Inside Harbor Park

Inside Harbor Park
Originally uploaded by jmharper.

Back in 1995, Baseball America magazine named Harbor Park the best minor league ballpark in America. It was also considered by some the "Camden Yards of the minor leagues." It was built with many features that are now commonplace in a new ballpark.

A restaurant is located in the right field corner, with a nice view of the field and the game. You can also watch the game from one of the open concourse while waiting in line for a hot dog- one of the first parks to have this design feature. The upper decks are a nice place to watch a game- not nearly as far from the action as in a major league park.

Of course, all of the seats are comfortable plastic chair seats. No bleacher or bench seats here! Cupholders were even installed. A fixture in a new park now, but a novelty ten years ago.

The design of Harbor Park was so well done that Syracuse decided to use it five years later. They threw in a few wrinkles to make sure it wasn't identical, such as artificial turf. 'Nuff said!