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 2003.  If you want to review the parks that opened in the affiliated Minors in 2002, click here.  

Ballpark changes for 2003. . . 

Frisco's new park has a wonderfully unusual design, as the suites and concession stands are in free-standing "pavilions" with gaps between them.  Not only is it gorgeous, it also allows much-needed air circulation.

FRISCO   Where's that you ask??  Well, this upscale suburb north of Dallas is making a big name for itself, as a franchise in the Texas League is now playing there.  The team is known as the Frisco RoughRiders, and their home park is part of an impressive "mixed use" complex.  The team itself played in Shreveport through the 2002 season, but they struggled mightily at the gate.  Of course, since the ownership group of the Texas Rangers is behind this team, they made sure the RoughRiders are one of their farm teams, meaning the Rangers' long-time affiliation with the Tulsa Drillers ended at the close of the 2002 season.  By the way, David M. Schwarz and HKS, the same firms that acted as the design architect and sports architect respectively for The Ballpark In Arlington, also created the superlative concept for the new ballpark in Frisco.  This new facility, known as Dr Pepper/Seven Up Ballpark, is a dandy, with many features unlike any you've seen at other parks.  One example:  bullpens that are surrounded by seats.  There are so many special elements to this park that it has been named BASEBALLPARKS.COM's Best New Ballpark for 2003! 

JACKSONVILLE   Until a "corporate sponsorship" name is worked out, the new stadium for the Suns of the Southern League will be called The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.  Opening day was April 11.  Originally, the project was pegged at $25 million, but the final package earmarked $34 million for the construction.  It replaces the now-demolished Wolfson Park, which opened in 1955 and was, shall we say, showing its age.  The new facility was constructed in the same complex as Wolfson, which also includes Alltel Stadium, home of the Jaguars of the NFL and the 2005 Super Bowl, and a fancy new arena that is under construction.  You might think that $34 million is a high price-tag for a Class AA park, but the intent was to build an 11,000-seat facility that meets AAA standards in hopes of luring an International League franchise to town one day.  Don't miss our in-depth review (as well as photos) of Jacksonville's beautiful new park.

ALBUQUERQUE   While attending an Albuquerque Dukes game during their "lame duck" season in 2000 (the franchise had already announced that it was moving to Portland for 2001), I was told by the team's Media Relations Director that the city wanted a new team, but that they weren't willing to settle for anything less than Triple-A.  Well, they have indeed gotten their way.  The Calgary Cannons of the PCL moved to New Mexico's largest city.  The final approval came in a referendum by Albuquerque's voters on May 30, 2001.  It approved the sale of bonds of up to $10 million to rebuild Albuquerque Sports Stadium (shown below on the left from their famous "drive-in" area above right field, which -- alas -- wasn't retained in the new facility due to security concerns), the stadium that hosted the Dukes for over 30 years.  The franchise remained in Calgary during 2002 while the construction in New Mexico was occurring, meaning the Cannons debuted in their new home on Opening Day 2003 -- not as the Cannons or Dukes but as the Albuquerque Isotopes.  Why the Isotopes?  The nickname comes from the baseball team in The Simpsons' fictional town of Springfield.  HOK designed the rebuilt facility, by the way, which features an embankment in play in dead center field, a la Houston's ballpark.  By the way, BASEBALLPARKS.COM was there when the new ballpark made its debut on April 11th.  Check out the full page with photos and observations.

LYNCHBURG   I have to admit that I am more than a little annoyed at the situation surrounding the park of the Lynchburg (VA) Hillcats of the Carolina League.  Heading into the offseason following the 2000 campaign, the team generated a fair amount of hoopla regarding the major renovation that 60-year-old Merritt Hutchinson Stadium (for years called City Stadium) was going to receive before the start of the 2001 season.  It didn't happen.  Again, toward the end of the 2001 season, press releases touted the renovation that was going to happen in the coming months.  It didn't happen.  At the end of the 2002 campaign, again much was made about the remodeling job that was coming that winter.  Well, a lot of work did happen over the winter, but not nearly enough to complete the job, which meant the Hillcats opened the 2003 season playing in, shall we say, a construction zone more than a ballpark.  The work being done is to demolish and replace major portions of the park which had become, sorry to say, an eyesore.  No word on when the $5 million facelift will be completed.

LAKELAND   The Tigers of the Class A Florida State League had to play their home games in 2002 down the street from their normal home, Joker Marchant Stadium.  That's because their longtime ballpark needed a major facelift.  Following the parent team's use of Joker Marchant during spring training, the FSL Tigers played in the remodeled stadium.  The architectural design is by HKS, and what a fabulous makeover it is! 

ROME   Italy?  No, Georgia.  This city northwest of Atlanta was busy this past winter finishing up a new ballpark for the 2003 season so the Braves could move their South Atlantic League affiliate from Macon to Rome.  This leaves Macon -- with one of the most historic and beautiful ballparks in the Minors (74-year-old Luther Williams Field) -- without a team, and that is a terrible shame.  The new park in Rome, though, is a dandy -- and the fans of Northwest Georgia are supporting the team very well.  Best of all, the construction came in under budget, and the new sales tax imposed to build the facility has already paid it off!  Check out our full-page review and photos of Rome's State Mutual Stadium, which is quite reminiscent of Lexington, KY's Applebee's Park, as the same architect designed both.

EASTLAKE   Boy, talk about an on-again-off-again-on-again story!  This saga started when Baseball America released its 2001 Directory, a must-have publication for everyone in the baseball industry.  Well, right on page 3 of the book was a full-color ad for DLR Group, an architectural firm with a division that designs sports facilities.  The ad showed a drawing of a ballpark they'd designed for the city of Eastlake, Ohio for a "future Single A ballpark."  Since Eastlake, a suburb on the east side of Cleveland, didn't possess a baseball franchise of any type, this was a puzzling description.  On May 14, 2001, though, it appeared that the mystery was solved, when an announcement was made that the Quad City River Bandits of the Class A Midwest League were moving to Eastlake for the 2003 season.  Four months later, though, the prospective buyer of the franchise pulled out of the deal when he concluded that the new ballpark would never be completed in time for the team to move there for the 2003 season.  Was he ever wrong,  because on January 24, 2002, a new deal was struck in Ohio.  A new ownership group (that includes the Cleveland Indians themselves) announced that they are bringing the Columbus (Georgia) RedStixx of the Class A South Atlantic League to Eastlake, which promised to have the park done by March 2003.  The RedStixx, interestingly, were already an Indians farm team.  This means that a town on the shore of Lake Erie will be playing in a league called "South Atlantic."  One assumes the next franchise move for the SAL will be to put a team in the Yukon Territory.  Anyway, the team moved into the new 5,400-seat park on April 10, and ticket sales for the team now called the Lake County Captains have been extremely strong.

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