Favorite Ballparks (part 1)

By Norm O:

It was suggested that I write about my favorite ball parks. To be fair I haven’t been to many; mainly just ballparks here on the West Coast. I did live in El Paso, Texas for a few years when my Father was in the Army. The Diablos at that time played at Dudley Field. They were the Double A farm team for the Angels playing in the Texas League. The big thing I remember about going to games at Dudley Field was when a Diablo player hit a homerun, he made a trip around the backstop with his batting helmet in hand. People would put money in the helmets.

I will start with a few ball parks that aren’t my faves.

Have you ever noticed the mounds just off of I-84 just outside of Umatilla, OR? Well, Recreation Park in Visalia, CA sits on mounds just like those. The main grandstands sit on mounds of dirt which were moved to that location from the main highway that runs through Visalia. It also sits in a part of Visalia that isn’t the best. The clubhouses were a couple of modular buildings. They were small and you had to worry about spiders and other bugs. Now to be fair, Visalia has remodeled the park.

Historic Sam Lynn Park in Bakersfield is a pit. The ball park is built backwards. The sun sets over the batters eye in center field. Games don’t get started until 7:30-7:45 in Bakersfield. The clubhouses were old and musty. The game we played at Sam Lynn was to count the fans at the game. One night we counted less than 150. The stadium operations manager, Froggy, had a pet baby opossum. He made his home in the visitor’s clubhouse. The nice thing about Bakersfield was the booster club always had a sack lunch for us to head home with.

Staters Brothers park was home to the High Desert Mavericks. Located out in the middle of the desert it was really the first of the “new” ballparks in the 90s. I really can’t say anything nice about this place. It was hot and windy and nobody would show up for the games. There was a pretty good burger joint next door though. You could get a huge burger at least a pound and onion rings for like $6.00.

Let’s get to my favorites.

I loved PGE Park in Portland. I loved everything about it. It was ageing but the sight lines and places to get players autographs were great. They did a good job on promotions. The food was decent as well. You could get a good Philly Cheesesteak there.

The Hanger, located in Lancaster, CA, is home to the Jethawks. The Hanger actually is more like a Double A park. The lighting was great. The clubhouses were spacious. Concessions was pretty good as well. One unique thing about the Hanger is that there are a couple of fast food places just out by the back visitor’s clubhouse door. The ball flew out of the Hanger as well. We set team records in homeruns and batting average in 2006.

Municipal Stadium or Muni in San Jose, CA is an old ball park. The clubhouses were small and moldy. A hand full of players had to sit outside the dugout as there wasn’t enough room in them. They do things different in San Jose. It truly was one of my most memorable baseball experiences.

The promotions could be the best in Minor League ball. They have “Smash for Cash.” A lucky fan is picked and he or she picks a San Jose player. That player gets a couple of shots to bust out a headlight of an old Ice cream truck. They also have the Best Beer Batter promotion. An opposing player is chosen and every time that player strikes out beer is sold at a discounted price. I do know from experience when a player gets off the bus and sees his name as the Beer Batter it plays with his head.

Muni is also home to Turkey Mike’s BBQ. In my opinion it is the best ball park food anywhere. Players would have me buy food ahead of time so they could take it back to the hotel after the game. We also played the airplane game at Muni. The flight path for San Jose’s airport was over Muni. You would “call” whose plane it was.  American, United and so on.

I’ll end for now. Next week I’ll finish with the best (in my opinion)