Best of...Minor League Ballparks

[Elvis]

Courtesy of Ballparkdigest.com

Auto Zone Park -- Memphis, Tennessee

[Elvis]

AutoZone Park is located in the heart of downtown Memphis and has been attracting large crowds since it opened in 2000. The team and the stadium are unique in that they are owned by a nonprofit organization, Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation, which is a rarity in minor-league circles and even more rare at the Class AAA level. Because the stadium is owned by a nonprofit, the $46-million construction cost came largely from the private sector. The greater Memphis community certainly responded to the Redbirds with passion: in 2002, the Redbirds drew better on a per-game basis than the Montreal Expos and the Florida Marlins, as the Redbirds average attendance was 11,025 per game.

[Elvis]

There are three seating levels to the stadium: a main seating area, a club level with 1,600 seats, and 700 suite seats in 48 luxury suites; in addition, there are two open-air party decks and a picnic deck to accommodate groups. A concourse rings the entire playing area. Finally, AutoZone Park features the largest video board in minor league baseball, a 23-by-30 foot screen. The video board can produce 16.2 million different colors and is 127 feet (or 13 stories) above the playing field. Looney Ricks Kiss Architects of Memphis was the lead architectural firm, with Kansas City-based HOK Sport working as a consultant. It was designed in a decidedly retro style, which integrates the stadium pretty well into the historic downtown Memphis area.

[Elvis]

Auto Zone Park features the largest color video board in the minors.

[Elvis]

There are quite a few folks gathered on the left-field grassy berm. A scoreboard on the left-field wall displays game information and out-of-town PCL and Cardinals scores.

[Elvis]

If anyone needs a model for a successful urban minor-league stadium, they need look no farther than AutoZone Park, home of the Memphis Redbirds. AutoZone is renowned in minor-league baseball circles as being one of the best ballparks in use

[Southlake CubsFan]

truly is a nice stadium! thanks for the pics and facts and everything it was a nice read!

[Elvis]

Isotopes Park - Albuquerque, New Mexico

[Southlake CubsFan]

http://www.thepepper.com/tucson_spring_training_tep.jpg

Tucson Electric Park, where the white sox and dbacks player for spring training nice stadium with great back ground!

[Elvis]

"Retro" architecture in baseball usually means a ballpark all decked out with steel beams and brick walls, designed to look like an old stadium from the turn of the century. And while retro been the hottest trend in ballpark design since the unveiling of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, it's a trend that's grown more than a little tired.

But retro shouldn't be limited to just steel-and-brick ballparks. In many ways, Isotopes Park, the new home of the Albuquerque Isotopes, is a retro ballpark, but it's not retro in terms of brick and steel. Instead, Isotopes Park takes design cues from the 1940s and 1950s architecture found throughout Albuquerque and integrates them into a ballpark setting. Yes, it's retro in that it hearkens back to the dawn of the Nuclear Era, but it manages to evoke the era without a hint of irony or condescension -- and as a result Isotopes Park is one of the best stadiums in minor-league baseball.

This accomplishment is even more remarkable when you consider the history of the stadium. Technically, Isotopes Park is not a new stadium: it's a renovation of Albuquerque Sports Stadium, the former home of the Albuquerque Dodgers and the Albuquerque Dukes, the former Class AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. After the loss of the Dukes to Portland in 2000, Albuquerque city officials knew they wanted to bring back pro baseball, but the issue was whether to renovate the Sports Stadium into a baseball-only facility (in its original incarnation it also hosted high-school football) or build a new downtown stadium. A public referendum settled the issue, and so the $25 million renovation the Sports Stadium began.

And what a renovation job it was. According to local sportswriters, the original bowl structure is still intact, as well as the general dimensions of the ballpark and some of the service areas connecting the dugouts and the clubhouses. But in look and feel, Isotopes Park is really a brand-new stadium.

