They Love Their Cougars

Home plate entrance to Elfstrom Stadium, Aug-2006.

Another look at the expansive, and well-used, grandstand at Elfstrom.

Looking out from home plate.

• Location: Cherry Lane off Kirk Road, Geneva, Ill.
• Opened: 1991 as Philip B. Elfstrom Stadium
• Additional names: Fifth Third Bank Ballpark (2012)
• Home team: Kane County Cougars, Midwest League (1991-present)
• Capacity: 7,400

Chronological Tour: Stop 80

Rating: 3 baseballs

I got back in 2006 to take new photos and visit a Cougars pitcher. While the park was starting to look old and had taken on something of a plain-Jane appearance to these jaded eyes, and the concourses appeared just a bit narrow, the Cougars were still drawing tremendously in this western-edge suburb of Chicago.

In 1998, despite their “officially” small size (then 5,900 capacity), the Cougars finished a very close third in the Midwest League attendance race to the West Michigan Whitecaps and the Lansing Lugnuts. The Cougars drew over 480,000 spectators that season. Just the weekend before I made my return trip, they had 14,000 and 10,000 for Saturday and Sunday games.

For the 2012 season, the Cougars sold naming rights to the ballpark to Fifth Third Bank, making this stadium the fourth (and third in the Midwest League) to bear that financial institution’s name. The complex has been renamed the Philip B. Elfstrom Events Center.