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Ballpark Review: Calfee Park, Pulaski, VA

kings33 — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:05:08 +0000

Original entrance beyond LF

Calfee Park, Pulaski, Va (photo gallery)
700 South Washington Ave Pulaski VA, 24301 (map)
Pulaski Mariners, Appalachian League

I’m not sure I could have picked a better start to a 3 day ballpark road trip than Calfee Park in Pulaski, Virginia. Here’s an historic baseball stadium in the tiny town of Pulaski (pronounced pyuh-lah-ski). It doesn’t have the amenities of a new baseball palace, or even the High A park I visited later in the week. Despite that, this may have been the most enjoyable day at the game I’ve had in a long while.

The Appalachian League experience is about atmosphere and people, not amenities. In this regard, Calfee Park is outstanding. The park has a beautiful historic stone entrance dating back to 1935 you can reach from the left-field parking area, that harkens back to the original Pulaski Counts (the town is named after Count Casimir Pulaski, a Polish soldier regarded as the “father of the American Cavalry”.) Walking in from that vantage, the left field seats beyond the infield aren’t even really seats at all, but large concrete steps. Fans bring their own bag chairs, like they were watching a little league game in the park.

One of the first things I noticed at this game was that despite a decent crowd, the park was nearly silent… almost reverentially quiet. our seats behind home plate were incredibly close to the catcher, as there was not a lot of foul ground behind him, so every pop of the glove was the loudest noise we heard most of the night. Although the seats were only $6 each, they were nearly empty, except for our group, some scouts, players charting pitches, and a couple of die-hards.

Official Scorer - Pulaski, VA

A group like this will remind you why the low minors can be so much fun. There was a 10 year old boy sitting next to me, with a gentleman on the other side that I incorrectly assumed was his father. Nope… this kid comes to almost every game and keeps a detailed scorebook. When the President of the Appy League came to town, this kid recognized him! When the Astros GM came through, he gave the kid a military challenge coin with an Astros logo on the obverse. The man on the other side only knew him because they were both always there. The boy had to find different relatives to take him to the game each night, and his grandfather was happier in the bleachers, 30 yards away. Even the official scorer knew this kid, and would stick his head out the window to help him score a couple of tough plays.

As for the park itself, it’s mountain setting provides a beautiful backdrop for a game, and the large stands of trees may also add to the quiet factor. There are only a few dozen box seats behind home plate, and in front of the press box. The “Luxury Boxes” are a group of seats with picnic tables that run along the 1st base line. These boxes have no TV’s, no carpeting… no roofs or doors. they are merely reserved patio areas with the names of the local businesses that sponsor and rent those spaces. Very cool setup.

To fit in with the terrain, the park is much deeper in left field than in right, and the right field fence is twice as high with a berm behind it to compensate. bullpens are along the sidelines and are unprotected. there’s not a lot of foul ground, so the backstop netting extends a long way down each baseline.

Concessions are split into two stands. There’s the main stand that’s built into the back of the ticket booths along the 1st base promenade. The stand sells the hot dogs, candy, drinks, popcorn, etc. However, only the “grill” tucked back out of sight from the playing field does hamburgers and fries. So if you want a dog and some fries, you have to go to 2 different stands. If this were a larger park it would be inexcusable, but when total attendance is 829, it’s only a minor inconvenience.

Most of the food choices were straightforward, but the quality of the burgers was outstanding, and the prices were fantastic. Two burgers, fries and drinks was less than $20 – an unheard of price, even in high A ball. In addition to the standard fries, they also sold Mariner Fries, which were more like potato chips cut 1/4″ thick. These were fairly unique, and very hot and tasty.

Calfee Park is a gem, and my experience there this year is easily in the top 5 of all games I’ve ever attended. The park is historic, unique, and the cool mountain breezes are welcome on a hot August night in the South. While they only host a few dozen games a year, and they market to a low-cost crowd, the park is immaculately clean and you have easy access to everything you may want or need. It never feels contrived or cheap. This is a must-see park.

