Upsets ruled the day in voting for the Best of the Ballparks Triple-A level, as the top four seeds were all swept out of the competition — and we want you to choose the two finalists!
Upsets did indeed rule the day: fans chose Fifth Third Field (Toledo Mud Hens) over Coca-Cola Park (Lehigh Valley IronPigs), our #1 seed, and Huntington Park (Columbus Clippers) over AutoZone Park (Memphis Redbirds). Durham Bulls Athletic Park (Durham Bulls) advanced over First Tennessee Park (Nashville Sounds). The only contest that held to seeding: Victory Field (Indianapolis Indians) over Coca-Cola Field (Buffalo Bisons). All four, by the way, are in the International League. Of course, the term upset is relative: honestly, these are eight truly outstanding ballparks, so the votes aren’t entirely out of left field.
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 second round of voting generated more than 12,000 respondents. So vote!
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 ends Friday at 10 p.m., with the next round going up Saturday morning.
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. 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’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)
The results of the voting are shown in percentages.
