On the morning of Friday, July 16, 2010, I climbed into my car, punched 1 Morrie Silver Way, Rochester, into my windshield-mounted Garmin GPS, and shifted into drive. My first baseball road trip had begun, and about 4.5 hours later, I was eagerly standing outside the park and waiting for the gates to open.
The park in question? The home of the Rochester Red Wings. Now called ESL Ballpark, it was known as Frontier Field back then, and it played a big role in igniting my passion for baseball travel. I’ve returned to this ballpark eight times since that first game, each subsequent visit affirming that this is one of my very favorite places to watch the sport I love. Needless to say, ESL Ballpark conjures up feelings of nostalgia for me, perhaps more so than any other MiLB facility.
This is the 15th edition of my “5 Things I Love” series, which looks at a short list of random things that I love about each ballpark I’ve visited. It’s a series that celebrates the sometimes subtle things that make ballpark experiences enjoyable and memorable, and hopefully encourages you to think about your favorite features at each park you visit.
Before we get to the list, here’s a quick aerial view of ESL Ballpark:
Here are five things I love about ESL Ballpark, home of the Rochester Red Wings:
1. The Food
It’s impossible to talk about the joy I’ve had at ESL Ballpark without beginning with the topic of food. Ballpark food has become a big thing over the last several years, but guess what? When I first went to this ballpark 16 years ago, the culinary team was killing it — and still is. During that first visit, I expected to encounter a selection of standard ballpark fare: Hot dogs, nachos, pizza, etc. What I found then, and what I continued to find during my subsequent visits, was nothing short of outstanding. The culinary team offers up an extremely diverse array of delicious (and, yes, social media-worthy) fare.
Rochester is known for its famous garbage plates, and you’ll find this dish at ESL Ballpark — both as a traditional dish and in a cup; the latter giving you a meal that’s a little easier to eat when you’re on the go. I’ve eaten both (of course, I have), and they’re tasty and filling. My go-to dishes when I visit, though, are the roast beef sandwiches from the Red Osier stand on the third base side and the gourmet mac and cheese from the Spikes’ BBQ stand on the first base side. I’ve eaten several iterations of both, and they’ve always been perfect. White hot dogs are a unique example of local fare that you’ll find on the ESL Ballpark menu, and there are too many other good options to list here. Suffice it to say, you may want to skip lunch if you’re going to an evening Red Wings game.
2. The View of the Kodak Tower
ESL Ballpark’s view from behind home plate is a good one, but it’s not quite my preferred view in the ballpark. For me, no visit is complete without spending some time down the first base line, which affords fans a picturesque view of the city’s most recognizable sight. The famed Kodak Tower, whose roof sits 340 feet above street level, dominates the skyline. Built in 1914, the tower was Rochester’s tallest building for five decades — and it’s little more than a block away from ESL Ballpark. As its name suggests, the building is owned by the Eastman Kodak Company and serves as the corporation’s headquarters.
The tower is visible from several spots around the park, but you can’t beat the vantage point from the first base side. Specifically, consider a seat in sections 101 through 104 or 201 through 204. The view from these sections is equally impressive whether you’re attending an afternoon or an evening game. The building is close enough that when the sun is shining, fans can easily see various architectural details on the structure, including the impressive balcony facade. At night, the enormous “Kodak” lettering, which glows in red, is impossible to miss. I’ll usually make a point of enjoying the both daytime and nighttime views, spending time in these sections early in the game and again once the sun has set.
3. The Roof Over the First Base Seats
Architecturally, it’s not that mindblowing. But the immense roof that sits high above the upper-level seats on the first base side is easily one of my favorite things about ESL Ballpark. More specifically, I love what the roof provides — plenty of shade from the sun. I enjoy being out in the sun to a point, but when I’m ready for some shade, I’m ready for some shade. Seats in the shade can be at a premium at some minor league ballparks. I can recall visiting more than a few MiLB facilities on sweltering hot days and finding very little shade. Or, finding a shady spot that offers a poor view of the field. That’s certainly not the case in Rochester. Not only are there lots of options for sitting in the shade, but you’ve got a great view of the action from any seat under the roof.
This particular roof (and there’s another one, albeit smaller, on the third base side) offers protection for seats in seven sections, 201 to 207. If you’re looking for a bird’s-eye view of the ballpark that shows just how vast the roof is, be sure to take a look at the Google Earth animation above. The roof is impossible to miss. Plus, if snagging a foul ball is your thing, several baseballs are usually hit into the seats beneath the roof over the course of the game. And, of course, if you’re attending a game on a day that has occasional drizzles, there’s no need to pack your umbrella. Grab a seat in this part of the park and you’ll stay dry and comfortable.
4. The Front Gate Plaza
Given my history with this ballpark, several areas hit me right in the nostalgic feels. One of these is the front gate plaza. Each time I walk into this area, my thoughts take me back to my first visit a decade and a half ago. The excitement of being on a road trip and undertaking a new project. The anticipation of soon entering a park for the first time. The anxiousness of it all. When I close my eyes and think about standing in the plaza for the first time, I can almost hear the stadium soundsystem and smell the concessions. For me, no ballpark in the minor leagues offers such feelings of nostalgia, and while these feelings begin every time I get on the road toward Rochester, they really make themselves known when I approach the front gate plaza.
Nostalgia aside, this is one of the smartest-looking front gate areas I’ve encountered on my travels. If you’ve read my posts for a while, you’ll know that I love the old-school feel of brick ballparks. There’s plenty of brick on display here, and when you add the traditional metal gates, you get an area that’s a real throwback to the ballparks of yesteryear. You also have a good view of the walkway on the ballpark’s suite level, convenient pregame access to the spacious team shop on your left, and you can pick up a pocket schedule at the ticket office on your right. As much as this is a great place to hang out before the game, it’s also worth walking through as you leave the ballpark. Walking out into the warm night air, the traditional box office-style lights above the ticket windows, and the autograph seekers hanging out around the players’ exit — they’re all parts of the front gate plaza experience that I enjoy.
5. The Main Concourse Opening
For starters, I’m struggling with what to call this next feature at ESL Ballpark. To get right to the point, it’s the opening/walkway that connects the concourse with the seating bowl. “Main concourse opening” sounds rather bland, but it’s not technically a tunnel, and “walkway” maybe isn’t the right word, either. However you define it, I love this part of the ballpark. At a lot of ballparks, the openings from the concourse to the seating bowl are narrow. That makes them crowded and hard to navigate — a nuisance for someone like me who spends a lot of time walking around. That’s not the case here. The main opening, which you can’t miss once you enter the park, is expansive. It sits between sections 216 and 217, connecting the home plate concourse area with the cross-aisle just to the third base side of home plate.
Whenever I walk into a ballpark, I have extensive plans for exploring — but I always want to get a glimpse of the field right away. In Rochester, the field beckons because of the spacious opening. It almost has a magnetic feel; it draws you forward until you’re standing with a magnificent view of the field. Fans tend to gather in this part of the ballpark, but even on nights with high attendance, the area doesn’t feel too crowded and is easy to get through. If you visit ESL Ballpark for the first time and enter through the main gates, you’ll undoubtedly discover what I mean.
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