Coors Field – 2nd Verse as Good as the First

David B — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:05:37 +0000

Coors Field, home of the Rockies

June 22, 2010 marked my 2nd visit to Coors Field, and I returned from this one similarly impressed to my first visit. It’s hard to believe this park has been open for 15 years already, because there’s so much about it that still feels new.

Coors Field was built in LoDo – lower downtown Denver, as the hub of a revitalization project. As such, it’s brick and steel facade fits neatly in the neighborhood alongside bars, restaurants and the landmark Union Station. The quickest entrance from union Station takes you into the left field corner, from which the entire park is accessible.

Although we went for a Wednesday night game, we definitely were treated to a playoff atmosphere. As part of the interleague shenanigans, this was Rockies / Red Sox, a rematch of the 2007 World Series, and it was also Ubaldo vs. Lackey, a premium pitching matchup. The game was virtually sold out, but face value tickets were still easy to come by online, even in premium sections downstairs.

Coors Field - View of the Rockies from the upper deck

We sat along the 1st base side, about 20 rows up. A similar seating to our last visit. What I had forgotten, was that it’s a pretty tough spot to sit for the 1st few innings, as the sun basically sets in the eyes of the first baseman. Once it gets dark, you have a spectacular view of the mountains from the upper deck, though… so there’s always a trade-off. In the future, I’d definitely stick to the 3B side or OF seats to avoid shading my eyes for 5 innings.

Seats in the 2 sections directly over the dugouts on each side have ushers bring kids down over the dugouts every few innings to see if they can get a ball from a player coming in… a really nice fan-friendly touch.

Locals also like the party atmosphere of the Rock Pile, cheap day of game seats in dead centerfield, The upper deck features a row of purple seats that mark exactly 1 mile above sea level, here in the Mile High City.

It’s also a great test of a major league park to see it function with a full house. in this case, Coors Field held up well, with only a few minor glitches. An early visit to a concession stand found them out of hamburger buns, but lines moved quickly, and the staff was friendly. The concourses were crowded, but passable, and the ushers did a good job managing entry to the seating bowl without disturbing the already seated patrons during at-bats.

Like all major league parks, concessions are expensive. they do have a few signature items. The Rockie Dog is a quality footlong dog, served with peppers, onions and sauerkraut. Rocky Mountain Oysters are available, but I’m not going anywhere near them, nor would I know what made a good one. For a splurge, the Mountain Ranche Bar and Grille takes reservations inside the park, and Coors is also the original home of Blue Moon Beer at the Sandlot Brewery.

In summary, this is a place you could see a lot of games, and always have a good time. this is a good thing, as if you live in the Denver area, you have the Rockies, the Sky Sox in Colorado Springs, or an 8 hour trip to Utah as your drivable choices.

Ballpark Review: BB&T Ballpark – Winston-Salem, NC

David B — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:58:22 +0000

BB&T Ballpark logo

This morning, when I woke up, I realized I saw the wrong game in Winston-Salem yesterday. I caught the 12:00 noon game of a day/night doubleheader. While we had a great time even though the home team lost 5-0 in just over 2 hours, the second game was a contest for the ages. The Dash won game 2 in 20 innings over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. I hate to think I missed a game by “that much” where the second baseman spent 7 innings in left field before he came in to pitch in the 20th and ended up with the win after 5 hours and 30 minutes. (Box Score / Recap)

The morning action was uneventful, as Myrtle Beach jumped on top in the first, and held the Dash to just 3 singles. As expected for a weekday afternoon game, the crowd was sparse as well. However, that really gave us more freedom to explore the park and take it all in.

BBT Ballpark - view from beyond LF

This is a GREAT new park. It’s a retro-style park – brickwork and girders, wide open concourses, and great sightlines from most seats. The seating is very vertical, in that the 20th row still remains very close to the field, as opposed to being pitched way back. However, in such a small park (capacity is around 7,100, including lawn seating) it doesn’t give you any sense of vertigo.

