For the last two and a half decades, we’ve presented an award to that year’s best new ballpark. Winners have included Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, the Padres’ Petco Park, the Salt River Fields spring training facility and Las Vegas Ballpark.
This year there are five stadiums in the running, all in the Minors. We’ve now visited and reviewed all five:
CarMax Park in Richmond
Wilson Ballpark in Wilson, NC
Erlanger Park in Chattanooga
ONT Field in Ontario, CA
Hops Ballpark in Hillsboro, OR
The names of the parks above are links to each of the in-depth reviews, so if you’ve missed any, here’s your chance to read all about them.
One of these five will be be named the BaseballParks.com Ballpark of the Year on September 2nd. Which one do you think will receive this year’s honor? Add a comment below with your guess, and if you’re willing, let us know why. (if you’re reading this on the home page of BaseballParks.com, click on the headline above to open this post on its own page, which will then permit you to add a comment).
The city of Hillsboro, Oregon and the Hops baseball team faced an enormous problem. To become compliant with the new standards that MLB had imposed on Minor League ballparks, it was going to cost over $100 million to do the necessary renovations on their existing park — a park that was only 13 years old. That’s when the decision to pivot occurred. Why throw that much money at a facility that still wasn’t going to have all of the amenities that today’s fan desires?