Provident Bank Park

Main entrance to Ramapo Ballpark, Jul-2011.

A look at the seating bowl from above the left-field Bridge Bar.

Here, the Dugout of Dreams and Short Porch seating areas are visible.

• Location: NY 45 at Pomona Road (CR 86), Pomona (Town of Ramapo), N.Y.
• Opened: 2011
• Home team: Rockland Boulders, Can-Am League (2011-present); St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans, East Coast Conference
• Capacity: 5,000 (approx.)

Chronological Tour: Stop 357

Rating: 3 baseballs

In terms of geography, Ramapo Ballpark, as this yard was known until a few weeks before the Rockland Boulders’ inaugural home opener in June 2011, fits in neatly between their independent league rival New Jersey Jackals and the affiliated Hudson Valley Renegades. The park is in the Village of Pomona, on the northeast edge of the Town of Ramapo, a bustling community that also includes villages such as Suffern and Spring Valley. Its central location within Rockland County makes the club easily marketable throughout its own county as well as southern Orange and northern Bergen (the New Jersey state line is eight miles away).

The park, which sits on a town-owned lot within shouting distance of the Palisades Interstate Parkway, is architecturally handsome without going over the top. A four-faced town clock greets visitors upon their entrance. Down the left-field line, the club made double use of the ground crew access by opening up the Bridge Bar underneath; the bridge that connects the wraparound pedestrian concourse is designed to resemble the overpasses on the nearby Parkway. In addition to the usual sky suites, the park also includes the Short Porch picnic area in right field as well as the Dugout of Dreams, an extension of the home dugout as a 30-spectator premium area. And the center field wall is 53 feet high – no cheap home runs in that direction, although the Short Porch does live up to its name.

As of my initial visit, management was still working some kinks out in the area of game operations. There were no rosters available for either team; while the starting lineups are posted on a whiteboard, the league standings are not displayed. And, at least on the night I attended, there was no display of player data for the visiting team. Indeed, the last visiting-team pitcher was never announced into the game. However, the public address announcer is pleasant to listen to, and the scoreboard was run competently. (There is an auxiliary board mounted on the first-base suite level so that fans in the outfield can keep up with the game.) All in all, the park made a good first impression on me, although I worry about egress on heavily attended evenings. There is only one access road.

My return visit, in August, actually made me reduce the park’s rating by one baseball. Not only was the club still declining to post visiting team player data on the video board, but the team had begun to charge tax on ticket sales made with a credit card (at the Rockland County rate of 8⅜ percent) – and to not charge the same tax on cash sales. I can understand credit card surcharges and fees, but to disguise it as a tax is simply wrong. As nice as the park is, their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

On that August visit, it was announced that the Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas College, located two towns away from the stadium, had arranged to use the park as their home field beginning with the 2012 season.