Volcanoes Stadium

Approaching Volcanoes Stadium, Aug-2004.

The view from the left-field terrace.

Not that much to see here except for freeway traffic.

Chronological Tour: Stop 284

• Location: Keizer Station Boulevard north of Chemawa Road, Keizer, Ore. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1997
• Home team: Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, Northwest League (1997-2019); Mavericks League (2021-present)
• Capacity: 4,100

Rating: 2 baseballs

The park consists of a lower bowl with stadium seating, aluminum bleachers above the concourse on both base lines, additional bleachers down the right-field line, and a berm that swings around to left field. In 2004, the club opened a “Lava Lodge” where one may obtain alcoholic beverages – provided they're consumed within the confines of the building and its immediate grounds. By my visit in 2017, alcohol licensing had been cleared up and beer was permitted and sold anywhere in the park.

The press box is on the “lower” level of the central building behind the plate, allowing for a full row of luxury boxes above it. This puts the scorer, announcer, etc., in close contact with the fans. Even the radio announcer is close by so that fans can wave to him.

Unfortunately, I took a baseball away on my rating when I revisited the park in 2017, and I almost downgraded the place further. For one, the place is overpriced even by Northwest standards; a similar ticket was 40% cheaper at Eugene earlier in the same trip. For another, ticket lines were exceedingly slow, and so was the entry line. For a third, the lineups are not posted anywhere in the ballpark, a grievous sin to this inveterate scorekeeper. The good news was that a fan told me that the game-day insert was available free of charge at the fan relations booth. Offsetting that, though, was the misspelling of several names on the visiting team’s starting lineup, and also the failure of the public address announcer to acknowledge several of the pitching changes for both teams.

I kept the park at two baseballs for a few mitigating factors. One is that concession prices were reasonable; I got a very good German sausage (they didn’t call it a bratwurst, but it was nicely spiced) for $5. Another is that the Volcanoes did not blast music throughout the game, a pleasant surprise in this era of bombast. Those factors, however, did not save the Volcanoes from going dormant when Major League Baseball realigned the minors for 2021. The club opted to go it alone for that season, starting a four-team independent league that will play all its games at the ballpark in Keizer. This follows the model utilized by the United Shore League in Michigan as well as by some organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic that curtailed most baseball activity for the 2020 season.