Cheney Field, Tacoma (AAA #24 - Cheers for the Oldest Ballpark in AAA)

 

The drive to Cheney Field, home of the Tacoma Rainiers, often has spectacular views of Mount Rainier. Actually, Mount Rainier, the highest peak in the Cascades (and within 100 feet of elevation of the highest in the contiguous 48 states), gives you a good start on describing a field that is extreme in many ways, and feels unique in others.

Cheney Field is the oldest stadium in AAA baseball by far. It was built in 1960; Buffalo’s Sahlen Field, built 28 years later, is second. Cheney Field doesn’t feel that old, though, probably because it was remodeled about 15 years ago.

It has the smallest seating capacity in AAA. Actually, at 6500, it is tied with the newest stadium in AAA, in Salt Lake City.

The Rainiers’ average attendance last year, at over 5700 per game, was the highest percentage of the seating capacity (88%) of any AAA team. Of course, several teams averaged more attendees than Tacoma’s capacity, so they only end up 14^th in overall attendance. But a smaller stadium that’s almost full has a better feel than a stadium twice the size that’s half empty.

Tacoma is the most remote AAA team. It’s 600 miles from Tacoma to Sacramento – no other team is as far from its closest competitor.

On the other hand, the players are playing closer to the parent team than almost anyone in AAA. Along with Sugar Land (Houston), Gwinnett County (Altanta) and St. Paul (Minnesota), the Rainiers are the only AAA teams in the same metropolitan area as their parent. Incidentally, their attendance is higher than any of the other three, suggesting a very strong local fan base. Note that Seattle also the most remote of any MLB team (again, Sacramento is the nearest)

There are some other ways that I sensed the Rainiers were unique, although I don’t have data to back it up. They have fewer between-inning contests than most, if not all, AAA or MLB stadiums we’ve been to. They also have more fans wearing team gear than most AAA teams. I don’t know whether they have fewer gimmicks because they have a stronger fan base or the other way around, but I’ll leave it at that.

Finally, I like stadiums that are a little bit quirky, and Cheney Stadium is, in subtle ways. The home team’s bullpen is behind the left field outfield fence, the visiting team’s bullpen is down the line in right field. Instead of matching berms for the kids to play on behind the left field and right field fences, which many AAA stadiums have, there is a single berm, in foul territory beyond the grandstand down the right field line. There are seats in the outfield in left field, but not right. There are evergreens (it is the Evergreen State, after all) beyond the park in the outfield, but there’s a nice hillside of them in right field (the stadium was not built with that in centerfield).

 All in all, I like the place.

The game: Las Vegas Aviators 5, Tacoma Rainiers 4

We had dinner with friends Bill and Connie Robey before the game, and while we thought we were going to be in time, it took a while to park, and we were in a lot that was along the right field line, so it took awhile to get into the stadium once we parked. The game started while we were in the parking lot, and by the time we got in the gate, the Rainiers were behind 2-0, and they never caught up. Tacoma starting pitcher Gabe Mosser didn’t miss many bats, giving up five runs, two home runs, and four doubles in five innings.

Remarkably, despite the fact that Las Vegas got 14 hits to Tacoma’s 6, it wasn’t a runaway. For one thing, Las Vegas never put together a big inning. Tommy White and Cade Marlowe each had a home run, but those each came with no one on base. When the Rainiers got two runs in the bottom of the eighth, it was a one-run game, and they had the tying run on base. Alas, that inning ended with a strikeout.

Checked swing challenge

In the 9th inning, we were stunned to see a challenge to a call that we didn't think was reviewable. With a full count on batter Connor Joe, there was a pitch that was outside the strike zone, but close enough that it fooled him into starting to swing. He tried to hold up his swing, but the 1st base umpire ruled that his bat had gone far enough to constitute a swing, so it was a strike and he was out, rather than it being a walk and him going to first. Joe challenged the call. 

The checked swing rule is fascinating, because the rules have never defined what constitutes "far enough to constitute a swing." So it's always been up to the umpires, and it is not one of the things that teams were about to challenge (in part because the rule wasn't well defined). So how was Connor Joe able to challenge the call?

It turns out that organized baseball has started testing a system where it can be challenged. They've tried it in a couple of lower-level leagues, and this year, they're testing it in the Pacific Coast League, one of the two AAA leagues. This is the first PCL game we've seen, so it was the first time we could have run across it. 

Of course, to set up a computerized system to test the challenge, the rule had to be defined, so it now is, with definition of a swing being that the angle of the bat is more than 45 degrees in front of home plate, the same as the angle of the foul line.

Incidentally, Joe lost the challenge.