Ballpark Review: Fox Cities Stadium

Because I'm a loser, I've set the bar at 100 major/minor league stadiums to visit before I kick the bucket. This weekend it was your Wisconsin Timberatlers (11-29!) taking on the Lansing Lugnuts. If those team names don't scream "Minor League Baseball," nothing will. This pushes my ballpark count up to around 20. Here's the review (the other 19 reviews may follow, someday):

Stadium: Fox Cities Stadium - Appleton, WI

Team: Wisconsin Timberattlers. Single A, Midwest league. Seattle Affiliate

Built: 1994

Stadium Rank: 4 out of 5. The stadium itself was pretty solid: new, fresh and clean. Looks nothing like a ballpark from the outside. A few box seats around the plate with plenty of general admission bleachers and grass seats all around. It seats about 5,000. The outfield wall was an abomination with so many ads you could barley see the scoreboard. Welcome to the Midwest League, my friends! The whole yard was painted maroon instead of the "baseball green" in most new places...this was a refreshing touch. Miller Park has so much of that, it's almost nauseating.

Atmosphere: 3.5 out of 5. Despite the threat of rain, there was a healthy crowd...I would say about 90% full. The wacky PA guy was over the top. As were the sound bites. I'm all for a little interaction, but this was a too much. Him yelling "Timberrrrrrr-ratlers" over and over was really annoying. Conversely, the peanut vendor (who went at least 6-3, 275 lbs) screaming "PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENUUUUUUUUUUUTS" was pretty funny.

Bonus/Subtractions:

• A large beer selection. I like to check out a local brew whenever possible. The Fox River Brewing's Scottish Ale is HIGHLY recommend. I just hope it doen't use water from the Fox river. Add 1
• The beer was huge! I thought the large was pricey ($6.75), until I got it. There was enough beer to float a battleship...or get me warm and fuzzy, one of the two. Add 1.
• The only player name worth mentioning was Andy Hargrove, son of M's manager Mike. This guy sucks, buy the way. He checks in at 6-4, 250...at least. Minus 1.
• The standard (fill in the blank) race was performed by 3 different Scott paper products: Napkins, Toilet Paper, and Hand Towels. Lame. Minus 1.
• Because of said sponsor, we got a free roll of ass-wipe as we left the yard. Add 1.
• We had to pay for parking ($3)...at a minor league game? Never had to do that before. Minus .5
• Plenty of things to do if you happen to have a 22 month old son with an attention span of 11.6 seconds...don't know who has one of those, I'm just saying. Add .5
• The game itself was pretty poor. Here was Rattlers SP's line before a single out was recorded: walk, walk, walk, wild pitch, walk, single off the wall to deep center (the longest single in the history of baseball), walk. Outstanding! Even worse, the guy's a Wisconsin native. Ouch. Minus 1

So there it is: Stadium got a 4, Atmosphere a 3.5 and it's a push for miscellaneous stuff.

Overall: 7.5 out of 10. Good times, I would easily go again.