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 Northwest Stadiums - Day 10 Volcanoes StadiumSalem-Keizer Volcanoes - Keizer, Oregon - Northwest LeagueWednesday, August 6, 2008 I currently on the second of two trips to the Pacific Northwest to visit the professional baseball stadiums of Washington, Oregon, and Vancouver, B.C. The trip is being reported on in a daily log posted at the blogsite at CaProParks.com. Trip #1 – day 1 through 4 – took me to Volcanoes Stadium is a bit hard to put a finger on. While looking up directions (it is right next to Interstate 5 so it is easy to find), I happened across a detailed description of the place on the Volcanoes website (www.volcanoesbaseball.com). Among the accolades is the “Design Award” from the American Institute of Architects. Other noted improvements over recent years include the Lava Lounge Sports Bar and the Volcanotron video board (and I had been told Well, the Lava Lounge turned out to be nothing more than a barn like building with a concession stand for drinks and a few televisions with poor picture. The video board, while bigger and brighter than In fact, the whole place was kind of run down without really being all that old. A playing surface field with brown patches in the field and grass growing in clumps on the warning track gave way to faded red seats that have taken on a pinkish hue. The outfield fence has faded, dusty mesh banners that cover chain link fence. Picnic table down the left field line, while a great place to eat while watching the game, are badly warped and over look the nearly dead grass that completes this picnic area. Don’t try to give any of this negativity to the fans. They’ll tell you that there is not better place to catch a game than Volcanoes Stadium. One fan told me how the place had been voted one of the best five places to watch a minor league game in the country (not by me). Among the reasons for such high honors was the cleanliness (again, not by my book). To them, Volcanoes Stadium is the standard by which all other stadiums should be judged. So I say, all other stadiums score pretty well. What I see when look a Volcanoes Stadium is brilliant marketing. Everyone thinks Volcanoes Stadium is the gold standard because the Salem-Keizer organization has said so and is quick to point out anytime someone says something good about the place. They also deploy great names like “Lava Lounge,” “Lava Dog,” and “Volcano Burger,” and as their website demonstrates, they consistently carry this message throughout their presentation. I couldn’t just get directions, I had to first read about how great the place I was looking for is. The marketing works. Not only do fans come to the game, they feel as if they are there for a real treat. As you can tell by reading this, I wasn’t nearly as impressed. To me the place seemed…awkward. There in lies the rub. This awkwardness really went a long way in the overall experience. The game felt grassroots in a way that is hard to explain. After all, this is the minor leagues. Isn’t the team supposed to be playing in rag tag surroundings? Over 2,800 enthusiastic fans on a Tuesday night cheering on the local team helped complete what was very much a minor league feeling. Where Volcanoes Stadium stands above the rest is in the food. If the way to a fans heart is through his stomach, this place has captured the affection of many a fan. Food here is the best in the Northwest League (wonder if that will make it into Volcanoes’ marketing?). While I wasn’t a complete fan of the Volcano Burger; two patties with a third sandwich meet layered in between, with lettuce, tomato, American cheese, and Thousand Island dressing, a lot of thought obviously went into the product. My simple hotdog was great. The Lava Dogs where even better. Food also included salads and wraps. Even pie! All the food was decent if not great, and the variety was spectacular for this level. Throw in a good variety of brews and good prices, and you’ve sold this fan. More on Northwest League scoring: the final score of Day 10’s game was 14 – 10. That makes for a total of 73 runs scored in my last four Northwest League games. Somebody please make it stop! How I long to see a 2-1 final, or maybe even a 1-0 shutout! Reader FeedbackThere are no comments yet for this article. Be the first to post!
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