All photos of Lansing and Jackson Field are available on Flickr.
I'll start with what I did like about Jackson Field - site, location, and atmosphere. This was one of the most urban and active ballpark areas I've been in all of the minor leagues, and probably 2nd to only Fort Wayne in the Midwest League. Back when this stadium broke ground nearly 30 years ago, ballpark districts were not a thing, and building ballparks downtown was just in its infancy of becoming a popular concept. So for Lansing to have the foresight to use this ballpark as a development catalyst - regardless of your stance of if that actually works or not - is quite commendable. Certainly there are times I love being at the small, quiet minor league parks that serve smaller communities, but the urban ballparks are always my favorite and I love the life that they bring to a downtown on gameday. There were a ton of people there on this night for a Big Lug Bobblehead giveaway that we unfortunately got there too late to receive, but it was not a novelty crowd just for the bobblehead. The Lugnuts are perennially near the top of not just Midwest League attendance but all of minor league baseball, and have drawn in excess of 7000 people several times this season. Besides being a downtown site, the block that the ballpark is wedged in also makes it very unique. The park faces directly north on a very long and skinny block that runs north-south, so this causes the park to be pinched down the lines and shoehorned into the block, similarly to Dozer Park in Peoria. When you walk down the lines near the foul poles at the widest part of the stadium, the only thing separating you from the public sidewalk is a fence. This make the ballpark very active not just from the outside in, but the inside out as there is a direct line of sight from the street inside from many areas. There were several times when I saw people just walk by the fence and stop for a moment to peer inside and catch a few moments of free baseball. And speaking of free baseball, the coolest part of the site is the apartment building that was added about 10 years ago. Known as the Outfield Lofts, it is a 4-story building that has balconies hanging over the outfield concourse and facing the stadium. I have no doubt in my mind that if I was single and lived anywhere near Lansing that I would move into those apartments for the rest of my life. The ground level of the apartment building has restaurants, bars, and retail that faces both the street on the north side, but also opens up into the stadium on gamedays. I can't even imagine what this ballpark looked and felt like prior to these apartments being built - they really bookend the stadium and define the boundaries quite dramatically, in an area that is overlooked in the design of many minor league ballparks. Between the narrow site and the apartments, and the proximity to the street, it all serves to give quite an intimate setting to the ballpark, and when you couple that with huge crowds on most nights, it was a very lively and raucous atmosphere to be a part of.
The large, raucous atmosphere does have a negative side effect however and leads directly into what I did not like about the stadium - the general operations of the park were a joke. There were only two main concession stands (similar to the setup in Appleton) that literally had 30-60 minute lines for the entire game. The only thing I could actually grab for Molly and I to eat without spending the entire night in line was popcorn and ice cream. And it's not like these stands served like specialty items or things that were slow to cook, we're talking standard ballpark fare. The team store was also WAY too small for a ballpark of this size and was uncomfortably crowded at all times. I will say the congestion in the concourse was not as bad as I was expecting for the tight nature of the stadium footprint, so kudos on that. And perhaps having only two concession stands alleviates some of that congestion, so I get that it's certainly a give-and-take. The last thing I hated was that the entire park was cashless - and proudly stated as such on their website and all over the park - except for the kids area. So I had to go all the way back to the overcrowded team store to buy "Lugnuts Bucks" with my debit card specifically to use at the bounce house for Molly. That's not a symptom of a tight footprint, or poor design, or staffing shortage - that is just a flat out horrible oversight that can be easily rectified.
Following a quick round #3 of swimming on Sunday morning, and some breakfast across the street from the ballpark where some players were clearly there picking up coffee, we headed back to Milwaukee around 10am. Once you have a second child, watching just one child is a breeze, and it was so nice to have a fun, relatively stress-free time all to ourselves and to spend some quality time together before our big life shift this week.
views from park - 7 (apartments, downtown Lansing)
view to field - 9
surrounding area - 7
food variety - 1
nachos - 1
beer - 7 (bonus points for Labatt's)
vendor price - 7
ticket price - 6
atmosphere - 9
walk to park - 7
parking price/proximity - 6 (we walked but there are lots of street options)
concourses - 8
team shop - 2 (way too small)
best food - ice cream I guess? didn't get to try any
most unique stadium feature - site, apartments in outfield
best jumbotron feature - Lansing Board of Water & Light "Flip the Switch" to turn on the stadium lights
field dimensions - 305/404/305
opponent - Great Lakes Loons
time of game - 2:37
attendance - 7780
score - 7-5 W
Brewers score that day - 6-1 W
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
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