Thomas J. White Stadium

Home-plate entrance to Thomas J. White Stadium.

The main seating bowl.

A distracting net shields spectators near home plate.

• Location: St. Lucie Sports Complex, off I-95 exit 121, Port St. Lucie, Fla.
• Opened: 1988 as Thomas J. White Stadium
• Additional names: Tradition Field (2004), Digital Domain Park (2010)
• Home team: St. Lucie Mets, Florida State League (1988-present); spring training, New York Mets (1988-present)
• Capacity: 7,500

Chronological Tour: Stop 256

Rating: 2 baseballs

Most of the seats are regular stadium seating; they are in the process of renovating bleachers that extend past the concourse down each line. The field faces north-northeast. Also, a full screen covers the home plate seating areas, although it isn’t quite as distracting as the one at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.

For the 2004 season, the naming rights to the ballpark were sold. The park became known as Tradition Field, after a new residential-commercial development in the area which bears the name “Tradition”. The park also received a major facelift, with brickwork replacing the concrete exterior and new picnic pavilions being added along the left-field line and in right field. In addition, the scoreboard was moved from right-center to left-center to allow for the picnic pavilion. The rights were resold in early 2010, and the park became known as Digital Domain Park.

Hurricane Frances did an estimated $4 million in damage to the ballpark in September 2004. Most of the damage was to the new suite level. According to Paul Taglieri of the Mets (quoted in a local paper), the suite windows opened under the force of the winds, allowing rain to get into the ceilings and weaken the structure. Small concrete chunks fell from the suite level to the stadium exterior. Repairs should be complete by 2005 spring training.