Stadium Minor League History:
Eastern League 1994-present
Current Status:
Home of the Trenton Thunder of the Eastern
League (AA)
What's Good: For a new park, it's relatively handsome. While the inside is all concrete (some of it thankfully painted), the exterior is clad in brick with an impressive entrance. Like many new parks, the main concourse (with the restrooms, concessions, and souvenir store) is behind the last row of seats, and offers a good view of the field. The seating area is comfortable, too, and from the back few rows of the third base side fans can see the Delaware River, past the right field wall and down a hill. And not that Trenton is a terribly attractive city, but the ballpark is neatly squeezed in between the river and a residential neighborhood, offering a well-defined sense of place.
What's Not So Good: The skyboxes are large and seem out of place, as does the restaurant behind home plate (I like a pretzel and a beer at the game as much as anybody, but I've never understood the allure of paying good money to eat mediocre food and watch a ballgame through a window in an air-conditioned room). The team also represents everything I dislike about the new breed of "family entertainment"-style minor league baseball -- the sound effects are relentless, the promotions seem like they were taken straight out of a textbook, the mascot is all over the place (and quite ugly), and most of the sold-out, suburban crowds are so busy talking to their neighbors about how hip they are for coming out to watch minor league ball that they barely have time to pay attention to the game.
This Photo:
May 3, 1994 Trenton Thunder vs. Reading Phillies