Baseball and a Cuppa

Box office entrance to Dunkin’ Donuts Park, Apr-2017.

From the top of the outfield seating area after sunset.

From directly behind the plate.

Chronological Tour: Stop 388

• Location: Main Avenue at Pleasant Street, Hartford, Conn. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 2017 as Dunkin’ Donuts Park
• Additional names: Dunkin’ Park (2023)
• Home team: Hartford Yard Goats, Eastern League (2017-present)
• Capacity: 6,300 (approx.)

Rating: 4 baseballs

The developers had to squeeze the park into a couple of city blocks, and that made for very short dimensions, especially in right field. The lower deck of outfield seats in right is protected by a mesh screen that actually keeps balls in play, preventing cheap home runs.

Other dimensions are rather short here as well, although center field is a normal distance from the plate. The result has been a surfeit of cheap home runs in the park’s early going.

This has not stopped the fans from flocking to the park. The Yard Goats recorded 41 sellouts in their first season, after spending one season on the road following 33 years in New Britain, just 12 miles away. In contrast to the colors of the stadium sponsor, the team colors are the familiar green, blue, and white once worn by the NHL Hartford Whalers. This, along with a pen beyond the outfield where fans get to pet real goats provided by a local farm, has enedared the team to the Hartford area and to much of Connecticut.