Last night I visited the new home of the Columbus Clippers, Huntington Park.  After years of being the AAA affiliate of the New York Yankees, and two years as the affiliate of the Washinton Nationals, the Clippers are now the AAA farm team for the Cleveland Indians.  The new park is a vast improvement over the old park as well.

Columbus has always been a pretty good sports town, after all its home to Ohio State football.  The city has embraced its NHL franchise, the Blue Jackets, with a 90% + season ticket renewal rate, even in years when the hockey wasn’t that good.  I went to many Clippers games as a tween and teen, but at the old stadium which still sits just off I-70.  The new stadium though is now down in the “arena district” as the area where the new hockey stadium was built is now called.  The area reminds me of the area around Coors Field, with lots of bars, restaurants set up for a fun young night life.  Its not at all the way this area was when I was a kid, by the way.

I expected the “basic new ballpark”, but Huntinton is far from that.  It might be my favorite minor league park built in the last 10 years.  I know, I have lots of favorites, but often thats because they are old and quaint.  This new one has a ton of amenities without making you feel that baseball is an afterthought, or that you are being marketed to at every turn.

The ballpark steals from a few  famous  MLB park features.  In the photo below, you will notice the Camden warehouse down the left field line.  Its been opened up though, to create a restaurant/party area in the mid-level and bleacher seats ala Wrigley on the upper level- both which enjoy great views of the game.

Huntington Park

Most tickets are $10 or less, though you can pay for some premiums seats behing the backstop or their “club seats” a little higher behind home.  Those come with waitress service, which is unusual even at AAA. The concourses are super wide, and there are several sections where large areas are set aside with picnic tables for folks to sit down as a group and eat.  The food included Bob Evans sausages, and local BBQ ribs.

When you walk along the concourses, away from the field, they still have helped keep baseball everywhere.  Each pillar around the outside has a poster with a player which tells you how long it will take for the player to complete some aspect of the game.  Some are historical facts, like how quickly one player was able to touch all four bases on an inside the park home run, or it might be how long it takes for the ball to travel from deep right field to home if thrown perfectly by a strong armed fielder.  As you enter the suite areas, there are montages of ex-Clipper players- including many of the great current Yankees.

Another view of Huntingon Park

Down the right field line, you can see a sort of modiied know-hole gang section. Again, reminiscent of ATT park.  There is plenty of standing room all around, as well as handicap seating.

The parking lot closest to the field goes for about $3, but if there is an event at Nationwide arena, you can expect other garages to charge more.  I saw $5 and $8 lots in the area.

Overall the atmosphere was fun.  Folks were into the game, but it was also seemed to be a great community gathering place, with folks saying hello to each other all over the park.  Since the Clippers were down by a bunch most of the game, many did leave early, though it was a Tuesday night.  Still, fans were cheering to the end.