Elks Field

 Brooks Bombers, Western Canadian Baseball League

This is a very no-nonsense, amateur ballpark. For spectators, there isn't much of a gate, or a door.

Large metal posts make it difficult to get a clear shot of the field, but this is about as good as you'll do.

I've been around 10 games here, but didn't pay once. That's because I volunteered here. I got around 6 or 8 games of play by play, a few games doing the music and one doing the public address. I never really watched here, but this is about what I can tell you. The park is actually relatively new, opening in 2015. It's got a small metal seating bowl with a good sight lines. There is an elevated platform on the third base side where group functions occasionally take place. The atmosphere is very small town, as the park holds well under 500 people, usually only getting up to around 300. But, the people who go typically want to be there and season ticket holders make up the bulk of the support. The concession options here are slightly above what you'd expect for a place this small, with local beer on tap and mac and cheese bites available as well. The 2022 season was a step up for the Bombers, as they made their first playoff appearance and they'll be looking to build even more in '23. I will definitely make a point of swinging by here this summer when I'm in the area.

Bricktown Ballpark

Oklahoma City Dodgers, Pacific Coast League

8/10

Statues of Oklahomans Johnny Bench and Mickey Mantle(not shown)  are located outside of the ballpark.

A modest mid-week crowd takes in Oklahoma City vs. Sacramento.

All in all, a pleasant evening for baseball.

I rolled into OKC for the first time in June 2015, having driven down from Kansas City that day, making a brief pit stop in Wichita, to see Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, home of the National Baseball Congress. I've known about this place for awhile, since it hosted the AAA championship game for a few years and consistently gets mentioned in various lists of "best ballpark".

As the name implies, the park is located in the Bricktown area of Oklahoma City, only a few blocks away from the home of the NBA's Thunder. The park features a decent redbrick façade (who isn't doing brick these days?) and some statues of Oklahoman baseball legends including Johnny Bench and Mickey Mantle. I caught a game featuring the newly minted San Francisco affiliate Sacramento and the equally new Oklahoma City Dodgers, who were in their first year with that affiliation and were playing it up quite a bit. Everything from ballpark signage to the uniforms to a recording of Vin Scully welcoming everyone to "Dodgertown". It was prominent, but avoided being over the top. However, the night did suffer from the curse of the midweek home game as a "good for a Wednesday" kind of crowd showed. Most of the time I seem to hit the PCL parks when no one is home. Oh well.

The plus from my perspective was the concessions, which featured a variety of options including my choice, the Chicken Fried Steak sandwich, which I did have to wait for, but being as I arrived well before game time, this wasn't so bad. I don't remember any other choices, but do remember having to think for a bit before getting in line, which usually means only good things.

Overall, a nice park that was a little empty and a little quiet when I attended, but above average food options.

Update 2022: Looking back at the box score, both Corey Seager and Austin Barnes were in the OKC lineup that day. I still haven't made it back down here. It was an option for a potential Texas trip, but I ended up choosing a Midwestern swing instead. When I do finally go that way, this will be a strong favourite for a stop going down or up. 

Linescore

2015-06-03

                                                    123  456   789   R H E

Sacramento River Cats(SF)        100   120  003  7 11 0
Oklahoma City Dodgers(LAD)     000   000   003  3 9 0

Time: 2:21 Temp: 86F Att: 4,082

Spitz Stadium

Lethbridge Bulls, Western Canadian Baseball League

There wasn't really an entrance towards home plate, but this was what it looked like.

The first live baseball I'd seen in about two years.

The socially distanced, limited crowd files out.

I actually got back on the road for a day trip in 2021, this ended up being my only game for that whole season. This park used to host minor leaguers from the Dodgers, Expos and Diamondbacks organizations for a little over 20 years, before the affiliated minors moved south. The Bulls, a collegiate summer league team, moved in the next year. The park had been renovated within the previous few years of my visit. The Bulls current league, the Western Canadian Baseball League, was playing a reduced schedule that season, with COVID restrictions still in effect, which meant only 5 teams for the summer. 

