Ballpark Changes in the Minors

Here is where you will find the most comprehensive summary of pending Minor League ballpark changes anywhere on the Internet.  Below, you'll find descriptions of the new parks for 2002.  You'll also enjoy looking at our photo gallery that shows all of the parks that opened in the affiliated Minors in 2002.  We felt the new facility in Midland, Texas was the best of the litter, as it was named our Best New Ballpark for 2002.

For a review of the Minors' new parks of 2001, click here.

Ballpark changes for 2002. . . 

PEORIA   The Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League moved into a new stadium in 2002, but it wasn't ready by Opening Day.  Instead, the first game at O'Brien Field was May 24.  The new facility is located downtown, and is part of a larger urban-renewal project.  The total price tag for the stadium itself was about $16.5, all of which was raised privately.  The architect was HNTB.  And in case you were hoping that the ballpark is named for some individual in the community, no such luck.  This is a corporate-sponsorship name, purchased by the O'Brien Automotive Group.

LAKELAND   This city in Florida isn't exactly building a new baseball park for the Lakeland Tigers of the Florida State League, but the team's home games are being held in a different park this year.  That's because Joker Marchant Stadium, home not only of the FSL Tigers but also to the Detroit Tigers during spring training, is being remodeled during the 2002 season.  That bumped the minor-league team a few blocks down the street to Henley Field, which opened in 1923 -- making it one of the oldest parks in use by a minor-league team in 2002.

CASPER   This Wyoming town welcomed the Rookie Level Pioneer League in 2001.  The team had been looking forward to playing in a brand-new stadium for the 2001 season, but delay after delay kept pushing the opening date back until finally the season was finished.  However, pretty Mike Lansing Field indeed was ready for the 2002 campaign, and the first game was played there on June 21.  The setting for the park, along the banks of the North Platte River, is very nice.

ABERDEEN   Tiny Aberdeen, MD would be an exceedingly inconsequential town on the baseball map . . . except for the fact that it's Cal Ripken, Jr.'s hometown.  Instead, it's considered to be an important baseball town since the Ripken Museum is here and because the Cal Ripken World Series (it's another "brand" of youth baseball) is moving here. 6,000-seat Ripken Stadium, which will host this event, made its debut on June 18 as the new Aberdeen IronBirds of the New York-Penn League played their first game.  Cal, the Iron Man himself, won't be so busy with playing duties in 2002, so look for him to be in the stands -- no doubt being hounded for autographs -- from time to time during the season.  

FRESNO   The the Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League have a brand-new home, although it wasn't finished by the beginning of the 2002 season.  The team's new 12,500-seat home was finally completed on May 1 following a bitter fight between Fresno's mayor, who did not want the park, and the city council, which did.  HOK Sport was involved in designing the park, and the price tag for the 12,500-seat facility appears to be about $26 million.  It was designed to accommodate soccer, football and concerts, in addition to baseball.  We have an entire page of photos and observations on Fresno's new Grizzlies Stadium.  Click here to see it.

ALBANY/WILMINGTON   This is a fascinating story indeed.  Wilmington, NC joined the Class A South Atlantic League in 2001.  They played their home games at the ball field on the campus of UNC-Wilmington (which means no beer could be served), a facility that was clearly inadequate for pro baseball.  This was to be temporary while plans for a new stadium were finalized.  Well, no plan for a new stadium materialized, and the Wilmington Waves lost a million dollars in 2001.  So that ownership group sold the team.  The new owners promptly whisked the franchise from North Carolina to Georgia for the 2002 season -- doing so only three weeks before the start of the season!  The team, now known as the South Georgia Waves, signed a three-year lease to play in nine-year-old Paul Eames Field in Albany, Georgia.  Why three years, you ask?  Because the franchise hopes to return to Wilmington in 2005 -- if the city will build a brand-new ballpark for it by then.  Significantly, the team has pledged to chip in $5 million of its own money toward such a stadium project, but even with that kind of commitment, it doesn't appear that the city is all that interested.  In the meantime, ballpark-designing heavyweights HOK-Sport are being brought in to make improvements to the park in Albany, and they might just get to design the new facility in Wilmington, if the commitment to build one can be finalized.  By the way, I wrote an article about the current ballpark in Wilmington when the city was granted an SAL franchise in late 2000.  Click here to read it.

Windswept Midland The RockHounds of Midland, TX are playing in a great new park where the wind never stops blowing, but the sunsets are gorgeous.

MIDLAND  The Midland RockHounds of the Texas League are now playing in a new facility.  The city built the Scharbauer Sports Complex, which includes a soccer/football stadium (high school football in Midland is nationally renown) and a new baseball facility called First American Bank Ballpark.  The park is definitely a beauty, but be advised that the wind almost never stops blowing across the prairie land in this part of the Lonestar State.  Wind or no wind, BASEBALLPARKS.COM feels this is the best of the new facilities that opened in 2002.  Check out our full page of photos and observations.

CEDAR RAPIDS   The Midwest League Kernels have a brand-new park.  The project cost about $14 million, with $4.8 million coming from city tax increases, $3.2 million from the state, $4 million from the team and the remainder from private sources.  Yet another Kansas City architectural firm, Heinlein Schrock, designed the new facility, which replaced venerable 52-year-old Veterans Memorial Stadium.  The new park is actually located at the same location as the old one, and is called, appropriately enough, New Veterans Memorial Stadium!

TROY   Even though the New York-Penn League had approved the transfer of the team in Pittsfield, MA to Troy, NY for the 2001 season, it didn't happen quite that quickly.  The franchise's new home was to be a brand-new $12-million stadium on the campus of Hudson Valley Community College in Troy.  However, due to delays in the start of construction, the team realized that the park wouldn't be done in time for 2001.  Instead, the Astros' farm team played one more year at rustic Wahconah Park (which dates back to 1892) in Pittsfield, then moved into the new stadium in Troy on Opening Day 2002.  And with the move to Troy comes a new team name that is a mouthful:  The Tri-City ValleyCats.  By the way, an independent-league franchise moved to Pittsfield for 2002.

TOLEDO   Ned Skeldon Stadium -- a one-time horse-racing facility and the long-time home of the fabled Toledo Mud Hens -- saw its last action in 2001.  New Fifth Third Field in downtown Toledo took its place, making its debut on April 9.  State bond money was used to foot much of the bill.   Look for Columbus, the home of the Clippers -- like the Mud Hens, they are also in the International League -- to attempt to obtain money for a new stadium from the same state source.  

WASHINGTON   The fairly small community of Washington, PA is sometimes called "washpa" for short by the locals.  Well, this town south of Pittsburgh constructed a baseball park that it hoped would be the home of the Pirate's short-season Class A minor league team one day.  That dream didn't come true in the short run, though, as no franchise in the NY Penn League could be lured to Western PA.  In the meantime, the franchise formerly in Canton (which is in the independent Frontier League) now calls this town -- and new park -- home.  

Go to the 2002 Ballpark Changes Photo Gallery