Opened: April 17, 1985
Capacity: 9,560
Affiliated with the San Francisco Giants
The Diamond
Before I came here I had been in Richmond only briefly as a child. I didn’t remember anything about it other than a toll booth. So, I decided to take a trip down here. I was starting to get interested in the Civil War so where better to go than here? That was in 2012 and I have made it down just about every year since. As a Civil War enthusiast there is always something to see or a battlefield to walk so it is always worth the drive, even if it is 3 1/2 hours.
How did I get there?
The stadium is located off of I-95/64 at Boulevard. It is easy to get to and hard to miss. There is a large parking lot just behind the park for $5. There are some breweries located nearby to have a cold one before the game but unless you want to walk you will still have to park in the lot.
Ticket prices
Not too bad, $9 gets you in with an upper deck seat. The team does draw well but most of the seats are in the upper deck.
Finding my seat and amenities
This is an older park. The upper levels are just benches or molded seats and are mostly general admission. The lower levels seems to be newer and is actual stadium seating. It’s not hard to find your seat and this is a big park so it is rarely filled to capacity, though they do draw well here and are usually in the top 2 or 3 in the league in attendance. Food is the usual stadium fare.
In game experience
Nutzy the mascot is my favorite in all of minor league baseball. In the first game I came to he flew into the park on a jetpack. They also had a pig that they trotted around, haven’t seen him in my last few visits. Outside of that it seems to be the normal in-game entertainment.
Getting out
This can be difficult as there are only a few exits from the parking lot and the ease of leaving depends on which way you are heading on the Interstate. I’ve gone both ways and heading towards Sandston and the airport is much easier. If I come down that is where I stay since the motels are cheap and I just need a cheap place to sleep.
Wrap
The town leaders have been talking about building a new park since I have been coming. This used to be a AAA park but the Braves moved the team to Gwinnett leaving Richmond high and dry. Considering the difficulty that is coming from other parts of Virginia it seems like no one wants minor league baseball in the state. A plan here may be coming to fruition to acquire the land across the street to build a new park but we’ll see.