![]() For years, Arizona has been the perfect spring training setting and a host to fifteen MLB teams and their fans. I'll bring my camera and post photos.Florida is not the only place for MLB teams to warm up before the regular season begins. There ought to be an enormous contingent of Cubs fans returning to HoHoKam that day, though. That game won't be televised so you'll have to be content to listen that afternoon on. The Cubs will have their first date as the visiting team at HoHoKam when they travel there to face the A's Tuesday, March 24. The city of Mesa did an outstanding job on this renovation. Their fans, I think, will love it as much as Cubs fans did for more than three decades. The afternoon also included play areas for kids set up in the parking lot, right near the area where Javier Baez once landed a home run that cleared the old scoreboard (it would have cleared the new one, too), and A's players signing autographs (photos 15 and 19).Ĭongrats to the A's on their great new spring-training home. I'm thinking these will probably have ads on them when spring training begins. There are four large boards painted green at the back of the right-field berm that did not exist when the Cubs played there (photo 14). The team store, also in the location that used to be called the "Cubbie Hole," is well-stocked with A's and spring-training items with prices comparable to Sloan Park (likely a result of the vendor setting prices). It's very bright and visible from everywhere in the ballpark. The stadium has a gorgeous new scoreboard which occupies the same space the board did when the Cubs were the home team, except this board is all video with no fixed ads on the sides. Those areas have been turned into party decks (photos 4 and 11), one with artificial turf, the other without. The two large seating sections near the left-field and right-field corners have been removed, shrinking the official seating capacity from 12,500 to 10,500, which should make for many sellouts for the loyal, but smaller-than-the-Cubs fanbase from Oakland. I estimate I went to the two Cub versions of HoHoKam well over 100 times over its years of existence, so walking around the place felt normal, yet odd. The A's and the city of Mesa hosted "A Day At The Diamond" Saturday afternoon and it was a bit surreal to walk into a place that had been so familiar to me and see how different it looked decked out in the green-and-gold of the A's. ![]() Last spring the Cubs moved into their new facility in Mesa, now named Sloan Park, and the city of Mesa embarked on a $20 million refurbishing of HoHoKam Park - now officially called HoHoKam Stadium - to be the spring home of the Oakland Athletics. Here's a gallery of photos from that final Cubs day as the home team at HoHoKam, an interesting comparison to this one. The Cubs played their last spring-training game there March 28, 2013. The original HoHoKam Park opened in 1979 and closed after the 1996 spring campaign, and was replaced by a larger edifice on the same site in time for spring 1997. Center Street in Mesa home for their spring-training games. MESA, Arizona - For 35 seasons, the Cubs called a ballpark at 1235 N. View of right field from third-base line. Wide view of the third-base and left-field areas. These four boards will likely have ads on them soon. View of third-base line seating from right field. View of the video board from behind first base. View of the video board from right field -įormer right-field seating area, now a party deck. The bullpens, in the right-field corner. Photos like this are at various areas of the park -įormer left-field seating area, now a party deck. Entry to the team store from the parking lot.
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