Fox Cities Stadium Renovation #2

All photos of Fox Cities Stadium available on Flickr.

Megan and I returned to Appleton for the first time in over 8 years yesterday to take in the second round of major renovations at Fox Cities Stadium, and to give our son Elliot his first experience at affiliated minor league ball.  We arrived to a nearly completely full parking lot about a half-hour before first pitch, and figured out pretty quickly that it was due to a Jonathan Lucroy bobblehead, for which we arrived too late to acquire (I did however get to see him throw out the first pitch).  Giveaway or no, it was really nice to see the park so full, and it was easy to see that the Timber Rattlers' affiliation with the Brewers seems to be thriving in not just Appleton but all of Wisconsin.  We were all very hungry upon arrival and got the customary children's favorites of hot dogs and lemonade before heading down to our left field lawn seats.

The main portion of the renovation we were excited to see was the 3-story slide that was constructed in left field, which is supposed to be a sort of homage to Bernie Brewer's slide - again reinforcing that strong affiliate partnership.  Much to our disappointment, that was the one portion of the renovation that was not yet completed for Opening Day, and I found out after we left that it will tentatively debut on May 31st.  It was a big bummer to drive 90 minutes and it wasn't even open, but honestly we sat pretty close to it and by the looks of it, Molly would have either not met the height requirement or would have been too terrified to slide down anyways (on the other hand, I would have enjoyed it immensely).  However, it was not a total loss, as the kids area in right field was expanded for this season as well.  The right field corner now features one of the larger kids areas I've seen so far, featuring a complete jungle gym, a gigantic sandbox with toys, and some standard bounce houses.  In the few years we've been taking our kids to ballgames, it's become apparent that kids areas are mostly an afterthought and mostly serve to make use of dead space in the corners of ballparks, and while that was certainly no different here, it was at least a very expansive and unique area.  As far as fan improvements go, the other major component of this year's renovation is that you can finally circumnavigate the entire park.  As of my last visit in 2015, you could make about a 90% loop, from the center field bullpens all the way around to the left field pole, with an inaccessible gap in left field.  That gap has now been infilled with a pavilion mixed with private and public space, and a series of walkways that jog up, down, and around the jumbotron and bullpens in the outfield.  It's actually a very cool procession underneath the massive jumbotron and then arriving in centerfield where you can watch pitchers warm up, although I will say that the new walkway is much too narrow for two-way traffic.  The walkway does widen a bit where it counts - above the bullpens to give people some standing room for heckling opponents and hounding for baseballs.  It then connects up with the pre-existing raised pavilion area in right field which more closely resembles a residential wood deck, which then empties into the kids area.  This renovation also encapsulated many of the MLB-mandated facility guidelines that were a part of the last CBA, including a new home clubhouse that doubles the size of their former space, new batting cages, dedicated spaces for female staff, expanded offices, and expanded player conditioning and relaxation areas.  

The kids seem to do better and better each time we take them to a game, and they had a ton of fun on Sunday.  We all sat pretty calmly for a good 3 innings and both Molly and Elliot were very inquisitive and interested in the game.  Attention started to wane during a long 3rd inning and we were successfully able to draw another 2 frames out of them with some ice cream.  I was more than ok with that seeing as how we were there mostly to see the new kids stuff.  There was certainly a time in my not-so-distant past that watching anything short of a full 9 innings would upset me and feel like a waste of money, but having kids changes your perspective - as it does with most things in a parent's life.  Baseball is more about the experience and the entertainment value than anything else, and realistically the game itself is just secondary with young children.  As long as we have a good time, eat some good food, and get to walk around a bit to see the park and enjoy the outdoors, that's really all I care about.  This is all a long prelude to say - I did not see anything that happened after the 5th inning.  I was in line getting ice cream during the lone homerun in the 4th inning, and the ball was noticeably jumping off the bat on the warm day.  Eric Brown Jr. was probably the biggest name on the T-Rats roster.  He was the Brewers 1st round pick last year, and went hitless with a walk batting leadoff.  Robert Moore also played 2nd in the game - he was a compensatory round B pick last year and he was the guy who hit the homer in the 4th.  My son was captivated by the program for much of the game, so I was unable to snatch it from him to read up too much on other players I didn't recognize.  Neither starter was particularly stellar, lasting only 2.2 and 3.2 innings respectively.  There were a lot of ground ball outs from both sides, a lot fewer strikeouts than I am accustomed to seeing in the Midwest League.  The hard hit fly balls and the lower strikeout totals could potentially both be attributed to this being the first Midwest League game I've seen since it changed to a High-A league a couple of years ago.

Overall, the 2022-23 renovations improved an already great minor league park, but I would still not consider this one of my favorites in the circuit.  Its major shortcomings are that it is very congested and there are really only two main concessions stands and two sets of bathrooms.  Those problems have existed in the 16+ years I've been coming to this ballpark and I think they would both be pretty difficult to fix at this point.  Portable food carts have been added over the years to increase concessions offerings, but those come at a cost of only further exacerbating the congestion problem.  That being said, it's pretty hard these days to find a bad place to watch a minor league ballgame.  With the aforementioned stricter facility guidelines, the days of Pohlman Fields and Pfitzner Stadiums are long gone.

