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2025/04/21

Bowling Green Hot Rods 6 at Hub City Spartanburgers 4 (South Atlantic League) - April 20, 2025

After a couple of underwhelming experiences at Salt Lake City and Knoxville, plus my worst venue visit ever at Tennessee softball, I was glad to finally return to the roots of minor league baseball with a visit to Fifth Third Park, home of the Hub City Spartanburgers. We were flying out of GSP late Sunday evening, which gave us just enough time to see an afternoon game with a start time of 2:05. The drive from Knoxville through the reconstructed portion of I-40 that was damaged during Hurricane Helene was twisty but uneventful. It is amazing how quickly they were able to reopen the highway, with one lane in both directions for about 12 miles around the North Carolina-Tennessee border.a

Fifth Third Park is located on the southwest corner of downtown. Currently, the Google Maps location is a bit off as it will tell you to approach along Henry Street when the better route is to take Main Street and find some parking along there as it is free on weeknights and weekends. The other option is a $10 parking garage right next to the ballpark, visible in the background below. There is a home plate entrance (above) but most fans enter via the left field gate as that is next to the parking garage and marked by a giant bobblehead.

After the maddening experience at the softball game, I was careful here and brought a single bottle of water, unopened of course. As Coca-Cola is a sponsor and Dasani is one of their brands, you have to remove the label from your bottle of water before you can bring it in. Presumably this is only for non-Dasani bottles, but who knows these days. It just gets stupider and stupider; sometimes I think it's just a big game to find out how much fans are willing to tolerate and the answer so far seems to be 'quite a lot'. 

The box office is right here as well and berm tickets are only $7 and as is the norm these days, they were 'unable' to print tickets. The berm is located above left field and offers no protection from the sun, so I knew we would not be sitting there, but as there is a playground inside the ballpark, I figured we wouldn't be sitting anywhere. As I was looking around the exterior, I saw Ian, another sports traveler who lives in the area and who I have met a few times when down here. He gave me some useful information about the ballpark, including its limited capacity of just 3,500 seats and 5,250 overall. 


Inside the left field gate is a giant Hub City photo op; the nickname comes from the importance the railroad played in Spartanburg's development. Back in the late 1800's, there were seven rail lines running in and out (another burger connection?) of the city center, making it a true hub. Of course, people from Spartanburg are known as Spartanburgers and with that moniker, the mascots create themselves. 

After we entered, I walked behind the berm to take a picture, and a player on the field saw my daughter and threw up a couple of balls to her. She was very happy but we don't need two baseballs, so she kindly gave one to Ian.

You cannot walk around the outfield here, so the best picture of the entire stadium structure is from behind the berm. It is significantly smaller than the other new parks I visited, which makes sense as the South Atlantic League is High-A while the other ones are in AAA and AA.

The playground is on the third base side and most of it is in the shade, which worked well as I was able to watch the first couple of innings from under the overhang while my daughter frolicked just behind me.

The concourse is huge and one of the features here is a set of colourful murals that highlight certain aspects of the town.

Sparkle City is another nickname and Sparkle City Spartanburgers has an alliterative ring to it. 

There's also a mural that points the way to the different concessions and other spots that you might want to visit. Food here is reasonably priced and quite good, with hot dogs just $5 plus tax. At the grab and go stand, you just scan your items and even then, you are prompted to tip despite nobody actually helping you at all. Still, the hot dog was quite good, and there is a Bruster's ice cream stand nearby where two generous and tasty scoops are $7, making the final cost for two of us about $17 each, less than the cheapest ticket at both Salt Lake City and Knoxville.

There are drink rails here but they are reserved, though you might be able to use them if no one is sitting there. This place was much more relaxed than the others I visited recently and I spoke at length with a young usher, who let us sit in the top row by first base without a problem. He was equipped with two cards, one red and one green, and when a foul ball came into his section, he would walk down to make sure no one was hurt and hold up the green card to alert the medical staff that all was OK. Thankfully the red card did not make an appearance on this day.

