Haymarket Park

Home-plate entrance to Haymarket Park, Aug-2005.

The seating bowl, as seen from the first-base line.

The park overlooks a freeway, Nebraska’s football stadium, and the state capitol.

Chronological Tour: Stop 299

• Location: Line Drive, off Sun Valley Boulevard (Route 6), Lincoln, Neb. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 2001
• Home team: Lincoln Saltdogs, Northern League (2001-2005), American Association (2006-present); University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, Big Ten Conference
• Capacity: 4,400 (not including berm seating and standing room)

Rating: 4 baseballs

The park features a compact seating area in two levels, the usual bowl below the main concourse and a walk-up second level. This is similar to the arrangement in Dayton, Ohio, as well as in larger parks like Norfolk, Va. The main concourse is quite roomy, and it extends completely around the perimeter of the field. Berm seating down the lines and in the outfield doubles the park’s capacity. Like most newer parks, the facility also has its share of luxury boxes.

Memorial Stadium, the over-76,000-seat football stadium for the Cornhuskers, rests across the I-180 freeway from Haymarket Park and dominates the view in center field. The distinctive (and very tall) state capitol building is also visible from the park.

The playing field itself bears the dedication “Hawks Field”. The University of Nebraska controlled the naming rights for the field itself (as opposed to the stadium), and Myrna Hawks stepped up and made a sizable donation to the school. As a result, her name appears in three places around the field.