Added to my collection

I collect ballparks. This season I added only one, Fisher Cats Ballpark in Manchester, NH.

Minor league parks are usually situated beside a river or next to railroad tracks. This park is wedged in between the two, with Merrimack River running fragrantly behind the third base side seats, the train crossing beyond right field.

One of the prevailing comments, or complaints actually, about the major league parks that were built in the '70s was that they were too much alike, the "cookie cutter" parks, which has resulted in the newer parks being built with that trendy retro look. A great many minor league teams got new parks built because the requirements spelled out in the affiliation agreement between the majors and the minors, and unfortunately a lot of these parks have been built from the same blueprint. Manchester is one of them.

You climb stairs when you enter the park to reach the concourse, which is wide and open to the field so that you can, at least in theory, keep an eye on the game while getting your snack. The seats, except for the luxury boxes, run from the concourse down to the field. It's not a bad design on its own, but too many parks are now virtually identical and most have yet to develop a distinguishing character.

The quirk at this one is the outfield advertising. The walls have rotating signs built into them, that scroll up and down like window shades (the ground rules cover the possibility that a ball will get stuck in the rotating signs). The signs change with every batter. There is no constant scoreboard; the scoreboard is part of the ever-changing display on the videoboard in centerfield. A camera crew roams this park and let's everyone catch every second of every promo on the big screen.

The stadium in Syracuse has the same artificial turf and dimensions as Toronto to train the players and the nod to the big league club here is a hotel directly behind the left field wall.

The signature food is Boston: chowdah and pizza. The beer on tap gets high marks: Guiness and Bass Ale.

I asked for a seat in approximately the same location I sit in at my home park, but to my dismay this apparently is the birthday party and Little League team area. There were scores of young boys, noisy boys surrounding me, so by the end of the fourth inning, I had to move. Far, far away. To the opposite side of the park, the side from which I have trouble picking up the ball. But the smell of the river was less of a bother than the shrieks and foot stomping of all those young boys. The park has metal decking under the seats, so foot stomping is big here, just like in Lowell.

The Fisher Cats may be the Blue Jays AA team, but the audience in Manchester is a Red Sox crowd. More Red Sox branded clothing was worn than all other team branded clothing combined. The program had plenty of Red Sox related advertising. And in the souvenir store there was a couple items with the Fisher Cats' logo, lots of Red Sox items, a few different Portland Sea Dogs things, and one lonely rack of Blue Jays shirts.

The problem in Manchester is parking. The park is smack dab in the center of town and there is no dedicated parking. You have to park in local businesses' lots at $10.

Perhaps in time this park will develop a distinguishing personality, though it will probably be a split personality as long as the big club isn't the Red Sox.