Eldredge Park
Orleans, MA
Review by Gary
Anyone with a passing interest in baseball when visiting Cape Cod should make the journey to Orleans, Massachusetts to catch a game at Eldredge Park. In this pleasant small town of just over 6,300, Eldredge Park is home to the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). Orleans is the northeastern most town in the league and just 28 miles south of Provincetown, Massachusetts along Route 6.
Eldredge Park is one of the more unique and visually stimulating ballparks in North America. It features the deepest centerfield in the Cape League at 434 feet, the marker located where the fences from left and right converge at a 90-degree angle. What makes this distance even more astounding is that the left field foul pole is 134’ feet closer to home plate at 300’.
Beyond the right-centerfield field fence stands a bandshell whose stage rises above the home run fence and faces the playing field. Event goers camp out in the outfield grass to take in the show up close or sit and enjoy the festivities or the ballgame from the grassy terraced hillside that runs the entire length of the first base side of the field. Reminiscent of Dominico Field’s first base hillside in Toronto, Canada, many locals head to the park first thing in the morning on gamedays to place their chairs in their preferred viewing position hours before the game.
The oldest park in the Cape League, Eldredge Park opened in 1913. The original configuration located home plate in what is now the left-field corner. After hitters struggled to bat while looking into the setting sun, the orientation was changed in 1966 along with other renovations. Today, vehicles speeding along Route 28 pass so close to home plate that fans are advised not to run across the street to retrieve foul balls. Why the playing field was not situated a little closer than 434’ from the centerfield fence to allow more space behind the grandstand is anyone’s guess.
Through the years, this bucolic ballyard received some upgrades to further enhance the fan experience, namely stadium lights added in 1979 and the hillside becoming terraced by 1986. A home plate press box sits atop the concession stand while small bleachers to the left and right of it provide the only available fixed seating.
2024 Hall of Fame Inductee Todd Helton played for 1994 Orleans Cardinals and was preceded by Frank Thomas (1988, HOF 2014) and Carlton Fisk (1966, HOF 2000). The Orleans team was called the Cardinals until MLB charged for using their trademarked name. Instead of paying, the Orleans team became the Firebirds, whose logo looks suspiciously like the more famous bird with its matching colors. Eldredge Park is a must-see ballpark in a very pretty town on Cape Cod.
2024
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