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Commerce Bank Park
Location	Commerce Bank Park, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 17101
Broke ground	1986
Opened	1987
Owner	City of Harrisburg
Operator	Harrisburg Senators Baseball Club, Inc
Surface	Kentucky Blue Grass
Construction cost	$30 million US renovation (2008)
Architect	HOK Sport (Kansas City)
Former names
Riverside Stadium (1987-2004)
Tenants
Harrisburg Senators (1987-present)
Capacity
6,300 (1987-2008) 10,000 (proj.) (2008)
Dimensions
Left Field - 335 ft (102.3 m) Center Field - 400 ft (122 m) Right Field - 335 ft (102.5 m)

Commerce Bank Park is a stadium in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is primarily used for baseball, and is the home field of the Harrisburg Senators minor league baseball team. The original structure was built in 1987. Currently, the ballpark has a capacity of 6,360 people^[1]; however, the ballpark will receive a $30 million renovation beginning in 2008. The stadium is located on City Island, an island on the Susquehanna River.

Contents 1 History 2 Stadium Renovation 3 Stadium Dimensions 4 Tidbits about the stadium 5 Photos 6 References 7 External links

Commerce Bank Park sits on the exact spot where baseball had been played earlier in the century, where other Harrisburg teams played from 1907-1952. The location, City Island, is a sixty-two-acre waterfront park and sports complex. The facilities include volleyball courts, softball fields, a football/soccer field, water golf, nature tails, jogging paths, cycling paths, two marinas, the "Pride of the Susquehanna" paddlewheel riverboat, a food court called RiverSide Village, and a miniature train that runs around the island for tours.

The original ballpark is a steel and aluminum structure, which is historically packed full of fans for nearly every game. In fact, Senators fans are so renowned for their love of baseball (and their insane cheering) that they (the stadium and the crowd) were featured as the Spring Training facility in the movies Major League and Major League II, starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger and Corbin Bernsen.

Commerce Bank Park will receive a much awaited $30 million renovation ($19.1 million in state funding). Originally the renovation was to begin in 2005, however delays in state funding for the project have pushed it back until 2007, meaning the improvements won't be implemented for Senators fans until the 2008 season at the earliest. Final designs for the project have been completed by HOK Sport, and the city has floated $18 million in bonds to cover its share of the projected $30 million cost. The project calls for 1,700 more seats, 20 skyboxes, 766 club seats, a second level, a new party deck and restaurant, new picnic areas, a children's play area, new clubhouses, state-of-the-art concession areas, and a new entryway. The overall look and feel of the new stadium improvements will ultimately give a Camden Yards feel to it, utilizing historic brick architecture for the stadiums new entryway and grandstand. Originally, the renovations were to have been implemented to help lure a move from the Ottawa Lynx, the Triple A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The Ottawa affiliation will be taken over, however, by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2007, who will move the franchise to Allentown, PA in 2008. The Orioles also signed an affiliation agreement with the Norfolk Tides. With their proximity to Baltimore and the success of baseball in Norfolk, along with 2 AAA franchises in Eastern Pennsylvania, and other cities in the area gaining independent franchises, the city of Harrisburg is very unlikely to see AAA baseball any time soon.

The ballpark's dimensions are fairly basic. The walls at the left and right field lines are 335 feet from home plate, and the center field wall is 400 feet from home plate, with the outfield wall pretty much the same setup that multi-purpose stadiums had in the 80's (though Commerce Bank Park itself is not a multi-purpose stadium), with no extra bends or such in the wall, and the height of the wall at 8 feet. Billboards also ring around by the walls, and reach a height of 16 feet. Anything that hits the billboards are home runs.

Foul territory also varies, as behind home plate, there is a small amount of foul ground. However, the further out toward the outfield, the wall on the foul ground stays somewhat parallel to the foul line in both left and right field, with only the box seats sticking out into foul ground helping reduce the area somewhat. The bullpens are also located out in the foul territory by the outfield walls.

• 1st base seats are usually better to get than 3rd base seats during evening games, as the sun sets behind the 1st base area, though with this, some of the better seats on the 3rd base side are usually available, especially during the spring, and games Monday-Thursday during the summer.
• For those who want a baseball or two, one needs to stand outside the left field gates (in the area of the pavilion and merry-go-round that is outside the stadium) during batting practice. Some have been able to get multiple baseballs, and on some accounts up to 15-20, even up to 27 by one person's account, though these numbers are usually possible to achieve during the week, when fewer people are at the ballpark. The Senators usually have employees get balls that fly out of the park during batting practice, but are very good in letting people keep balls that they (the fans) get. Practice usually starts:

• 5:05pm starts:

Senators bat at 1:30pm-2:00pm

Senators bat again 2:30pm-3:15pm

Away teams bat at 3:15pm-4:00pm

• 6:05pm starts:

Senators bat at 2:30pm-3:00pm

Senators bat again at 3:30pm-4:15pm

Away teams bat at 4:15pm-5:00pm

• 6:35pm starts:

Senators bat at 3:00pm-3:30pm

Senators bat again at 4:00pm-4:45pm

Away teams bat at 4:45pm-5:30pm

Batting Practice times shown are usually varied by no more than 15 minutes, around the times said. There have been instances where the Senators start batting practice earlier, and will go on longer for their first round of batting practice.

• Ticket prices are as follows.

Box Seating: (Sections 2-6 (1st base), 7-11 (home plate), 12-16 (3rd base)): $10 (first few rows, the red seats)

Reserved Seating: (Sections 201-204 (1st base), 101-111 (home plate): $8 (the blue seats)

General Admission: $5, $3 for children under 12 and senior citizens over 65 (Third Base side seating)

• Pizza Hut has a concession stand at the stadium, 1st base side underneath the reserved seating area.
• A warning for those walking in the plaza behind the home plate seating area. Foul balls can hit the area, and without little warning, unless the ball bangs the overhang that covers the seating area.
• Because of the location, Commerce Bank Park is prone to being flooded, and a previous stadium at the site was washed out by a flood back in 1935. Floods in the winter do not pose as much of a problem, as the ballpark can be fixed up, and ready for the next season, but floods that happen during the baseball season can (and usually will) affect the Senators schedule, forcing them to play their "home games" usually at their opponent's ballpark. The most recent episode of this happening was in the 2006 season when a flood partially submerged the field, and forced the Senators to play 2 "home games" as a doubleheader down in Bowie against the Bowie Baysox.

1. ^ About Commerce Bank Park. senatorsbaseball.com/ (2006). Retrieved on January 7, 2007.

• Commerce Bank Park Views - Ball Parks of the Minor Leagues
• Photographs of Commerce Bank Park - Rochester Area Ballparks

Current ballparks in the Eastern League
North Division		South Division
Hadlock Field • Mercer County Waterfront Park Merchantsauto.com Stadium New Britain Stadium • NYSEG Stadium Thomas J. Dodd Memorial Stadium		Blair County Ballpark • Canal Park Commerce Bank Park • FirstEnergy Stadium Jerry Uht Park • Prince George's Stadium