The Park Formerly Known as Old Kent

Home plate entrance to Fifth Third Ballpark, Aug-2015.

A shot from down the right-field line shows the considerable seating capacity, which gets utilized most every night.

Looking out from directly behind the plate at the field, including premium outfield areas.

Chronological Tour: Stop 138

• Location: West River Avenue off US 131, Plainfield Twp., Mich. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1994 as Old Kent Park
• Additional names: Fifth Third Ballpark (2001), LMCU Ballpark (2021)
• Home team: West Michigan Whitecaps, Midwest League (1994-present)
• Capacity: 10,900

Rating: 5 baseballs

Aside from the Detroit Tigers, the state of Michigan had gone without professional baseball until the Oakland Athletics decided to put their Midwest League team near Grand Rapids. The management team went all-out to build a fan-friendly, accommodating stadium which combined eye candy with superb functionality.

The first season they were there, the West Michigan Whitecaps sold out nearly every game. So they added seating, and the demand kept growing. For 1998, the Whitecaps, now a Detroit Tigers farm club, added a bleacher area in the outfield that doesn’t get filled up every game, but is packed for big promotional nights, such as fireworks shows. (Site visitor Miguel Vega noted in 2008 that the outfield bleachers have been replaced by an enclosed restaurant/bar facility with an outdoor roof deck, as well as other improvements.)

With an excellent combination of good baseball (five league championships) and a park to match, the Whitecaps led the Midwest League in attendance in 1998. There really isn’t anything to dislike about this facility, except possibly that the name is changing. Fifth Third, an Ohio bank, bought Old Kent in 2001 and said they were putting their own name on the park. Adding Toledo’s new park to the one in Dayton (and, for several years, the one in Geneva, Ill., too) madee for some mighty confusion among minor-league fans in the Midwest. As it happens, that naming rights deal expired and Lake Michigan Credit Union now has its name on the stadium.

Whatever the park is called this week, it should be a definite stop on any Midwest League tour. It’s even worth a side trip from a trip to a game in Detroit or Chicago if time allows and the Whitecaps are home.

A fire blew through the first-base suite areas at the ballpark Friday 3-Jan-2014, causing that section of the park to be rebuilt in advance of the Midwest League All-Star Game set for June.