We purchased field box seats for $11 a ticket, the second tier of price points, but our location was ideal. in Section 106, we were at the end of the home dugout and right on top of the action at 1st base. Had we pulled a kid out of school, we would have ended up with a couple of baseballs without much effort from this vantage.

Section 106 also gave us another great vantage point… the bullpens are right there in foul territory, and there’s really not enough foul ground to do this in. The two plates for the bullpen catchers are probably no more than 10 feet from the stands and 15 feet from foul territory. We saw an errant throw end up in fair territory after it glanced off the catcher’s glove. Fortunately they were between pitches. I’m not sure if these are temporary bullpens or not (there’s an empty concrete area in left center that might be the eventual bullpen), but I like where they are, it really adds to the intimacy of the park, as you’re that much more on top of the players.

The field was in gorgeous condition. I have to claim a mea culpa here. I was very skeptical that the grass wouldn’t hold up as I thought it was installed way too close to the beginning of the season to take root. However, despite of the heavy rains NC has seen over the last few days, the grass was immaculate. My bad. Great job Dash Grounds Crew.

BB&T Ballpark - RF anomaly and pedestrian bridge

Park dimensions are fair, if not a little short down the lines (315 to the left field corner). The most interesting artifact is a “nook” in dead right field an area where the fence just juts back into a grotto that reminded me of center field in the Polo Grounds. It didn’t come in to play in our game, but a ball where the right-fielder is beaten deep could create some very interesting bounces. Also note the cool pedestrian bridge above the area that helps bring people around the park. (Park entrance was in right center field, so everyone has to cross this bridge to reach the main concourse.

The way the park is built into the hill also adds to the intimacy of the setting, again without feeling claustrophobic. Despite all the struggles to build this place, their efforts paid off. This is a great place to see the game. For the most part, this is a model of what a Carolina League game should feel like. Beautiful park, nice people, weird (really weird) between innings promotions… the works.

Where this park is lacking right now is in a concession identity. The temporary Team store is sparse, and built into the back half of the Press Box, as an example. Where identity really lacked was in the ballpark fare. Food options were really basic and didn’t have any local flavor. As luck would have it, the best stand in the park was right behind our section. They had a carving station with a BBQ sandwich and a nice brisket hoagie. It’s also the only stand that sells a premium hotdog, including a Carolina Dog with chili and slaw, and a very nice representation of a Chicago dog with all the fixings… the peppers and celery salt really stood out, but all in all a very solid dog. I’m not a big drinker, but the Natty Greene’s Amber Ale was a nice local compliment as well.

But the place needs identity in this area. You’re in Winston-Salem NC – the heart of barbecue country and all you offer is a little generic sandwich? You need a Boog’s of Baltimore level barbecue pit, and maybe a Krispy Kreme stand (Krispy Kreme founded not all that far away). The only local vendor we saw was Kernel Kustard… a popcorn and ice cream vendor, where the popcorn was reasonably priced but somewhat unremarkable.

For now, this is nitpicking. Due to delays and snafus, getting the doors open was a bit rushed, so to that extent, I’ll give them a pass on some details. The bones are here for a fantastic ballpark, and the window dressing will come with time. Sprinkle in a few more unforgettable moments like last night’s 20 inning marathon, and you’ve got the makings of an instant classic.

Remembering Ernie Harwell

David B — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:32:41 +0000

HArwell Statue at Comerica Park

As much as this blog focuses on the experience of a day at the ballpark, it’s hard to believe that I’ve yet to really mention the great broadcasters. This will make me sound old, but there was a time, when the broadcaster was as integral a part of the “at the ballpark” experience as the seats, the hot dogs, or the world’s largest HD replay scoreboard. If you’re over 30, you probably at least have some memory of listening to the radio at the game. If you do, hopefully you’ll also have an indelible memory of Ernie Harwell. Harwell, the legendary Tigers broadcaster, died yesterday at the age of 92.

