Now that their first season under Dave Heller and Main Street Baseball is complete, the Lowell Spinners (Short Season A; NY-Penn League) are mulling ballpark upgrades.
Main Street Baseball has made ballpark upgrades a priority with its other clubs, including the Quad Cities River Bandits (Low A; Midwest league), who have seen a variety of amusements added to Modern Woodmen Park. While the Spinners added a ride–the Gondola Gator–to LeLacheur Park this year, improvements of another kind are more likely over the long run.
According to Heller, the main priority in Lowell is group areas. While undertaking projects that would add more group and premium space to LeLacheur Park, the Spinners may also look up to spruce up some of the facility’s finer details. More from the Lowell Sun:
For instance, he sees opportunities at LeLacheur Park by maximizing underutilized space and creating more. In a “Sunspot” video done with The Sun and shown on Lowell’s cable TV channel, Heller suggested building luxury boxes atop the food-court stations running along the concourse on the third-base side. “What a spectacular view of the park and the river beyond,” he said.
He also envisions building a two-story addition adjacent to the right-field foul line where the Spinners’ bullpen is located. The structure would feature a high-tech video-game arcade on the lower deck and an upscale patio/dining area on the upper floor. Heller said building near the foul line would create the “Pesky Pole” effect of Boston’s Fenway Park and add an exciting new venue from which fans could watch the game.
Heller said he’s also eager to clear some trees beyond the outfield walls to open views of the Ouellette Bridge and the Merrimack River.
As was noted when Main Street Baseball-which includes Heller and Bob Herrfeldt–took over the Spinners, the group’s upgrades have tended to vary by market demands, so group spaces appear to be a need in Lowell. Main Street Baseball finalized its purchase of the Spinners from Drew Weber just days before the 2016 season.