,144



2013-08-28
                                        123     456    789  10  11 12  13  R H E
Salt Lake Bees(LAA)         002     030    100   0   0   0    2    8 12 1
Tacoma Rainiers(SEA)       004    101    000    0   0   0    0    6 13 2
Temp: 77F  Time: 5:07  Att: 6,218

Yakima County Stadium

Yakima County Stadium

Yakima Valley Pippins, West Coast League

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 though 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.

Update 2026: Well it's only been 10 years....it's been just under 19 since we went here. The Pippins, according to the stadium's Wikipedia page, have actually renovated the ballpark somewhat. Even in the West Coast League, there's easily 6 stadiums off the top of my head that I'd rather go see for the first time than come back here. Still, schedules being what they are, you never know.

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

Gesa Stadium

Tri-City Dust Devils (Northwest League)

7/10

This place does have a relatively bland exterior.

The main redeeming quality of the stadium itself is that it faces south, allowing a view of the surrounding hills.

Still, that southern orientation meant that this massive sunshade had to be built to block the setting sun from baking the seating area. It works well.

I first swung through here as part of my 2nd 3-day NWL loop in 2008. It was a near 100 degree night as the Dust Devils took on the Everett Aquasox. My pictures from this night are all bad, so my pictures of a game in 2015 against the Spokane Indians are featured.

The 2008 game saw hot temperatures in the middle of July and Everett pound Tri-City mercilessly. The Dust Devils, then a Colorado affiliate, fielded a young Charlie Blackmon, who would eventually become their starter in center field. In 2015, I arrived mid-afternoon from Boise which gave me enough time to go for a pre-game run along the Columbia River in Richland. It ended up being a cold, windy night, with scattered showers, emphasizing that September had indeed arrived.

This place is located in Pasco, in a (still) developing area right off of I-182, in the middle of a large parking lot that is mostly used for a large youth sports complex. It was built in the mid 90's, to lure minor-league baseball back to the area. They ended up with a team in the independent Western league for 6 seasons, then took on the Portland Rockies NWL franchise when the PCL Beavers moved back to Portland for their third tenancy.

It is a very basic layout however, almost a little too basic. Lots of concrete and lots of aluminum. Not quite as bad as Yakima, but in a similar vein. It is certainly adequate for this level of baseball, but is nothing remarkable either, I actually took a point off for the stadium, my old review of this park was 6/10. The saving grace are the concessions, as the team has a few independent food stands on the concourse. I ended up getting a burrito which was not too bad.

The staples were cheap as it was a discount night(on a Friday no less). I ended up giving the concessions the thumbs up, pulling this one up to a 7/10, making it one of 3 places where this happened on my last few days in the Northwest.

This place is hardly a must, but it's more or less your only option in the Southeast of the state, so to be shy to catch a game(or two) here either. 7/10

Update 2020: I have not been back to this park since 2015, but have been through the area a few times. The Dust Devils are one of two teams apparently on the chopping block in the NWL( Salem-Keizer is the other), as MiLB's re-organization would bring the NWL down to 6 teams. I'm certainly pulling for every team, including this one, but it appears quite a few teams will be out when all is said and done.


Linescores
2008-07-13
                                               123    456    789    R H E
Everett Aquasox(SEA)               000   201    014    8 10 1
Tri-City Dust Devils(COL)           000   000    000    0   7  2
Temp: 96F  Time: 3:00  Att: 1,550

2015-09-04
                                             123     456    789    R H E
Spokane Indians(TEX)             000     000    000    0 3  2
Tri-City Dust Devils(SD)           203    001    20x     8 11  1

Temp: 68F Time: 2:34 Att: 2,570

Kingdome

Demolished

6/10

The good news is that I do have, buried somewhere, photos from inside the Kingdome. The bad news, is that I have little clue as to where they are. Such is the problem of printed photos.

This stadium was supposed to be built in time for the Seattle Pilots' first season. However, the Kansas City expansion team was eager to get into the league ASAP, to replace the Athletics franchise that had moved to Oakland, so Seattle's entry into the league was moved up, before the "King County Domed Stadium" could even be financed. So the Pilots played 1 season at the aging Sick's Stadium, before moving to Milwaukee. Still, it would not be long before 1977 saw the Mariners start up at the Kingdome.

We came here for the first time in 1996 to watch the Mariners and the Yankees under the dome. I was looking forward to watching former Blue Jay Jimmy Key, who then promptly left the game in the first inning after being hit with a comebacker. We saw the Mariners play the Red Sox the next year and that was it. I have only my 12 year old memory to go on, so here it is.

