Kokomo Municipal Stadium

All photos of Kokomo Municipal Stadium available on Flickr.

An unexpected work trip this week provided me with an opportunity to notch my first Northwoods League game of the year and another ballpark off my list.  I drove down from South Bend to lovely Kokomo, which is between South Bend and Indianapolis in north-Central Indiana (and sadly not anywhere near Aruba or Jamaica).  Kokomo is the home of the Jackrabbits, who moved to the Northwoods League this year after 4 seasons in the Prospect League.  They are a product of another con job by Mike Zimmerman, who is the same owner as the new independent Milwaukee Milkmen.  Similar to the Milkmen, he somehow convinced Kokomo to finance over $10 million in a sleepy town of 40,000 people for a ballpark completely on spec while he himself contributed almost nothing.  Also similar to the Milkmen, a site was chosen that was completely unsuited for building.  Franklin's new team chose a landfill and the Kokomo project was within the 100-year floodplain, so an additional $2.5 million was spent on flood mitigation infrastructure.  According to Google Maps it also looks like many homes had to be cleared out for this stadium as well.  Whether because or despite these issues, five years into the experiment, Kokomo Municipal Stadium seems to be a success.  It hosts several high school and semi-pro teams in the area, civic non-athletic events, and also has the capacity to hold other sports.  It also won the prestigious Summer Collegiate Ballpark of the Year Award from Ballpark Digest in each of its first two years.  I don't know enough about Kokomo to see how positively it has impacted development, but hopefully the Franklin ballpark can achieve the same measure of success.

The stadium is nestled within the banks of Wildcat Creek, just south of "downtown" Kokomo, mostly within a residential area.  I parked in front of a new apartment building across the street for free and it was hard not to notice how convoluted the parking and site were.  There were at least 3 separate areas to park, and none of them were connected very well to the main entrance.  I had to walk up a hill on some makeshift pavers behind a rundown printing press building to get to the front door from my car.  The other disappointing thing about the site is that I hate when ballparks are on the waterfront or a nice trail and do not engage them in any way.  I'm not sure why the city would spend all this money on flood mitigation and not connect the creek to the stadium.  There is a pristine pathway behind the stadium that is under construction right along side the creek, but I saw no indication that this path would connect to the building.  That being said, there is an entrance back there that was pretty much just a couple of interns sitting at a folding table inside of a fence gate.  This was definitely a missed opportunity in my mind.

Putting aside the weird site, if I didn't know I was in a small town in Indiana and you told me this park hosted a AA team, I would have believed you.  It certainly doesn't compete with the charm of Athletic Park or the quirkiness of Warner Park, but in terms of just being a well-designed ballpark, Kokomo blows the rest of the league out of the water.  So many parks in this circuit are beefed up community fields, or renovated stadiums that hosted minor league ball decades ago and are no longer fit for professional baseball.  And quite frankly, it's these nuances and the history that make these parks and the league so great.  But Kokomo is a park that could step in and host minor league baseball today with very little change (outside of the 100% turf field).  It's a completely different animal in this regard, and actually its "plainness" that sets it aside from the rest of the league.  Whereas in the Midwest League this would be just another park, in the Northwoods League it is definitely a big fish swimming in a small pond in terms of pure aesthetic and design.  There are only a few new parks specifically built for summer collegiate baseball, and Kokomo is at the top of those by far.

As I mentioned, its "plainness" or in other words its familiarity is what make this park stand out in this league, so walking in provides a familiar setup for anyone well-versed in lower-level minor league parks.  It has a couple of concession stands down each line flanking a concourse with clear view to the field.  It has the partial second story above the main concourse that houses the press box and suites.  And it has the standard lawn/berm areas in the outfield with a children's area down one line and covered bar tent down the other.  This park does feature a 360° concourse that would have been much nicer if it engaged the creek in any way, but this may have been for reasons of the aforementioned flood plain.  For just a creek I will say that the water was quite high and rapid.  In terms of unique features, it's becoming less and less unique but the 100% turf is hard not to notice.  This is the only park I've seen other than Normal where even the mound is turf - most all-turf fields at least have dirt mounds and sometimes warning tracks.  The gross amount of foul ground was also similar to Normal, which tells me that this park hosts things other than baseball.  I thought that the canopies above the 1st and 3rd base seating were a nice touch as well.  So many times in parks of this size and smaller, there is no relief from the sun or elements, or if there is you can't see the game from where the cover is.  Concessions and team store were minimal and lacking, but overall I was quite impressed with the scale of this stadium.

The game itself was quite a poor showing for the opposing Battle Creek Bombers, who not surprisingly own the 2nd worst record in all of the Northwoods League.  I left after 7 innings for the 1.5 hour ride back, but at the time of my departure the Jackrabbits had 9 runs on only 4 hits.  Four of those runs scored on wild pitches (including 2 on one pitch), three were walked in, and one scored on a sac fly, which leaves only one run to score on an actual base hit.  Trevor Smisek received the brunt of the damage for Battle Creek, walking 5 straight batters in the 6th.  So you can't really say there was an offensive standout for Kokomo, but Vinnie Costello did go 1-1 with 3 walks to raise his average to .143.  Their starter Aaron Husson did very well, giving up only 2 over 6 and earning the win, and likely only coming out of the game because of NWL pitch count rules.  Vanderbilt 1B John Malcom had probably the most exciting offensive play of the game for Battle Creek with a nice opposite-field RBI triple in the 1st.

With this visit I am back up to 16 of the 22 current Northwoods League stadiums, and I'm also hoping to get to the new Green Bay ballpark before the end of the year.  Tour 2019 kicks off in Asheville next week, so stay tuned!

park rankings and statistics: 
aesthetics - 7
views from park - 2
view to field - 6 (lots of foul ground but no extended netting)
surrounding area - 3 (downtown Kokomo not exactly bustling)
food variety - 2 (burgers and dogs)
nachos - 5
beer - 3 (just macro beers except for one stand)
vendor price - 5 ($7 for hamburger)
ticket price - 8 ($12 behind home plate)
atmosphere - 4 (very small crowd)
walk to park - 2
parking price/proximity - 8 (adjacent street for free but confusing)
concourses - 9
team shop - 3

best food - Big Bunny Burger
most unique stadium feature - 100% turf field
best jumbotron feature - Hot Dog / Foul Ball animation and song 
best between-inning feature - playing of "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys during lineup intro

field dimensions - 330/400/330 
starters - Ty Shoaff (BC) v. Aaron Husson (KOK)
opponent - Battle Creek Bombers
time of game - 2:45
attendance - 624
score - 9-3 W
Brewers score that day - off

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 7/12/19:
Brewers 47-44, -0.5; 3 v. Giants, 3 v. Braves, 4 @ Diamondbacks
Twins 56-33, +5.5; 3 @ Indians, 2 v. Mets, 4 v. Athletics

2019 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 2
Peter - 10