We have our final winner in the MiLB Best of the Ballparks competition, as fans selected Monongalia County Ballpark (West Virginia Black Bears) over Susquehanna Bank Park at Historic Bowman Field (Williamsport Crosscutters) in the short season A level.
It wasn’t really close: 87 percent of the respondents chose Monongalia County Ballpark, with both the Black Bears and West Virginia University turning out the vote. Fans went for the new (Monongalia County Ballpark opened this year; our Zach Spedden will write up a visit next week) versus the old: Susquehanna Bank Park at Historic Bowman Field dates back to 1926.
In the end, almost 75,000 people cast votes in the overall competition.
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. 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.
Here is our ranking of short-season A ballparks:
1. MCU Park (Brooklyn Cyclones; NYP)
2. Ron Tonkin Field (Hillsboro Hops; NWL)
3. Medlar Field at Lubrano Park (State College Spikes; NYP)
4. Nat Bailey Stadium (Vancouver Canadians; NWL)
5. Ripken Stadium (Aberdeen IronBirds; NYP)
6. Centennial Field (Vermont Lake Monsters; NYP)
7. Monongalia County Ballpark (West Virginia Black Bears; NYP)
8. PK Park (Eugene Emeralds; NWL)
9. Joseph L. Bruno Stadium (Tri-City ValleyCats; NYP)
10. Avista Stadium (Spokane Indians; NWL)
11. Richmond County Bank Ballpark (Staten Island Yankees; NYP)
12. Dodd Stadium (Connecticut Tigers; NYP)
13. Dutchess Stadium (Hudson Valley Renegades; NYP)
14. LeLacheur Park (Lowell Spinners; NYP)
15. Volcanoes Stadium (Salem-Keizer Volcanoes; NWL)
16. Eastwood Field (Mahoning Valley Scrappers; NYP)
17. Bowman Field (Williamsport Crosscutters; NYP)
18. Everett Memorial Stadium (Everett AquaSox; NWL)
19. Gesa Stadium (Tri-City Dust Devils; NWL)
20. Memorial Stadium (Boise Hawks; NWL)
21. Falcon Park (Auburn Doubledays; NYP)
22. Dwyer Stadium (Batavia Muckdogs; NYP)
Results are listed by percentage of votes cast.
