Waterfront Park
Martinez, CA
Review by Mike
There must have been a big sale on aluminum around the same time they were building Waterfront Park in Martinez, California. The home of the Sturgeon, who play in the independent Pecos League, is a festival of shiny metal, chain link fence and protective netting. The field is, indeed, near the waterfront, several long fly balls from Carquinez Strait, east of San Francisco.
Joe DiMaggio Field is one-fourth of a community complex of baseball fields in the familiar four-leaf-clover layout we have all seen from the air as we approach any airport. The Yankee Clipper was born in Martinez and the one field at Waterfront Park with a smattering of seating is named in his honor.
With the four fields packed so closely together, tall protective fences rise up all around, as well as a net “roof” above both the seating areas and the open concourse between all of the fields. It feels like one of those giant indoor jungle gyms you take your kids to so they can burn off the pizza, soda and fries from a birthday party.
Personal seat cushions are recommended as all of the seating, save three rows of plastic seats behind home plate, is made up of aluminum benches, which must get hot and sticky on a humid night by the water. The “press box” is a bench with a fixed aluminum table behind the three rows of plastic seats.
The field was in very nice condition, the grass trim and green, the dirt dragged and smooth and ready for action. Though barely a baseball stadium, the Pecos League has seen worse and at least Waterfront Park is new and clean, with ample parking a nice view of a bridge beyond centerfield.
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2024
251
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