Veterans Memorial Stadium II

The front of Veterans Memorial Stadium, including the war memorial.

The seating bowl and roof, from the left-center field concourse.

Here, the netting stretches all the way to field level without a curb, so field level seats are actually at field level.

• Location: 8th Avenue at 15th Street SW, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
• Opened: 2002
• Home team: Cedar Rapids Kernels, Midwest League (2002-present)
• Capacity: 6,000

Chronological Tour: Stop 249

Rating: 3 baseballs

The biggest shortcoming I found with Cedar Vet II was its access and egress. There's only one entrance to the park, off the parking lot in left field – and there's only the one exit, too. Emergency exits are not opened to let fans get out into the parking lot after the game.

The park looks nice enough, but it seems the current management has bent over backward to make things uncomfortable for the fans. This includes the overuse of between-innings video and between-batters music. The park itself is sunken from the concourse / parking lot level, although the lay of the land makes field level about even with the surrounding outfield ground.

On the plus side, the park features a marquee board for the starting lineups, which is uncommon; I've also seen it at Centennial Field in Burlington, Vt., and Principal Park in Des Moines.