We’re fortunate to live in an era where we bridge the gap from the traditional to the technological, and if we are willing to be patient and observant, we can carry truly indelible memories of the voices that provide color to this game for so many. I was fortunate enough to sing, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in the presence of Harry Caray in both Mesa, AZ and Wrigley Field in Chicago. I watched All-Star games and saturday afternoon broadcasts with Vin Scully at the mic, and now treasure every chance I get to hear him on my East Coast TV. I can still hear Harry Kalas every time I watch the Phillies, and I think of Ernie Harwell whenever I see the Tigers.

It’s an era that’s ending. An era of grace and professionalism that is seldom seen from today’s broadcasters. The description of the game is enough. You don’t have to inject yourself into the broadcast for me to “see” you. I think Charley Steiner understands that, and nis one of the few old-school broadcasters out there right now. I might put Jon Miller there too. Matt Vasgergian? Joe Morgan? Tim McCarver? I don’t think so. They make me turn the sound down, not up.

So, the next time you head out to the ballpark, dig a transistor radio out of your basement, and listen to the broadcaster instead of staring at the JumboTron. It’s a tip of the cap to the Great Ernie Harwell, and an experience you won’t soon forget.

If you can’t find a transistor radio, or don’t know what it is, you should be able to pick up your XMRadio feed or an iPhone app for MLB Radio. Not quite the same, but just as effective.

2009 Top 5 MLB Ballparks

David B — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:00:52 +0000

Everyone loves a good list, right? So here’s ours. America’s top 5 ballparks for 2009. These reviews come from our personal experiences, as well as the research we continue to pour into our first book (more on that coming soon). I’ve tried to leave the

#5 -Citizen’s Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA: A great mix of a cozy downtown park, with some of the consistently best food in the majors. As the Phillies continue to succeed on the field, I get the feeling that this park will age very gracefully. Good sightlines through, great, retro-styling, particularly along the outfield walls. The Ashburn Alley area along the centerfield concourses are like a baseball carnival during batting practice, without feeling overly kid-friendly in a way that would turn off the baseball purists.

#4 – Nationals Park, Washington, DC: I recognize this may be the most controversial of the top 5, as there have been few signature moments at Nationals Park that would have brought it into the national spotlight. I took an in-depth tour of the stadium last winter, and cam away so thoroughly impressed, that I had to include the park here. Getting a chance to sample the park from so many vantage points, I was consistently impressed with how there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. The staff we met were incredibly helpful and friendly. But, one of the things that really set Nationals Park apart, was this is the first new park that isn’t “me-too retro cool”. this is a modern park in an historical setting, and that’s a nice change of pace. As the ownership group digs its way out from under the mess MLB made of the on-field product during the Expos transition years, the crowds will come, and the park will have the energy it deserves filtering through the stands.

#3 – Wrigley Field – Chicago, IL: Man, it’s tough to put Wrigley as low as 3rd, because it is a truly awesome place to see a game. As much as I have ranked two aprks ahead of it, Wrigley is still a “bucket list” experience that doesn’t disappoint. Go sit in the bleachers for an afternoon game, drink an Old Style or three, and have a dog. Once you’ve done that, you have the baseline of the American Baseball Experience upon which you can make all further comparisons.

#2 – Petco Park, San Diego, CA: You’re in San Diego, so you’ve already got a leg up on the ballpark experience. It’s not too hot, or too cold. You’ve got a modern ballpark, but there’s a building that acts as the left field foul pole. You’ve got great food, a great downtown atmosphere.. the gaslamp district for pre and post game nightlife. It’s really a tremendous setting for a game, and the city-park feel of the concourses, including the tee-ball field and grassy berms for picnics just add to the laid back SoCal experience.

#1 – PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA. This is still America’s best place to watch a ballgame. If the team had been any good in the last 15 years, I don’t even think there’d be an argument. most of the country really didn’t experience PNC until it hosted the All-Star game, but the placement and layout really defined the aesthetic most nouveau downtown ballparks are hoping to achieve. The Clemente Bridge just frames the city perfectly in the outfield, and the in-game experience is quintessential Pittsburgh.

