Commerce Bank Park Bridgewater, NJ
Stadium Minor League History: Atlantic League 1999-present
Current Status: Home
of the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League (Independent)
What's Good: Commerce
Bank Park, like so many of the other new stadiums, is comfortable and attractive
but too new to really have any character. A spacious concourse runs
behind the last row of seats, with luxury boxes above. An attempt
to make the stadium at least a little distinctive architecturally is embodied
by ten little peaks in the roof above the skyboxes, and an attractive brick
structure stands behind the concourse on the third base side (though I
don't know what it's used for). The scoreboard
above right field is large, and includes a video board in addition
to the linescore. Perhaps the most visually impressive aspect of
the ballpark, however, is the elaborate, circular
patterns on the immaculately-groomed field -- though I almost felt
dizzy when looking at them too long. As for getting and spending,
a wide variety of food and drink was available, and the souvenir store
was large, slick, and well-stocked.
What's Not So Good: The
ballpark suffers from a kind of generic blandness (it is very similar to
new facilities in Trenton, Schaumburg, Bridgeport, etc.), its location
in the suburbs keeps a visitor from getting a good sense of place while
watching a game, and its color scheme (red brick, green paint and seats)
is so ubiquitous in new parks these days as to be cliched. In addition,
prices were steep for a minor league game -- I paid $3.50 for a program
(not including a scorecard, which was an extra buck), and concessions were
also on the high side (though box seats were a reasonable $8.50).
This Photo:
July 23, 2000 Somerset Patriots vs. Atlantic City
Surf
