We have a full slate for you in today’s Best of the Ballparks vote for short season A ballparks, as fans will choose their favorite facilities in the NY-Penn and Northwest Leagues.
The first round of voting ended last night, and there weren’t many surprises — only one technical upset, and that was #17 seed Susquehanna Bank Park at Historic Bowman Field (Williamsport Crosscutters) winning over Eastman Field (Mahoning Valley Scrappers), our #16 seed.
That sets up some interesting choices today. Will fans go modern with MCU Park or stay with the classic in Williamsport? Will fans choose NY-Penn League ballparks over Northwest League ballparks? This should be fascinating. You know what to do: polling is now open.
We have seen some fans aggressively register their preferences for the Best of the Ballparks by voting over and over. Don’t bother: we filter by IP address, so only your first vote counts.
Voting runs through Friday night at 10 p.m., with the next round launching Saturday morning.
We know from marketing/user research stats 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.
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)