Coors Field

Colorado Rockies, National League

8/10

Another park with a circular rotunda for a front door, plus a redbrick facade.

Besides the forested bullpens, the right field corner has several restaurants on the upper deck.

The view from behind home plate, with the "rockpile" in center field.

I rolled into Denver in September 2015 as part of my summer loop. It was a Monday night and I drove up from Amarillo, Texas after catching an afternoon game there the previous day. Traffic in and around Denver was not the greatest, but I still showed up about half an hour before the 6:30 start time. The park is just north of Downtown Denver, in the midst of your average upscale entertainment oriented neighbourhood.It is a chip off the Retro-Modern block for sure, but it does have some things that you can only find here.

Firstly, the food here is something else. I opted for the "Jalapeno Elk Brat", which was amazing. There was lots of craft beer here too, despite the sponsor. There are some restaurants on the 3rd level in right field, which looked somewhat expensive. The game featured the Arizona Diamondbacks opening a series with the Rocks. A.J. Pollock took advantage of the thin air hitting a fly ball into the left-field alley that just kept flying. But, things came apart for the D-Backs in the bottom of the 9th, with Brad Ziegler struggling to catch the game winning out, then throwing it away, breaking a streak of something like 25 consecutive save opportunities converted. Arizona went to the bullpen, but their 2nd pitcher of the 9th couldn't stop the Colorado comeback, giving the Rockies a win they had no business getting. You don't really notice the thin air as a spectator, until you walk a lap of the concourse and come up slightly short of breath, which admittedly, was a little worrying.  The most unique architectural feature is the center field bleacher known as "The Rockpile". I found Coors Field to be a nice ballpark and all, but nothing spectacular. It gets an 8 because of it's concessions. I will likely be back sometime soon though.

Update 2019: I managed to get back here when we ended up visiting friends in the Denver area. We headed down very early, owing to Denver's lousy traffic situation and ended up eating at a pub a few blocks from the park, before heading over. This place hasn't changed that much at all, which I'd say is a good thing. The only obvious difference was, for a variety of reasons, that the latest game was much better attended.  This is hardly a bad ballpark, but I feel like if I charted out all the MLB parks I'd been to, this would be just into the bottom half. Still, our friends aren't moving anytime soon, so I can see us ending up here again, maybe even this summer.

2015-08-31
                      123   456   789  R H E
Arizona            003   010  000   4 11 2
Colorado          001  000   004   5  11 0
Temp: 68F  Time: 3:30  Att: 21,386



2018-09-12
                        123   456   789  R H E
Arizona               012  100  000  4 4 0
Colorado             002  010  002   5 13 0
Temp: 91F  Time: 3:07  Att: 31,687

First Tennessee Park

Nashville Sounds, Pacific Coast League

9/10

The facade is NOT redbrick, but instead, glass and polished metal.

The park has a great view of the Nashville skyline, plus an LED board in the shape of the old guitar scoreboard.

The park is slowly over capacity on a good night.

I made a long drive from just outside Beloit, to head down to Nashville, for this game against Omaha. Nashville is an old American Association city that moved to the Pacific Coast League. This is a new park as of 2015, built on the site of the old Nashville ballpark, Sulphur Dell. It has two tiers and a wide, wrap around concourse. The atmosphere is a little more consistent with a lower level of baseball, while the park itself presents something a little more "big league".

The concessions are major league calibre in my opinion. I had the Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich, which I liked quite a bit. Overall, I'd give this place a point for food and facility and a half point for the atmosphere. The other noteworthy detail was the city of Nashville, I ended up seeing the area around the ballpark, part of downtown and ended up staying out by the Vanderbilt University campus and was pretty impressed. I ended up back there the following March for a Predators game and have it on the list to visit with the wife soon enough. 

Update 2019: I've finally gotten a review for this one up. This year, the Sounds will be affiliated with the Texas Rangers. 

Linescore
2017-05-25
                                                123    456   789   RHE
Omaha Storm Chasers(KC)         010    230  002   890
Nashville Sounds(OAK)               010    001  200   482
Temp: 74F  Time: 2:52 Att: 10,442

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

Pohlman Field

Beloit Snappers, Midwest League

6/10

The main entrance is pretty unremarkable, this is just inside the fenceline.

A cloudy, damp, overcast day saw the Snappers and Timber Rattlers playing two to make up the night before.

A patio seciton with a grill looks back on the largely empty seating area.

