HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Elizabeth Ortiz was among the first fans to step inside Dunkin’ Donuts park Thursday as the city officially opened its 6,000-seat minor league baseball stadium, albeit a year late and millions of dollars over budget.
“This means life for Hartford,” said Ortiz, 27, who grew up in Hartford and came to opening night for the Double-A Yard Goats with about 80 family members. “Hopefully this will bring Hartford a good rep and lots of fun.”
The team, an affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, is the first professional baseball club to call Hartford home since the Hartford Chiefs in 1952.
The game was played on the 20th anniversary of the home finale for the NHL’s Hartford Whalers.
The Yard Goats are in their second year after moving 15 miles north from New Britain, where the team played through the 2015 season as the Rock Cats.
The club was forced to play its games on the road last year when construction delays caused the opening of Dunkin’ Donuts Park to be pushed back numerous times. The city eventually fired the developer, leading to an insurance investigation, litigation and more delays.
“After all the acrimony of the last year, it’s gratifying to see the smiles on everyone’s faces,” Yard Goat’s owner Josh Solomon said. “This city deserves a gem like Dunkin’ Donuts Park.”
More than 6,800 fans crammed into the state-of-the-art, two-deck stadium for Thursday’s first game against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
New Hampshire’s Gunnar Heidt hit the first home run in the park, a two-run shot to left field that gave the Fisher Cats a 6-2 cushion in the eighth and sent many fans heading to the exits. The Blue Jays farm team won the game 7-2.
But Ashley Graeter, the Yard Goats’ designated hitter, said the atmosphere was electric, something the team appreciates after spending last season without a home.
“We were down five or six runs and they were still cheering,” he said. “There were times when we played some games last year and there wasn’t a single fan, just our pitchers in the stands charting the game.”
The city has issued more than $68 million in bonds for the stadium, which originally had been projected to cost $55 million, and has spent several million more on such things as street improvements in the area.
Mayor Luke Bronin, who was an opponent of the stadium before inheriting the project from a previous administration, said he doesn’t think it will ever be a money-maker for Hartford.
“What it does do is help create greater energy in the downtown, put more feet on the streets to support our local restaurants and retailers and keep commuters here after hours,” he said. “There is no question it will help to create a more vibrant and lively center city.”
The team hopes to attract and keep fans by offering more than the usual amount of bells and whistles.
The stadium includes 18 luxury suites and two other suites adjacent to the dugouts.
It also will have some unusual amenities such as a barbershop and a shoe shine station (which are still in the design phase), a kids “fun zone” just beyond the center field fence with an inflatable slide and bounce house and a glassed-in batting cage, which will allow fans with premium tickets to watch the players practice.
Fans also will have some unique food choices in keeping with the theme of its title sponsor, such as a BLT served between two glazed doughnuts and a kabob with alternating chicken pieces and doughnut munchkins.
There was supposed to be related retail development around the stadium, which is still caught up in the litigation surrounding the original developer. Bronin said once that is resolved, they will look for a new development partner to complete that part of the project.
“My hope is that by pursuing that broader development … we will be able to, over time, ensure that the ballpark isn’t a significant financial burden,” he said.
The Yard Goats are expected to play 70 home games at Dunkin’ Donuts Park in 2017. Solomon said the organization also is working to bring in college and high school games, festivals and concerts.
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