The area around where the dome was isn't a whole lot different than it is now. Some bars/pubs and Pioneer Square was close by. Seattle was a bit of a grittier city then, as the Microsoft boom hadn't come into full swing yet.

The dome itself was very dark. The wall in right field "Walla Walla" was about double height compared to the rest of the stadium. Ken Griffey Jr. can attest to the fact that this was a hitter's park to the extreme. I remember very little about coming here, other than the fact that the concourses would get very busy after games. Still, this was my 2nd MLB park ever and my last new one for about 6 years.

The Mariners were in a vulnerable spot again in the mid-90s, playing in an aging Kingdome, before Edgar Martinez's game winning hit in the division series against the Yankees all but guaranteed the construction of Safeco Field. The site of the former dome is now occupied by CenturyLink Field, home of the NFL Seahawks and MLS Sounders.

Update 2017: This place is still gone, but I did manage to locate the one linescore from here, the game against the Yankees where I remember Key being the starter. I don't remember the Boston games clearly, but I do remember them being at least the season after. They were likely in 1997, but maybe 1998 as well. I'll have to find a ticket stub or something to figure it out for sure.  

Linescores
1996-08-26
                            123  456  789   RHE
New York(AL)         000  000  100  150
Seattle                   000  100  010  290
Time: 2:59  Temp: 68F Att: 32,857

Safeco Field

Seattle Mariners, American League

10/10

Seattle's finest keep an eye on the crowd leaving out the left field gate after a game against the Jays in 2010.

            

Finally got a decent, centered shot facing out here in 2015.

The shot with the roof closed is also centered now.

Me and Safeco Field go back a long way. This was my third Major League park, after the then-Skydome and Kingdome. I remember watching the first ever game here against the Padres in 1999 on a summer road trip, on television. Before long, we were down here, seeing amongst other teams, the Blue Jays, Royals, Devil Rays, Red Sox and Blue Jays again. Each time was for two games, for a total of 10, making it my most attended park at any level. So I know this one best of all. It is one of my absolute favourites, no doubt about it.

But where to even start? Firstly, Safeco is a retro-modern park and it does quite well. The main entrance is apparently inspired by Ebbets Field, but I mostly used the outfield entrances, which are adorned with banners of the biggest names on the team and feature some decent art installations of key moments in club history. The upper concourse features banners dedicated to many different baseballers, many who never played for the Mariners, including some Negro Leaguers and a few NPB players.

Some of the other quirks of Safeco include a hand-operated scoreboard in Left Field, the standings of all three divisions of the AL via flags in left field and the retractable roof, which comes in handy the first few months of the season, although it doesn't help with the temperature. The park is located in the "SoDo" or SOuth of the DOme district, as Safeco was built next door to the Kingdome, with the team moving over in the middle of the 1999 season. Qwest Field was built on the Kingdome site. The area is dotted with pubs and is only a few blocks from Pioneer Square.

The atmosphere in Seattle is in the top tier of the MLB parks I've been to to date. Mariner fans love their team and while there aren't as many of them coming out in recent years, they loyally supported sub-par teams for a long time before finally deciding to stay away(except when King Felix is pitching). Still, Mariner fans seem on the whole to be quite knowledgeable and while they cheer, they keep it clean and games with lots of opposing fans(the bigger clubs and the Blue Jays draw here) they are more of the "thanks for coming" type as opposed to something more sinister.

So many visits here means I know the food quite well. Besides standard ballpark fare, the Mariners have incorporated numerous local options into the menu. Firstly, Kidd Valley hamburgers make a nice gourmet burger and a great milkshake. Secondly, Ivar's seafood(deep-fried seafood, but still..) is another local treat. Thirdly, there is the "Red Hook". Red Hook make a few different kinds of beer now but "A Red Hook" gets you a nice India Pale Ale. Lastly, I almost forgot to mention the Garlic Fries. They could easily be the most popular thing in the park. By the late innings, you will smell garlic.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoy this park every time I go and if you are a serious ballparking type, you need to budget a few games here. If you're in town and looking for a good night out, head over if you can.

Update 2016: I have now seen 11 games here and will be upping that to 14 next month when I swing through for a three game set versus the Blue Jays. There are some interesting food choices in the center field concourse that I only remember being new, not much about them. I will head out there for sure when I go back.