The aforementioned parking garage is on the right in the photo below. As is usually the case with new ballparks, the final section down the lines turns in toward the plate, making for a narrow foul area into the corners.

The upper deck consists of a club area above first base that is only open to ticket holders, suites, and then a small party area above third base. As all areas were in use, I wasn't able to go up as I did at the other two parks I visited.

Along the concourse behind the plate are Bo Boxes, which are private areas sponsored by Bojangles (you can see the yellow box in the photo above). Down the line is another private area that was not used on this day, as it requires a 100-person minimum that might be tough to fill early in the season.

Looking back from above the party deck, you can see how the sun impacts the seating bowl during the afternoon. This was the first day game here and many workers were complaining about the heat, and I can't blame them. It was surprisingly warm and most fans sought the shade at some point.

There are two historical displays, the first is a row of seats from Shibe Park in Philadelphia that were also installed in Duncan Park Stadium in Spartanburg after Shibe was closed in 1971.

And there is also a small case filled with memorabilia from the team itself, including the shovel used to break ground on the stadium and a baseball from the first game played here, which featured Wofford beating USC Upstate on April 1. The scorecard and other baseball are from the club's first road game, played in Aberdeen on April 4, a 4-3 win in 12 innings.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time at Fifth Third Park, a refreshing return to what minor league sports should be. If you want, you can spend money, but if you don't, you can see the game for $7. The Greenville Drive are just 30 miles away so the addition of a club in Spartanburg makes for an enticing minor league doubleheader visit to the Upstate. 

The Game

The Bowling Green Hot Rods (Tampa Bay) were visiting the Spartanburgers (Texas) and I was so enthralled that I forgot to take pictures during the game. It was a back-and-forth affair with Bowling Green scoring in the first on a homer from Mac Horvath (2nd round, 2023 to Baltimore, traded as part of the Zach Eflin deal) only for Hub City to tie it on a single, stolen base, and two-base error on a pickoff. In the top of the second, Hunter Haas (4th round, 2023) doubled and tried for third on a sinking liner that was caught by centerfielder Anthony Gutierrez (Texas's #18 prospect). It was initially ruled a hit but Gutierrez came up throwing and the ball bounced past third base, allowing Haas to score despite the reversed call on the field.

Casey Cook (3rd, 2024) led off the bottom of the fourth with a homer to tie it, and the 'Burgers got their first lead in the fifth on a Marcus Smith (3rd, 2019 to Oakland) triple followed by a sac fly. Bowling Green grabbed the lead back with a pair in the sixth and added singletons in the 8th on a pair of doubles and 9th on a Blake Robertson (7th, 2022) homer to make it 6-3.

Arturo Disla led off the 9th with a monster homer to get Hub City within a pair, and Smith came up later with men on first and second but lined out to left to end the game. It was a fast-paced affair taking just 2:26 for a PPM of 1.83. The most impressive stat is that the five Bowling Green pitchers combined for zero walks, a rarity at this level. With the game done, we headed back to the airport, and just six hours later were at home in NYC after a great spring break trip.

Notes

This was my fifth Fifth Third venue, with the others being Toledo, Dayton, and West Michigan (where I completed the 160 minor league ballparks in 2017) as well as Cincinnati basketball. Even more coincidental is that Bowling Green, in the Midwest League at the time, were the visitors in Dayton and West Michigan, being shutout both times.

The team's official three-letter abbreviation is HCS; they join the Daytona Tortugas (DBT) as the only minor league baseball teams whose nickname letter is in the abbreviation; this s more common in pro sports where multiple teams play out of the same city (NYM, NYY, NYR, NYI, etc.).

Next Up

I'll head to Columbus, Georgia to complete the new minor league parks next month. Well, Synovus Park is not really new as it opened in 1926 but I was never able to get there when it hosted minor league baseball up until 2008. I'll also visit Auburn and Baylor baseball, as well as Cleburne of the American Association, so check back for recaps in mid-May.

Best,

Sean


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