It was tough to rate very much, given the unique circumstances for the game. The park is old enough that Andre Dawson played here when in the Expos system, but renovations have kept it looking good. Concession was somewhat limited due to the smaller crowds, which also ended up limiting the atmosphere somewhat. I ended up volunteering in Brooks during this year's summer league season, but if I had the opportunity, I'd be willing to head back down to go here with a bigger crowd.

Centene Stadium

Great Falls Voyagers, Pioneer League

10/10

The fans file in the main entrance on the 3rd base side to watch the local nine take on Grand Junction.

Bonus shot. Love this scoreboard art, very Jetsons.

Looking back at home plate from right around Taco John's.

The crowd takes in the afternoon's festivities on a 37 Celsius(an eyelash under 100 Fahrenheit) day.

I first came here in August 2014, as the first actual baseball game of my summer loop, having seen a Canadian Football game the day before. In 2015, it was the last day of the summer loop, but an unseasonably cold and wet September day led to the unthinkable, a rainout.

Firstly, the park itself is an old ballyard approaching the end of it's life that was renovated, with the addition of a new section down the 3rd base side(see my entrance pic) combined with a refurbished main stand. This is a pretty novel(and probably cheaper) approach, which seems pretty reasonable versus a totally new build in Billings, or just not doing anything, like in Helena. The park has managed to keep it's sprit as an older park, but have some decent club seating, for people who like that sort of thing, it means the best views in the ballpark are not the most expensive seats, so everyone wins.

And the food. I didn't eat a whole lot here, but it was good. There is actually a fast food place, a "Taco John's" in the ballpark. Taco John's is big in Montana and the Dakotas, amongst other places, in fact, driving around Great Falls and Helena especially, you will soon realize that Montanans evidently LOVE their tacos/burritos/I can't believe it's not Mexican. I had a great burrito here. There's also some other options I didn't notice my first time, but it was still pretty good.

The atmosphere here was fantastic as well. People were into the game for sure. There were on field events/promotions, but they were actually interesting. Case in point, it was the mascot's birthday and they had a few surprises, including a visit by a Chinchilla who ran a few steps and was making plans for his next move, when the mascot snuck over and picked it up, averting disaster.

In summary, old park renovates subtly for a new lease on life with good food and atmosphere. Great Falls is a little off the beaten path for most, but it is most certainly worth it.

Update 2021: I managed to get a 2nd game in here and enjoyed it too. No reason to change the rating. This is a good little ballpark, with low prices and not many bad seats. The Taco John's had been replaced with a more generic concession, but that was about the only noticeable change. The entire Pioneer League ended up transitioning into an Independent loop for 2021, which means that after seeing more than a few Dodger, Giant and White Sox prospects pass through, this season's Voyagers will be trying to play their way into an organization, rather than up. In the middle of updating the article, MiLB pulled down the box scores for the old games, the new league has a pointstreak page, but it isn't on there.

Linescores

2014-08-10

                                                      123   456   789   R H E

Grand Junction Rockies(COL)      021  211  002   9 17 4

Great Falls Voyagers(CWS)           200  002  000  4  7  4

Temp: 81F  Time: 3:12  Att: 1,134

2015-09-05

                                            123   456   789   RHE

Missoula Osprey(ARI)                    PPD

Great Falls Voyagers(CWS)           Rain

2018-06-21

                                              123   456   789   RHE

Billings Mustangs(CIN)                                  11

Great Falls Voyagers(CWS)                             4

Temp:  Time:  Att:

Tropicana Field

Tampa Bay Rays, American League

7/10

A relatively staid exterior is souped up with a giant banner of all the Rays' stars.

Behold, the dome in all it's beauty. It looks like it belongs in Japan, but being there, it didn't totally seem out of place for MLB.

Did not leave my seat the entire game here, so this is as good as I did.

