Baseball Stadiums: 2014 Recap

As the Minor League Baseball regular season comes to a close with the Labor Day weekend and the Major League Baseball regular season concluding at the end of the month, it is only appropriate that I post an update about the stadiums I've visited this season.

I visited five new stadiums this season, re-visited five ballparks, and blogged about nine of them.

The stadiums I had never visited before are:

Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. (home of the Clearwater Threshers)
McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Fla. (home of the Bradenton Marauders)
George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. (home of the Tampa Yankees)
Regions Field in Birmingham, Ala. (home of the Birmingham Barons)
Bowling Green Ballpark in Bowling Green, Ky. (home of the Bowling Green Hot Rods)

The ballparks I've visited previously, but had not blogged about are:

Herschel Greer Stadium in Nashville, Tenn. (home of the Nashville Sounds)
Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Ga. (home of the Gwinnett Braves)
AT&T Field in Chattanooga, Tenn. (home of the Chattanooga Lookouts)
Joe W. Davis Stadium in Huntsville, Ala. (home of the Huntsville Stars)

The lone park I visited, but did not blog about is:

Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio (home of the Cincinnati Reds)

Most of my visits were done in clusters as I made other trips.  I visited the three Florida stadiums while in Tampa for the AAG 2014 Annual Meeting.  I visited Bowling Green and Nashville while returning from Cincinnati, Ohio, after attending the AP Reading.  I visits AT&T Field and Joe W. Davis Stadium because I attended a reunion of former Huntsville Stars employees.  My excursions to Regions Field and Coolray Field were solo trips to visit with friends.

These trips now bring my tally to:

• MLB = 20 (13 active)
• AAA = 9 (8 active)
• AA = 18 (14 active)
• High A = 5 (5 active)
• Low A = 4 (2 active)
• Short-Season A = 6 (5 active)
• Independent = 5 (4 active)
• Spring Training = 10 (9 active)

Depending upon how you count Joe W. Davis Stadium in Huntsville, my count for active Double-A stadiums is 14 or 13.  As the Stars will play in this season's Southern League playoffs, the stadium is active as of this post.  Additionally, as the opening date of the team's new stadium in Biloxi, Miss., is up in the air it is possible the Stars franchise may play part of the 2015 season in Huntsville.  Until the team's move comes to fruition, I am going to count Joe W. Davis Stadium as an active facility.

As of this post, I have seen professional baseball games (including Spring Training) in 27 states, the District of Columbia, and one Canadian province (British Columbia).  I did not visit stadiums in new states this season, but attended games in six states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee).

As a geographer, my life isn't complete without a map.  So for those who want to see my stadium visits in a map, you can check out this active map I created using Google Maps.

In my quest to get a picture with as many Minor League mascots as possible, I probably should discuss the mascots I got pictures with this season.  However, I'm going to save that for another post when I can take the time to tally the photos I got during the 2014 season along with the mascots I got pictures with in previous years.