[Southlake CubsFan]

kind of looks like a bowling alley, how it says isotopes park and stuff :laugh

[Elvis]

The tone is set by the exterior of the park. Though there are several entrances to the ballpark, a first-time visitor is advised to park next door in the football-stadium or The Pit parking lot and enter the front Broadway entrance. (It's the entrance shown in the picture above.) A new tower serves several purposes: it's a dramatic entrance to the stadium, it served as a nice design counterpoint to the horizontal orientation of the stadium, it adds a whimsical touch to the stadium (at night, the colored panels are quite striking), and it ties into other architecture found throughout Albuquerque. It's also functional: the tower contains an elevator, service areas, access to suites and the press box, and stairs.

Once you're in the ballpark, you're presented with a fairly standard ballpark layout. A concourse rings the entire stadium, with the majority of the concession stands located in the back of the grandstand. The stadium has a seating capacity of 12,215, but the vast majority of this seating -- 11,075 -- is theater-style seating between the foul poles (5,845 reserved seats, 4,029 box seats, 661 club seats, and 540 suite seats). There are 30 suites at the stadium, and the club level features its own bar and a cozy lounge area. Beyond the left-field fence is a spacious picnic area geared for groups of all sizes, and beyond the right-field fence there's a group of picnic tables for those who like to lounge during the game, as well as a set of terraces where kids were playing throughout the game.

[Elvis]

The playing field also has its own distinctive qualities. First off, the field is framed perfectly with mountains in the background, so anyone sitting the grandstand will see a gorgeous vista. There's a 127-foot-wide, four-foot-high hill in center field that does occasionally wreak havoc with outfielders; there have been at least two inside-the-park home runs because the ball has taken some odd bounces off the curved wall and the hill. (Speaking of home runs: be prepared to see a few at a 'Topes game. Because of the high altitude and the relatively short center-field curved fence, there are a fair amount of cheap home runs flying out of Isotopes Park. During my time there Gerald Williams hit one to dead center that wouldn't have made the warning track in most other stadiums, and it's no accident that Rob Stratton of the Isotopes was leading the PCL in home runs for most of the season.)

There are some quirks and disappointments with the stadium, however. First, the bowl and the playing field were reoriented in such a way that there's no room for players to sit in the bullpen (in fact, the edge of the bullpens are right on the foul lines), so bullpen pitchers and catchers must sit in the dugout until it's time to warm up. Secondly, the ends of the dugouts are open, and Isotopes players are not pleased about such easy access for fans, who will frequently poke their head into the dugout to ask for an autograph during the course of a game. The biggest disappointment really has nothing to do with the design, but rather with a decision made by Isotopes management. The old Sports Stadium was known for its drive-in terrace, where fans could watch a game from the comfort of their car, a la a drive-in theater. A drive-in terrace was built into the new stadium, but because of security concerns the Isotopes management never opened it up to vehicles. At the game I walked around the stadium with some local sportswriters and Ken Young, the president of the Isotopes, and he indicated that there were no plans to ever open up the terrace to vehicles and that at some point it would probably be converted to a childrens' play area.

This sounds like a cliche, but there are very few bad seats in the house, and the spacious nature of the stadium means that a large crowd doesn't clog concessions or restrooms. There was a crowd of almost 10,000 during my visit, but the concourse was never crammed: between the folks hanging out in the picnic areas and walking throughout the stadium, the crowd was dispersed enough to make it seem like a crowd of half the site. On a really crowded day you might be forced to buy tickets for a set of right-field seats past the foul pole, but even these seats aren't bad, as they're angled directly toward home plate.

In the end, Isotopes Park is an impressive accomplishment and a stadium on par with other superior Class AAA facilities. If it were located in a larger market -- say, Sacramento or Memphis -- it would be hailed as one of the best ballparks in the minor leagues. But I suspect most Isotopes fans don't really care about such comparisons: Albuquerque seems like a pretty self-contained city, and as long as the local fans are happy with such a great stadium, that's all that really matters.