Honorable mentions: I know I’m going to get roasted for leaving off Fenway Park. The first year reviews of Citi Field and new Yankee Stadium were mixed, but I’m sure that history will be kind to these parks as they mature. I’m hopeful that planned renovations to Camden Yards will bring it back up the list.

Twins garage sale a success / disaster, depending on who you ask

David B — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:37:58 +0000

The Minnesota Twins announced a garage sale to help them clean out the closets of the Metrodome, and get them ready for starting fresh at Target Field in 2010. The promotion of the sale was a rousing success, as thousands of Twins faithful lined up around the dome hours before the sale was supposed to start.

While it seemed that many people were able to find a little something, like a bobblehead or a promotional bat, many of the special and unique items were apparently “held back” for a memorabilia dealer with a friend in the organization. According to the comments on the mlb.com article, there was a large box containing a number of championship flags and stadium banners, that were not “first come, first served” as advertised.

So, that particular failure comes from the fact that the deal wasn’t completed before the garage sale, but during… of course some premium items are going to a dealer to get them a better price, but you don’t have to be so public about it. There were other mistakes though, that could have been avoided.

Once you realized there would be a line around the stadium waiting to get in, maybe you could have called in some extra cashiers… only 4 were on hand.
The sale was confined to a small corner of the Metrodome, as a college football game was also taking place there that day. If the sale were held on the Metrodome floor on a non-game day, they could have been much more accomodating to the folks waiting outside, and given more people an opportunity to preview the items before they were gone.
Anything you were going to hold back should never have seen the light of day on the public sale. Just incredibly bad form.

So, what’s the right way to do this kind of a sale? You want to open it up to the public, and you know that these garage sale prices aere cheaper than the items will be when they resurface on eBay, but do you just put them up for auction in the first place, and reduce the secondary market? When the Yankees and Mets have done this, prices have been so sky high that the “average joe fan” is shut out. Do you put limits on how much someone can buy?

I’m not sure, but I commend the Twins for trying to do the right thing, but just failing a bit on the execution.

Camden Yards getting a major facelift – What’s next in ballpark renaissance 2.0?

David B — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:09:55 +0000

So, when you’ve already re-invented the ballpark experience, what do you do for an encore?

The Sports Business Journal (link via sister publication SportingNews) reported last week that the Maryland Ballpark Authority has sent out the RFP for the first major overhauls to Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles. The exact details of the RFP were not released, but the SBJ and SportingNews are speculating about new restaurants and concessions vendors.

Fully 2/3rds of all major league stadiums were built after Oriole Park at Camden Yards set off the new wave of ballpark building that has hallmarked the last 20 years of the game. Smaller parks, more intimate settings, many with a retro feel, eschewing the concrete multipurpose donut for unique, brick and steel experiences that remind people of Ebbetts Field, even as there are less and less people around who remember Ebbetts Field first hand.

As the uniqueness of Camden Yards has subsided, and the “newer new” have sprouted up across the country, including Nationals Park in Washington DC, attendance has waned with the abysmal play on the field, and it only makes sense that the Orioles look to do some things to freshen up the park to re-energize the fan base.

So, what do you the Orioles do now to usher in the next phase of ballpark advancement? Let’s run down a couple of ideas that we’ve heard bandied about, and see if they still fit.

In seat video replay – Is this really still a viable idea? Seems like too much hardware to worry about, especially in a sea of beer, soda and nachos. Better off just providing solid wifi access in the park, and access to video on smartphones
New gourmet restaurants – apparently a trend brewing in having restaurants behind the batter’s eye in CF witha smoked glass view of the game. Not really an innovation, but more of a “me too” hand-waving.

Now, what’s on our wish list for ballpark experience improvements?

