Tour 2022: Riders Field

(everyone enjoy the first and only shirtless photo I'll ever post from a ballpark)

All photos of Grapevine, Frisco, and Riders Field available on Flickr.

Our 15th Anniversary Tour commenced this past weekend in the steamy Dallas-Fort Worth metro area after much anticipation and over 2 years of pandemic-related delays.  There's really no great time weather-wise to visit Texas during the baseball season, as you're contending with either triple-digit heat, torrential rain, or even the start of hurricane season as it was during our visit.  But we lucked out with the weather with no rain, a nice steady breeze, and never touching above 90° for all 4 days we were there.  We both got early starts to the festivities and both landed at DFW early Thursday morning.  I killed some time caffeinating myself to combat my 4:30 AM wake-up call in a coffee shop at a beautiful remodeled train station in nearby Grapevine while waiting for Erik to arrive, and by about 11:30 we were off to Frisco.

We had a rental car for the first day of our trip to make the drive out to Frisco, which is about 20 miles north of the airport.  After a lunch and a couple flights at a local brewery called Union Bear, we checked into our hotel and walked to the ballpark which was conveniently just across the street.  Thankfully, gone are the days of us finding cheap motels on the outskirts of town to save money.  We were in Frisco for this 24-hour excursion to see the RoughRiders, the AA-affiliate of the Rangers.  Texas has no shortage of ball options when we were looking at how to assemble this trip, and we ultimately decided on Frisco due in large part to it being one of the most unique ballparks in all of America.  It was famously designed a little over 20 years ago by David M. Schwarz (who is the Chairman of the Yale architecture school) and the concept behind it was to create a "park within a park."  It features a very welcoming and well thought-out set of interconnected pavilions that sit between the street edge/gates and the various concessions and suite structures of the ballpark.  These pavilions both serve as great gathering spaces that make use of what is typically dead space, as well as refuge from the Texas heat as they are almost entirely in shade during a typical game.  At the time this stadium was constructed, this was the first building in what is today a 70-acre development, so it had to be able to stand on its own before the rest of the development could catch up, and the "park in a park" concept only reinforces that by having a series of out-buildings that hold the street edge as well as visually connecting the inner pavilions to what would become future plazas outside the ballpark.  It is also the type of park where the concourse is on street level and the field is sunken below, which was done for budgetary and schedule reasons primarily but also greatly strengthens that visual connection to the street.  The entire building material choice is also quite unique, done entirely in a fiber cement residential-type siding, giving it more of a quaint, intimate coastal vibe or even a Churchill Downs aesthetic rather than an albatross ballpark.  This all again gives it an appropriate sense of scale that holds the street edge, and helps make it seem like this ballpark has been in town forever and successfully creates an urban feel in a suburban area.  All in all I was very impressed with how what seem like simple (and quite frankly cost-saving) measures really give this park a style all of its own, while still not shying away from the massive scale and grandeur you only find in Texas.

And speaking of things you will only find in Texas, if the ballpark wasn't already unique enough, a lazy river was constructed in right field during the 2016 season.  When the park opened in 2002 this area was originally just a small swimming pool that was open only for private parties, but now it is a 400-foot long, 3-foot deep river that is open to all adult fans for most home games, and is the only such river of its kind across all of professional sports.  Erik and I of course had to get "seats" in the river for the game.  It is a $25 section that included $2 domestic beers for Thirsty Thursday - the greatest day of the week at any minor league ballpark.  It's one of the wildest experiences we've ever had at a ballpark and was hands down the best game night of the trip, but we did have a few complaints.  First of all, how do you spend all of that money on a river and not make it a swim-up bar?  It's certainly not the worst thing in the world to have to make your way through a sea of bikinis on the way to the bar, but that seemed like a wasted opportunity by the team.  Secondly, you have to leave the area to get food of any kind.  I don't believe food was allowed in the river, only drinks, which makes sense - but there could have been a separate sitting area to eat.  Overall I'm not going to complain too much about getting drunk in a river on a hot night and meeting all sorts of interesting people, and a great game to boot.  It's amazing how much more social you get with a few beers in you in a pool-type setting, even for quiet guys like Erik and I that generally keep to ourselves.  The social aspect is what makes baseball great and I'm sure it's why well over half of the fans in attendance seemed to be either in the river or in a suite.

