Taking me out to the ol' ballgame

Had to roll my eyes at the recent news that Boise was awarded the 2019 Northwest League/Pioneer League all-star game.

Guessing Pasco didn’t apply.

No offense to the good folks in Boise, but probably every other park in the Northwest League would have been a better park to host the game between the top players in the Northwest League, a short-season class-A league, and the Pioneer League, a short-season Rookie League, just a notch below the Northwest League.

Maybe Boise got the nod because it’s a shorter drive for the folks in the Pioneer League — with teams in Billings, Great Falls, Helena, Missoula, Grand Junction (Colo.), Idaho Falls, Ogden and Orem — or perhaps it was the lure of thick bacon from nearby JB’s in Meridian.

Spokane’s Avista Stadium hosted the first Northwest/Pioneer all-star game in 2015, and Hillsboro hosted in 2017. Ogden hosted in 2016, Grand Junction this year as the leagues alternate hosting duties.

Pasco’s Gesa Stadium was recently named the best short-season class A baseball stadium in the country. Yes, it was largely due to a fan vote, but having seen a few games there, I can understand why people like it.

Summers in the Tri-Cities can be brutal, which is why start times at Tri-City Dust Devils games are pushed back to 7:15 p.m. But the park still looks new-ish (it opened in 1995; the Dust Devils moved there in 2001), and the best thing they did was erect a giant shield above the bleachers, on the first base side, to block the setting sun.

Boise’s Memorial Stadium, technically located in nearby Garden City, is 31 years old, and looks it.

There’s a reason the Chicago Cubs did not renew their affiliation agreement with the Hawks after the 2014 season.

There’s a reason owners of the Hawks have pushed to build a new stadium in downtown Boise.

There’s a reason the Hawks were interested in relocating to Hillsboro in 2012. Instead, the Yakima Bears got the nod to move to the town just west of Portland, leaving behind aging Yakima County Stadium.

SPEAKING OF Hillsboro, we caught a game there recently, partly because it was on the way to where we were headed, but also to check it off our bucket list of minor league parks in the Northwest. We’ve now seen a game in every park in the Northwest League.

Ron Tonkin Field is kinda funky, because it was built off the back of the football bleachers at Hillsboro Stadium, where the Eastern Washington Eagles sometimes have to play Portland State in football, when the Vikings’ home stadium, Providence Park (the old Civic Stadium) is not available.

Still, it’s cozy and it works, the atmosphere is nice and the folks are friendly, and there’s a roof over much of the bleachers because it does rain in Oregon, you may have heard.

The field has artificial turf because, well, it does rain in Oregon, you may have heard.

(As a side note, it seemed like most of the high school football fields we drove past, from Salem to Forest Grove to Lincoln City in particular, sported artificial turf because, well, it does rain in Oregon, you may have heard. I believe Forest Grove was the only one we drove past that didn’t.)

Boise’s park is fine, and the folks there do their best to give you a fun experience, but it doesn’t seem like a stadium — more like a nice high school field. Borah High’s Wigle Field, which has hosted a few state 5A high school baseball tournaments, seems more like a stadium with its intimate setting behind the school.

It might be the least appealing of the eight current stadiums in the league.

I was going to rank all the Northwest League stadiums 1-8, but some I haven’t been to in years, and my memory’s starting to fade like my tee shot.

But I’ll try.

Sort of.

I would rank Avista and Gesa as 1 and 1A — the experience at Avista is second to none, but it’s also at home, and sometimes you take for granted things in your own back yard. Gesa is a nice place to spend a summer evening out of town.

Actually, there’s nothing wrong with most of the other parks — Salem-Keizer’s Volcanoes Stadium is kind of aluminum-y, but it’s a nice setting setting with I-5 behind the outfield fence.

The parks in Eugene, Hillsboro and Vancouver are all cozy — and have shelter from the storm — and Everett is a nice park as well.

That leaves Boise — despite the nearby bacon — needing to catch up in the baseball setting department.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.