[Southlake CubsFan]

http://www.minorleagueballparks.com/camden01.jpg

http://www.njac.net/Campbell's.JPG

http://www.angelfire.com/pa3/discoverphilly/campbelsfield.JPG

http://www.blueroomlounge.com/images/bridge/bridge07.jpg


campbells field, in Camden, New Jersey

[Southlake CubsFan]

im sorry i dont have all the facts and storys like elvis does

[Elvis]

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[Southlake CubsFan]

see whats nice about minor league parks is their for the fans a lot more, vs major league parks, each minor league park is diffrent and unique, and fits in with its city

[Elvis]

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[Elvis]

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[Elvis]

Note the unique center field steep incline and wall that bows in, instead of out

[Elvis]

Campbell's Field in Camden I think, has hands-down the most dramatic backdrop of any ballpark and that includes the big leagues. This ballpark gem features a much closer view of the Philadelphia skyline than Citizens Bank Park.

[Elvis]

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Cool architecture

[Elvis]

That's the Ben Franklin Bridge. For three years it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge on July 5, 1926.

[sschirmer]

Wow guys, some of those pics were awesome. Keep 'em coming.

[weatherdood]

This is some really cool stuff -- I've really enjoyed reading this.

[skeletor]

Wow, there's some stunning examples of some great AAA parks..
Of course, living in the land of the ' King ', been spoiled by our
5 year old park..AutoZone..Truly, a great place to see AAA
ball..quite a change from the olde dump the Chicks & Redbirds
used to play in..McCarver..which was recently, torned down..
as it was simply an olde legion ball park, converted for first AA,
and later AAA...Of course, we used to have a gem here in
Russwood Park, which sadly burned down in 1960,before my time
here in Memphis...But pictures of the others,from around the U.S
are great..especially Isotopes park ..Boy, does it look great !
a real 50's feel to it..but inna good way..I gotta make a road trip
and check it out..one day...I swear inna few years, I'll retire,
sell me house,and move out west...The other parks pictured
within this thread, are as nice..which shows AAA baseball, ain't
exactly slumming..maybe years ago, with some aging ball yards,
but the new era of parks, like in Toledo, etc..are every bit as
nice as some of the ML parks..and a couple of these minor league
gems, stand head and shoulders over some of other ML parks..
like in Oakland, etc....Myself, always loved CATCHING A AA or AAA
game..as the game seems more fun, prices more reasonable..and
the players don't have HUGE BLEEP YOU FANS, EGOS....and the beer
seems to taste better and colder....LOL! :rolleyes:

[flash143817]

The Epicenter (http://digitalballparks.com/Epicenter1.html), home of the Single A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, is a very nice park that I have been to numerous times. It doesn't have any quirky designs like the short centerfield, but it is a great place to watch a game. The Quakes have 3 times in the last 11 years drawn over 400K fans to a game, unheard of at the Single A level. They also average 97% capacity, very impressive for any level.

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/1241/epicenter18hs.jpg

[laxplayer81217]

these fields make frontier field look bad

[64Cards]

I saw my first minor-league game this summer at Hamanns Field, in Springfield, Mo. home of the Cardinals AA Tx. League team. Great place, had a terrific time, daughter is in her freshman yr at Mo. State Univ. I will be going back.

[sschirmer]

The Epicenter looks sweet. Nice name too.

[theAmazingMet]

WOW this is quite a thread! I am not that technologically advanced enough to post pics but there are 4 lovely minor league stadiums I have visited this past summer.
Dunn Tire Park in Buffalo NY, home of the Bisons (AAA)
Frontier Field in Rochester NY, home of the Redwings (AAA)
Citibank Park in Central Islip Ny, home of the Long Island Ducks (independant)
Keyspan Park in Brooklyn NY, home of the Cyclones (Rookie A)

[theAmazingMet]

Lets see if this works...
Dunn Tire Park

[theAmazingMet]

sorry it took me a while to figure this much out. Dont know how to make the pic bigger. Any advice?

[Chabone]

Hammons Field in Springfield, MO was just named Baseballparks.com's minor league park of the year. Home of the Double-A Springfield Cardinals. It's beautiful.

[Elvis]

sorry it took me a while to figure this much out. Dont know how to make the pic bigger. Any advice?

Here ya go, Mr Met:

[Elvis]

Dunn Tire Park, Buffalo, NY

[Elvis]

Dunn Tire Park, Buffalo, NY

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[Elvis]

Dunn Tire Park, Buffalo, NY

--

[theAmazingMet]

Yes that is it. Thank you Ninja!

[vivjeter]

Wow, great pictures. Nice to see different ballparks.

