George Tani Field
Casper, WY
Review by Mike
George Tani Field was briefly the home of the Grand Junction Rockies in 2001, the only time that the ballpark would host professional baseball. The team moved to the brand new Mike Lansing Field in 2002. Built in 1964, this stadium has spent most of its life as a community ballpark, seeing mostly American Legion and high school action.
Set in a public park just a short hop from the interstate, Tani Field is convenient, has ample parking and lovely views of distant mountains. The structure itself is strictly utilitarian. A basic metal grandstand with bench seating is divided into three straight, but connected sections behind 1st base, home plate and 3rd base.
The benches appear to have been replaced in the not-too-distant past and are made of some kind of durable weather-tech type material, which was a pleasant surprise as I had been expecting rotting wood with peeling paint.
There is a clubhouse building behind home plate and another structure directly under the home plate grandstand that appears to have windows for concessions set into it. These were boarded up on my visit and I have no way of knowing if snacks and treats are still sold from there.
The press box is small and sits atop the grandstand behind home plate. A simple scoreboard stands in right center field behind a remarkably short fence. One sign read 258 feet, short enough even for this old man to feel a like a big leaguer if I could make solid contract on a pitch thrown with a little heat… and the wind is blowing out that way… a strong wind.
I didn’t care for the large chain link backstop that stood in line-of-sight to every seat in the place. I understand that this is cheaper to maintain than a net, but it takes something away. Still, George Tani is a nice ballpark, for what it is intended to do, but substandard for pro ball, which is probably why it only saw the one season.
--
--
2021
162
