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Hadlock Field
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hadlock Field | |
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| Location | Portland, Maine, USA |
| Opened | April 18, 1994 |
| Owner | Portland Sea Dogs |
| Surface | Grass |
| Tenants | |
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Portland High School Deering High School |
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Hadlock Field is a Minor League baseball stadium in Portland, Maine. It is primarily home to the Portland Sea Dogs of the Eastern League. It is also the home of Portland High School and Deering High School baseball games. The stadium is named for Edson J. Hadlock, Jr., a long-time Portland High School baseball coach from 1950-1978. He led his team to two state championships.
The park (as a minor league field) opened on April 18, 1994, and currently has a capacity of 7,368 seats. About 400 seats were added in right field before the start of the 2006 season. Hadlock Field is located between Interstate 295, the historic Fitzpatrick Stadium, and the Portland Exposition Building, the second-oldest arena in continuous operation in the United States. In 2003, when the Sea Dogs affiliated with the Boston Red Sox, a replica Green monster was added to left field to match the original at the Red Sox' Fenway Park. A replica Citgo sign and Coke bottle were added too to make the field look even more like Fenway Park.
The left-field fence is 315 feet from home plate, the center field fence is 400 feet, and the fence in right field is 330 feet away.
Before Hadlock Field became a professional AA field in 1994, it served as the local high school baseball field for Portland High School (PHS) and remains so today. Because the Sea Dogs now lease this field from the City of Portland, part of the agreement is that the Portland High School team's players still are able to play on Hadlock Field.
Portland High School, founded in 1821, is the second oldest public high school still operating in the United States, and their baseball team have played on this field for decdes. (Also, the other public high school's team, Deering, today shares it, but it is only the PHS players that train there and in the nearby brick building, the Expo, with the Sea Dogs on a regular basis).
The high school baseball varsity team players in Portland have the unique opportunity to play all of their home games on a modern professional baseball team's field - that has an exact duplicate of the Green Monster wall in left field. Hadlock Field's complex schedule accommodates the Sea Dogs' and high school play dates (due to out-of-town and afternoon vs evening games).
Portland High School second baseman John O'Brion became the first high schooler to hit a home run over Hadlock's Green Monster during the high school playoffs of June 2005. In 2007, John O'Brion is a utility infielder, as a freshman, on the Division III Brandeis University baseball team, along with his other former PHS teammates, Malcolm Cone-Coleman, Brandeis '09, shortstop, and Rocco Toppi IV, Brandeis '09, righthanded pitcher.
- Edson J. Hadlock, Jr. Field Views - Ball Parks of the Minor Leagues
- At The Yard magazine. Minor League Baseball Stadium Profiles
| 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 |
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