The first round of voting at High-A for the Best of the Ballparks is done and, after several upsets, the new brackets are up for the round of 16 — featuring some fascinating matchups. So we want to hear from you!
The first round of voting in the Florida State, Carolina and California Leagues led to several upsets against our seedings. First, fans chose Florida Auto Exchange Stadium (home of the Dunedin Blue Jays) over TicketReturn.com Field (home of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans). Second, fans chose Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium (home of the Frederick Keys) over Steinbrenner Field (home of the Tampa Yankees). Tradition Field (home of the St. Lucie Mets) was voted in over The Hangar (home of the Lancaster JetHawks). And Five County Stadium, home of the Carolina Mudcats, was chosen over Municipal Stadium, home of the San Jose Giants.
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 for 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 High Class-A ballparks, combining Carolina, Florida State and California League facilities:
1. Bright House Field (Clearwater Threshers; FSL)
2. Hammond Stadium (Fort Myers Miracle; FSL)
3. BB&T Ballpark (Winston-Salem Dash; CarL)
4. McKechnie Field (Bradenton Marauders; FSL)
5. Banner Island Ballpark (Stockton Ports; CalL)
6. Rawhide Ballpark (Visalia Rawhide; CalL)
7. Charlotte Sports Park (Charlotte Stone Crabs; FSL)
8. Ticketreturn.com Field (Myrtle Beach Pelicans; CarL)
9. Loanmart Field (Rancho Cucamonga Quakes; CalL)
10. John Thurman Field (Modesto Nuts; CalL)
11. Frawley Stadium (Wilmington Blue Rocks; CarL)
12. The Hangar (Lancaster Jethawks; CalL)
13. Steinbrenner Field (Tampa Yankees; FSL)
14. Municipal Stadium (San Jose Giants; CalL)
15. Jackie Robinson Ballpark (Daytona Tortugas; FSL)
16. Joker Marchant Stadium (Lakeland Flying Tigers; FSL)
17. Roger Dean Stadium (Jupiter Hammerheads, Palm Beach Cardinals; FSL)
18. The Diamond (Lake Elsinore Storm; CalL)
19. Five County Stadium (Carolina Mudcats; CarL)
20. Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium (Frederick Keys; CarL)
21. Tradition Field (St. Lucie Mets; FSL)
22. Space Coast Stadium (Brevard County Manatees; FSL)
23. San Manuel Stadium (Inland Empire 66ers; CalL)
24. Lewis-Gale Field (Salem Red Sox; CarL)
25. Florida Auto Exchange Stadium (Dunedin Blue Jays; FSL)
26. Mavericks Stadium (High Desert Mavericks; CalL)
27. Sam Lynn Ballpark (Bakersfield Blaze; CalL)
28. Pfitzner Stadium (Potomac Nationals; CarL)
29. Calvin Falwell Field (Lynchburg Hillcats; CarL)