Ejector seats that get the guy in the middle of the aisle to the concourse without making everyone else get up.
Web cams that give you a look at the length of popular concession lines
Seats with 2 true armrests per person, and MORE legroom (the author is 6’7″ and really likes legroom)
Up to 3 sections per game get a visit from a staffer (one in each level of the park) Sit ‘em down.. talk to ‘em about their concerns at the ballpark. Then, over the next few days… follow up with them, and thank them for their thoughts.
Public photographer’s wells: I love taking my camera to a game… How can I get a good photo if I can’t get close enough to the field? Have Kodak sponsor some public space, specifically for taking game photos. For $10, you get 15 minutes in the photographer’s well at field level. My guess is it would be so popular, you’d need reservations.

What do you want in your next park? Leave a comment and let us know.

The marketers are running the asylum, and missing the point

David B — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:42:00 +0000

In my day job, I’m an online marketer and online strategy consultant, so I should probably like ideas like this : The New York Mets are partnering with a company called txtstation to bring elements of social media to the ballpark experience. Vote for game MVP’s, post your in-game cell-phone pix, and you’ve got “a whole new way for sponsors to interact with fans, and fans with each other.”

Well, as we all know, this isn’t really new, and only the part about sponsors and fans in the quotation is really true. When you text your game MVP vote, you are not interacting with other fans – in fact you’re doing the opposite… you are distracting your attention away from the fans around you, as well as away from the game, in order to stare at the shiny multimillion dollar object in the distance.

Social media, at it’s best is about establishing community and building relationships. These gimmicks fail at that, horribly. the fact of the matter is, the best social experience is about you being with 50,000 other fans so you can root together for the home team. We all know that you could just as easily watch the game on TV, and have a better view, comfier seat, cheaper and more accessible snacks… but we go to games anyway because of the social experience that already exists.

So, if you’re looking for a “social media” experience at the ballpark, here is my tried and true plan to achieve that goal

Go with friends. A game alone is great sometimes, but it’s always better with some buddies – especially when you’re road-tripping.
Go early and tailgate. The parking lot experience for most baseball games is an anonymous herding process – a nameless, faceless stream of bodies heading toward the gate. You want to turn it into a social experience, then a tailgate is the thing. Offer hot dogs to random strangers who are wearing cool fan gear. The key is don’t stick to your group… invite random conversation. Tip: The smaller the ballpark, the better. You tailgate at a Brewers game, and it’s not that big a deal. You tailgate in Lynchburg, VA, and the team’s staff may even come out and hang out with you for a bit.
Once you’re in the park, engage the people around you. Talk to them, about the game. If you’re road-tripping, talk to them about the area… good campgrounds, golf for tomorrow, bars for tonight.

The point is, you are sitting in the middle of one of the largest groups of people you may ever be with. Staring at your phone and typing with your thumbs is not social, it’s anti-social. Get out there and be truly social. Engage the people around you, and you’ll be surprised what you learn, and how that evokes true great memories of a trip to the ballgame.

Oh, and after the game… you can send a review to us to post, or hit us up on facebook

Save Yankee Stadium Gate 2

David B — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:44:18 +0000

Initial Heritage Park Plan

When the new Yankee Stadium was built, there were plans in place about how the grounds of Old Yankee Stadium were to be utilized to create an area known as Heritage Park. this would include retaining the original playing surface, as well as adding additional softball fields, a soccer/football field and some tennis courts to the surrounding area.

Unfortunately, there has been some neighborhood objection to this plan, and the new “current plan” calls for a bastardization of the original playing surface that would leave no recognizable artifact of the original Yankee Stadium.

Along comes the “Save Gate 2” plan. By saving one of the most endearing images of Yankee Stadium’s artifice, this group hopes to preserve Gate 2, and have it act as an entrance to Heritage Park that will save the sense of history.

Ticket To The Game endorses the “Save Gate 2″ plan, as it meets community demands and preserves a bit of stadium history going back more than 80 years. For Brooklyn Dodger fans who know there is literally nothing left of where Ebbets Field used to be, they should be sympathetic to this idea, even if it is for the Yankees.

