The first round of voting at Triple-A for the Best of the Ballparks is done, and we’re down to the round of 16 — and there are some fascinating matchups. So we want to hear from you!
The first round of voting followed our seeding (the brackets are shown below) except for two upsets: by wide margins respondents chose Louisville Slugger Field over Isotopes Park and Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark over Frontier Field. Garnering the most votes: Durham Bulls Athletic Park (Durham Bulls), Southwest University Park (El Paso Chihuahuas) and Huntington Park (Columbus Clippers).
But that round is history. Below you’ll find a form for submitting your votes (desktop users see the entire slate; mobile users see one poll question at a time). The first round of voting generated more than 7,600 respondents.
Voting in this round has ended.
About Best of the Ballparks: we structured the voting by classification, so the competition is broken down into Triple-A, Double-A, High A, Low A, short season A and rookie (which both begin June 17). The summer collegiate and independent brackets will encompass what we consider to the top 32 ballparks in their classifications. And, of course, the MLB parks stand on their own.
We know from our marketing/user research a third of our readers work in the baseball industry, so we’re tapping into that collective expertise. And we know from our research that a third of our readers sell to the baseball industry, so that expertise will be valuable as well. The remaining third — fans, media, government — will certainly have a different view on things as well. We can’t wait to see what our readers — whom we consider to be the smartest folks in baseball — say about the best of the ballparks.
Second-round voting ends Monday at 10 p.m., with the third round beginning Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Here’s our ranking of Triple-A ballparks, combining International League and Pacific Coast League facilities:
1. Coca-Cola Park (Lehigh Valley IronPigs; IL)
2. BB&T Ballpark (Charlotte Knights; IL)
3. First Tennessee Park (Nashville Sounds; PCL)
4. AutoZone Park (Memphis Redbirds; PCL)
5. Huntington Park (Columbus Clippers; IL)
6. Durham Bulls Athletic Park (Durham Bulls; IL)
7. Southwest University Park (El Paso Chihuahuas; PCL)
8. Fifth Third Field (Toledo Mud Hens; IL)
9. Aces Ballpark (Reno Aces; PCL)
10. Victory Field (Indianapolis Indians; IL)
11. Isotopes Park (Albuquerque Isotopes; PCL)
12. Dell Diamond (Round Rock Express; PCL)
13. Frontier Field (Rochester Red Wings; IL)
14. Werner Park (Omaha Storm Chasers; PCL)
15. Coca-Cola Field (Buffalo Bison; IL)
16. PNC Field (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders; IL)
17. Raley Field (Sacramento River Cats; PCL)
18. Cheney Stadium (Tacoma Rainiers; PCL)
19. Coolray Field (Gwinnett Braves; IL)
20. Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (Oklahoma City Dodgers; PCL)
21. Principal Park (Iowa Cubs; PCL)
22. Louisville Slugger Field (Louisville Bats; IL)
23. Chukchansi Park (Fresno Grizzlies; PCL)
24. Harbor Park (Norfolk Tides; IL)
25. McCoy Stadium (Pawtucket Red Sox; IL)
26. Smith’s Ballpark (Salt Lake Bees; PCL)
27. Zephyr Field (New Orleans Zephyrs; PCL)
28. NBT Bank Stadium (Syracuse Chiefs; IL)
29. Security Service Field (Colorado Springs Sky Sox; PCL)
30. Cashman Field (Las Vegas 51s; PCL)
Here are our Triple-A brackets. The results are measured in the percentage of votes cast.
