Harrisburg plans major ballpark makeover

The Ultimate Sports Road Trip hit the finish in the AA Eastern League last summer. But it looks like a return visit to Harrisburg’s Commerce Bank Park will be in the offing for 2010.

In recent weeks, the Harrisburg Senators announced a renovation plan for Commerce Bank Park. But this will not be an ordinary spruce up of a stadium. Instead, they will be plowing $45-million into their venue, and when finished, it will pretty much be a totally new structure.

Planned for 2009 are the following improvements:

-A public plaza and entrance to be constructed in the left field corner.
-A boardwalk surrounding the outfield to be constructed between the foul poles.
-A complete upgrade to the scoreboard.
-A new left-field seating area, an outfield bar complete with drink rails, and new seating underneath the scoreboard.
-A new outfield wall to be constructed with static advertisement panels.
-A new 8,600-square-foot Operations Building housing the Senators front offices, ranger, security, first aid and the new box office along with the new Senators souvenir store, concession stand, and public rest rooms.

By 2010, the remake of the stadium will be complete with the addition of the following amenities:

-Complete new seating bowl upgrades with individual chair back seats replacing the present bench seating and roofing covering the majority of the seating bowl.
-Construction of 20 suites with amenities including a glass wall located in the front of the suite to see the field and a in the back of the suite to see the city skyline.
-A new sound system.
-The creation of a “Midway” with activities and specialty areas geared towards children, teenagers and families.
-The completion of new concessions and restrooms on elevated concourses.
-Upgraded picnic areas which effectively double the size of the stadium picnic facilities.
-The reconfiguration of field lights removal of two lights, addition of fixtures to remaining eight lights, relamp and re-aim of all lights, addition of quartz lighting bank for emergency purposes.
-The upgrade of the field-level concourse with brick pavers.
-A new press box including new media and scoreboard control rooms.
-A complete renovation of existing buildings, including the home and visitors clubhouses and the restroom facilities.
-The development of a reserved parking lot.

This ballpark is located in one of the nicest settings anywhere, nestled amidst City Island Park in the middle of the Susquehanna River, with a great view of the Harrisburg skyline across the water. Come next year, this should become one of the elite ballparks in the Eastern League.

The Eastern League and the NY-Penn League: DONE!

Kind of lost in shuffle after returning from last week’s trip to New York City and across New England were the completion of two Ultimate Sports Road Trip milestones – we can now claim bragging rights to having visited EVERY ballpark and stadium in the AA Eastern League and the short-A New York Penn League in their current and active venues.

We sort of did a mini celebration and a high five at LeLacheur Park in Lowell last Saturday, as well as Merchantsauto.com Stadium in Manchester later that night. No, it didn’t have the drama and emotion of the official USRT finish line in Detroit back in 2002, but still satisfying nonetheless.

So now we have prepared both those league’s pages on the USRT site. Want to do a rapid fire tour through both leagues, with thumbnailed photos and descriptions of each venue? Then click on for the New York-Penn League as well as the Eastern League and follow us along!

Merchantsauto.com Stadium Photos

The exterior “back” of the stadium

Part of the Ted Williams Museum

Brightly lit and wide concourse

The seating bowl

Summer Road Trip Day 3(b) – Manchester, NH

We raced, really raced, up Hwy 3 (listening to the Bisons game on a crystal clear KB 1520 signal from Buffalo the whole time) and arrived at Merchantsauto.com Stadium in the 5th inning. Of course, that game was sailing right along, when lots of base runners, pitching changes and a tied score would have suited us much better.

Merchantsauto.com opened just three years ago, and when we last visited Manchester (back in 2005 for the AHL All Star Game at Verizon Wireless Arena) this was just a big hole in the ground. Sandwiched in between I-293 and the downtown core, there is but one way in and one way out of the place and onto Granite Street.But the signature of the venue isn’t even a part of the stadium itself; a six story Hilton Garden Inn dominates the outfield, and the rooms there surely have a great view of the action. The pool area and patio was pretty crowded with fans watching the game on the field, but even though the hotel property literally abuts the outfield wall, they have nothing to do with the fisher Cats. “we really don’t have a good relationship with them” explained Media Assistant Tim Hough.

Part of the stadium includes the just opened the spacious Samuel Adams Bar and Grill out in left field. Plenty of HD televisions, a long mahogany bar, table and bar seating and a great view of the action. This is the hangout at the stadium, but actually, with the monster wide concourses, lots of concession stands, a small but nicely done Ted Williams Museum behind home plate, this is a pretty comfortable place to enjoy a game with plenty to see and do.

We saw no scoring in this one – it was 2-1 Manchester when we arrived, an even though Connecticut mounted a threat in the 7th and 8th, they could not push the tying run across. The game ended, and in the same night we celebrated yet another USRT accomplishment – all 12 Eastern League venues DONE!

This trip has blown by so fast, and one more adventure awaits – tomorrow we get up early and drive down to the Bronx for our farewell visit to old Yankee Stadium. We plan to park up at the northern end of the 4 line and take the train to the stadium.

Check out the outfield at the home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Rain delay in Massachusetts

We had a massive rainstorm come through Lowell around 30 minutes before game time. Luckily it did not cancel the game and we got underway around 645PM.

