Note: I am finishing my 2015 Summer of Baseball stadium reviews. The final review is below. To see all reviews I have done the past two years, please visit my Summer of Baseball page.
As the season dwindled down in 2015, a couple of us had wanted to hit a couple of more stadiums. But the minor leagues were winding down and making a trip to a new major league stadium wasn’t going to work within the time frame we had, as well as financially — at least for me.
All stamped in at York!
A late-season double-header in two stadiums offered us the chance to do a “two-fer,” which was perfect on a hot September day. The first trip was to Harrisburg and the Double A Senators. The nightcap was the fifth Atlantic League stadium visited in 2015 — the York Revolution and Santander Stadium (which has been renamed for 2016).
One thing I’ve figured out this past year is Atlantic League stadiums are pretty fun to visit. The stadiums are usually pretty solid when it comes to watching games, and there’s usually some interesting things happening.
York was no different.
The stadium features a full walk-around concourse, so you can see the game from most parts. There’s a nice berm in the outfield to be able to sit and such.
The food offerings were pretty solid. I enjoyed the hot dogs at the park. Concession prices were on par with other places. Seating was comfortable enough.
There are some fantastic things about this park.
For one, the scoreboard is manual operation. We wandered out at one point and chatted with the operator. He’s a teacher during the school year and his summer gig is operating the scoreboard for the Revolution. How cool is that?
The park as a whole is a tad unique with the way things wrap around the park. The scoreboard, walking behind a few other things etc. You can watch the game from most parts, but not all. There were a few negatives, but more of that in a moment.
The Revolution also have a cannon — seriously. It goes off for homers and when the team wins. That is uber cool. A video of the end of the game we were at is below.
Not everything was perfect, though.
Some of the seating seemed a bit off to me. If you went down the right- and left-field lines, the end parts of the seats curved back toward home plate, thus giving people a more direct look at the batter and such. The issue with that? If a ball goes into one of the outfield corners you won’t see it. Heck, anywhere in the outfield and depending where you are sitting in those sections, and you could be straining your neck to watch some of the action.
Looking out from the scoreboard in York.
I understand the thought process behind something like that, but at the same time, I’m a believer that I should be able to watch the whole game without having many issues. If you on the third-base line, it would be a pain to watch the scoreboard even. That’s not an issue down the first-base line.
Parking was a little iffy, too. Though close, you are parking mainly at a high school stadium lot, then walk to the ballpark. There are other lots, but you need to weave in and out of certain spots to get to them. If you aren’t local to the area, it can get a little confusing.
Overall, it was a good experience. I’ve gotten to enjoy Atlantic League games and hope to hit a few more this year. This was a good time and I could see going again, especially with a name change as the passport stamp will (I’d imagine) be changing because of that.
That wraps up reviews for 2015. Here’s looking ahead to 2016!
Park Notes:
Santander Stadium
York, Pennsylvania
Home of the York Revolution (Independent)
Visited on: September 6, 2015
Opponent: Bridgeport Bluefish (Independent)
Ratings (out of 10)
- Stadium: 8/10
- Concessions: 8/10
- Parking: 7/10
- Ambiance: 8/10
- Friendliness: 9/10
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