[cerealspoon]

Speaking of minor league parks, here's a little something I put together. You'll need google earth. Then download this placemark. http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=149548

It has the location of every minor league stadium, both affiliated and independent.

[TJH1923]

Staten Island, New York Single A Staten Island Yankees

[TJH1923]

Lower Manhattan makes for a great backdrop. It was more impressive when the World Trade Center was standing.

[TJH1923]

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[TJH1923]

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[TJH1923]

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[TJH1923]

Keyspan Park Home of the Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets) Single A

[Jabberwock]

4070
Home of the Norfolk Tides, AAA affiliate of the NY Mets. A great fan ballpark along the Elizabeth River. Box seats right along the wall are only $10! They are close enough to the action to hear players (and coaches) talking to each other on the field. Players still come along the wall after warming up to sign stuff for kids. They allow anyone under 12 to run the bases after each game. The vendors work all of the seats, but know enough to stay out of your sightline during a big play. Often you can see tugs working barges and stuff over the outfield wall. While it can get hot in the seats during the August heat, there are few better places to watch a game in May or June.
4071
4072
More great pictures at http://www.digitalballparks.com/Norfolk1.html

[louisvilleslugger]

Louisville Slugger Field was named professional baseball field of the year in two of the past three seasons.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/mooseman3527/sluggerfield1.jpg
Slugger Field opened in the spring of 2000 and is most certainly the finest minor league park in the country. "Take me out the the ballpark," has a renewed meaning in Louisville. Slugger Field is home to the minor league Louisville Bats team and the field is named after the famous Louisville Slugger baseball bat.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/mooseman3527/sluggerfield7.jpg
The Louisville Slugger Field was planned and built with much insight and Slugger Field With Louisville Skyline in View an unusual design concept. The stadium which seats over 13,000 has been situated on the banks of the Ohio River, within one block of the revitalized Waterfront Park district. The historic rail freight depot, which dates back to the late 1800's, has been incorporated into the stadium. This converted rail freight depot, which covers more than 62,000 square feet, serves as the entrance to the stadium and contains some 22,000 square feet of retail shops and restaurants. The design of the Louisville Slugger Field was a joint effort of HNTB Architects of Kansas City, MO., and K. Norman Berry and Associates of Louisville. The stadium, being joined with the formerly Brinly-Hardy warehouse, formerly an 1800's train shed building - makes for one unique stadium.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/mooseman3527/sluggerfield5.jpg
The stadium cost some $39 million and includes 30 private suites, second-level
Future Baseball Greats
Photo Courtesy Louisville Convention and Visitors Center
club seating, a continuous concourse around the field, an outfield seating berm and an impressive press facility. The concession facilities and restrooms are modern and equipped to handle a full house crowd. There is a fully equipped children's play area and an array of retail outlets. One of the most important features of the stadium is the recessed playing field which features natural grass.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/mooseman3527/sluggerfield8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/mooseman3527/sluggerfield6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/mooseman3527/sluggerfield4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/mooseman3527/sluggerfield3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/mooseman3527/sluggerfield2.jpg

[steveox]

Best Oldest minor league park is this one,Holman Stadium!
http://members.tripod.com/franksballparks/vero1.jpg
http://baseballodyssey.com/verobeach4.JPG
http://www.baseballpilgrimages.com/spring/verobeach2.jpg

[AutographCollector]

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=149548

THAT is soooo kick ass! Thanks so much for providing the link!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :

[Melottfan]

Being from the Cresent City, naturally I thought Zephyr Field home of the N.O. Zephyrs was a nice ballpark and it was until we moved to the land of the "King". Now autozone park is beautiful and a great place to see a game.
It has coziness and a comfortable feeling about it. Great pics! Can't wait to see another game soon!

[Melottfan]

Wanted to add, and it may sound stupid, I have some photos I feel all would enjoy seeing, how does one get them to get on the screen?

[riverfrontier]

Those parks in Camden and Memphis are the most beautiful things I've ever seen, naked ladies included. I've only been to a handful of minor league parks, but it's a much better bang for the buck, if you ask me. A great seat for the price of parking your ride at most big league parks.