Part two of our doubleheader up in Manchester also had a delayed start, so we arrived around the 5th inning. One crazy night but we are here and we made it!

Will have much more later on. Oh… great MEDIA FOOD in Lowell – racks of ribs, sirloin tips, chicken wings, italian sausage. great stuff!

Photos from Hadlock Field

The signature home plate entrance to Hadlock Field

These aren’t retired numbers – they are jerseys of current Red Sox players who at one time played in Portland

This is the “elevated” bullpen. The players actually are perched about 20 feet above the playing surface

A panoramic view of the field, with the Maine Monster at left

Summer Road Trip Day 2 – Portland, ME

When you have the AA affiliates of the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees squaring off, you know it’s going to be a more intense than usual matchup.

Add “Jonathan Papelbon Bobblehead Night” for the first 1000 fans through the gates, a Friday night with great weather, and that translates into a packed house at Hadlock Field in Portland, home of the AA Sea Dogs.

A large crowd waits to get their hands on a prized bobblehead

Prior to making our way to the ballpark, we actually drove over to the Cumberland County Civic Center, a mile away right n the middle of downtown. We were hoping to find some evidence, a massive banner maybe, of the AHL Pirates new affiliation with the Buffalo Sabres. Alas, there was no such thing, nor a billboard or banner anywhere in the city, so we then drove over to Hadlock Field, found a space on the street close by, and made our way over, only to find a huge line of fans snaking around the building. Bobblehead giveaways will do that at a ballpark, and it was still almost 2 hours to first pitch!

Hadlock Field opened back in 1994, and even though it is a “newer” ballpark, it has a more mature feel to it. The designers of this venue took advantage of every square inch of real estate. The Exposition Center next door (home to the local pro roller derby team) almost juts into right field. Pavilion seats with drink rails were added to the right field last year, and the “Maine Monster”, a likeness of the more famous Monster at Fenway, dominates the left field outfield. The outfield walls are a cornucopia of ads, the line score is displayed in the Monster, right next to that is a small dot matrix board, and in right field is a modest sized video board.

Make no mistake, Portland, Maine is a Red Sox town. Almost everyone in the stands is wearing some sort of Sox gear, and loud cheers came from the crowd as they showed new Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay on the video board do his first at bat in a Boston uniform, and again when he made a highlight reel catch later in that game.

With the tight stadium dimensions, this is one very intimate venue. Fans sit right on top of the action, and with the high walls throughout the outfield, the seating bowl almost feel claustrophobic. There is absolutely no covering at all in the seating bowl, so that probably makes for little shade on a hot day or protection from the elements. Not a good thing.

There is a great energy and atmosphere in this building, and you can feel the excitement as fans stomp theri feet on the metal risers in the upper part of the seating bowl to make the building shake. In the middle of the 8th, they play “Sweet Caroline” and of course, everybody sings!

Unfortunately for the home team, all the foot stomping and cheering could not bring them a victory, as Trenton took a 3-0 lead and then withstood a 7th inning Sea Dogs rally to win the game 3-2.

So in addition to seeing Dan (see previous post), props and thanks to Chris Cameron from the Sea Dogs for setting us up with credentials for Sports and Leisure Magazine and for all his hospitality.

After the game we’re off to Manchester NH and our Sheraton hotel… tomorrow we got a doubleheader on tap at two ballparks 30 miles apart from each other – a 5PM start in Lowell, and then we shoot over to Manchester for a 7PM first pitch. Fun huh?!

FOUND!… Dan Hickling!

We are at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine, and mission one once we arrived was to seek out Dan Hickling, our friend and fellow media guy.

Dan is a Buffalo born and bred guy who now calls Portland home and works for a number of print media outlets. His freelance travels across the northeast have been curtailed somewhat, what with the price of gas and all.

It didn’t take long… Sea Dogs Media Guru Chris Cameron pointed him out on the field, and a few minutes later Dan was up in the pressbox, and we were catching up on all the Buffalo talk, all the hype about the Sabres farm team coming here to Portland, and what’s new with the Bisons.

Dan sends his best to the pressbox posse at Dunn Tire Park, and says sorry he hasn’t made it to Buffalo this season. As for us, Dan was an early and ardent supporter of the USRT and reconnecting with him is always something we eagerly look forward to.

Summer road trip #3 on deck

Five ballparks in four days…The Ultimate Sports Road Trip is at it again!

Thursday morning (very very early) we point the car eastward for a 1PM matinee in Burlington, Vermont and Centennial Field, home of the NY-Penn League Vermont Expos Lake Monsters.

Friday we continue eastward towards Portland, Maine and the Eastern League Portland SeaDogs. Will there be a Dan Hickling sighting? (Our firend Dan is a free lance sportswriter living in Portland who covers for a lot of outlets in the northeast… we have yet to see him at Dunn Tire Park this year).

Saturday is doubleheader day… a twilight start in Lowell, Massachusetts, home of the NY-Penn League Spinners, then we race over 35 miles north to Merchantsauto.com Stadium in downtown Manchester, new home of the Eastern League New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

We wrap it all up with a farewell visit to Yankee Stadium on Sunday, and get to hang out with our favorite road trip buds Gary and The King and their posse.

Of course there will be daily photos and stories of all our hijinks and adventures, so check in and follow us along!