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Best of the Ballparks 2016: Short-Season A, Finals

Ballpark DigestIt’s a repeat of last year’s finals, as fans chose Bowman Field and Monongalia County Ballpark to square off in the finals of Best of the Ballparks 2016 fan vote for Short-Season A facilities. So you know what to do: Vote!

The final margin was 51%-49% in the Final Four vote: Monongalia County Ballpark (home of the West Virginia Black Bears) over Centennial Field (home of the Vermont Lake Monsters) and Bowman Field (home of the Williamsport Crosscutters) over Ripken Stadium (home of the Aberdeen IronBirds).

Short-Season A is one of the most interesting classifications in Minor League Baseball when it comes to ballparks: you have former Triple-A and Double-A ballparks (Avista Stadium, Dodd Stadium, Nat Bailey Stadium), classic old facilities (Centennial Field, Falcon Park, Bowman Field), joint pro-college facilities (Monongalia County Ballpark, PK Park, Medlar Field at Lubrano Park) and ballparks specifically built for short-season play (MCU Park, Ron Tonkin Field, Ripken Stadium).

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. The second round saw fans asked to select their favorite independent and MLB ballparks. This final round covers Rookie and Short Season A facilities.

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.

Please note: 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.) You can vote here:

Voting for this competition has ended.

Here is our ranking of Short Season A ballparks. Last year’s finalists, Monongalia County Ballpark and Bowman Field, receive the top two spots in our ratings. As you’ll recall, Monongalia County Ballpark won the fan vote by a large margin.

1. Monongalia County Ballpark (West Virginia Black Bears; NYP)
2. Bowman Field (Williamsport Crosscutters; NYP)
3. Ripken Stadium (Aberdeen IronBirds; NYP)
4. Centennial Field (Vermont Lake Monsters; NYP)
5. MCU Park (Brooklyn Cyclones; NYP)
6. Ron Tonkin Field (Hillsboro Hops; NWL)
7. Medlar Field at Lubrano Park (State College Spikes; NYP)
8. Nat Bailey Stadium (Vancouver Canadians; NWL)
9. PK Park (Eugene Emeralds; NWL)
10. Joseph L. Bruno Stadium (Tri-City ValleyCats; NYP)
11. Avista Stadium (Spokane Indians; NWL)
12. Richmond County Bank Ballpark (Staten Island Yankees; NYP)
13. Dodd Stadium (Connecticut Tigers; NYP)
14. Dutchess Stadium (Hudson Valley Renegades; NYP)
15. LeLacheur Park (Lowell Spinners; NYP)
16. Volcanoes Stadium (Salem-Keizer Volcanoes; NWL)
17. Eastwood Field (Mahoning Valley Scrappers; 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)

Here are the opening round brackets:

Best of the Ballparks

Click on the image for a larger version.

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