OT: Minor League Baseball teams near you/parks you've been to

The Rochester red wings have the most uninspired minor league stadium ever. In my opinion, minor league stadiums should be unique with awesome quirks (like overhangs in the right field corner) and great views. Frontier field has none of this. The only cool thing they had when it first opened was a bevy of trains just over the right field wall.... Now you can hear the trains, but an overgrowth of trees and other foliage completely blocks the view

Toledo Mudhens

Grand Rapids White Caps

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (I was real young, but A-Rod played for them)

Colorado Springs Sky Sox (I was about 6 years old and got extremely upset I couldn't catch a ball).

Also, may have seen the Ft. Myers miracle when I was very young. Can't remeber though.

 

Overall, I like the Mud Hens facility the best. However, I think a lot of Minor League teams upped their facilities in the last ten years so I have no idea what the Timber Rattlers or Sky Sox's stadium looks like anymore.

Cincinnati Reds :(

Clinton Giants/Lumberkings -Riverview Stadium/Ashford University Field (yuck to that fucking college and it's inhabitance in that town)

Quad City Riverbandits - John O'Donnel Stadium/Modern Woodman Park

Cedar Rapids Kernals - Veteran's Memorial Stadium (Perfect Game Field)

The Toledo Mud Hens have done a great job with Fifth Third Field. It's a great venue and they've recently invested a couple mil into the historic warehouse district next to the park. It's an area called Hensville. It has a few restaurant/bars, an outdoor park with music and family friendly activities, and a rooftop terrace to watch to the game. It's nice. Unfortunately they haven't figured out how to improve the quality of baseball. I rarely see them win.

I lived in Louisville for five years and went to 2-3 Bats games at Louisville Slugger Field. They're the Reds AAA affiliate. It was a fairly good time but hard to stay interested in the actual game.

Now I live in Indianapolis. We have the Indians here. They're AAA but I don't know what team they're affiliated with. I haven't been to a game yet but plan to eventually. The park is in a nice location right by the White River State Park.

I am about half way between the Hillsboro Hops and Salem Keizer Volcanoes. Hops have a great new stadium.

I have also visited PK Park where the Eugene Emeralds and Oregon Ducks share a facility. The stadium was built just a couple years ago.

I live in Eureka, CA, which is very near the Humboldt Crabs...the longest continually operating collegiate summer league baseball team in the nation. No major league affiliations, and they keep their roster stocked with college guys who are off for the summer. It's cheap, it's weird, and the stadium is always packed. Also, they have a nightmare-inducing mascot.  What's not to like?

Space Coast Stadium to watch the Brevard County Manatees in Veria?

Lansing, Lehigh Valley, Albuquerque Isotopes, Round Rock, Frisco, Tacoma Rainiers, Everett Aqua Sox. Albuquerque was the best of those work Lehigh Valley close 2nd.

The Cyclones play in Coney Island, right off the Boardwalk, home plate facing the ocean.  I went their first season in honor of a late uncle who was one of those Brooklyn old-timers who turned his back on baseball when the Dodgers abandoned them for LA.  My best memory is the cap I bought.  Didn't even realize it had Brooklyn spelled in tiny letters across the brim until someone else noticed it. 

Then a good buddy, a Yankee fan all his life, started going to the Staten Island Yankees when the uptown version got way too expensive.  (Also easier for him to get his 90-something Dad out there than all the way up to the Bronx.)  He started celebrating his b'day there, renting a "luxury box" for $20 per person, including free food, AC indoors and 20 seats outside.  The free food is what you'd expect for free, but you can also order other stuff if you want to defeat the mood of the minor league experience.  Gorgeous stadium, looks like something from a small town from another era, and the outfield is the view of downtown Manhattan.  (Occasionally blocked by a slow-moving trawler.)   A short, easy walk from the Staten Island Ferry (now free both ways). 

Got to go to the game when Mike O'Neill was playing for the SI Yankees (the "Baby Bombers")and Pat Biondi for the visiting Cyclones (though he didn't get on the field that night).  But also have been there on Irish night (bagpipe & drum team and teenage stepdancers), and almost every night has a special commemorative cap and fireworks after the game. 

Went to a Bowie (MD) Baysox game three years ago. It was Naval Academy Appreciation Night. You could look up in the stands and see a,sea of white. Fantastic atmosphere. Boy, could those Middies eat!

that all the players have to be under 18

I've been to Smith's Ballpark, home of the Salt Lake Bees (AAA, Los Angeles Angels), and Cheney Stadium, home of the Tacoma Raniers (AAA, Seattle Mariners).

