Author's Blog

January 7, 2009

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Northwest Stadiums - Day 2: Nat Bailey Stadium

I am currently on the first of two trips to the Pacific Northwest to visit the professional baseball stadiums of Washington, Oregon, and Vancouver, B.C.  Both trips are being reported on in a daily log to be posted at the blogsite at CaProParks.com.  Trip #1 will take me to Everett, Vancouver, Tacoma, and Portland.

Day 2 took me to Vancouver, British Columbia, home of Nat Bailey Stadium.  “The Nat” as is known locally, is the home of the Vancouver Canadians.  That’s to say the “new” Vancouver Canadians, not the Triple A Canadians who moved to Sacramento to become the River Cats.  With the move of the Oakland Athletics top affiliate came the move of Medford’s team to Vancouver in the same year.  So when Vancouver lost its Triple A team, it gained a Single A Short Season squad, also an Oakland affiliate, with the same name.

After seeing Nat Bailey Stadium, it’s easy to see why the Medford team would want to move here.  The stadium boast 6500 seats, spacious for a Single A team, and has a large city to pull from.  The last place Canadian drew 2900 to a Friday game, and all seemed to be paying close attention to the game even as the Canadians were losing yet again.  After seeing Nat Bailey Stadium, it’s also easy why the team that become the River Cats decided to move.  Not only is the stadium smaller, with less amenities (and no luxury boxes), but it’s in need of a few updates.  The vast majority of the seats are wooden bench type seating, a screen that protects much of the grand stand from fall balls also helps create a few blind spots, and let’s face it, 6500 is too small for Triple A.  Nevertheless, sitting in the grand stands closer than typical to the action, one has to wonder how great it must have been to see Triple A ball in this intimate setting.

Insiders have many stories to tell on this one.  One message seems to come clear, expenditures on updates have been slow in coming.  At one time, the stadium held 10,000, but once wooden bleacher down the lines became too rotted to be safe, the decision was made to tear them down rather than replace them.  The lighting of the stadium comes from Seattle’s old Sicks Stadium where the Seattle Pilots played their lone season before moving to Milwaukee.  The former home of the Seattle Indians and Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League was demolished in 1979, and a few Vancouver fans joke that all the light bulbs are still original from the Sicks Stadium.  Judging by the arrays of colors they display, more than a few just might be.

Only a few improvements have been made in recent years, one being a remodeled concourse.  The coming of the 2010 Olympic Games, however, comes an update to The Nat…well to the outside anyway.  A number of new buildings are being build next door to house various events for the games, and plans are in place  to update the outside of The Nat to match these new buildings.  Judging by the state of the current parking lot, I image some improvements will be made there as well.

Regardless of the state of The Nat, I am sure fans will keep coming to support their team.  I think I just might need to find an excuse to make it back to this enclave nestled in Queen Elizabeth Park.  The setting is beautiful, the city is beautiful, and the fans are friendly, and yes, for all its age and neglect, the park is charming in a quirky kind of way.

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