Maverick Stadium
Adelanto, CA
Review by Mike
Maverick Stadium was the home of the High Desert Mavericks of the California League. From 1991 thru 2016, this lonely outpost in the Mojave Desert hosted Class A minor league baseball. Perhaps it’s not all that lonely, but it feels that way after driving through miles of open desert dotted with cactus to get there. The Pecos League gave it a go here before two seasons before baseball left for good. Now the stadium hosts a semi-pro soccer team and serves as a concert and event venue.
This simple ballpark has some good things going for it, most notably an ample roof that covers the concourse, but also protects nearly all of the seating from the desert sun once it drops into the western sky in the late afternoon. It is raised up on pillars and is completely free-standing, as opposed to the typical cantilevered design.
The concourse is open at the top of the seating bowl, which is small, but appropriate for Class A ball. There is a single level of seats that does not extend beyond the bases, and no cross-aisle, so everything is close to the field. A blocky press box sits on the concourse behind home plate and there are a number of cinderblock “party boxes” strung out behind the last row of seats on both sides of the grandstand. These are really just open-air concrete playpens with a door to keep the riff-raff out, even though anyone can just walk alongside, reach over the low wall at the side and front and say “Howdy!”.
A two-level picnic area with concrete tables and chairs is found down the 3rd base line overlooking what used to be a bullpen, and a berm, now gone to dust, is down the 1st base line. The scoreboard is covered by a mural with a desert scene and there is a large stage behind 2nd base. I spoke with a nice gentleman who works there and he told me that the stadium hosts 50-70 concerts a year, mostly on weekends.
While it’s good to see the stadium still in use, there was a sadness and world-weariness about the place. It felt tired and kind of worn out. Makeshift wooden steps led onto the field, the grass was in sorry shape and detritus was stored in corners here and there. In its prime, I would have given Maverick Stadium a solid three hot dogs, but in its present state, I can only give it two and a half.
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2024
247
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