Keyspan Park, Brooklyn
Cyclones
How do you
honor the contributions of Brooklyn to baseball
history after the borough went without
professional baseball for the better part of 50
years? If you're Fred Wilpon and you own the New
York Mets, and you're a Brooklyn-born baseball
lover with the money and power to place a
minor-league team right in Coney Island where the
history of baseball and hot dogs intersect with
the Atlantic Ocean and famous boardwalk
attractions, you build Keyspan Park, the home of
the Brooklyn Cyclones (short season; NY-Penn
League). After six seasons, it's still one of the
great ballparks of minor-league baseball:
Visitors will
immediately recognize that a minor-league ballpark
in the middle of a metropolis makes for a unique
experience -- and putting one into the middle of
Coney Island is almost overwhelming.
Finch Field, Thomasville
HiToms
Finch
Field, the home of the Thomasville HiToms, was
extensively renovated before the 2006 season,
and the
resulting transformation is nothing short of
amazing. Finch Field went from a ballpark with an
uncomfortable grandstand and a lot of history to a
great little ballpark with a comfortable
grandstand, improved concessions and a boatload of
charm. Plus, the HiToms and the local community
managed to achieve this extreme makeover for $1.4
million -- surely one of the biggest ballparks
bargains in recent years.
Duncan Park Stadium,
Spartanburg Stingers
Duncan
Park Stadium dates back to 1926 and is the perfect
example of a ballpark from that era: the wooden
grandstand is topped by steel trusses and a wooden
roof. Over the years a lot of players at all
levels -- ranging from Legion and textile-league
players to future Hall of Famers -- have called
Duncan Park Stadium home. However, the ballpark
will be closed indefinitely while the city and a
nonprofit group decide if preserving the ballpark
is financially feasible. We suspect it is -- and
we suspect that with a little love and promotion
Duncan Park Stadium can be a showcase for baseball
in the South.
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