When I was stationed at NAS Lemoore, CA, Visalia had a single A team.  One of the reservists who did his drill with our unit got a handful of tickets and we all decided to go.

It was an interesting night.  Visalia had a relationship with some minor league teams in the Japanese system, and they exchanged players for a few games.  That night was the game they gave the ball to their Japanese pitchers.

Welcome to USA baseball.  The Visalia pitchers got LIT!  And not just the starter, three different guys in the first four innings or so.  We left at that point, since BP is generally less interesting than a competitive game.

Quakes. I used to work there. Cool stadium and atmosphere. The team was (at that time) partially owned by Mark Harmon (son of Tom, YTTH). I was also there when Hideo Nomo came and pitched his first game in the US. I sold advertising and ran the non baseball on field entertainment. Found myself in a 2 hour meeting about staggering go carts, and watched my male colleagues schmooze during games while I worked my ass off. So..I did not like it. Quit. Cool stadium, but my association was not positive...a lot of chauvinistic pricks working there. Signed, I'm not bitter.

Winston Salem Dash. Great stadium less than 10 years old. Great place to take the family to.

I've only been to two - Midland Loons, which was fun but pretty generic.  It seemed to be devoid of any unique character.

The other was one of my favorite spectator experiences - Toledo Mud Hens at Ned Skeldon Stadium.  No amenities to speak of, but it was AAA ball in an atmosphere that seemed very old-timey.  The baseball was good quality, and it's the best ballpark I've been to. 

Ned Skeldon Stadium is one of the few sporting venues I've been to (pre-renovated Yost, pre-halo Michigan Stadium and pre-renovated Notre Dame being three others) that yields sepia-toned memories.  Curiously, Wrigley doesn't have that effect on me - probably because 90% of the fans there seem like tourists, at least the couple of times I went.

Syracuse Chiefs (NBT Bank Stadium, Auburn Doubledays (Falcon Park) and Rochester Red Wings (Frontier Field).

I enjoyed going to Falcon Park with the little kids becuase I could still watch the game while the kids were in the bouncy house.

Went with my sons and nephews and had a great time!

Another option for those of you in southwest Michigan or Wisconsin is the Northwoods League. It is a collegiate summer wood bat league with some of the top players in the country. Cheap tickets, beer and food to go along with some pretty good baseball.

Winston Salem Dash BB&T- probably the best single A stadium I've been to and maybe the best between all minor league stadiums.

Indianapolis Indians
Charlotte Knights

That's it

Having lived in the metro Boston area for way too long, some great parks in New England.  McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket RI, Red Sox AAA team is a great experience.  Took my son there for a birthday party, $15 per kid (hot dog, chips,drink, ice cream and tix).  Portland Sea Dogs in Maine is a tremendous place.  Been to Jet Blue in Ft. Myers, mni Fenway with Fenway prices! 

By far the best New England baseball experience is a summer night watching high level college players in the Cape Cod League.  See some top prospects using wood bats.  Tremendous night out on the Cape.  Bring a chair, plop down and drop a few bucks when they pass the hat. 

I've been to:

Coca Cola Field in Buffalo, NY
Cooley in Lansing Mi
Joker Marchant in Lakeland.

All are really nice ball parks!

My wife and I get a 10-game ticket pack for the Lansing Lugnuts every year. It's always a good time, and the park is newly renovated. Cheap food, mediocre baseball, great atmosphere.

I was a big fan of watching the Mud Hens in old Ned Skeldon Stadium in Maumee. Parking was free, beer was cheap, and so was the food. It was funky and old and would be considered a dump by most people, but it had a personality to it and I loved the billboard ads on the outfield wall facing the field.

I went to one game at Fifth Third in downtown Toledo not long after it opened. It was much "nicer" than Skeldon, but totally devoid of any defining character. Parking was $$, and the beer and food were more expensive, naturally. Haven't been back since.

pretty big following in this area. haven't been to a game in a while but my girlfriend's family are huge fans. Stadium isn't huge but has always been packed every time I've been there. Having a pretty good year so far too! I've also been to a couple white caps games and a lug nuts game as well while I was growing up.

and sometimes I actually miss the minor league team we had in Denver before the Rockies. Hell now I go see the Rockies play and it's like watching minor league ball for MLB prices.

Have been to Modern Woodman Park in Davenport Iowa

Also a Single A park in Winston-Salem NC, but don't remember the name.