Return to Hadlock Field

All photos of Exeter Library and Hadlock Field available on Flickr.

Click here for Erik's original review from 2008 visit.

My wife and I took the kids to New England this past week for a much needed spring break vacation, during which we visited Erik's family in New Hampshire and some other friends in upstate New York.  Far be it from E and I to get together during the baseball season and not include a ballgame, so we checked the schedules and the closest team that was home was the Portland Sea Dogs in Portland, Maine.  And so with that, I visited my 2nd new ballpark of 2022, and Erik attended his first ballgame in nearly 3 years, this past Friday.  Our wives were gracious enough to stay home with the kids (or perhaps we were the ones that were gracious by not subjecting them to a 4-hour roundtrip to watch minor league ball in April), and we set out for Maine from Concord around 2pm.  We did attempt to make a quick stop in Exeter, NH to see the famous library by Louis Kahn, but unfortunately it was tightly secured from strangers like ourselves and we could only walk around outside.  On the way I learned that Erik's wife actually attended the Phillips Exeter Academy which the library was a part of, and spent many hours of her school days in that library.

We arrived at about 4:30 for a 6pm first pitch, to what I imagine a typical spring day on the Maine coast is like - windy, cloudy, and constantly shifting.  Even though the mercury climbed to 60° at first pitch, it felt much colder being that close to the water, sort of like how the Chinooks games in Mequon can feel really cold even well into the summer.  Portland is a city about the size of Appleton, WI and seemed to have a lot of character and history, as much of New England does.  We walked down some old brick sidewalks and past many old houses and buildings on the way from our car to the ballpark, including the 107-year-old Exposition Building where the NBA G-League Celtics play.  The Expo actually forms part of the right field corner of the ballpark, which I'll talk about later.  We got $15 seats right behind home plate and headed inside after snapping a few photos.

I've entitled this post "Return to Hadlock Field" because Erik had visited this ballpark several times in the Late Aughts during his campaign days, so even though this was my first visit here I won't recreate his entire post - I've linked it above.  In comparing his set of photos from 2008 to mine, other than some advertising changes really nothing has changed.  The most interesting - or some might even say charming - part of the ballpark is the fact that it feels a century old just like everything else in Portland, but it has actually existed as a minor league stadium for less than 30 years, and there are several factors that contribute to this.  First of all, it technically opened in 1994 as a "renovation" of a field previously used for high school baseball (and in fact still is).  I haven't been able to find anywhere how long baseball has actually been played on this site, but keep in mind if you go that the 1994 date is very misleading.  I would guess that the basic structure and bleachers have existed in some form long before that date, and the layout certainly would tell you that also.  It is the type of ballpark where the concourse is under the seating bowl and you ascend to the seats, like many older small parks were built - Eau Claire, Kenosha, and Duluth to name a few.  Another major factor that makes the park feel older is its scale and shape.  You figure out pretty quickly when visiting New England that straight roads and logical street grids are unheard of, and that shows itself in the shape of the field, particularly how it is wedged next to the aforementioned Expo Center in right field with short dimensions down the lines.  This gives it sort of an Asheville or Baltimore type intimacy.  Lastly, the "Maine Monster" that was added in left field after the Sea Dogs became a Red Sox affiliate about 15 years ago naturally makes the park feel older as it is intended as a near replica of the "Green Monster" at Fenway Park.  I'll also mention that Portland recently overtook Asheville as the "Craft Beer Capital of America" due to its having the most breweries per capita in the United States, so definitely make a visit to the beer stand if you make your way out here.

