Tour 2024: Royal Athletic Park

All photos of Port Angeles WA, ferry to Canada, Victoria, and Royal Athletic Park available on Flickr.

You didn't think we'd travel this close to Canada and not see a game there, eh?  Having already been to Vancouver in 2007, we set our sights instead on attending a ballgame in Victoria, which is the capital of British Columbia.  Victoria is located on Vancouver Island off the coast of Vancouver, and as far as I could tell it is not accessible by road, so we opted for the 12:45pm MV Coho ferry liner out of Port Angeles, Washington as our means of conveyance.  There are ferries that run directly from Seattle to Victoria through the sound, but driving the 2 1/2 hours to Port Angeles allowed us to be right at the mouth of Olympic National Park upon our return.  It was a surprisingly smooth ride that did not make us regret gulping down hot chowder before boarding the boat.  After we were confident we would not be getting seasick, we each brought a beer out on the deck for awhile and enjoyed the stunning views to the mountains in all directions.  I even saw a few whale spouts!  The ride covered 20 nautical miles and took about 90 minutes, and we rolled into the harbor (or "harbour" as Canadians say) by 2:30pm.  Once we were docked and passed through customs, I could officially say that I have now traveled to Canada by land, air, and sea.  Our way-too-classy hotel - the Grand Pacific - was directly across the street, and we again took some time to appreciate how far we've come in our travels that we were staying at a hotel so stunning and with so many amenities.  We got unpacked and cleaned up a bit, and began the 2.4km trek towards the ballpark, however long that is.

We chose to take a little less direct of a route, and walked down Wharf Street along the inner harbo(u)r.  This area was not surprisingly the busiest part of the city, even more so on Canada Day Eve.  Wharf Street was lined with restaurants and bars, and we stopped at a couple to break up the walk.  At our first stop, we sat on the water and watched sea planes land while enjoying a margarita.  Our second stop was a little livelier featuring a DJ, and we enjoyed some Canadian beer whilst watching 4pm Sunday Night Baseball on one TV and some CFL action on another.  As Erik explained the rules of Canadian Football to me, I couldn't help but wonder aloud if this was the craziest thing we've ever done to see a baseball game.  But the answer would have to wait, as we needed to finish our walk to the ballpark for a 6:30pm first pitch.

Royal Athletic Park may be the oldest stadium I have ever been to, as baseball on this site dates all the way back to 1908.  The park underwent a major restoration in 1967 after a fire consumed much of the original grandstand, and the intricate and raw concrete forms at the gates and press box certainly harken back to that era of architecture.  Various minor league affiliated teams inhabited the park on and off through the 1980s, and even a short-lived team in the ill-fated Golden League, and the current team we were there to see - the HarbourCats - took up residence starting in 2013.  They play in the summer collegiate West Coast League, which consists of teams located in Washington, Oregon, and Western Canada.  One of the many unique things about this ballpark is how long it's also survived as a successful civic multi-purpose facility.  The Cats still share the field with various soccer and football teams to this day, and this is quite evident in the rectangular shape of the site that has a temporary outfield fence arcing through it when used for baseball.  Rifflandia Music Festival and the oldest beer festival in all of Canada are among the other major events hosted at this park on an annual basis.  We were there as part of a sellout crowd for the Canada Day Fireworks Extravaganza and Salsa Dancing Night, and it was very clear that most folks were just there to be out celebrating the holiday and watching the fireworks.  And that's not a bad thing - much like the ballpark in Everett, I loved the energy at this facility, even moreso for a place as old and weathered as Royal Athletic Park.  I didn't get the sense that Erik was a huge fan of this ballpark, but having been to the large number of summer collegiate and town ball games that I have, I know that the atmosphere and crowd at these types of games is enough to overlook the very obvious signs of age and disrepair at the ballpark.  If it was a sparse crowd, I probably would have shared Erik's sentiments and would have grumbled a little bit more at the chipping concrete, or the uncomfortable plywood benches, or the impossibly long lines through cramped concourses at disjointed concession stands, or the section of bleachers we ended up sitting in that was so far down the line that they were probably used primarily for soccer matches.  Being a part of the Canada Day celebration put me in a good mood that couldn't be shaken by any of this.  I appreciated the effort the team rolled out by bringing in a glut of food trucks set up behind the bleachers, from which I had a turkey & cranberry panini, and Erik of course had a Canadian cuisine staple - poutine.  Again, it showed a pride that you want to see out of smaller city teams.  Is it going to be at the top of any ballpark lists for me?  Certainly not.  But I got to see a ballgame in a country I love visiting, with an ice cold Molson, followed by independence day fireworks, and it was one of the more perfect parts of the trip that I'll never forget.

This game was our first and only home team loss of the trip, as the HarbourCats were destroyed by the Nanaimo NightOwls by a score of 13-4.  The Owls are a relatively new team in the league that plays up the coast and across the strait from Vancouver.  Neither starter lasted too long - only 4 and 2 innings respectively - and the cavalcade of relievers for the Cats could not keep the Owls at bay either.  Tate Shimao was the player to watch for Victoria.  He was a recent signing that has been killing it since his first game, and he went 1-4 on the evening and is hitting .438 as of this post.  Every single Nanaimo starter had at least one hit in the game, and 6 of the 9 had at least one RBI, including Nevin Noonan who crushed a salami.  We went into this game not expecting to recognize a soul, so we were both shocked when we saw that two of Manny Ramirez's sons were in the starting lineup for the HarbourCats.  Lucas played RF and had a hit out of the 5-hole, and Manny Jr. grounded out in a pinch hit appearance late in the game.  He wore #99 and looked and batted just like his dad, so that was the moment that I realized that these kids with the name "Ramirez" must be Manny's kids, and sure enough I googled them and I was right.  Following the game, we were treated to a spectacular fireworks display, the likes of which Victoria could be proud of on a holiday.  It started off kind of sketchy as it was the "flatbed o' explosives" variety of show that was lit off in the outfield by hand, but it ended up being amazing.  It was a lovely walk home through downtown and past the British Columbia Parliament building lit up at night, and we enjoyed a couple tall boys on our hotel balcony overlooking the inner harbour.

The following morning, I grabbed some coffee and went for an early morning stroll around the causeway while Erik had to attend a stupid virtual work meeting, and the holiday preparations and road closures were already out in full force.  After a quick dip in the enormous and luxurious hotel pool, we were back in line at the ferry terminal for a 10:30am departure.  By this time, a local band was already blaring some CCR at one of the Canada Day stages, and it was the jolt we needed to get us excited to return to America.

park rankings and statistics: 
aesthetics - 7 (points for uniqueness, not niceness)
views from park – 4 (trees and houses)
view to field - 3
surrounding area – 5 (residential and hockey arena)
food variety - 7
nachos - n/a
beer - 3
vendor price - 4
ticket price - 3 ($35 CAD in main grandstand)
atmosphere - 10
walk to park – 9 (through downtown/harbour)
parking price/proximity - 6 (looked like ample street parking)
concourses - 2 (cramped)
team shop - 5 (bonus points for beer bats w/ lid)
kids area - n/a (parents make their kids actually watch the game in Canada)

best food – poutine
most unique stadium feature – on a city block within a football field/park
best jumbotron feature – local RE/MAX ads
best between-inning feature – MV Coho Ferry Boat Race featuring players

field dimensions – 308/400/310

starters – Joshua Torres (NAN) v. Malik Harris (VIC)
opponent – Nanaimo NightOwls
time of game – 3:38
attendance – 4156
score – 13-4 L
Brewers score that day – 7-1 W