The game was surprisingly pretty poorly attended for a team that historically is near the top in attendance figures in all of minor league baseball, particularly considering it was the final homestand.  Frisco ended up holding on for a 4-3 victory over the Tulsa Drillers.  Erik and I were both impressed with starter Cody Bradford for the RoughRiders.  He struck out 10 over 5 innings, including 5 of the first 6 batters he faced.  It was supposed to be Drillers starter Landon Knack as the pitcher to watch, as he is the #11 Dodgers prospect, but he gave up 4 runs over his 5 innings of work including a 3-run bomb by Trevor Hauver that would knock Knack out of the game.  Andy Pages reduced the deficit to 1 in the 8th for the Drillers, but Grant Wolfram slammed the door in the 9th to earn his 2nd save.  The aforementioned Hauver was the offensive star of the night, also adding a single later in the evening to raise his average above the Mendoza Line, but with a remarkable .896 OPS to go along with the paltry average.

Following the game, we had a few drinks and apps at a bar called Wild Pitch next door to our hotel and called it a night.  Let's just say that Dallas is the "breastaurant" capital of the United States and was one of the few non-sports things we enjoyed about our time in Texas.

park rankings and statistics: 

aesthetics - 10

views from park - 3

view to field - 9

surrounding area - 7 (immediate area around park is sleepy apartments, but near our hotel was a lot of retail)

food variety - 6

nachos - 5

beer - 8 ($2 Thirsty Thursday but only 2 kinds)

vendor price - 2 ($14 for 2 tacos is pretty steep)

ticket price - 9 ($25 lazy river was well worth it)

atmosphere - 10

walk to park - 7

parking price/proximity - 8 (2-block walk fo' free)

concourses - 9 (if there was any sort of view from the stadium, it would be a 10)

team shop - 7 (points deducted for no programs, points added for sweet logo)

kids area - 5

best food - tacos

most unique stadium feature - design aesthetic, lazy river

best jumbotron feature - nothing of note

best between-inning feature - kids race

field dimensions - 335/409/335

starters - Landon Knack (TUL) v. Cody Bradford (FRI)

opponent - Tulsa Drillers

time of game - 2:29

attendance - 3692

score - 4-3 W

Brewers score that day - 2-1 W, 4-2 W (DH)

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 9/12/22:

Brewers 75-66, -8.0, -2.0 WC; 2 @ Cardinals, 3 v. Yankees, 3 v. Mets, 4 @ Reds

Twins 69-70, -4.5, -9.0 WC; 3 v. Royals, 5 @ Guardians, 3 @ Royals, 3 v. Angels

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 4

Peter - 18

2019 Affiliate Dance

There are three new ballparks opening in the minor leagues next year - Amarillo TX, Las Vegas, and Fayetteville NC.  Normally new ballparks means parent clubs jockeying for new affiliations, and that will certainly be true in 2019:

• San Antonio Missions moving AA team to new Amarillo ballpark, name and affiliation TBD
• Colorado Springs Sky Sox moving AAA team to San Antonio, retaining the "Missions" name and its Brewers affiliation
• Helena Brewers moving Rookie League team to Colorado Springs, name TBD.  Expected to remain a Brewers affiliate but not confirmed.
• New York Mets purchase Syracuse Chiefs (AAA), moving from Las Vegas
• Oakland A's switch AAA affiliate to new Las Vegas ballpark, moving from Nashville; name TBD
• Houston Astros switch AAA affiliate to Round Rock Express, moving from Fresno
• Texas Rangers switch AAA affiliate to Nashville Sounds, moving from Round Rock
• Washington Nationals switch AAA affiliate to Fresno Grizzlies, moving from Syracuse
• Buies Creek Astros (high-A) moving into new Fayetteville NC ballpark, name TBD

