My father and I used to take baseball road trips every summer, sometimes traveling as far as Texas and sometimes we would just stay around New England. No matter where we went, we made a purpose to visit minor league ballparks as well as major league ones. As many of you know already my top 2 favorite major league ballparks are PNC Park in Pittsburgh and Camden Yards in Baltimore, but most of you haven’t experienced some of the country’s best minor league parks. Now I haven’t been to every park, in fact far from it but I will do my best to cover some of the parks I have been to and I would love other peoples experiences/input to put together a folder of them all, so please, comment away and write up something if you feel passionate about a ballpark you’ve visited. Since the list of ballparks is pretty long this will be a multiple day post that will be broken down into levels of competition. Single A, Double A, Triple A will all be discussed but I will also talk about a few leagues like the Independent League and the Cape Cod League that aren’t affiliated with Major League Baseball.
So to start us off we will focus on Independent League Ballparks and what better place to start than my father’s and my birthplace, Bridgeport, Connecticut. Bridgeport is home to the Bluefish who are part of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball Clubs. You may recall this league for it’s unfortunate media coverage following Jose Offerman’s assault of a pitcher with a bat a few years back when it was called the Independent League. But the Ballpark at Harbor Yard is a fun, family oriented place to enjoy a game. The train goes by, the ferry to Long Island launches around the corner, fun mascots like B.B. the Bluefish roam the park and the league even has a team that plays zero home games all season who are appropriately called the Road Warriors.
Affordable tickets: $8-20
Affordable and Tasty Food: Philly Cheesesteak, Italian Sausage, Chicken Fingers, Roast Beef Sandwiches all between $3-6
Capacity: 5300 seats- Ballpark located at 500 Main Street Bridgeport, CT 06604 and was built in 1998.
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| Ballpark at Harbor Yard (atlanticleagueindependent.com) |
To stay in the ALPBC we travel across the Long Island Sound and visit my Uncle’s favorite team that isn’t the New York Giants (Who are now the San Francisco Giants), the Long Island Ducks. The Ducks easily have the best named mascot I have seen to date, QuackerJack! I was at a game where the promotion was giving away duck call bills (Quackers) that were absolutely hilarious and yes, I still have mine. We all blared those things as loud as we could to cheer on the Ducks. The Ducks play at Bethpage Ballpark in Central Islip, NY. The atmosphere was excellent and the crowd really was excited to have baseball that is affordable for a family outting.
Afforable Tickets: $11 or $12
Affordable and Tasty Food: Normal ballpark fare such as hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken fingers but also mile high cotton candy and fried oreos can be devoured. $3-6.
Capacity: 6,002 seats- Located at 3 Court House Dr. Central Islip, NY 11722 and was built in 2000.
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| Bethpage Ballpark (newsday.com) |
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| Quackerjack (newsday.com) |
Up next is a team that lasted only one season, the year my father and I visited the team that played at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium, the Canton Coyotes in Canton, OH. We visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame and happened to be in town the same day the Coyotes, who replaced the Crocodiles in Canton, were in town. Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium is not a great place to be, as it is more like a high school stadium but baseball is baseball and it was a well played game. I was even asked to sing the national anthem and perform in some of the between inning games since there were about 50 people in attendance. So while you can’t visit the Coyotes anymore since they became extinct in 2002 when they were sold off to a group in Missouri, it was a fun experience and shows how baseball can creep up anywhere in America! The ballpark was built in 1989 and held around 4000 people for the Coyotes who played in the Frontier League.
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| Logo (munsonstadium.com) |
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| Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium (mysite.verizon.net) |
Another team that no longer exists that I’ve visted was from the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball (Can-Am League). The New Haven County Cutters were an independent league team that had limited success in 4 seasons (2004-2007) before folding for good with the North Shore Spirit in October, 2007. Yale Field was a fun place to see a game though and was very fan friendly as I attended the game with my parents and grandparents. The Cutters are in reference to the Coast Guard vessels as well as a cut-fastball. The Cutters shared the field with the Yale University baseball team and became part of the history of Yale Field which was built in 1927 but certainly does not show it’s age.
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Yale Field (stadiumsusa.com) |
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| Logo (indygraveyard.com) |
The last ballpark I'll discuss in Part 1 will be from a vacation on Cape Cod at the Orleans Firebirds game. The Cape Cod League features some of the top college players in the nation for the summer in a very relaxed and family oriented style of baseball. Orleans has very few seats and fans are encouraged to bring blankets or folding chairs hours before the first pitch to stake out good spots. Outside food is allowed and encouraged but they do sell usual ballpark food for very inexpensive prices. But the best part of all is that admission is free. Can't beat free baseball under the stars on Massachusetts' Cape Cod. The ballpark continually is being upgraded thanks to grants from the Yawkey Foundation and is just a great place to unwind and relax after a day on the beach. Eldredge Park was recently named the top summer collegiate ballpark in Baseball America.
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| Eldredge Park (orleanscardinals.com) |
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| Logo (codball.com) |
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