Rewind 2023: Ottawa Stadium

This story is a riff on the classic Frank Sinatra song, "There Used to Be a Ballpark."  But here, there's a happy ending.  Unlike Ebbets Field, which fell to the wreckers ball two years after the Dodgers moved to L.A., Ottawa Stadium still stands, and is home to another ballclub.
Canada's capital city had been home to a Triple A team between 1993 and 2007.  First, serving as the Expos' top farm club, followed next by the Orioles.  When the Phillies took over as the parent club of the Lynx in 2007, complaints arose that Ottawa's stadium was substandard and had inadequate parking.  Soon after, plans were announced the move the team 60 miles from Philadelphia, where a state of the art minor league park was being built (and to be honest, Coca Cola Park is one of the best venues in AAA).  So "affiliated ball" said goodbye to Ottawa at the end of the '07 season. 
(The image below of the Lynx is from a July 2007 game at Pawtucket.)  
But baseball continued -- first, the Can-Am League placed a team there for 2008.  Several others followed until, following a renovation of the park, the Frontier League's Titans settled in for 2021 and have been an indy ball success ever since.

My late summer vacation included a couple of days in Ottawa, where a helpful cab driver gave me the address of the Stadium.  While I wasn't able to fit in a game to my schedule, I did take the time to photograph the ballpark before leaving town.  Stopping by early in the afternoon, the closest I got to the field was shooting through the locked front entrance -- and then driving around to the back of the park.


Looks good to me!  From the batting cage -- where one of the Ottawa players was getting in some extra swings, to the view just above and beyond the center field fence, the revived Ottawa Stadium might make sense one day for another AAA or AA club.  And, it's nice to see the city's baseball story had a happy ending after losing a franchise.


Comments

Anonymous said…
Have been attending games at the Ottawa/Lynx Park for many years. Being from Montreal, didn’t waste any time going to see the Lynx play when they arrived on the scene.
Have continued to go to games of the various leagues, Inter County, CanAm, and Pioneer. Went to a couple of games this summer. Great venue to watch baseball.⚾️
November 13, 2023 at 8:29 PM
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