This sort of thing happens every even-numbered year, as typical parent-affiliate contracts are signed in 2 and 4 year cycles.  What is notable to me and the reason I'm writing about this is the surprising signing of the Brewers with San Antonio.  The Round Rock Express are partially owned by Nolan Ryan's family, who is also a special assistant to the Astros.  So, when the Express announced they would not be renewing with the Rangers next season, it was all but a foregone conclusion that the Astros would sign with them and the Rangers would switch to San Antonio.  I don't think anybody including the Brewers were expecting to get into such a great situation in San Antonio.  It's not the best ballpark in the country - almost 25 years old and 8 miles from downtown - but it a fantastic market in one of the largest cities in the country.  It'll be easier for the team to travel, in the same time zone as Milwaukee, and certainly a better situation than the likely alternative of Fresno, which is one of the worst parks in the circuit.  Between the upgrades being made to Wolff Stadium and the talks of a new ballpark, it was enough to sway David Stearns.  It's only a 2-year deal, so if San Antonio has not broken ground on a new park in the next two years, look for the Brewers to push hard to move to the new Wichita stadium in 2020.  Either way it's great to get out of the 6000+ ft altitude of Colorado Springs, at least on the AAA-level.  I'm not too concerned about the results of our Rookie League team being affected by the move.  At that age you're looking more at raw ability than ERA and homeruns allowed.

Hopefully the Brewers can bring the same excitement to the Missions as they did the Sky Sox this year, who narrowly missed a division title by one game on the last day of the season.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 09.19:

Brewers 86-66, -3.5, +2.0 WC #1 (3 v. Reds, 3 @ Pirates, 3 @ Cardinals, 3 v. Tigers)

Reds 65-87, -24.5, eliminated (3 @ Brewers, 4 @ Marlins, 2 v. Royals, 3 v. Pirates)

Twins 70-81, -14.5, eliminated (3 @ Tigers, 3 @ Athletics, 3 v. Tigers, 4 v. White Sox)

2018 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 15 (+17 worked)

Peter - 22

Tour 2013: Hammons Field

All photos of Hammons Field available on Flickr.

It was a long wait into the season this year for our big annual ball trip, and as is always the case, it seemed to be over before it began.  Tour 2013 brought us to Missouri, with a stop at a AA game en route to see the $250 million Kauffman Stadium renovation completed for the 2009 season.  I keep saying "us," because Erik and I did plan the trip together, but I actually went by myself because he was unable to shake loose from prior commitments.  In 5 short weeks this season will be over, and will be recorded in the annals of history as the first year since we were in college together that we haven't gone on some sort of ball trip.  Although extremely disappointing, I know we still have many, many years of ball tours ahead of us.  The 8 1/2 hour drive down to Springfield was pretty lonely and most of the way I was thinking to myself how ridiculous it was to go on a weekend vacation alone, but looking back, I'm definitely glad that I went.

I arrived in Springfield around 4:30, well in advance of the odd 7:09 game time.  The first of many small fortunes I encountered on this trip was when I found out the hotel I was staying at had a pool, so I was able to occupy myself until it was time to head to the ballpark.  Erik and I have an affinity for quoting Caddyshack among other movies, and one of our go-to lines is when Chevy Chase says "we have a pool, and a pond...pond's probably good for you."  So, I had to laugh when I saw the pond-esque condition of the pool featuring leaves and bugs, but it was 90º so I jumped in anyways.  After my swim, I took a circuitous route to the ballpark to survey the downtown area for potential places to drink after the game, but finding it to be dilapidated and deserted, I made a bee-line for the ballpark.  I then spent at least 10 minutes waiting in line to get into the parking lot across the street.  It was completely absurd - it is a shared parking lot with a hotel, with only one entry point, and they charge $7!!!  I might have expected this were the ballpark truly urban, but it was more on the fringes and it not a city-operated lot.  Anyways, after that atrocity, I got to the ticket window and found that only GA tickets were available.  The game tonight may not have been the largest minor league crowd I've been a part of, or even the loudest, but it was definitely the most full I have ever seen a minor league stadium.  Usually when I go to minor league games, I just buy GA tickets regardless and sit where I want, but I literally did not see one empty seat for at least the first 6 innings.  Even the grass berms were packed and I ended up standing for most of the game.  Aside from concessions lines being understandably long, being a part of a standing-room crowd at a minor league game was a pretty incredible experience.  It was a perfect storm of A) Springfield being tied for 1st, B) playing the nearby rival Royals' affiliate whom they are tied with, C) the 4th to last home game of the season, and D) just Cardinals fans being awesome in general, as much as that pains me to say.