Amanda from “Baseball Stadium Reviews” chimes in with her ballpark tales

Amanda — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:39:23 +0000

Hello, ballpark fans! This is Amanda Lippert of www.baseballstadiumreviews.com writing a guest blog entry. Recently, Ticket to the Game posted an entry about women who make stadium road trips, so I was asked to describe my experiences with stadium road trips. Being a Yankee fan, my first baseball game was back in 1986 at Yankee Stadium. It wasn’t until 2002 that I really got interested in visiting ballparks other than Yankee Stadium. Now, in 2009, I have visited 20 Major League Stadiums and 91 Minor League Stadiums.

Generally, when taking a stadium road trip, my rule of thumb is to attend a game every night. The day is usually dedicated to traveling to the next city for a game. Prior to last year, I did some of my road trips alone. Then last year, I met someone online through a personal ad and began dating him. After we had exchanged a few e-mails, he told me he also had an interest in baseball stadiums and also maintained a stadium website (www.ballparkreviews.com) Talk about a coincidence! After that, my stadium road trips were taken with him. This past February, we got engaged in Cooperstown and we will now be continuing our stadium journeys together, but maintaining separate websites, of course! We even occasionally take separate stadium road trips since he is a little bit further along (actually, A LOT further long) than I am as far as the number of parks visited.

Last Summer, we took a 7 day trip out to Southern California and went to 7 stadiums. One of my favorite parks out in southern California is Sam Lynn Ballpark in Bakersfield. Sam Lynn Ballpark is the only park that faces the setting sun, which means evening game times need to be moved until after the sun sets. The game I attended had 808 fans in attendance with a game time temperature of 106 degrees, which made the team name of the “Blaze” seem very appropriate. Sam Lynn Ballpark is one of those types of parks which has dedicated season ticket holders and fans that are really into the game. The fans who go to a “Blaze” game are going for one reason….to watch baseball. They aren’t going for silly on-field contests, promotions, or just to eat concessions. They are going because they have a love for minor league baseball at its purest. I have found that some minor league parks can get way too carried away with their wacky promotions and contests, thus taking the focus away from the game. These types of parks tend to have atmospheres which are not conducive to actually paying attention to the game. While these parks might be nice places for families, they are not the types of parks I would prefer to watch a game, unless I enjoy the constant barrage of sound effects, kids who can’t sit still, and annoying advertisements in between each pitch. I recently wrote an entry on these types of parks in my blog which can be accessed through my site, www.baseballstadiumreviews.com.

Speaking of minor league baseball at its purest, Damaschke Field in Oneonta, NY is another park that I enjoy very much. Just like Sam Lynn Ballpark, Damaschke Field offers a relaxed atmosphere to watch a game. Instead of fans tackling each other for t-shirts being thrown into the crowd, you might actually see fans keeping score. Instead of kids jumping around on inflatables in a play area, kids are actually watching the game. Damaschke Field doesn’t even have a liquor license, that’s how pure the place is! You go there for one thing….baseball.

I tend to enjoy the parks that have some kind of distinguishing characteristic which sets them apart from the other parks I have visited. For example, Greer Stadium, home of the Nashville Sounds, has the best scoreboard ever! The guitar shaped scoreboard is definitely the most unique scoreboard I have seen in my travels. I also find it interesting to see the architecture of stadiums when other structures are assimilated into the design of the stadium. For example, the Western Metal Supply Co. building in Petco Park in San Diego and the B&O Warehouse at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

Sometimes it’s not what’s inside the ballpark that makes it a unique, but it’s what is around the park. For example, the bridges in the background of PNC Park in Pittsburgh have to be the best backdrop in Major League baseball. Also, I love the mountains in the background at The Diamond in Lake Elsinore, California and the Gateway Arch beyond the outfield wall in Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

This week, Brian and I will be heading out on a 10 day trip to visit 10 stadiums. The trips will include visits to US Cellular Field, Miller Park, Comerica Park, Wrigley Field, and a few minor league parks. Stay tuned to my website, www.baseballstadiumreviews.com for photos and reviews. I also maintain a Facebook page, so become a fan of my site using Facebook.

Thanks to Ticket to the Game for allowing me to post a guest entry!