I went to my first game at "The Trop" in 2012, having come from Pensacola the night before. I had heard a lot of negative feedback about the dome and I'm here to tell you it's a little overblown. Firstly, yes, the dome is a cave. There is a big white roof that does, thankfully let in some light and it will darken slightly when the sun goes down. There's a lot of white concrete and the backdrop is very boring, even for a domed stadium. That having been said, there was a pretty good downpour outside for about 3 innings, which we completely ignored, even a retractable design may not have been so fortunate. The parking here is actually really well organized too. It may have just seemed that way because of the lower attendance, but it flowed well, with cars coming down a big aisle in the middle to park and leaving via multiple exits onto the street on the opposite side. It was a welcome relief after "carmegaddon" a few nights prior in Atlanta. Still, the park is slightly below average overall.

The surprise here was the food. Pulled pork sandwich that wasn't bad, but there were about 10 kinds of BBQ sauce available, you pick AND self-serve. There seemed to be a lot of options, but the thing was the areas around the concessions were very large and removed from the concourse, to prevent crowding. Not sure how much trouble it saved at a sparsely attended park like this, but was welcome.

The atmosphere here was above average as well, with the Detroit Tigers as the visitors, a fair number of Tiger rooters showed up which barely saved this place from a 6/10. It gets the slightest 7 of all time, but even Tropicana Field manages to be average, in the end.

Update 2021: I have revised this one down to a 6. The atmosphere from the visiting/local Tiger fans was enjoyable for sure, but the home team generates very little. The facility is one of the bottom 3 MLB parks I've been to, although the concession was apparently ok. I still haven't been back here. Perhaps I'm due? Maybe if I did the very end of spring training, then into this.

Linescore

2012-06-28               

                        123   456  789  R H E

Detroit              002  101 001  5 15 1 

Tampa Bay       000  010  100  2 6 2 

Temp: 72F/Dome   Time: 3:05  Att: 20,532

Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium

San Antonio Missions, Texas League

8/10

The front door is actually the pass gate. The peons can enter on either base side.

The finishing touches on the field, post batting practice.

The crowd enjoys things from the upper aisle.

I rolled into San Antonio late one June evening,on the last night of my June 2015 trip after driving down most of Texas from Oklahoma City. I accepted a 3 hour drive after the game to catch one more park prior to flying home and I'm glad I did. Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium(or "The Wolff") for short, has been San Antonio's home for baseball since 1994. I would have pegged it as a late 80's park based on it's design, but was a little off. It's a little bit of a quirky design, but I liked it. There's your box seat sections, then loges behind an aisle, but there's an upper aisle behind that, which I really liked. There are also your run of the mill luxury boxes and some metal seats further back and further out. The park is on the edge of town, with an off ramp from a freeway almost directly into the lot. It was a cloudy night, but a few large planes could be heard taking off from the nearby Air Force base.

Concessions here were about average, there were lots of specialty kind of options, but they were made to order, which would have meant a wait of 10-15 minutes, which is a little much. I ended up with an average hot dog and drink.

The big thing that saves this from from being just another ballpark is the atmosphere. People want to come out and watch. The game featured the hometown San Antonio Missions, longtime AA affiliate of the San Diego Padres, against the Arkansas Travellers, who are tied up with the Angels at the moment. A Travs batter grounded out to Shortstop and decided against even moving towards first base, at which point, some random voice seated in the loge behind me yelled "There's little kids here! Run it out!" There were some promos and stuff, but on the whole, it's an enjoyable place to take in a game. I'll head back for sure and with a Texas trip towards the top of my list, it could be soon.

Update 2021: This place had a few interesting years since the last post. In 2019, the Colorado Springs franchise in the PCL moved here and the AA team moved to Amarillo. But, San Antonio's time in Triple A was limited to just the 2019 season, as 2020 saw the MiLB season cancelled outright and 2021 saw minor league contraction. The end result was San Diego selecting this park for it's AA team. I didn't write this at the time, but it did feel like there could have been Triple A here when I saw it. I'm sure the locals enjoyed their one year.