park rankings and statistics
(see last renovation post from 4/13/13):

aesthetics - 6

views from park - 3

view to field - 5

surrounding area - 3

food variety - 6

nachos - improves to 7

beer - 9

vendor price - 7

ticket price - 8

atmosphere - improves to 7

walk to park - 1

parking price/proximity - 1

concourses - 6 (more congestion, but bonus points for outfield concourse)

team shop - 8

kids area - 8 (previously unranked - including the future slide in this ranking)

best food - helmet cheese fries
most unique stadium feature - 3-story slide in LF
best jumbotron feature - Press Your Luck
best between-inning feature - unchanged

field dimensions - 325/405/325
starters - Cruz Noriega (QC) v. Stiven Cruz (WIS)
opponent - Quad Cities River Bandits
time of game - 2:31
attendance - 5,363
score - 7-4 L
Brewers score that day - 6-4 W

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 5/22/23:

Brewers 25-21, +1.0; 3 v. Astros, 4 v. Giants, 3 @ Blue Jays, 4 @ Reds

Twins 25-22, +3.5; 3 v. Giants, 3 v. Blue Jays, 3 @ Astros, 4 v. Guardians

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 0

Peter - 4

Dodgers Re-Sign Andrew Toles to $0 Contract

It's getting harder and harder to find a news story with a happy ending these days, but if you dig deep enough, you can still find a few gems.  It was reported a couple of months ago that the Dodgers re-signed former top prospect Andrew Toles to a $0 contract for the 5th consecutive season.  This isn't some sort of ceremonial gesture, or even something that the Dodgers held a press conference about, but rather, it is just about the most humane and noble thing a person can do for someone - help them in a time of need and expect nothing in return.  By signing a salary-less contract, it allows Toles to remain in the organization, and thus have access to the team's health insurance.

Anybody not familiar with Toles' story might wonder why somebody who likely made millions of dollars in his career needs free healthcare from the Dodgers, but this is a person who was homeless and destitute not even 3 years ago.  His career got off to a hot start with a memorable postseason performance in his rookie year of 2016, but his life derailed from there.  He would play in just 17 more games the remainder of his career while dealing with a series of health issues, both physical and - much more significantly - mental.  He was a no-show to spring training 2019 and was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.  He was in and out of mental institutions after that, eventually being arrested for trespassing while living outside of the Key West Airport, and was taken into guardianship by his father.  Toles desperately needs this health insurance to treat his condition and to give himself even a semblance of a normal life.

This might seem like an insignificant gesture, but it would have been easy enough for the Dodgers to just cut ties with Toles years ago, as I'm sure many other teams would (and have) for players in similar circumstances.  It's nice to hear once in awhile that money-grubbing sports owners do have a heart.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 5/12/23:

Brewers 20-17, -0.5; 3 v. Royals, 3 @ Cardinals, 3 @ Rays

Twins 21-17, +3.0; 3 v. Cubs, 3 @ Dodgers, 3 @ Angels

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 0

Peter - 3

MLB Ballpark Updates

Humans travel to Mars, Donald Trump gets convicted of a crime, and the Oakland Athletics break ground on a new ballpark.  What do all of these things have in common?  They are all stories that I will never believe until I actually see them.  The A's announced a couple of weeks ago that they have a binding agreement to purchase about 50 acres of land in Las Vegas for a new ballpark, thus presumably a major step forward in their long and arduous ballpark saga.  I say "presumably" because this saga has been going on for nearly 20 years, since the first renderings for Cisco Field in Fremont were released way back in the mid-aughts.  Many around the industry share my skepticism as little more than political posturing to gain leverage for their negotiations on lease terms with the City of Oakland.  Given the long history, I still think that the Howard Terminal site in Oakland is not entirely off the table, and I'm not going to believe that the A's are actually moving to Vegas until a financing plan is in place.  But for now, Erik and I can look at sexy renderings and fantasize about a trip to Las Vegas in 2027.

Another ballpark concept seeming to gain steam is the potential move of the Kansas City Royals to a new downtown facility.  I wrote about this last year so I won't regurgitate that blog post again, but since then, the new ballpark has been narrowed down to a handful of sites, and a number of community informational meetings have been held for citizen feedback.  This park still seems a long way away logistically and financially, but out of all of the MLB teams seeking new ballparks, KC seems the most realistic that it will eventually come to fruition.

In terms of ballpark updates that have actually happened, the Blue Jays got to show off the first phase of their stunning renovations when they opened up for the season a few weeks ago.  Toronto has elected to forego a new ballpark (for now) and instead invest a 9-figure sum into modernizing the brutalist Rogers Centre, which is already over 30 years old and somehow one of the oldest parks in the league.  I'm glad that they decided to keep the old Skydome as it is one of the better urban locations you'll find in the league, and personally I feel is vastly underrated.  The fact that the Jays are now the major tenant of the stadium and no longer have to share with a CFL team allows them to truly focus this stadium as a baseball-only facility, and the renovations certainly reflect that.  The first phase primarily includes a new "Outfield District" which is set up in a variety of "neighborhoods," intended to enhance fan experience and give more social/gathering options that are expected of the modern ballpark.  There are also a bunch of new social spaces and drink rails in the main concourse, and some upgrades on the player side as well including bullpens, training facilities, and staff rooms.  As if I needed an excuse to get back to Canada, I can't wait to visit Toronto again when all phases of the reno are completed.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 5/1/23:

Brewers 18-10, -1.5; 3 @ Rockies, 3 @ Giants, 3 v. Dodgers

Twins 17-12, +3.5; 3 @ White Sox, 3 @ Guardians, 3 v. Padres

2023 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 0

Peter - 3