The game pitted the Sea Dogs against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, whom we also saw play in Akron a few years ago but sadly no longer have Tim Tebow on their team.  Portland seems to be very heavy on pitching prospects but not much in the way of hitting, and that was pretty evident during the game.  The Red Sox #11 prospect, Brandon Walter, got the start and was stellar, giving up only 2 over 6 and striking out 10.  His fastball would be considered slow these days topping out at around 92, but his funky three-quarter lefty delivery and devastating breaking stuff got a lot of swings and misses.  A couple of 2-out RBI by Jeremy Vasquez and Matt Winaker were Walter's only mistakes and had him hooked for the loss when he left the game.  The minor league pitch clock really had the game moving and we were on pace for about a 2-hour game, but when it got to the 8th it slowed considerably as games often do.  The Dogs tied it in the 9th on a wild RBI groundout.  Pinch-hitter Izzy Wilson grounded to 1st with a man on 3rd, and the first baseman stepped on the bag for the 2nd out, but his throw home narrowly missed Elih Marrero dashing to home plate to tie the game.  It appeared from our view 5 rows back that Marrero did not touch the plate, but a combination of him ripping a hole in his pants and the coach arguing the tag led to distracting the R-Ponies from a formal appeal and the run stood.  We then of course entered the one thing we didn't want on a cold night with a 2-hour drive ahead of us - extra racks.  But the ghost runner made it a quick 10th inning and the Dogs won in their half on a single up the middle by Tyler Deardon.  Tyler was the offensive star of the day for either team, going 3-4 with a walk.

We had a great vacation and this was certainly one of the highlights.  I'm very much looking forward to visiting Erik as many times as possible over the years and crossing more New England ballparks off my list.

park stats and rankings (see original post from 9/5/08 linked above):
aesthetics - 7
views from park - 4
view to field - 7
surrounding area - 6
food variety - 6
nachos - increases to 4 (just chips in a bag, but points for ample cheese-to-chip ratio)
beer - increases to 8 (great variety but $11)
vendor price - increases to 8 (I thought prices were pretty fair by 2022 standards)
ticket price - decreases to 4 (GA should never be more than $10)
atmosphere - 8
walk to park - 5
parking price/proximity - 7
concourses - 5
team shop - 9

best food - Sea Dog Biscuit (local chipwich)
most unique stadium feature - Maine Monster
best jumbotron feature - first time I've ever seen exit velocity displayed
best between-innings feature - human Hungry Hungry Hippos

field dimensions - 315/400/330

starters - Alex Valverde (BNG) v. Brandon Walter (POR)
opponent - Binghamton Rumble Ponies
time of game - 2:52
attendance - 3918
score - 3-2 W
Brewers score that day - 4-2 L

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 4/25/22:

Brewers 10-6; 1 v. Giants, 3 @ Pirates, 3 v. Cubs, 3 v. Reds, 3 @ Braves

Twins 8-8; 3 v. Tigers, 3 @ Rays, 4 @ Orioles, 3 v. Athletics

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 3

Opening Day Returns to Normalcy in 2022

All photos from Brewers 2022 Home Opener available on Flickr.

Yesterday was my first Opening Day attended since what I now call "The Before Time" in our slow, arduous crawl towards normalcy in the post-pandemic world.  It was also my first home opener attended since we moved about a mile from the ballpark nearly 3 years ago, so we decided to walk to the game on what ended up being one of the oddest Opening Day forecasts I've experienced.  Anybody who's been to Opening Day in Milwaukee knows to expect anything running the gamut from 30 degrees and snow to 70 degrees and sunny.  This particular day was right about in the middle of that range temperature-wise, but with 40+mph sustained winds it felt like the dead of winter.  The team actually issued a warning for people not to use tents or small grills for tailgating due to the high winds, which was about as futile as asking people not to drink alcohol.  The slap of meat smells across my nose was even more prevalent than usual as we trudged to the gates among the swirling derecho of grill smoke.  We made it inside about a half-hour before first pitch and headed up to our seats in the RF Loge bleachers.

