Ballpark Changes in the Minors

The Majors aren't the only place where there's a stadium-building boom.  It is definitely occurring in the Minors, too!  And judging by the attendance figures at parks that opened in 2000, fans were thrilled.  In fact, the total attendance in the Minors in 2000 topped 37 million -- the highest total in 51 years.  Back in 1949, though, there were 448 Minor League teams.  Today there are only 176 -- making the 2000 attendance figure that much more impressive. 

For what was new in the Minors in 2001, read on.  And be sure to check out our special page devoted to KeySpan Park, the new home of baseball in Brooklyn.  It was named the BASEBALLPARKS.COM Best New Minor League Park for 2001!

BROOKLYN   As most baseball fans know, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to LA in 1958.  Well, for the first time since then, the borough of Brooklyn has its own pro team, as the Mets' NY-Penn League franchise has moved from its temporary home on the campus of St. John's University in Queens into a brand-new $35-million ballpark not far from Coney Island.  The new stadium is called KeySpan Park, and the team is now known as the Brooklyn Cyclones because one of Coney Island's main attractions is a roller coaster called The Cyclone.  In the shot to the right, the amusement park that includes The Cyclone is in the background.  Also, the amusement-park theme is carried throughout the ballpark beautifully.  An example of this are the brightly colored neon rings which encircle the light standards.  The team and the park are a big hit, incidentally, as the Cyclones are the runaway attendance leader in the league.  Interestingly, it's the first time a minor league team has played in Brooklyn since 1890!  Take a look at our special page devoted to KeySpan Park by clicking here.  Jack L. Gordon Architects, by the way, designed this beautiful ballpark.  

PROVO   Milwaukee doesn't have the only first-year stadium called Miller Park!  The Provo Angels of the short-season Pioneer League are playing in a brand-new ballpark on the campus of Brigham Young University this year.  That facility, which is called Larry H. Miller Field, is part of a newly constructed complex that includes a girls' softball field.  That two-field complex is referred to as Miller Park, named for the owner of the Utah Jazz NBA team, who donated the money to build the two fields.  The baseball side features 2,300 permanent seats, and offers a spectacular view of the nearby Wasatch Mountains.  The pressbox -- which is not only state-of-the-art but also does double duty as the press box for the softball side of the complex -- and part of the stands are covered by an attractive Teflon-fabric roof (see the photo), which is reminiscent of the roof of the airport in Denver.  This Pioneer League franchise, by the way, played in Helena, Montana in 2000.  They hope to build a baseball park of their own somewhere in Provo in the coming years, but in our view, Larry H. Miller Field is a beauty, and is certainly sufficient for this team.

LEXINGTON   It's been almost a half century since Lexington, Kentucky had hosted professional baseball, but that has now changed.  With the demise of the Florida State League franchise in Kissimmee (see below), the Astros decided to affiliate with an "expansion team" in the Class A South Atlantic League.  That team, the Lexington Legends, is playing in Applebee's Park, a brand-new 6,000-seat stadium (cost:  $13.1 million) on the north side of Lexington.  Stadium Consultants International of Toronto designed the ballpark, which, appropriately, has a horse-farm theme.  Note the race-track-style "cupolas" on the roof in the photo.  This shot was taken near the main entrance to the stadium behind home plate.  The team was a big hit, as they sold over 3,000 season tickets for the franchise's inaugural campaign, and sell-outs were commonplace throughout the season.  

LAKEWOOD   The long-rumored move of the Cape Fear Crocs of the South Atlantic League -- a team long plagued by poor attendance (it was a miserable 32,641 fans for the entire 2000 season) -- has occurred.  The move means that the franchise departed one of the poorest facilities in Class A baseball, J.P. Riddle Stadium in Fayetteville, NC.  A brand-new $20-million, 6,500-seat stadium in Lakewood, NJ is the team's new home.  The stadium is called GPU Energy Park, and the team's nickname is the BlueClaws.  The new park -- which hosted sell-outs right and left -- has a lovely brick exterior and all the amenities you'd expect of a facility at a higher level.  My biggest gripe about it is that it's simply not near any other places of interest (restaurants, pubs, shops, etc.).  Instead, it's all by itself on a huge tract of land surrounding by parking lots.  

