Paradise on the Ashley

Walking into Riley Ballpark, Aug-1997.

The park looks out upon the swampy waters of the lower Ashley River.

• Location: Fishburne Street at the Ashley River, Charleston, S.C.
• Opened: 1997
• Home team: Charleston RiverDogs, South Atlantic League (1997-present)
• Capacity: 5,800

Chronological Tour: Stop 119

Rating: 4 baseballs

The facility is located near The Citadel, the military college, but not close enough for it to get in the way. The park has two decks, of a fashion, but every seat is accessible from the main concourse. Perhaps its biggest problem, and it’s a minor one, is that kids can’t stand around outside the park and retrieve foul balls, because most of them (at least the ones hit by right-handers) land in the swamp.

The RiverDogs have always been known for innovative marketing, but in 2002 they ran one of the more counter-intuitive promotions. On “Nobody Night”, they allowed no fans into the ballpark until after the fifth inning, so they could set a professional baseball record for lowest paid attendance, with zero. While the game played on, and the staff fired promotional objects into the stands between innings as they always do, the fans were entertained with a picnic outside the park, and some fans watched the game from outside the fence. When the staff opened the gates once the game was official, fans streamed in and scooped up foul balls, t-shirts, and so forth.