May 19, 2017
Plainsman Park (Capacity: 4,096)
Auburn, AL
Auburn Tigers vs Mississippi Rebels
Final Score: 9 – 1
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The final stop on our tour of the Deep South, was the “Loveliest Village on the Plains”. That is from a poem in reference to Auburn, though there are no “Plains” in Eastern Alabama. The city of 62,000 is a college-town in every sense of the word as Auburn revolves around the University of the same name. Nearly 30,000 students attend the public school, which excels in agriculture, architecture and engineering programs. As part of the traditional powerhouse programs in the SEC, Auburn baseball has taken home the regular-season crown six times and the tournament title thrice. They’ve made 19 NCAA Tournaments including four trips to the CWS, though the last time was in 1997. Plainsman Park dates much of the program’s history, however the current form of the stadium was created in the mid-late 1990s. This unfortunately means a copy of trends from other places (brick, green seats, left-field wall), but it is still a nice ballpark and one that does have it’s own unique characteristics.
Prestige Ranking: 3 out of 5
Location
Campus and town meet up near Toomer’s Corner and this is the location of the famous drugstore that is over a century old. We did try the lemonade and it was indeed excellent. While the trees are tragically gone, newly-planted ones will hopefully grow soon. The rest of the main College St seems a bit outdated and if you squint, it features a rustic charm. There are several places for a decent bite to eat, but there are many other college towns that are nicer. Campus is a different story as it is full of beautiful brick buildings and well-landscaped areas. Plainsman Park is about a mile from Toomer’s Corner and it sits in the shadows of the football stadium on Donahue Drive.
Location Ranking: 5.5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
A parking garage on the third base side and the parking lot in front of the old arena makes for plenty of room for cars. Traffic varies as I came when school was out after graduation, so I can imagine roads would be more congested if the students were on-campus. US-280 leads to Birmingham, while I-85 connects Atlanta and Montgomery with Auburn right on that route. From the Interstate, Plainsman Park is a few miles and two roads from Exit 51.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 7.5 out of 8
Exterior
Like the rest of campus, red brick makes up the exterior of the building and it is a classy look that is broken up by breezeways into the concourse. Trees periodically disrupt the view, but it makes for a pleasant entrance into the stadium. The green trim at the top makes me think of it as a copycat to the minor-league parks of the 90s.
Exterior Ranking: 7 out of 10
Concourse
The plaza near the front entrance is very nice with a brick background. It remains pleasant aesthetically into the concourse, however, room is limited and the area is underneath the grandstands. This means a decent haul upstairs to reach the seating sections. Another negative is how an alumni room abruptly stops access to the open area down the right-field line (you have to go up and around).
Concourse Ranking: 2.5 out of 5
Food
Food offerings are varied enough to satisfy, but there isn’t anything out of the ordinary that is enticing to try. Hot Dogs, Sausages, Burgers, Pulled Pork, BBQ Sandwiches and Chicken Tenders are the core items. No alcohol is sold on-campus.
Food Ranking: 4.5 out of 8
Interior
This is a great college ballpark in several ways, though there are some quirks I could do without. First, the park has a steeper pitch than normally seen, which is something I love as it enhances the sightline. Seats are split by a walkway with the majority of the sections full of green seating being above that. Small, four row sections are below the walkway and these continue to the foul poles. It’s an interesting extension of the stadium, but one that is awkward as fans sit crooked since the seats point straight ahead to the outfield. Back to the main seating bowl, I noticed a lot of unappealing gaps because of: wide concourse openings, small sections split by stairs and the walkway (84 total sections is a lot). My last gripe is why a Green Monster, why?!? Auburn, you have nothing to do with Boston, don’t just unnecessarily copy something because it is “cool”. With all that being said, I still like the ballpark and the partial overhang covering the home plate seats is nice. The press box is sandwiched between the roof and seating with a large “Auburn Tigers” written on the off-white wall. I loved the Tiger Terrace down the left field line with its lounge chairs and picnic tables. Fans could be seen tailgating on the outside of this area, along with people using the top levels of the parking deck to watch the game for free as well. Campus buildings generally make up the visual background, including Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Interior Ranking: 9.5 out of 14
Scoreboard
What a beautiful scoreboard Auburn has! The all-video layout is framed by brick columns and a “Hitchcock Field” sign at the top with an analog clock. During gameplay, the crystal-clear screen has a busy, but informative layout with tons of stats and interesting visuals. Most of the scoreboard becomes usable for video replays.
Scoreboard Ranking: 4 out of 4
Displays
There are so many great displays throughout Plainsman Park and in multiple places, one can find the team’s achievements. We’ll start on the outside along Donahue Ave, where green banners above the brick façade display CWS appearances, NCAA Regionals and information on famous players/coaches. These achievements are further explored with a wonderfully detailed layout on a brick wall in the entrance plaza, including both team and individual honors. Getting particular attention is Bo Jackson, Frank Thomas, Gregg Olson and Tim Hudson, all of whom also have a place on the outfield wall. Also on that wall are the years for each CWS and NCAA trip.
Displays Ranking: 4.5 out of 6
Cost
Only $8 for a non-conference game and $10 for one against an SEC school is a pretty good deal. This was cheaper than Southern Miss, who I saw earlier in the week, but quite comparable with other conferences schools in the region. Parking was free. Concessions were reasonable with a $3 Hot Dog, $2 Water and $7 Pulled Pork sandwich, of decent size.
Cost Ranking: 8 out of 8
Fan Support
Though slow to arrive, we eventually had a turnout for this Friday Night game that saw the park fill up to about 75% capacity and that is with the students gone as the semester ended. The SEC dominates attendance for College Baseball and while Auburn is typically Top 30 in the NCAA, they don’t do so well with respect to their geographical region or conference. Often, they are 9th or 10th statistically in the SEC and their average paid numbers over the course of the year struggle to break 3,000.
Fan Support Ranking: 6 out of 8
Atmosphere
The atmosphere is interesting as I heard a surprising amount of heckling. Given that this was my first SEC game, not sure if this is common, but it was notable and mainly came from behind the Tiger dugout. Some of it entertaining and some annoying. Otherwise, the crowd was good and noisy as they did quite well to cheer during the game. I loved seeing so many on their feet when runs were scored. Several traditional cheers enhanced the atmosphere and it was a good park to watch a game.
Atmosphere Ranking: 11 out of 14
Other Stuff
They went a little overboard with the stadium name: “Samford Stadium – Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park”. Both honorees; W. James Samford and the Hitchcock brothers came later on, so it is widely just referred to as Plainsman Park, though Samford is the name on the front entrance……I was not happy at the entrance as we were told by the lady scanning our tickets that our 2-year old needed a ticket, despite her sitting on our lap. It was an awkward exchange since I couldn’t tell if she was letting us go or not, but scanning the Auburn website gives no indication on ages for tickets……Aubie the Tiger made a few periodic appearances during the game….Despite a nickname that would suggest otherwise, the Eagle is a prominent figure for Auburn. There are discrepancies in its origination, however the tradition has stuck and often greetings or sentences are ended with a “War Eagle!”.
Game
All five of the games that I saw on this trip were uncompetitive blowouts and this final one was no different. Inning after inning, the Tigers built their lead as they scored in four of the first five and went into cruise control. The lead got to 9-0 and Auburn had 13 hits as a team and Conor Davis had three of them to go with 3 RBI.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
