Tour 2026: Dunkin' Park

All photos of Hartford and Dunkin' Park available on Flickr.

I just got back from Philadelphia on our Tour 2026 trip, and recency bias aside, this was probably a top 5 all-time trip for us.  One of the main reasons we decided to go to the all-star festivities despite having already done that in 2014 was to be a part of the USA 250 celebrations in the birthplace of our nation, and that definitely added another layer of pomp and circumstance and excitement.  But of course, we fit in some minor league ball first.  I flew in to Albany a day early to visit another friend, and Erik graciously picked me up there en route from New Hampshire to Hartford, Connecticut for our first stop of the trip to see the Yard Goats.  It was about a 2-hour uneventful drive from Albany to Hartford and we arrived with a few hours to spare before first pitch, so after checking in to our downtown hotel, we hit a couple of bars on a cool pedestrian street nearby, Pratt Street.  The first was Urban Lodge Brewing followed by Vaughan's Public House.  The slow transition from folks skipping work to watch the World Cup to old women pregaming the Lionel Richie concert next door was entertaining to say the least, and both places were really fun and energetic.  After tossing back a few, we walked the 4 blocks to the park and got in around an hour before the 7:10 first pitch.

Dunkin' Park opened in 2017, and at the time of its inception, it became Hartford's first foray into affiliated ball in over 6 decades.  The tale of the stadium is a very common tale for new cities luring a minor league team, in this case moving the former Rock Cats over from nearby New Britain.  It opened to rave reviews including several "Best Ballpark" awards, and was envisioned as a catalyst for an area of downtown known as DoNo (Downtown North).  Grand visions take grand amounts of money, and this ballpark is infamous for its troubles with cost overruns nearly from the start, which delayed its opening by a full season.  The city would eventually fire the original contractor and developer and a lawsuit was filed over the whole mess, which was ruled in favor of the city for a mere fraction of the contract sum.  That feels like a distant memory now, and nearly 10 years later, the immediate surrounding area has been slow to develop around it.  I went for a walk around the park early the next morning only to find several large empty blocks of dirt and not a single adjacent business open.  It's a familiar cautionary tale that no city ever seems to learn their lesson from, but we were in Hartford to watch ball and not play politics - and judging by the large crowd of people at the game and all the Yard Goats gear around town, nobody else seems to care anymore either.

The main entrance to this ballpark is in the right field corner and is marked by a tall concrete tower with the Dunkin' logo at the top.  This is where we walked in and was really the only area of activity around the park.  The other sides of the park are primarily brick and concrete with a few side gates, but otherwise not many windows or other opportunities to see in.  The edges make an attempt to engage with the street, particularly along Main Street, but it's pretty obvious there were some cost saving measures on the other three sides.  There was nothing of interest that drew my eye or enticed me to want to walk anywhere off of Main.  What you would traditionally call the "front" of the ballpark behind home plate is on the southwest corner of Main and Pleasant, and there is actually a storefront space here that is some sort of clinic or community center.  It was a nice attempt to blend the park into the community and a larger development, but again when it's closed and everything around it is closed or vacant, it doesn't really serve a purpose other than taking away a nice opportunity for a grand main entrance.  This site definitely has potential if it ever starts to fill in, but the main deterrent as in many other cities is a giant freeway running just south of the site that effectively cuts it off from the rest of downtown.  Dunkin' Park is a clear attempt by the city for transformational development on the north side of the interstate, but while there is definitely some new construction happening, as of today it is nowhere near fully realized.

