The Park
This park is home to the Tri-City Valley Cats, a Houston Astros affiliate in the New York Penn League. Opened in 2002 (the team moved from Pittsfield, MA) it features an unobstructed view behind home plate - once you enter, you can see everything, although the area was a bit crowded with concession carts (ice cream, beer) and cameramen standing right behind the seats. Also, there's not as much room back there as in, say, Newark. The bullpens are behind the fence in left and right. As for the inflatables, there's a speedpitch and some bouncy thing on the concourse in left - perfect, not overdone. On the concourse in right, there's a tent and picnic tables. A few more picnic tables are scattered around the concourse in left. There's a grassy knoll past the seats in right for kids and conspiracy theorists. The mascot is uninteresting, although it is quite active in the between-innings activities. I wan't really keeping track, but it seemed as if there were a few more of these activities than at other parks I've been to recently. The seats are all individual, fold-down, with no metal benches. The seats down the lines curve toward the infield. The most interesting feature was the scoreboard, which showed the action on the field - each pitch, swing, etc. - as it was happening.
Two minor complaints:
1) As soon as a team came to bat, they put a zero up on the scoreboard. I'm used to the runs being put up as they score, and a zero going up only after the side is retired without scoring.
2) The teams' website and their Souvenir Program discuss the Hall of Famers with connections to Troy (Buck Ewing, Dan Brouthers, Mickey Welch, Johnnny Evers, Tim Keefe, Roger Connor and King Kelly), but unless I missed it, there was nothing commemorating them at the stadium. Even a plastic sign (a la Hagerstown's Nellie Fox Picnic Pavilion, Sunset Grille and Play Area) would have been, well, something. |
