We’re closer to parity across MLB spring training facilities, as the Cardinals, Marlins and Orioles updated their player-performance spaces, with Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium also seeing a raft of updates. (more…)
Tag Archives | ed smith stadium
Baltimore Orioles Planning to Extend Protective Netting
The Baltimore Orioles are planning to extend protective netting at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and Ed Smith Stadium, with netting expected to run to the foul poles at both ballparks. (more…)
U-18 Baseball World Cup 2021 Slated for Sarasota, Bradenton
USA Baseball, along with Florida cities Sarasota and Bradenton, have landed hosting rights to the 2021 U-18 Baseball World Cup, which will be played at Ed Smith Stadium and LECOM Park. The announcement was made Tuesday morning by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). (more…)
Orioles Extending Oriole Park at Camden Yards Netting
Prior to the 2018 season, the Baltimore Orioles will extend the protective netting at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. In addition, the club will also install extended netting at its spring training home, Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. (more…)
Ed Smith Stadium Work Subject of Lawsuit
Work to Ed Smith Stadium is now the subject of a legal dispute, as Sarasota County is suing a ballpark renovation contractor. (more…)
Best of the Ballparks: Grapefruit League, Finals
Thousand and thousands of spring-training fans have spoken and we’re down to the two finalists in the Best of the Ballparks, Grapefruit League competition, with McKechnie Field squaring off against Ed Smith Stadium. Vote today! (more…)
Future of Plant City Stadium in play
The future of Plant City Stadium, former spring home of the Cincinnati Reds, surprisingly lies in the future of softball in future Olympics. The Reds trained at 6,700-seat Plant City Stadium between 1987 and 1996, before moving on to Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. After the Reds departed, the International Softball Federation set up shop […]
Orioles a solid draw in Sarasota
Luring the Baltimore Orioles to Sarasota for spring training has been a good investment for tourism officials, as fans are coming down to Florida from the mid-Atlantic region in droves. From the Sarasota Herald Tribune: Inquiries from that area grew 2.2 percent in 2009, 6.4 percent in 2010 and 7.3 percent last year during the […]
Crunching the 2011 Florida spring-training numbers
Attendance at Grapefruit League games at Florida spring-training facilities was slightly higher in 2011 than in 2010, but overall attendance been a little down since record numbers were set in the middle of this decade. A total of 1,571,196 fans attended Florida spring-training games this past spring. That’s higher than last year’s tally of 1,427,627 […]
O’s: Ed Smith Stadium renovations right on schedule
Renovations to Ed Smith Stadium, the spring-training home of the Baltimore Orioles, are proceeding right on schedule and should be done in plenty of time for the team’s March 1 Grapefruit League 2011 debut. For those attending past spring-training games in Sarasota — whether it be when the Chicago White Sox or Cincinnati Reds were […]
The Week That Was: Dec. 19
It was a week for dramatic franchise and league shifts, the collapse of the Metrodome roof and its impact on the baseball world, and new naming-rights deals emerging. The most popular stories of the past week on Ballpark Digest, as measured by page views. Carolina to Pensacola, Kinston to Zebulon in 2012 Frontier League unveils […]
Eagles removed from Ed Smith Stadium lights
The Baltimore Orioles had an unusual expenditure during the ongoing renovations to Ed Smith Stadium, the team’s Sarasota spring-training home: paying a private firm to remove two American eagles and their eggs from the right-field lights. The eagles decided to nest within the lights high above the ballpark this fall, despite ballpark renovations that brought […]
Orioles release 2011 spring-training schedule
In what is undoubtedly the wave of the Grapefruit League future, the Baltimore Orioles released a 2011 spring-training schedule today that’s heavy on games against local opponents, with no visits to or from Treasure Coast teams. You can view the full schedule here. As you can see, the schedule is heavy on Gulf Coast teams, […]