WILMINGTON   After it appeared certain that the South Atlantic League's other new team (other than Lexington) in 2001 would be in Montgomery, Alabama, a funny thing happened.  The league announced that Wilmington, NC had been granted the SAL's 16th franchise instead!  The team, which is known as the Wilmington Waves, is playing at Brooks Field on the campus of UNC-Wilmington.  I'm told that a new stadium will be built for the team somewhere in Wilmington, but that it will be a couple of years before that comes to fruition.  Montgomery, by the way, hasn't given up its fight to bring pro baseball back to Alabama's capital city.  A potential ownership group feels that there is an unnamed AA team out there who might be lured to Montgomery, and the city is in the early stages of planning a new ballpark.

The three entries above about teams in the South Atlantic League suggest we need to add a quick note on re-alignment . . . For years, there has been a discrepancy in the number of High-A minor league teams and the number in Low-A.  This forced some Major League franchises to be affiliated with two teams at the same level -- and sometimes within the same league!  This has more-or-less been rectified this season, as the Low-A South Atlantic League has jumped from 14 to 16 franchises (meaning a total of 30 -- theoretically, one for each Major League parent -- in all of Low-A) and the High-A Florida State League has dropped two teams (meaning there is a total of 30 in all of High-A).  The two FSL cities which lost teams in 2001 are St. Petersburg -- which has a Major League team just about ten blocks from the minor-league ballpark -- and Kissimmee.  Thank goodness it wasn't Vero Beach, which has one of the most beautiful and interesting ballparks in all of the Minors!

PORTLAND   Oregon's largest city really wants a Major League team.  The next best thing, though, is to have a AAA minor-league franchise, and that's what they were successful in securing for 2001, as the Albuquerque Dukes of the PCL moved out of New Mexico and into Oregon (see more on Albuquerque below).  The team is now called the Portland Beavers, which was the name of the franchise when Portland previously had an entry in the PCL.  The city of Portland performed a big ($37 million!) renovation at 75-year-old Civic Stadium in downtown Portland to accommodate the AAA franchise, including replacing the Astroturf with real grass.  The renovation is so extensive that it wasn't done by Opening Day, which forced the team to play its initial home games in Pasco, Washington.  Portland General Electric bought the naming rights of the Beavers' new home, which is now called PGE Park.  By the way, the Dodgers had been affiliated with this franchise in Albuquerque for over 30 years, but they did not move with the Dukes to Oregon.  Instead, the Dodgers have become the parent of the successful franchise in Las Vegas, which had been the home of the Padres' AAA team (Las Vegas' team, by the way, is now known by the bizarre nickname of "The 51s" for 2001).  This means that the Beavers of Portland are an affiliate of the Padres.  The photo of PGE Park in Portland was provided by BASEBALLPARKS.COM visitor Randy Grover. 

PASCO   With the arrival of the Portland Beavers (see above), that city's Class A Northwest League team had to find a new home.  Their new host city is Pasco, Washington, which has been the home for an independent-league team called the Posse.  The Northwest League's team will be called the Tri-City Dust Devils, and they will play in the same stadium the Posse had occupied.

STATEN ISLAND   This is the home of the Yankees' New York Penn League entry.  The team spent its second season at the College of Staten Island in 2000 while waiting for the completion of a 6,500-seat park along the water, about 15 miles south of Yankee Stadium (see the cute sign in the photo) -- and, boy, was it worth the wait!  The stadium, which is called Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George, saw its first action in June, but it's not always the action on the field that captures the fans' attention.  Instead, because of its location right on the water on the northern edge of Staten Island, the view across the harbor is nothing short of spectacular.  To the left is Jersey City and the Statue of Liberty.  In the middle is lower Manhattan.  To the right is the skyline of Brooklyn.  And the waterway itself is a very busy channel, with immense barges and cruise ships passing by, and, of course, the Staten Island Ferry -- the terminal for which is just a few feet east of the ballpark.  HOK Sport did a splendid job in designing this park, as they devised clever ways to accentuate, instead of hide (behind rows of advertising signs, like at the typical minor-league park), the view.

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