Linescores

2000-07-27
                      123   456  789  R H E
Toronto              100  000 501  7 16 0
Seattle             000  020  000  2 7  1
Temp: 75F   Time: 3:26  Att: 40,398



2000-07-28          
                       123   456  789  RHE
Toronto              004  000  000  461
Seattle              021  300  10x  790
Temp: 70F  Time: 3:11   Att: 37,126

2003-08-26
                       123    456  789    R H E
Tampa Bay       300    000  000   3 7 0     
Seattle             000     040  50x  9 12 0
Temp: 72F   Time: 2:58  Att: 43,287

2003-08-27
                       123    456  789    R H E
Tampa Bay        021  020  021   8 11 2
Seattle               000   030  010   4 5  1
Temp: 73F   Time: 2:58   Att:  42,442

2004-08-26
                        123  456   789   R  H E
Kansas City        400  002   100   7 11 0
Seattle              100  001  001   3  8  3
Temp: 70F   Time:  3:08  Att:  30,962

2004-08-27
                       123  456    789   R  H  E
Kansas City       001  030  010   5  9  0
Seattle             000  031  03x  7 14 1
Temp: 66F  Time: 2:30  Att: 35,690


2007-06-25
               123   456  789  R H  E
Boston      002  000 002  4  8  1
Seattle       010  050 30x  9 10 1
Temp: 65F  Time: 3:21   Att: 33,830
        
2007-06-26
                 123   456  789  R  H  E
Boston     101  022  010  7 14 1
Seattle      310  022  00x  8 12 1
Temp: 73F  Time: 3:25  Att: 35,045

2010-05-19


               123   456   789  R H E
Toronto     001  200  000    3 6 1
Seattle     000  000  200   2  10 1
Temp: 57F  Time: 2:36 Att: 19,208

2010-05-20
               123   456  789  RHE
Toronto     000  020  100  350
Seattle     001  000  003  480
Temp: 52F  Time: 2:35  Att: 20,452

2015-07-26
               123   456  789  10 R H E
Toronto      130  000 100   0  5 9 1
Seattle      102  000 200   1  6 13 1
Temp:66F  Time: 3:05  Att: 35,159

Avista Stadium

Spokane Indians, Northwest League

10/10

A nice summer evening sees Spokane host Yakima. This is the only picture from my original trip deemed worthy of staying.

The exterior before the first Saturday home game of the season vs. Eugene.

A great crowd was on hand considering the weather was overcast with occasional showers.

Pre-game vs. Eugene in 2014, you can literally see the moisture.

We attended Avista Stadium in Spokane on night 1 of a 3 game tour of Washington and Oregon, which was my first trip specifically to go to new ballparks. This explains why my pictures were somewhat lacking, and all generally of the same thing. The park is the top draw for attendance in the Northwest League every year. The park may have something to do with it, but Spokane has approximately 650 thousand people in the area surrounding and into Idaho, so there are more than a few people to market the team to.

I don't have many photos of this one and don't remember much about it, so this will be brief(I realized this after and took many more photos of the other two parks, both in Eugene and Yakima). But it is a relatively run of the mill minor-league stadium. There is the mascot a "Spokanasaurus." We were grilled mercilessly by our border guard on the way down, even being told "What you wanna go to Spokane for? I been there. There's nothin' there. Nothin'."

As far as I remember, the park was very average. The game was an eyelash over 5 hours, not wrapping up until around quarter after 11. Writing this, I realize that Spokane may end up on my list for this summer, possibly even as a long weekend road trip. For now, it will be remembered as an average park, with an average score.

Update 2016: I was typing this in early 2014 and mentioned it to my then girlfriend and alluded to needing to go back at some point. She just said "Let's go!" I checked and seeing  it was around 12 or 13 hours from the house, I knew it was possible. So we went down in June 2014 and I am now engaged to the same girl. The next year, on a trip to California, I was looking for an NWL game for night 2. When it was only the all star game, I hoped that it would be in Spokane and sure enough it was, with a new format featuring the Pioneer League all-stars vs. the Northwest.

