After a sweltering stop in Bethesda, I drove about an hour northwest to Hagerstown to complete the Atlantic League ballparks. The Flying Boxcars are the newest team in the league, and they built a beautiful new ballpark to replace Municipal Stadium, which was demolished in 2022. My friend Meg was also attending this game, so I picked her up at her hotel and we drove over to Meritus Park, parking on a nearby street as the parking garage was not yet open. From there, we walked uphill to the main entrance at the corner of Summit and Baltimore and found that the box office was at the opposite corner. Oh no! As it was a bit of a walk back, I left Meg at the main entrance and headed over to the box office. Before reaching the window, I saw someone giving away a pair of tickets, thus saving us a few bucks. Yay!
I entered by the center field gate and walked back to the main entrance to hand Meg her ticket, and then started touring. It was 'Despicable Me 4' night as that movie was coming out shortly, so there were some minion mascots wandering around the ballpark.
The concourse is open to the field of play and there are standing areas all along. There are plenty of concession stands selling a good variety of food at reasonable prices.
Starting lineups and standings are posted next to the team store.
There are only seven rows of seats behind the dugout, with overall capacity of 4,000. Two days before, they saw a record attendance of 4,257, there were almost exactly 1,000 less on this Sunday evening.
Just beyond here is a large picnic area that is open to all fans. There are also private event areas throughout the ballpark.
Looking back, you can see how the seats extend well beyond the bases. As well, you can see houses on the other side of Summit Avenue, as the park was built in a residential area.
The team is named after the Fairchild Aircraft C-119 Flying Boxcar, which was built in Hagerstown. There is a wire sculpture of this plane beyond the right field fence.
You can continue to walk all around the ballpark, and stand right beneath the foul pole.
Continuing on will bring you right next to the bullpen. That's Hagerstown starter Mike Kickham, who spent all of 21 games in the majors with San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles. As he warmed up, some kids asked him several questions and to his credit, he answered politely.
There is an outfield bar that is protected by a roof; one of the bartenders pointed out a dent that was caused by a home run a few nights prior.
You can look through the wall to see the stadium structure, though I wasn't able to get a complete shot. If you keep walking around, you reach the centerfield entrance, which is where you can find the box office.
The scoreboard is above left field and on this day, players were made to look like minions. As an aside, I ended up seeing the movie with my daughter after we returned home and I'd have to say it was pretty weak. My daughter loved it though.
Returning to the third base side, you can get a good idea of how the stadium is built. They've done a great job with a small footprint and it will be interesting to see how the surrounding area gets built up over the next few years.
Our free seats were right behind the plate and I would like to thank our benefactor for his kindness. The tickets were of the paper variety, but I did find a hard stub afterwards, thus completing a perfect Sunday doubleheader in Maryland.
Overall, Meritus Park is the most impressive venue at this level. I expect that if MLB expands to 32 teams and needs 8 new minor league franchises, the Flying Boxcars will be one of them because this stadium is ready for the minor leagues. Hagerstown might have lost its unique old barn, but this is certainly a worthy replacement.
The Game
The Staten Island FerryHawks were visiting and as a resident of NYC, I felt obligated to cheer for them. Which was a mistake. Up 2-1 in the fifth, starter Christian Capuano gave up two singles and a double to lose the lead, and then yielded back-to-back homers to Osvaldo Abreu (a former Nationals farmhand who played here in 2015, below) and Blake Berry that made it 6-3.
Kickham finished six strong innings and his bullpen allowed only an unearned run in the 8th as Hagerstown prevailed 6-3. The game took just 2:28 and was played with a PPM of 1.837, a great pace that made it a very enjoyable evening.
Notes
There are 10 teams in the Atlantic League, and I have seen a game at all their ballparks, though in two cases (Charleston and Lexington), I attended a minor league game when those venues were part of affiliated baseball. As of this writing, I have one Frontier League stadium left in Brockton, one American Association stadium left in Cleburne, and three in the Pioneer League (Northern Colorado, Kalispell, and Yolo, who might fold). With at least five new minor league stadiums next year, I might have to push these independent league ballparks until 2026.
Best,
Sean
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