On our way to the seats, we soaked in the full-scale concession overhaul that American Family Field underwent this past offseason.  It was only a few years ago that then-Miller Park underwent a massive concessions transformation by building two massive bars on the main level and bringing in lots of local vendors including Zaffiro's and AJ Bomber's to liven up the offerings more so than just the smorgasbord of sausages.  With how fast the stadium experience changes around the game and Milwaukee always seeming to be a few steps behind, that recent overhaul was already getting a little stale.  It got to the point where it seemed like almost every stand served the same handful of things.  Black Shoe Hospitality has taken over the food in the entire stadium now, which should excite any Milwaukee resident.  For those who don't know, this is a restaurant ownership group whose holdings include Blue's Egg, Story Hill BKC, and Maxie's - all of which are within 5 minutes of our house and we frequent quite regularly.  The food items were not necessarily things that are just pulled from these restaurants' menus, but rather the chefs created an inspired new menu that is ballpark-specific but with the flair of these particular establishments.  Blue's Egg is mostly known for its brunch and homestyle food, Story Hill for its upscale Americana, and Maxie's for Southern comfort, and that is all reflected in the menus.  You can now get everything from a fully-loaded brat with apple sauerkraut, a chorizo breakfast sandwich, and a honey buttermilk fried chicken sandwich just to name a few things.  Whereas the Brewers in the past may have erred more on the side of redundancy in the past, you can also run the risk of making your ballpark offerings so specialized that you can only get one particular thing at one particular stand and it makes wayfinding and lines very difficult to navigate, so I think the Brewers have struck a nice balance.  This is the most excited I've been to actually eat at AmFam Field in quite sometime because I am just so eager to try as many of the new foods as I can.  And perhaps it is a coincidence or maybe it was a strategic plan to roll this out this year amidst the historically high inflation in our country, but one cannot help but notice the large spike in prices this year.  By flipping those price hikes on its head and coupling it with a 100% new menu, it gives the entire concession experience a perceived higher value than if they were to just raise the price of a regular old hot dog a dollar (which they also did do).  It is a very smart and very well thought out new experience this year that will not disappoint.

The one new concession stand that did disappoint was the new Cream City Cocktail Bar in right field, near the Craft Beer bar and the right field bleachers.  They took what was basically the only standing room area in the park where you could watch the game, and completely blocked the view of a field with a bar.  I've been very vocal about my beef with the lack of social spaces at AmFam Field, and the Brewers have taken a major weak point and made it worse.  The least they could have done is pull the bar away from the railing so that you can sit at the bar while watching the game - that would have made this a truly unique experience that you literally can't find anywhere else in the park.  I will say that this bar does further reinforce the right field bleachers as the best place to sit in the park besides the club level.  You have the best two bars, a hot beef stand, and a secluded sausage stand that never has a line, with one of the few areas you can actually sit and catch a homerun.  Just temper your expectations before you go with what a "craft cocktail" means at a baseball game - you're going to get Jim Beam and canned juices and $15 neon green overly sweet drink mixes, not a guy in an apron muddling an orange with a charred cinnamon stick garnish.

On to the game itself, the Brewers defeated the Cardinals 5-1 behind a gutsy outing from Brandon Woodruff.  He had a pretty rough shortened spring training and a horrendous first start, but bounced back to toss 5 shutout innings to a very-old-but-still-potent St. Louis lineup without even having his best stuff.  If I had to guess I'd say there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 players in MLB that are still older than me, and the Cardinals had 3 of them in their lineup on this day - the ageless Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, and all 680 homeruns and 42 years of former Brewer killer Albert Pujols.  This was the first or second time I think I've seen Pujols in person since he left St. Louis and it's pretty incredible how decent of a hitter he still is.  He had a nice single to the right side and hit a couple of loud outs to the outfield, even though he can barely walk and is probably much older than birth certificate says.  Christian Yelich is certainly not all the way back to 2018-19 form, but in the opening week of this season he does seem to be driving the ball more and going up the middle and to left field more, and seems promising.  It is still a major red flag to me how much less he has elevated the ball the last few years and consistently beats it into the ground, and I hope he can rectify that this year.  He did had a ringing double in the 3rd that gave a glimpse of vintage Yelich and just missed a homerun by a couple of feet.  Newcomer Andrew McCutcheon continued his early season onslaught with an RBI single, and Omar Narvaez had his first productive game of the year with a homer and 2 RBI.

It was great to be back at the ballpark on Opening Day where I belong, and I already can't wait to return!

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 4/15/22:

Brewers 4-3; 3 v. Pirates, 3 @ Phillies

Twins 2-4; 3 @ Royals, 3 v. White Sox

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 0

Peter - 2