A Very Cool Minor League Park

During a recent extended road trip, I had the chance to check out several ballparks I'd never previously seen.  The most surprising discovery came in Oklahoma City, where I got good look at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.  The home of the Dodgers Triple A farm club has a classic look -- along with numerous details honoring Oklahoma baseball history.  We'll start with the right field gate -- named for Warren Spahn and featuring a statue honoring the winningest lefthanded pitcher of all time.  While born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Spahn was stationed in Oklahoma during World War II, where he married a woman from the Sooner State and bought a ranch in Hartshorne that became their off-season home.

Oklahoma native Johnny Bench is the star whose statue welcomes you at the home plate entrance.  The 1968 NL Rookie of the Year, two-time MVP and 14-time All Star was the first catcher ever to lead a league in home runs and ranks with Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Mike Piazza and Mickey Cochrane as the best ever at his position.
 

Mickey Mantle Plaza leads to the left field gate, and is named for the Yankees legend who was born and raised in Spavinaw, OK.  Three entrances, three Hall of Famers with strong Oklahoma ties.  An impressive salute -- but that's not all.  Between the entrances honoring Bench and Mantle, I spotted this row of smaller statues telling the story of six other Oklahoma baseball standouts.  Click on the video below to see this display.
Though the ballpark wasn't open, I was able to see inside and captured this look toward left field.  It capped my preview of a ballpark where I'd love to see a game some future summer.



Comments

Anonymous said…
What about Allie Reynolds? He should be there too!
November 12, 2024 at 11:09 AM
Mike McCann said…
Reynolds is in the gallery of (non-Hall of Fame) Oklahoma players seen in my video. So is another beloved longtime Yankee, Bobby Murcer.
November 12, 2024 at 12:49 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Avenue and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two-year r
Read more

Another Yankee Trade

Image
Yankee fans: here's a last look at shortstop Trey Sweeney .  The 2021 first round draft choice was part of the three player trade with the Dodgers that brings reliever Victor Gonzalez and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas to New York. Now seeking to rebuild their pitching depth after dealing for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo, the Yanks deemed Sweeney expendable.  While the Louisville native showed promising power in his three seasons with the organization -- he batted only .248 to go with his 36 career homers -- Brian Cashman has committed to Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza as his young middle infielders.  So Sweeney became a trade chip. ( My images of Trey Sweeney are from the Somerset/Binghamton AA games on July 15th and September 19th, 2023. )
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore 00
Read more