Having a bit more to work with as far as sample size, I realized this place is great. The stadium was built in the 1950's, but I originally thought it was from the 80's, it's so modern(ish). There's both box seating further back and decent seats closer to the action, if you can get them. I've never had my pick of seats here, it's usually what's left. The smallest crowd in 3 games here was still 4,500, with for Short Season A is really good. This leads into a good atmosphere here, baseball first, random stuff second. Lastly, is the food, with stand names like "Intentional Wok" for a Chinese food booth, you know you're doing ok. While the dollar hot dogs in 2014 had gotten quite cold, I still think the concessions here are good as well and while I can only remember so much about them, the variety of items was some of the best I've seen anywhere. Overall, this place was vastly underappreciated under my old review and a few more visits have put me up to a 10/10. There's not a thing wrong with this park, which is why it's a perennial attendance leader(2nd of 8 in 2015) in the NWL.


Linescores
2007-07-17
                                        123   456    789   R  H  E
Yakima Bears(ARI)             200  120   050   10 13 3
Spokane Indians(TEX)        100   600   100  8   7   7
Temp: 90F  Time: 3:38  Att: 4,518

2014-06-14
                                      123   456    789   R H  E
Eugene Emeralds(SD)      010   000   200   3  9   1
Spokane Indians(TEX)      202  100    00x   5 12 0
Temp: 65F  Time: 2:25  Att: 6,709

2015-08-04
                                                123   456    789  10  R H E
Pioneer League All-Stars            011  001    020   0   5 9  0
Northwest League All-Stars        100  010    021   1    6 10 1
Temp: 88F  Time: 3:28  Att: 7,083

Everett Memorial Stadium

Everett AquaSox, Northwest League

9/10

A wonderful August evening sees the AquaSox battle Eugene.

A relatively modest crowd for the relatively modest park.

How can you not like a hand-operated scoreboard that says"Hit the sign, win a suit" ?

                                

The relatively benign exterior prior to a game in 2014.

I went to Everett Memorial Stadium in 2009, on the first night of my trip to Dodger Stadium. It was more or less just a throw in that fit the schedule that I wanted, but it turned into a little more than that. The game was a late August match featuring the Eugene Emeralds(As of 2014, I've seen this team play 5 times, it's always them!) taking on Everett's entry in the Northwest League, which in 2014, will be marking their 30th season.

The stadium is a pretty straightforward entry owned by the local school board, of all people. There is a large parking lot in the area around the stadium, which is free, if you show up early enough(The Old Yakima Special). The ballpark exterior is relatively plain and the seating area is aluminum and stadium seats, although I thought it looked substantially better than it's counterpart in Yakima. I was around 10 rows back and was right on top of the action. There is a hand-operated scoreboard in the right field alley and a video board in center, just off to the left side. The video board looks substantially better than it's counterpart in Salem and is clearly visible. I didn't sample any food here.

The only thing I didn't like was the mascot, Webley, an anthropomorphic tree frog, who insisted on repeatedly sticking his finger into my ear. Really. What does one do when someone in a tree frog costume keeps pushing the envelope? I ignored him until he went away. Still, I wonder if I wasn't justified in a once in a lifetime act of mascot abuse.

Overall, Everett might just be my favourite NWL park. It's a relatively simple, but clean and modern park, that looks newer than it actually is. It doesn't have much old-style charm, but I don't feel it should, given it was built in the 1980s. The fans seem to love it to, as only league stalwarts Spokane and Vancouver, plus brand-new Hillsboro draw better. I would absolutely consider heading back if I was in the Seattle area without the Mariners in town and would take it over a return visit to Tacoma in a heartbeat. One to put on your list.

Update 2016: Since I typed this back in early 2014, I've been here two more times to see the Frogs play Vancouver and have a pretty good read on it. The park is still a favourite of mine, even if it does feature a great deal of aluminum. The atmosphere is strictly baseball first, considering the saturated baseball market around here. My most recent night was the same day as a Mariner home game, so attendance was limited to locals. I like the food here and would give it a half point, but it's not quite enough to get the 10/10. Still, besides Vancouver, this is my favourite NWL park, I'd go here anytime.


Linescores 

2009-08-25
                                              123   456   789  R H E
Eugene Emeralds(SD)              001   021  000  4 9 0
Everett AquaSox(SEA)             000  101   100  3 12 0
Temp: 67F  Time: 2:18  Att: 1,850  
                                           

2014-08-18
                                                123  456   789  RHE
Vancouver Canadians(TOR)         000   220   020  671
Everett AquaSox(SEA)                010  031   30x   851
Temp: 81F  Time: 2:31   Att: 1,284

2015-07-27
                                                123  456   789  R H E
Vancouver Canadians(TOR)         000   000  000  0 4 0
Everett AquaSox(SEA)                401   010  00x  6 10 0
Temp:69F   Time: 2:10  Att: 1,625