One of the more annoying venues that I've been wanting to visit is Skylands Stadium, home of the Sussex County Miners. Why is it annoying? Because it is only 60 miles away but not accessible by public transit. So I have to rent a car to get there, usually not a cheap endeavor in NYC. Fortunately, the New Jersey Jackals recently moved to Hinchcliffe Stadium in Paterson and the two venues are less than an hour apart, so it made more sense to rent a car for a day-night doubleheader. Such a combination was scheduled for Thursday, with the Miners at 11 and the Jackals at 6:30 and I found a one-day deal at Hertz in Jersey City to make it all possible. That morning, I took the PATH train to Newport to pick up the car and drove out to Augusta, which is in Frankford Township, which is in Sussex County. It was raining most of the way as I drove from Jersey City and I was worried about a postponement (both teams had been rained out the previous day), but the ballpark was mostly dry.
The stadium is part of a larger complex that includes several other buildings, though I could not immediately discern what most of the them are used for. It is really in the middle of nowhere, and certainly not walkable from anywhere. There is a large sculpture of a globe in front of the facility that signifies something, though again it was not clear exactly what. To the right in the photo above is the Double S Smoke House, a full-service bar and restaurant that is open from 11 a.m. and has good happy hour specials (2-for-1 drafts) from 3-6. Unfortunately, game time was also 11 a.m. and I had to head to Paterson immediately afterward, so was unable to partake. A night game here would be a lot of fun I think, if you could enjoy an hour or two at the bar beforehand.
All of the buildings are covered with rust-coloured siding, making it seem more like a farm than a sports venue. The ballpark was opened in 1994 to house the NY-Penn League's New Jersey Cardinals, who played here from 1994-2005 before moving to State College to become the Spikes, now members of the MLB Draft League. Coco Crisp is among those future major leaguers who toiled here for the Cardinals.
The cheapest ticket was $17 and I was given a first row seat in the upper bowl. Most seats here are of the plastic molded variety, though there are bleachers at either end. Concessions and restrooms are along the exterior concourse.
Inside, there is a small walkway between two seating levels, with the top few rows of the upper sections covered by the roof. Suites are above the second level along the first base line and behind home plate.
There are two sections of bleachers down each line. The view from the bleachers isn't that bad, particularly because there is no netting down this far, a rarity these days. The seats themselves are probably not that comfortable however. The bleachers are not general admission by the way as all seats are reserved. Capacity is 4,500 with attendance averaging 1,573 last season, so you can generally sit where you want.
This was an education day (not a camp day as the kids are still in school) and of the 2,393 announced, about 2,000 were children, most of whom wanted an autograph from Herbie the Miner.
The scoreboard is above the left field fence and is pretty basic, though it wasn't working for much of the afternoon.
The Double S Smokehouse has a bar along the exterior concourse, but it was not open on this cloudy day with the kids in attendance.
At the far end is Santa's Workshop with a dejected polar bear, likely because he cannot watch the game. During the holidays, there is a Christmas light show here along with a winter beer garden.
Overall, I really appreciated my brief time at Skylands Stadium and would love to return to enjoy the Double S Smokehouse and a somewhat quieter atmosphere, because kids make a lot of noise, in case you didn't know.
The Game
The Quebec Capitales were visiting, making this the second Thursday in a row I would see them on the road and hear O! Canada. As the two teams had been postponed the day before, this afternoon would be a pair of 7-inning affairs, of which I only watched the first.
Both teams scored in the first on singles, groundouts, and singles, with Juremi Profar (Jurickson's brother, above) bringing home the run for Quebec. Profar added another RBI single in the third, but the Miners matched that with a sac fly from Cory Acton.
Notes
Sussex County won the second game by the same 7-2 score, but by then I was already in Paterson. More on that in the next post.
Best,
Sean
No comments:
Post a Comment