Top Menu

Best of the Ballparks 2016: Independent Ball, Round Two

Ballpark DigestThe first monster round of voting for independent-baseball facilities in Best of the Ballparks 2016 has now ended, and we’re down to the next round of 32. So you know what to do: Vote!

The first round included all 57 ballparks in the top eight independent circuits, and by and large voters went with our seedings. This next round of 32 now includes the top ballparks receiving a bye in the first round, which means heavyweights like last year’s champ, TD Bank Ballpark, and CHS Field are now included. We had a fantastic turnout in the affiliated voting — almost 68,000 folks weighing in — and we expect to shatter last year’s participation levels in the next week or so.

We began this year’s Best of the Ballparks vote in May with fans asked to choose their favorite Triple-A, Double-A, High-A and Low-A affiliated ballparks. We’ll launch voting for summer-collegiate ballparks later this month, as well as the fan selection for Short Season A and Rookie ballparks. And, of course, we’ll run another round this month for MLB ballparks.

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.

Some notes on the voting. First, votes are filtered by IP address, so we’re limiting folks to one vote. (Feel free to hit that reload as many times as you want, but multiple votes will be filtered out of the final tally.) Second, you don’t need to fill out a full slate: partially filled votes will count. Third: desktop users will see all the choices; tablet and smartphone users will see one choice at a time. (Tablet and smartphone users can move between choices by clicking on the arrow at the bottom of the ballot.)

 

Voting for this round has ended.

Here is our ranking of independent ballparks:

1. TD Bank Ballpark (Somerset Patriots; AtL)
2. CHS Field (St. Paul Saints; AA)
3. Shaw Park (Winnipeg Goldeyes; AA)
4. Constellation Field (Sugar Land Skeeters; AtL)
5. U.S. Steel Yard (Gary SouthShore RailCats; AA)
6. Jimmy John’s Field (Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers/Utica Unicorns/Eastside Diamond Hoppers; USPBL)
7. Le Stade Municipal (Quebec Capitales; Can-Am)
8. Community America Ballpark (Kansas City T-Bones; AA)
9. Haymarket Park (Lincoln Saltdogs; AA)
10. Provident Bank Park (Rockland Boulders; Can-Am)
11. Boomers Stadium (Schaumburg Boomers; FL)
12. Sioux Falls Stadium (Sioux Falls Canaries; AA)
13. Newman Outdoor Field (Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks; AA)
14. All Pro Freight Stadium (Lake Erie Crushers; FL)
15. QuikTrip Park at Grand Prairie (Texas Airhogs; AA)
16. Yogi Berra Stadium (New Jersey Jackals; Can-Am)
17. Bosse Field (Evansville Otters; FL)
18. Clipper Magazine Stadium (Lancaster Barnstormers; AtL)
19. Regency Furniture Stadium (Southern Maryland Blue Crabs; AtL)
20. PeoplesBank Park (York Revolution; AtL)
21. Rent One Park (Southern Illinois Miners; FL)
22. Wuerfel Park (Traverse City Beach Bums; FL)
23. Bethpage Ballpark (Long Island Ducks; AtL)
24. Lawrence-Dumont Stadium (Wichita Wingnuts; AA)
25. Skylands Stadium (Sussex County Miners; Can-Am)
26. New Britain Stadium (New Britain Bees; AtL)
27. RCGT Park (Ottawa Champions; Can-Am)
28. Kino Stadium (Tucson Saguaros; Pecos League)
29.
Ballpark at Harbor Yard (Bridgeport Bluefish; AtL)
30. Uni-Trade Stadium (Laredo Lemurs; AA)
31. GCS Ballpark (Gateway Grizzlies; FL)
32. Kokernot Field (Alpine Cowboys; Pecos League)
33. Stade Fernand-Bédard (Trois-Rivières Aigles; Can-Am)
34. Silver Cross Field (Joliet Slammers; FL)
35. The Corn Crib (Normal Cornbelters; FL)
36. Albert Park (San Rafael Pacifics; PacAssn)
37. Joe Becker Stadium (Joplin Blasters; AA)
38. Lewis & Clark Park (Sioux City Explorers; AA)
39. UC Health Stadium (Florence Freedom; FL)
40. CarShield Field (River City Rascals; FL)
41. Standard Bank Stadium (Windy City ThunderBolts; FL)
42. The Ball Park (Old Orchard Beach Surge; EL)
43. Consol Energy Park (Washington Wild Things; FL)
44. Griggs Park (White Sands Pupfish; PL)
45. Arnold Field (Sonoma Stompers; PacAssn)
46. Dean Evans Stadium (Salinas Stockade; PL)
47.
Wilson Park (Vallejo Admirals; PacAssn)
48. City Park Field (Pittsburg Diamonds; PacAssn)
49. Joe Bauman Baseball Stadium (Roswell Invaders; PL)
50. Fort Marcy Park (Santa Fe Fuego; PL)
51. Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds (Watertown Bucks; EL)
52. Central Park (Trinidad Triggers; PL)
53. Clint Lightner Field (Garden City Wind; PL)
54. Al Burns Memorial Field (Great Bend Boom; PL)
55. Generals Park (Sullivan Explorers; EL)
56. Lake Shawnee Park (Topeka Train Robbers; Pecos League)
57. Pappas Field (New Hampshire Wild; EL)

AA = American Association
AtL = Atlantic League
Can-AM = Can-Am League
EL = Empire League
FL = Frontier League
PacAssn= Pacific Association
PL = Pecos League
USPBL = United Shore Professional Baseball League

Here are the brackets:

Best of the Ballparks 2016 Indy Ball

Click on the image for a larger version.

, ,