The interior is where this park shines, and where you will find some of the more unique spaces and features compared to most other parks of this level.  With a capacity of just over 6000, it is one of the smaller parks in the Eastern League, and the Yard Goats make great use of every square foot of a challenging footprint.  The first thing you notice walking in from right field is the 2nd deck in right field, which is one of the few if any outfield upper decks I can recall ever seeing at a minor league park.  This is not like a tiered party deck or anything either, we're talking a full deck with 6 rows of actual seats.  It reminded me a little of the 2nd deck we encountered at a Windy City Thunderbolts game, except in that case it was very odd and seemed to exist just to exist, and here in Hartford it was probably out of necessity for a tight site.  What makes it even more interesting is the field level seating below the 2nd deck is behind a net, so a player could theoretically hit a ball off that outfield net and it would still be in play - only the 2nd deck is in homerun territory.  There is a concourse that walks under this 2nd deck at field level with a 333' distance marker next to a striped yellow line, so either this deck was added after the park opened, or this is a cute way to highlight that it is incredibly short down the RF line.  Walking through the outfield behind the batters eye you arrive at a goat tent.  Not a tent selling goat to eat (which is what I really wanted) but rather a goat petting area.  My kids would have gone nuts to see that, but it also seemed cruel to put it in the dark back corner with no air movement.  Emerging from this tunnel, the concourse opens up into a large "Travelers Patio" area in left-center complete with picnic seating and a BBQ stand, from which Erik got some delicious bacon-wrapped meatballs and I enjoyed a frosty IPA.  There is also a nice open bar/patio area closer to the left field pole.  The main concourse contains the majority of the food stands, and what they lack in goat-themed items they more than make up for with Dunkin' Donut-themed items.  There was a donut bun hamburger, and I went with the donut hole nachos, which was one of the best foods I've ever eaten at a ballpark.  I am one who typically avoids super messy foods, but I couldn't resist trying it, and I devoured almost the entire plate myself.  I also liked the tiny press boxes that were off-center instead of one giant one blocking the middle, and I loved the field level suites adjacent to the dugouts.  Overall I think they nailed the private-to-public area ratio and I really enjoyed the variety of seating.  It's a park where almost no two sections look the same yet it is very cohesive, which is tough to pull off.  It's easy to see why this stadium has won so many awards, and I would put it near the top of the AA stadiums I've been to (hard to top the lazy river in Frisco, but I don't know that I'd want to sit in a river of Hartford city water).

The game pitted the Rockies-affiliated Yard Goats against the Mets-affiliated Rumble Ponies, with Hartford prevailing by a 7-2 score over last-place Binghamton.  The top Rockies prospect in the game was 2B Roc Riggio, a 2023 draft pick of the Yankees who was acquired as part of the Jake Bird deal last year.  He went 1-2 with a double and 3 walks out of the 3-hole.  SP Jack Mahoney was masterful, striking out 9 over 7.2 strong innings.  He gave up a bomb to a rehabbing Luis Robert Jr. in the 8th to put an end to his night and that was the only earned run he gave up in his outing.  I'm not even seeing him in the Rockies Top 30 despite have a sub-2 ERA.  There was nobody else I recognized on the R-Ponies aside from Robert and none of their top 30 prospects played in the game.  Y-Goats SS Andy Perez continued his great season with 2 RBI out of the leadoff spot, and RF Braylen Wimmer had multiple RBI in the win as well.

There was about a 5-minute Radio Flyer fireworks show that started almost immediately after the game.  On our way back to the hotel, we were unsuccessful in acquiring last minute Lionel Richie tickets, so the concert must either have been over already or he passed out on stage.  Probably for the best as we had an early wakeup call to get to Philly for the MLB Draft!

park stats and rankings:

aesthetics - 7
views from park - 5 (decent view to downtown from left field, mysterious windowless concrete building in left)
view to field - 8
surrounding area - 5 (downtown Hartford is a few blocks but immediate surrounding area is deserted)
food variety - 9
nachos - 10 (donut hole nachos!)
beer - 8
vendor price - 8
ticket price - 8
atmosphere - 8 (sellout)
walk to park - 6 (at this point in my life, just walking past tall buildings gets bonus points)
parking price/proximity - n/a (walked)
concourses - 7 (a little tight in some areas but unique)
team shop - 7
kids area - 3 (all I saw was the goat pen)

best food - donut hole nachos!
most unique stadium feature - upper deck/short porch in right field
best jumbotron feature - The Hartford credit card shuffle
best between-inning feature - goat rodeo

field dimensions - 325/400/308
starters - Bryce Conley (BNG) v. Jack Mahoney (HFD)
opponent - Binghamton Rumble Ponies
time of game - 2:44
attendance - 6687
score - 7-2 W
Brewers score that day - PPD

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/15/26:

Brewers 59-37, +5.0; 3 v. Marlins, 3 v. Mets, 3 v. Rockies

Twins 48-49, - 3.0, -- WC; 3 @ Cubs, 4 @ Guardians, 3 v. Athletics

2026 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 7

Peter - 20