Harvey West Park
Santa Cruz, CA
Review by Mike
You’ve got to hand it to the Pecos League. They will put a team just about anywhere and give it a go. Sometimes they stick, many times they don’t, but the idea of attempting to make professional baseball work in places that would never be considered otherwise is an admirable one. I’m sure for some locals, having a pro team, even for just a little while is pretty cool.
Which brings us to Harvey West Park, home of the Santa Cruz Seaweed for two years (2021-2022). The “pro stadium” is one of many fields in this large public athletic complex that features numerous little league fields, a nice concession stand (just not one next to THIS field) and a charming woodland setting less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean.
What we have here is a concrete foundation with steps up one side from the road and steps down the other side for the seating, which is comprised of wooden benches. I’d say they could seat a few hundred Seaweed fans here. A two-story wooden press box stands behind the last row and a very rudimentary scoreboard lurks amongst the trees in left field.
The dugouts are free standing, covered and a little small, with chain link protecting the players from screaming foul balls. The backstop is also chain link, but the seating is so close that the fans could probably call balls and strikes to save money on a home plate umpire. It’s not much, but it did host pro ball for a couple of seasons. The field is in decent shape and there is ample free parking.
On the day I dropped in there was a flurry of Little League activity in the park and I got a couple of nicely grilled hot dogs. The Seaweed have since moved to WIlson Park in Vallejo and are still called the Seaweed, even though they are no longer by the sea. I guess they didn’t want to invest in new uniforms…
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2024
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