The Baseball.com review of Parkview Field has generated some interest around the community.
One of AFW’s regular readers and commentators, Andy Bormann, is currently living in Atlanta, Georgia. He has provided us with a couple of photos from inside the Gwinnett Braves Stadium.
In an email, he told me:
When I was at the game with Nicole, I said that “I was disappointed with the GB stadium because it reminds me of Memorial Stadium, just with a better entrance and nicer suites.” Now no slight on Memorial Stadium (although I think even those in/from Fort Wayne would acknowledge there wasn’t much going for it).
But you are talking a Triple-A ballpark, in a major US market, with a brand new stadium – and what you have is Memorial Stadium. I think anyone would concede that is not exactly an architectural and design win for Gwinnett – nor a particular good use of $60 million dollars. Don’t even get me started on how bad of a job they did with traffic / pedestrian flow. It is seriously like no one put any thought into it at all.
The Gwinnett Braves Stadium sits in the middle of nowhere, almost. Â Or, at least that’s the way it appears on the maps. Â And the views from behind home plate? Â No competition between the two!
Thanks to Andy for taking the time to send photos and send his feelings on the Gwinnett Braves Stadium!
Related Images:
It was my pleasure – glad I could help – sorry the photo wasn’t any better.
I forgot to respond to your question about GB’s stadium being in the middle of nowhere. That is both true and not true (I know complicated, right?). The best “Fort Wayne” comparison I would come up with is if they put a baseball stadium at the corner of Illinois Road and West Hamilton in Aboite – only it is in Atlanta and the population is like 9x the size. Gwinnett is a budding (and fairly nice) suburb of Atlanta, but it definitely is not in the center of anything. But for those of use who live in North Fulton, the stadium isn’t any harder to get to than Turner Field (Atlanta Braves stadium).
All that to say: Fort Wayne is incredibly fortunate because from what I have seen (mainly on this blog), Parkview Field looks like a fantastic place for Triple-A, let alone Single-A.
I look forward to seeing my first Tin Caps game in the upcoming weeks as I will be up in Fort Wayne for a week (or two?) around the 4th of July.
That does put the placement into perspective. Don’t know if you remember, but Parkview Field was built to Double A Minor League standards. Also, I do know they have changed the start of the game on the 4th to allow for fireworks. I’ll be excited about this because I don’t drive, so getting out to IPFW is always a problem. Let me know when you’re here, I’d be happy to give you a tour of the ballpark, show you my favorite places!