Linescore

                                                 123   456   789   R H E

Arkansas Travelers (LAA)        010  022   000   5  10 1

San Antonio Missons(SD)         012 300   30x   9  10  1

Temp: 88F Time: 2:58 Att: 4,749

Goodyear Ballpark

Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians (Spring Training)

8/10

I never did get the best shot of the exterior here....

Another beautiful clear day in Goodyear.

The sun begins to set on the only night game I've ever seen here.

Goodyear Ballpark holds a special place in my heart, as it was the first Spring Training, or Cactus league game I ever took in. It was the closest one to the old family condo in Arizona and rarely busy, so 8 games later, I still like it.

This park was built to lure two teams, the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds out from Florida and is located in the City of Goodyear(as in the tires) about 30 minutes without traffic west of downtown Phoenix. It's built on the edge of the desert, near an aircraft boneyard. I thought it looked like an AAA park when I first went, but having a few more under my belt, I'd say AA is a closer fit. It's a pretty simple layout, with all the seats between the foul poles, a BBQ area in right field and a berm out in left. Atmosphere is pretty quiet, with this park being the farthest away from either team's home city, still, the fans do come out and while a little quirky, fans of both teams are pretty easy to cohabitate with in my experience.

I originally gave this park a 9 on my old website, but reviewing it now, it is really "just" an 8. The plus? The food. Cheesesteaks, Pulled Pork, Good Burgers, pizza, Mexican, yam fries, they have everything here. The beer is a good selection, they even have Hefeweizen(German-style wheat beer), that drinks really smoothly. They also have about 7 condiments at each concession, so no one walks off disappointed at "just" ketchup.

The other added bonus here is the lack of crowds. While a lot of cactus league parks are expensive and packed to the gills, with long lines for anything, here, the best tickets are 30 dollars and both teams are in the bottom 5 of Spring attendance MLB-wide. If you are west of downtown and don't care about much else than seeing a game, head here, you won't be disappointed.

Update 2021: Somehow, I haven't been back here since the last update 5 years ago. I did manage to dig up my line scores. I've been here 8 times! I still fondly remember this as a cheap option, to enjoy Cactus league action, with good food and it's still a nice park. If I make it back for spring training here anytime soon, this one will be on my list.

Linescore

2010-03-24

                           123  456  789   R  H E

San Francisco     100  000  110   3  7 3

Cincinnati            101  100  07x  10 10 1

Temp: 82F  Time: 2:41   Att: 4,062

2012-03-23

                               123  456  789   RHE

Los Angeles(AL)      010 100  200  491

Cleveland                001  000  000  170

Temp: 77F   Time: 2:41   Att: 8,630

2012-03-29

                           123  456  789   RHE

Colorado            200  300  010  6 11 0

Cleveland           002  000  001  3 6 0

Temp: 72F  Time: 2:47   Att: 2,877

2013-03-23

                           123  456  789   RHE

Texas                 000  121   011   6 14 0

Cincinnati          100  010  000    2 6 0

Temp: 75F   Time: 2:47  Att: 6,192

2013-03-30

                           123  456  789   R H E

Cleveland            000 100  000   1 8  1

Cincinnati            000 213 03x   9  14 0

Temp: 80F  Time: 2:35  Att: 7,027

2014-03-23

                           123  456  789   R H E

Milwaukee          161 000 100  9 13 0

Cincinnati            000  001  000  1 5 1 

Temp: 81F  Time: 2:36   Att: 5,559

2015-03-23

                           123  456  789   RHE

Oakland               000  100  200  370

Cincinnati            000  000  031 461

Temp: 82F  Time: 2:39  Att: 5,447

2015-04-02

                           123  456  789   R H E

Cleveland             000 110 200  4 10 1

Cincinnati            100  000 110  3 11 0

Temp: 81F  Time: 2:19  Att: 3,069