LeLacheur Park--Lowell, Massachusetts

Opened--1998

August 15, 2001--Vermont Expos 4, Lowell Spinners 3

Short Season Class A--New York Penn League

Future Major Leaguer - Kevin Youkilis

LeLacheur Park is home to the Lowell Spinners, Single A affilite of the Boston Red Sox. The park is named after state legislator Edward LeLacheur who was instrumental in getting the park built. It sits in the middle of the old mill section of the city. Built in 1998 it doesn't stand out as a newer building amongst the old mills of years gone by. The park has a beautiful brick exterior and brick entrance way. You have to climb several stairs to get to the seating bowl. Once inside it pretty much looks like most of the other parks built in the mid 90s. The park holds about 5000, that's counting standing room, which is a nice size for a NY-Penn league team. It was a sellout the night I was there. The concourse is open and located atop of the seating bowl. Unfortunately there is nowhere to hide if it rains.

One thing I did notice was there were no Luxury boxes. I was looking for them behind the plate but couldn't find any. There are great views all over the park. From third base you can see the old factories and their smoke stacks rising high into the sky. Behind the plate is a nice view of a beautiful red bridge with 5 arches. It seemed like the rightfielder could reach out and touch them. From leftfield one can see the Merrimack River. One drawback was the parks seating bowl was built with aluminum instead of concrete. It made quite a loud noise when the people started stamping their feet for a strike out. Another was $5.00 for parking. Other than that I have nothing bad to say about LeLacheur Park, it's definitely worth a look-see.

Stadium Rating : B+

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