We have a fascinating Final Four in the Best of the Ballparks 2021 fan vote for college ballparks, with four major conferences across the country represented.
The ballparks receiving the most votes in the Sweet Sixteen round: Goss Stadium at Coleman Field (Oregon State University), Eck Stadium at Tyler Field, (Wichita State, defeated by Goss Stadium), O’Brate Stadium (Oklahoma State University) and Baum-Walker Stadium (University of Arkansas). This leaves us with Final Four representing the Pac-12, Big Eight, Big 12 and SEC.
As we noted when this competition started seedings were very difficult: there’s an increasing parity of the college ballpark world, and the fans have responded by turning out in droves: the number of overall voters far exceeds the number of voters the last time we held a college vote by some 1050 percent, and also substantially exceeds the number of fans voting in the spring-training competition as well.
In the case of our college-ballparks rankings, we don’t have a set formula based on a statistical analysis of facilities and their offerings. Some of the ballparks on this list excel on the fan side with plenty of amenities and ambiance. Others excel on the player side with outstanding development facilities. And others are notable because of their community impact: a university needs to be a good neighbor, and a ballpark can be part of that community outreach.
The rankings are very loose, so please don’t take offense if your favorite college ballpark is excluded or has a low seeding in these brackets. If we receive enough interest in a college-baseball vote (more than 10,000 participants), we’ll bring it back in 2022 with an expanded 64-ballpark field.
Some things to note. First, you are allowed to vote multiple times, but you can only vote once per day. Second, you don’t need to fill out a full slate: partially filled lineups will count. A running tally of the vote will be presented, and you can view the results to date in the brackets graphic at the bottom of this page once we hit the second round. Vote below: