Harper-Shepherd Field

Exterior of Harold Alfond Stadium at Harper-Shepherd Field, Mar-2019.

The grandstand, with mostly an upper deck but a “club” area behind the plate.

Artificial turf infield, flanked by a grass outfield.

• Location: Orange Avenue at Aragon Avenue, Winter Park, Fla. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1933
• Home team: Rollins Tars, Sunshine State Conference
• Capacity: 1,000

The stadium, along Orange Avenue (the main street from downtown Orlando to Winter Park), is unusual in several ways. First, the bulk of the seating is in a single upper deck, although there is a small area at field level behind the plate that is generally reserved for scouts as well as prime donors to the Rollins baseball program. Second, due to the southwest-to-northeast alignment of Orange Avenue, the batter faces northwest here, rather than the usual northeast. That creates unusual sun angles especially for outfielders. Third, a 2018 renovation brought artificial turf to the infield, while the outfield remains natural grass.

For a dozen years in the early 21st century, the ballpark was used for a college summer league team; that arrangement ended after the 2015 season. At one time, the Brevard County Manatees were rumored to be headed to the ballpark, a move that would have meant significant expansion of seating capacity, but that never happened and the team relocated to Osceola County instead.