Given the huge contingent of St. Louis Cardinal fans at the ballpark as well as the team's proximity to St. Louis, I was very surprised to find out that both the team and stadium have existed for less than 10 years.  Hammons Field is named after the late John Q. Hammons, a famous hotel entrepreneur, who funded the ballpark entirely himself with the promise of luring a team to his hometown to become a new Cardinals affiliate.  Included in the price tag for this park was its own separate indoor practice facility beyond the outfield wall, which is a luxury I've certainly never heard of in minor league stadium that doesn't double as a spring training facility.  As it is set up now, there is a berm that wraps around the left field pole into the outfield, is interrupted by some trees in the batters eye, and then another small portion of berm in right center, and between this berm and the right field pole is the practice facility.  The nice part is the out-building gives the site some context, but the drawback is that the concourse does not wrap all the way around.  Other than that, there are a lot of nuances that make this park unique.  Most interesting to me was obviously how the park was constructed.  The composition had a "horse track" kind of aesthetic and the structure utilizes joist girders with clevis turnbuckle rods, painted in sea foam green.  In laymen's terms - fancy metal trusses.  The concourse is also set up kind of cool.  It terminates in left field at a stair tower that goes up a level to a small canopied deck of seating, and down a level to the GA berm area, which also has its own separate concessions area and a half-court basketball hoop.  I really liked that the grass berm area, which can be rambunctious and typically appeals to kids and families, was separated from the rest of the park while still maintaining visual connectivity.  The interrupted berm, the drop in level to the berm, the stair tower on one side, the seating area on one side, the jumbotron being off center, and the out-building in right center - all of these things give the park a subtle asymmetry, which any architect will tell you adds visual appeal.

The park may be slightly asymmetrical, but it was certainly tied together nicely with a sea of red, as over 9000 fans packed "The Ham" for an important game against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (hilariously abbreviated "NWA").  The S-Cards did not have a good showing and got blown out 12-0.  Cardinals starter Anthony Ferrara did not make it out of the 5th, surrendering 4 earned on 83 pitches.  The big blow came in the 8th inning when reliever Danny Miranda came on, loaded the bases on a hit and two walks, and then gave up a grand slam to Matt Fields.  Fields is only hitting .230 on the year but had 31 HR and 85 RBI as of this game, both of which I have to assume are near the top of the Texas League leaderboards.  Despite the schlacking, or perhaps because of it, there was no real shining talent in the game.  With all of the young kids being called up to the big leagues this year for the Cardinals, that honestly didn't surprise me.  There were a couple players though on the Naturals I recognized from when the Royals had an affiliate in the Midwest League - SS Orlando Calixte and 3B Cheslor Cuthbert.  I mean, who could forget names like that?  After the game, I finally managed to find a seat for all 4 minutes of the post-game fireworks extravaganza.

At no point during the weekend was I more aware that my ball trip companion was not with me than on Friday night after the game.  As Erik and I often do in sketchy minor league cities, I settled for a night cap at the local Applebee's to await the inevitability of players and/or team staff coming in for a late night meal, which they did.  My night ended after just one beer, but I imagine Erik and I would have closed the place down, destroyed the Waffle House across the street, and then taken advantage of the mini-fridge and giant handicap-accessible bathroom floor back at the hotel.  On the other hand, the good part of being there myself was I didn't have to share the small bed and was not hung over for my big day in Kansas City.

park rankings and statistics:
aesthetics - 8
views from park - 2
view to field - 8
surrounding area - 3 (downtown a few blocks away, looks shady/mostly abandoned)
food variety - 3 (one specialty dog stand)
nachos - 8 (custom nacho bar)
beer - 4 ($6.75, 4 kinds)
vendor price - 5
ticket price - 6 ($7 GA)
atmosphere - 9
walk to park - 3
parking price/proximity - 1 (adjacent screwy lot $7)
concourses - 8
team shop - 6

best food - specialty dog stand
most unique stadium feature - structure
best jumbotron feature - Are You Smarter than a Cubs Fan?
best between-inning feature - Duck Hunt

field dimensions - 315/400/330
starters - Aaron Brooks (NWA) v. Anthony Ferrara (SPR)
opponent - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
time of game - 3:04
attendance - 9,509
score - 12-0 L
Brewers score that day - 6-4 W

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 08.26:
Brewers 57-73, -19.5 (3 @ Pirates, 3 v. Angels)
Reds 74-58, -3.5 (3 @ Cardinals, 3 @ Rockies)
Twins 57-72, -19.0 (3 v. Royals, 3 @ Rangers)

2013 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 10 (+28 worked)
Peter - 38