Tour Molly 2022: Homer Stryker Field

All photos of Kalamazoo and Homer Stryker Field available on Flickr.

My daughter and I sat in bed until almost 9 AM Saturday morning eating breakfast together and watching Looney Tunes, and on most Saturdays, that would have been the highlight of my day.  But alas, Molly and I had a full day planned which started with a dip in the aggressively chlorinated hotel pool.  I'm not a person who likes to complain to staff about anything trivial, but had we not been illegally swimming an hour before the pool opened, I probably would have said something to the front desk.  I could barely open my eyes for a couple of hours after we got out of the pool, but somehow I managed to drive 10 minutes to downtown K-Zoo for our next stop of the day at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.  This was my favorite part of our trip other than the ballgames.  It was a really fun mash-up of a museum, with a planetarium and history of Kalamazoo on the 1st floor, an interactive/science zone with children's area on the 2nd floor, and a Mummy exhibit and special exhibit space on the 3rd floor.  The special exhibit at this time was a room full of Rube Goldberg machines.  For those who don't know, Goldberg was a famous inventor and cartoonist known for his cartoons that depicted hilariously convoluted machines that resulted in a simple output, like ringing a bell - think of the Breakfast Machine from the Pee-Wee Herman movie.  Molly and I had an absolute blast, and there was enough on the 2nd floor alone to keep us both occupied for hours.  We wedged ourselves free around 1pm for a quick lunch at nearby Bell's Brewery before a long nap at the hotel.  Overall I was much more impressed with Kalamazoo as a city than I was Battle Creek, which is probably unfair to say since we spent a lot more time in "The Zoo" as it is so nicknamed, but Battle Creek definitely seemed a lot more "rough around the edges."  

We headed out to the ballpark around 5:30 for another 6:35 first pitch.  Homer Stryker Field is part of Mayor's Riverfront Park along the Kalamazoo River, just east of downtown, and also next door to a stadium that is home to a lower-tier professional soccer team.  It has a similar history to that of the Battle Creek ballpark, except it is about 30 years older.  It opened in 1963 largely just to host local sporting events and state tournaments for the first 30 years of its life, until it hosted a couple of Frontier League teams in the '90s and '00s, most recently the Kalamazoo Kings.  It was again somewhat dormant until 2014 when the Growlers were created.  The last major renovation took place in 1995 which included adding the press box and bleachers down the lines, but it looked like some of the out-buildings and the party areas in the outfield were somewhat newer as well.

Any fan of the Northwoods League and anybody who's visited what I think is unequivocally the best park and experience on the circuit - the Madison Mallards - will love Homer Stryker Field.  Warner Park is still leaps and bounds above the rest, but Kalamazoo's park had a ton of similarities and a similar feel.  You enter in the outfield corner just as you do at Warner Park, both parks feature a hodge-podge of out buildings rather than one unified structure, the grandstands are set up similarly where the concourse is behind the bleachers, they both have party decks in both corners, they both have a "home plate club" in the main grandstand behind home plate, they both make plenty of use of repurposed or upcycled materials, and they both even face the exact same incorrect direction with the sun setting in the right field corner.  Whereas Battle Creek seemed to be more no-frills, Kalamazoo was all about a full entertainment experience with the zany jumbotron and between-innings extracurriculars that you would expect from any Northwoods League game, again just like the Mallards.  I did not get to go into either of the party areas as these were actually occupied and private unlike Battle Creek, but the Bell's Bear Cave one in particular looked super cool and from what I can tell hosts weddings and events year-round.  If you remember earlier, we went to Bell's Brewery for lunch, so you can probably put together the brewery heritage in Kalamazoo - hence, the play on words with the team name "Growlers."  

This park also sold plush mascot dolls and ice cream in a cup, neither of which Battle Creek had, so I know I speak for Molly when I say this was her favorite of the two parks as well.  Molly also greatly enjoyed the kids area, which in terms of stuff was great - it had a full playground as well as bounce houses, speed pitch, and prize games, but it was actually in Mayors Riverfront Park outside of the stadium, so it had zero interaction or attachment with the park whatsoever, which I obviously didn't like.  It was so detached in fact that we had to sprint into the ballpark in the 7th inning for Molly to use the restroom.  But it's a great thing we got back into the park when we did, because apparently K-Zoo does all kids run the bases in the middle of the game!  Molly got to run from the 1st base line to the 3rd base line during the 7th inning stretch, and even though she got plowed over by some big dumb kid, she loved it and was even given a freeze pop at the end by the staff for her effort.  I thought this was a great idea for those younger kids like my daughter that probably couldn't have made it to the end of the game to run the bases.  We sat primarily high up on the 1st base side away from the sun, but after the kids' base run, we watched another inning from the 3rd base side before we left in the middle of the 8th.

The game was a drubbing by the visiting team, which was just fine with me because that visiting team was our "hometown" Kenosha Kingfish.  The Growlers made a game of it after we left so the final score was a lot closer than the majority of the game.  Kenosha jumped out to an early 6-1 lead over The Zoo with multiple run-scoring hits from Ian Collier, Drake Westcott, and Taylor Darden.  The Kingfish and Growlers traded blows in the 5th and 6th to put the Kingfish up 8-3, and the Growlers tallied a few meaningless runs in the 8th to make the final score 8-6.  The pitching was not nearly as stellar as it was the night before in Battle Creek.  The Zoo's starter Travis Densmore only lasted 2 innings and gave up 3 runs, and he was followed by Carson Byers who was pretty horrible to put it bluntly.  He gave up 5 earned runs which included 3 walks, 3 wild pitches, 2 hit batsmen, and a homer, but for some reason he was allowed to toss 4 frames.  Victor Loa was just good enough to get the win, giving up 3 over 5 with 5 K's.

I would like to end this post and put a stamp on our trip by doing something I don't normally do - give a plug to the wonderful hotel we stayed in, the Clarion Inn off I-94 in Kalamazoo.  Generally some of the most memorable moments of my trips are the sketchy hotels Erik and I choose to voluntarily stay in, and while the Clarion Inn was certainly not glamourous, they were nothing but courteous and really made my experience with Molly that much more enjoyable (aside from the chlorine incident).  They gave me free water when I arrived simply because I asked if they sold water, they were very friendly with myself and my daughter, the guy who was about to clean the pool when we were in there too early left us some towels and said it was ok to stay in, and one lady at the front desk even found an extra hair tie for Molly when we needed one.  So if you ever find yourself in need for affordable and comfortable lodging in Southwest Michigan, look them up!

park rankings and statistics: 

aesthetics - 4

views from park - 2

view to field - 7 (really good down the lines, lots of obstructions behind the plate)

surrounding area - 5 (Mayor's Riverfront Park)

food variety - 2

nachos - n/a

beer - 5

vendor price - 7

ticket price - 7 ($12 bleachers)

atmosphere - 5

walk to park - 2

parking price/proximity - 10 (adjacent lot fo' free)

concourses - 2 (discontinuous, behind grandstand)

team shop - 8

kids area - 5 (points for lots to do, but it is detached from ballpark with no restrooms)

best food - supposedly the "Bear Claw Burger" which I could not find

most unique stadium feature - Bell's Brewery Bear Cave

best jumbotron feature - playing "We Got 'Em" video from capture of Saddam Hussein for final out of inning

best between-inning feature - Molly/all kids run the bases during 7th inning stretch

field dimensions - 300/400/330

starters - Victor Loa (KEN) v. Travis Densmore (KZO)

opponent - Kenosha Kingfish

time of game - 3:27

attendance - 1110

score - 8-6 L

Brewers score that day - 7-4 L