I rolled into Beloit in the late afternoon after seeing an afternoon game in Milwaukee, the first pitch was at 4:30 and I was walking up to the park as the game was starting. The game the previous evening had been rained out, so they played two 7 inning games instead, which meant I was here for the better part of 5 hours. The matchup saw the Beloit Snappers taking on their cross state rivals, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. This park is not new, but is much newer than it looks, having only been built in 1981. Recently, it's been in jeopardy of losing it's team, not only because of the facility, but even the field itself. The Brewers were the parent club for many years, but left for the other franchise in Wisconsin because of the park. Minnesota was next for 8 seasons, but also left when the chance arose. Oakland, a team that constantly seems to get the last minor league city available, ended up here as of 2013 after being in Burlington before that. If the team wasn't community-owned, it almost certainly would have left town by now.

The two 7 inning games were both one run games, with the weather seemingly favouring pitching. A crowd announced at just under 600 may have featured half of that, as people wandered in and out over the course of the twin bill. It was all locals, who seemed to mostly know each other and kept the noise down.  Concession is limited to a small stand under the bleachers and a BBQ area in right field.


As much as I respect a venue and small market like this keeping a team for so long, the ratings just aren't kind. Firstly, the facility is wholly inadequate for full-season affiliated baseball with metal bleachers with a few bucket seats in a smaller grandstand, that on a cool, damp and windy day, offered pretty much no protection from the weather. Concessions were actually a notch better than I'd have expected in a place like this, but nothing too memorable. The atmosphere was flat, with well under a thousand people as announced attendance. The only reason there were as many as there were is because the Wisconsin starting pitcher for Game 2 was a Beloit native.  I ended up taking a point off for the facility and a half for the atmosphere.

There's been a positive development since I went to my games here, as another locally based group of investors has made a proposal to buy the team and build a new park in the centre of town as of September 2018. Hopefully this will be the case and this franchise can get a shot in the arm, instead of be just another team in a smaller city to move on. I'll absolutely come back if there's a new park, but as for this one, I feel like it isn't worth a return trip.



Linescores

2017-05-24
Game 1
                                                        123  456  7   RHE
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (MIL)          000   000  1  150
Beloit Snappers (OAK)                        000   001  1  261
Temp: 58F Time: 2:04 Att: 588

Game 2
                                                        123  456  7   RHE
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (MIL)          022 000  0   460
Beloit Snappers (OAK)                        001  000 2  331
Temp: 58F  Time: 2:04  Att: 588

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 

JetBlue Park at Fenway South

Boston Red Sox, Spring Training

8/10

The crowd files inside just after first pitch.

A nice sized crowd takes in a Friday nighter vs. Baltimore.

A hasty picture from the right field corner and Spring Training '17 is a wrap!

I headed to Fort Myers after a day game in Bradenton, to check out the relatively new Red Sox park in Fort Myers. It was a night game against the Orioles, with a large crowd on hand. I managed to run just a bit behind and didn't make it to my seat until the start of the 2nd inning. This a new park as of 2012, when it replaced an older stadium closer to the centre of Fort Myers. This one is technically just outside the city limits. This, I believe was my most expensive game of the entire trip, but it was also the last. The weather was perfect however, so there was at least that. This is a very large, very ornate park, serving fans from all corners of "Red Sox Nation". It reminds me of some of the newer spring parks in terms of size, like Salt River, but compares the best to Sloan Park, with an iconic team, with a big fan base, playing in a large, new and expensive spring park.

I bought on a resale site and sat next to the guy who had been selling the tickets, who decided to go to the game when the other ticket didn't sell. He was a decent guy and explained how the old spring park, "City of Palms" was in a bit of a dicey neighbourhood. When he and two friends had gone to a Sox game there at some point in the past, they were stopped by police walking home and asked why they were in the area..that bad. The usual problems of bad parking and low capacity versus demand meant this move was likely inevitable.

I somewhat resent this trend of making spring training stupid expensive, but you can't really hate this park. It's impressive, no bones about it. Large concourse, the seating area is nicely spread out and there's a "mini-monster" in left field. Concession was adequate and maybe a little expensive. Atmosphere was a shrug. There were lots of die-hard fans, but lots of highly disinterested casual types, so it was a wash. The only real thing was parking, with ingress being lousy(I arrived at first pitch though, so I deserve a little blame..) and egress being a disaster(a three car collision did not help). All in all, I didn't hate coming here, but there are other parks in the area I'd head for first. 8/10.

Linescore
2017-03-10
                           123    456   789  RHE
Baltimore             000    000   000   061
Boston                300    100   000   450
Temp: N/A   Time: 2:29   Att: 9,957

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