Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, is one of my absolute favorite MiLB ballparks.
It’s a place I first visited way back in September of 2010, during my inaugural season of travel for The Ballpark Guide. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to visit a couple of other times — but not since 2014, which means that I’m way overdue to return to Manchester, NH.
I have fond memories of each of my visits and could especially talk your ear off about the first evening I spent at this Eastern League park. While that experience was memorable for a number of reasons — some of which you might recall if you’re a longtime reader of my blog — it also helped me to identify a number of specific things that I absolutely loved about the park.
This is the second installment of my “Five Things I Love” series, which looks at five random things that I absolutely love about each ballpark I’ve visited.
Here are five things I love about Northeast Delta Dental Stadium:
1. The Hotel
Hands down, my favorite thing about Northeast Delta Dental Stadium is its on-site hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn Manchester. There are few, if any, ballparks in all of baseball that have hotels situated closer to the field of play, and I think it’s amazing that a minor league park has this amenity. I’ve stayed at this hotel during each of my visits to Manchester, and I can’t imagine staying anywhere else. My obsession with field-facing hotel rooms was born out of my stay at this hotel. Is there anything better than sitting in your hotel room and looking at a ballpark out your window? The answer is no, there is not. But this hotel offers more than rooms with a view. It also has a cool patio on which you can hang out during batting practice and games, and you might even run into an MLB player who is staying at the hotel during a rehab stint with the Fisher Cats.
2. The Entrance
I’m always on the lookout for unusual features when I visit different ballparks, and I think the main entrance at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium fits this description. If you close your eyes and picture what the front gates of a minor league park look like, you won’t come up with anything that resembles the park in New Hampshire — and I love that. When you arrive, you walk through a chain link gate and are immediately greeted by about 30 concrete steps that you need to climb to reach the main concourse. I can’t think of another park with a similar entrance, which adds to the unique feel of this place. (Of course, there’s also an elevator that you can ride if you wish.)
3. The River
I’m a fan of ballparks that are situated close to the water, and Northeast Delta Dental Stadium is no exception. The Merrimack River cuts through Manchester and flows past a short distance from the park’s third base side, making this body of water a fixture for anyone who visits the park. The third base concourse is wide and opens up down the line, which means that you can find a spot to stand that offers a view of the field and of the river. On a hot night, do yourself a favor by walking over to the railing adjacent to the water and feeling the breeze blowing down the river.
4. The Outfield Corner Seats
I don’t tend to recommend outfield seats in the corners at most parks, but I really like what these seating sections offer at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. When you sit in either of these sections — I’m talking specifically about sections 100 and 101 in the left field corner and sections 116 and 117 in the right field corner — you’ll have a really good view of pitchers warming up in the bullpen. Watching this action from just a few feet away is interesting, but there’s more to these seating sections than just their proximity to the bullpen. The seats in the left field corner give you a front-row seat to the manual scoreboard in the left field fence, which is fun to watch throughout the game. If you opt for a spot in the right field corner, you’ve got a perfect sightline of the hotel — which is especially exciting if you’re staying there after the game. I have several fond memories of spending time in both of these areas during my various visits.
5. The BP Home Runs
When I first started traveling to baseball games for this website, I spent a lot of time trying to snag baseballs at each park I visited. I don’t do much of that anymore, but I have some good memories of getting baseballs during my various visits to Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. There are several different ways to snag a batting practice home run before the gates open. You can easily do so by visiting The Porch, the appropriately named outdoor eatery at the hotel. You can also stand on the asphalt to the left field side of the hotel and watch for long home runs that roll your way. If BP takes place, you can be almost certain that you’ll get a baseball before you enter the park.
What are your favorite things about Northeast Delta Dental Stadium?