Jack Kaiser Stadium

April 26, 2014
Jack Kaiser (Capacity: 3,500)
Queens, NY
St. John’s Red Storm vs Georgetown Hoyas
Final Score: 12 – 4

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A few months after visiting the basketball arena, I made a return trip to St. John’s University for a baseball game. While most in NYC know about the Red Storm from the hardwood, this small, private catholic school actually has a decent baseball program. Despite the unfavorable geographic location for college baseball, St. John’s has reached the NCAA tournament 34 times, which ranks 10th among all Division I programs. Six of those appearances ended in a trip to the College World Series, with their last visit to Omaha coming in 1980. Jack Kaiser Stadium was built in 2000 and the term ‘stadium’ is a loose one. Though it is one of the larger college ballparks in the Northeast, the bare-bones make up of the 3,500-seat ballpark featured a few negative firsts on all my visits thus far, the most glaring being the absence of food.
Prestige Ranking: 0.5 out of 5

Location

Within the New York City borough of Queens, St. John’s resides on the border of the Jamaica and Hillcrest neighborhoods. It’s not a bad spot near middle-class residential units and it has a commercial strip along Union Ave that is common sight in Queens. Aside from some local restaurants and bars down this street, not much else entices the visitor and campus isn’t anything special to walk around in. Flushing Meadows and Corona Park is about a 15-minute drive away, while the attractions in and around Manhattan take 20-40 minutes to reach depending on traffic or train schedules.
Location Ranking: 5 out of 10

Accessibility / Parking

Given my other ventures to NYC facilities, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get to this arena. Several expressways and parkways can be used, but the easiest is I-295 (Clearview Expressway). I used this off the Throgs Neck Bridge and got off at Exit 2 for a very easy arrival to campus. Though St. John’s does a bad job giving any parking information on their website, entrance Gate 3 leads into a large parking lot just a short walk to Jack Kaiser Stadium. Coming in and leaving on a Saturday Afternoon was not bad at all (of course, this is not always the case, especially on a weeknight). In a city that relies heavily on public transit, it is surprising that no subway station has direct access to campus. While there is a Long Island Rail Road station in Jamaica, it is a 20-minute walk to the arena. Bus Service does run back and forth.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 5.5 out of 8

Exterior

The actual structure may not be much to look at, but the University does spruce up the nearby area to at least have it look a little more pleasant. The pathway to the entrance is landscaped nicely, with red tulips in bloom and a couple baseballs painted into the sidewalk. At the main gate, an iron arch over two stone columns states “Jack Kaiser Stadium” as fans walk in. From there, the guts of the bleacher set-up can be seen from the outside, which obviously makes for a bland facility look.
Exterior Ranking: 2.5 out of 10

Concourse and Food

After passing by the “Event Staff” nonchalantly taking tickets, the opening area forces fans down the left side or right side to that respective seating section. Under the main grandstand set of bleachers to the right, there is a purposeless concourse that is better described as a hidden covered walkway. At least it gave shade if you needed a break from the sun. The empty area contains no food stands, so be sure to bring in something if you need to eat at a game. A lonely vending machine supplied the Coca-Cola brand drinks. Not offering food at a small place is one thing, but not having bathrooms at a 3,500 seat ‘stadium’ is quite another. Despite a sign near the main seating that said bathrooms were located in the press box (they were not), the only restroom I found was a single port-a-potty, tucked around a corner after the seating ends. It was also the only nearby facility for the players as I was in between two Georgetown players trying to quickly use it. Awkward.
Concourse Ranking: 0.5 out of 5
Food Ranking: 0 out of 8

Interior

Bleachers make up 100% of the seating and behind home plate are three sections that include a small press box at the top. The seating here includes a red back, which makes things a little tight for tall people (me). This permanent seating structure angles sharply to the right, where a straight-ward facing line of bleachers extend down the first-base line before ending just beyond the infield. A separate area of bleacher seating is independent down the third-base side and fans walk down a gravel path to reach this very simple stand. I know that there was some public spending money controversy on the building of this stadium, but how they built this very young (14 years old) place so boring and cheaply is beyond me.
Interior Ranking: 3 out of 14

Scoreboard

Above the left-field wall is a box, rectangular scoreboard that upon first look seems to just be for the line score. However, the red numbers are digital and during breaks, a surprisingly nice little animation will show player pictures and other graphics.
Scoreboard Ranking: 2 out of 4

Displays

Team accomplishments are displayed above the right-field bullpen, where there are four black boards highlighting the years of achievements. This includes Big East Regular Season Championships, Tournament Championships, NCAA appearances and trips to the College World Series. A #37 also sits on the wall in the vicinity, but I’m not sure whose honored number that is. Near the front gate, contributors to the ballpark are honored with a plaque.
Displays Ranking: 2.5 out of 6

Cost

Parking is free and tickets to the general public run $6. While most other teams in the Big East play on much smaller fields, St. John’s is one of only two conference teams to charge for tickets.
Cost Ranking: 7 out of 8

Fan Support and Atmosphere

I counted 276 people in the stands during the third inning, while the official box score didn’t take the time to count, instead guessing nearly triple that. Fans were a mixed group and it was good to see many students on hand. The only show of support was when a run was scored as about half of the crowd took the effort to applaud. Most noise came from the dugout and the families of players sitting behind that dugout. When the Red Storm put a run on the board, Ace Frehley’s catchy “New York Groove” would play over the speakers. One note, in the 2007 game that Jack Kaiser was honored with a renaming of the stadium, less than a thousand were on hand.
Fan Support Ranking: 1 out of 8
Atmosphere Ranking: 2 out of 14

Other Stuff

On the Saturday that I went to the game, there was a Health and Wellness Festival on the lawn next to the stadium. I was thankful for the tents of free stuff as it was my only source for food. The campus event also provided some interesting background sound for the game, as a mix of rap music, DJ interjections and health presentations mixed with the game….In the first year of the stadium, the facility was known as “Ballpark at St. John’s” and it was used by a Single-A team making its local debut. The new team was known as the Queens Kings and St. John’s was a temporary stop on the way to being affiliated with the Mets. A year later, they moved to a new ballpark in Brooklyn and changed the nickname to “Cyclones”…..In 2007, the stadium name changed to honor Jack Kaiser, an athlete, coach and long-time Athletic Director at the school…..St. John’s for decades was known as the “Redmen”, however that nickname was dropped in 1995 as it was considered discriminatory.

Game

Georgetown’s opening run did not set the stage for the rest of the game as St. John’s answered with four in the bottom half and then another pair in the second inning. The Hoyas chopped at the lead a bit in the middle innings and it was 6-4 entering the sixth. The Red Storm then broke the game open as Robbie Knightes’ bases-loaded single led the run parade. St. John’s ended up winning 12-4 in what was a slow game that took 2.5 hours just to get through the first 6 innings. Matt Harris finished 4 for 5 with 4 RBIs. The win pushed the Johnnies to 15-1 at home this season.

Stadium Experience Ranking: 31.5 out of 100