• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Baseball ’19
  • Day Zero 3
  • Earl
  • My list
  • Photo Blogging Challenge

A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

Summer of Baseball: Perks aplenty at State College

July 28, 2014

There's not any bad spots to watch a game in State College.

There’s not any bad spots to watch a game in State College.

The lower levels of Minor League Baseball can feature a lot of types of stadiums – from old and worn to modern with amenities.

State College, Pennsylvania – home of the Spikes – seems to have found a good mix of a new stadium with the feel that it’s not being overly done. That’s something to be appreciated.

The Spikes are the Single-A short-season affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The stadium in which they play is located on the campus of Penn State, in the shadow of the famed Beaver Stadium. That, of course, makes parking plentiful (though it did cost, if I remember right, $3). And if you get there early enough, as we did, you had the chance to walk around the massive stadium before heading over to the smaller, more comfortable Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

The stadium seats about 5,500 people and is home to the Penn State baseball team, as well as the State College Spikes. A nice piece to this stadium is being able to see Mount Nittany beyond the outfield wall.

A free program is always welcomed!

A free program is always welcomed!

To be honest, this is definitely one of the top New York-Penn League stadiums I have been to.

When entering, the team store is close by and, for a lower-level team, the store is stocked with everything one might need. The items – shirts, jerseys, hats, balls and most things you expect to find – are reasonably priced and there are plenty of sizes. With such a cool logo, I walked out with a nice shirt.

After exiting the store, the field is straight ahead, and is below the concourse level, so you walk down to your seats. The seats are of the fold-down variety, but are solid and roomy.

But, if you want to roam, you can do so and not lose sight of the game. There are picnic tables spread throughout the concourse area, as well as a picnic area in left field. Right field features an area with high-top tables, as well as a bleacher section at the top of the right-field wall. That’s a very cool aspect of the stadium, I thought. Kind of a “cheap seat” type feel, which is excellent for a baseball stadium.

The netting behind home plate extended a little further, it seemed, than many parks. I wasn’t a fan of how it was set up, either. I know teams do it differently, though.

Play ball!

Play ball!

My only other thought is it seems like there could have been a walkway around the whole park. It would have been nice to be able to walk around and catch the game from different vantage points. Also, there was a video arcade. I’m not a fan of this, mainly because when I go to a ballpark, I go to watch a game. I understand families attend, but if you’re going to let your kids hang out in a video arcade the whole time – why come to the park? To be fair, the few times I passed by it, I didn’t see many – if any – in there.

The concessions were pretty strong, including a Burgatory spot (very good burgers), a craft beer stand and a spot just for ice cream. There is also normal ballpark fare, but when I went to get lunch, my plan was a hot dog and a bratwurst (I think it was bratwurst…), but they didn’t have the specialty, so I just went with a couple of hot dogs. They were above average, but nothing fully special. Their fries were decent.

I attended on July 4, too, so the area was having a full celebration and fair of sorts. Later in the evening, they open the park up so people can watch the fireworks (which apparently are ranked No. 3 in the country – I can believe it). We took one of the high-top tables in right field and enjoyed the show, so that’s another bonus.

In the end, this is a solid, stadium and one worth attending. I had wanted to visit it for a bit, so it was nice to get down here and see a game. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house and with the roominess of the sitting area (good legroom, too), there wasn’t a chance of being crowded or feeling stuffy

Park Notes:

Medlar Field at Lubrano Park
State College, Pennsylvania
Home of the State College Spikes (Short-season A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins)
Visited on:  July 4, 2014
Opponent: Jamestown Jammers (Short-season A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates)

Ratings (out of 10):

  • Stadium: 8.5
  • Concessions: 7.5
  • Parking: 8
  • Ambiance: 8
  • Friendliness: 9

I am embarking on a summer of baseball with the plan to hit a minimum of 10 stadiums this summer. Hopefully, there will be more than that. I will report on each park that I hit on the blog.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Baseball, My world, Sports, Summer of Baseball Tagged With: A baseball, ballpark review, baseball, baseball park, baseball park review, Jamestown jammers, jammers, ny-penn league, short season single A, single-a baseball, spikes, state college, state college pa, state college spikes

2 Comments

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Phil says

    July 29, 2014

    Great review of Medlar Field. I also find that these minor league parks and more family and community oriented. Very friendly and many give out great free swag too.

    Reply
    • P.J. says

      July 29, 2014

      It’s definitely a more family feel when you go to a good minor league park. And yeah, on good nights, you can get some good stuff!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Primary Sidebar

Welcome

Welcome to A 'lil HooHaa!

This is a personal website covering many topics! We host a monthly photo blogging challenge, and then every January hold a fun writing challenge.

Thank you for stopping by and hope this becomes a stop for you!

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Follow

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 873 other subscribers

Instagram

hoohaa29

Writer who loves images just as much as words! In search of perfectly poured pints of Guinness and great hot dogs. Find me on twitter @softball29.

I guess the April Fool's joke is on us, Mother Nat I guess the April Fool's joke is on us, Mother Nature? Oh .. ha ha ha.
.
I also guess this is why hitting back roads to work is good -- you can stop and take a photo and not worry about anybody coming (usually)! Main roads around here are fine for now, but it's definitely quite picturesque on the lawns/trees etc.
.
.
.
.
#snow #winterspring #springwinter #april #blackandwhite #photography #photooftheday #goawaywinter #love #instagood #picoftheday #bestoftheday #nature #backroad #road
This was pretty relaxing and fun. #lego #legos #ea This was pretty relaxing and fun. #lego #legos #easter #legoeasterbunny #legoeaster #relax #hobby #fun
It shouldn’t be so hard to find a trash can... # It shouldn’t be so hard to find a trash can... #litter #mask #masks #blackandwhite #streetphotography
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Twitter

P.J.Follow

P.J.
softball29P.J.@softball29·
23h

When I covered MiLB years ago for a small daily, managers sometimes wanted my opinion or asked me to talk to the scorekeeper about changing a ruling. There should be a happy medium somewhere now being most or all teams have video/TV. That wasn’t the case with the team I covered.

Baseball America@BaseballAmerica

Another change to the minors is in store this year.

MLB informed minor league teams they will not be allowed to appeal rulings made by official scorers this year.

@jjcoop36 explains why:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mlb-memo-to-minor-league-teams-no-appeals-for-official-scorers-decisions/

Reply on Twitter 1383025005760512004Retweet on Twitter 1383025005760512004Like on Twitter 1383025005760512004Twitter 1383025005760512004
softball29P.J.@softball29·
11 Apr

I mean, if you hold a #Wrestlemania in an open stadium... eventually rain delays had to come, right? 🤣

Reply on Twitter 1381040433145466883Retweet on Twitter 1381040433145466883Like on Twitter 13810404331454668832Twitter 1381040433145466883
Retweet on TwitterP.J. Retweeted
RealKentMurphyKent@RealKentMurphy·
7 Apr

28 years ago The Sandlot was released and this iconic scene was brought into our lives.

Reply on Twitter 1379783846355427329Retweet on Twitter 13797838463554273292985Like on Twitter 137978384635542732912031Twitter 1379783846355427329
Load More...

Archives

Categories

Calendar

April 2021
S M T W T F S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  
« Mar    

Search The Site

Site Information

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

A 'lil HooHaa © 2021 · Created By Coded Creative

Copyright © 2021 · Ava Mae on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in