August 31, 2010
Roger Dean Stadium (Capacity: 6,800)
Jupiter, FL
Jupiter Hammerheads vs Charlotte Stone Crabs
Final Score: 1 – 3
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Jupiter is located on the southeast coast of Florida, situated near a section of the state called the Gold Coast. To the North, the landscape gets more open and less populated, while the big shore towns of Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale lie to the South. We were on vacation in the state and made a stop in Jupiter to see the Single-A Hammerheads. Roger Dean Stadium is the home of the Hammerheads and the stadium was built in 1998. It is the only facility to be home to two teams in the same league (the Palm Beach Cardinals also play at Roger Dean). In addition, the stadium houses spring training for the Marlins and Cardinals. So far, the Jupiter squad has not found much success as they’ve yet to win an FSL championship and attendance has been low.
Prestige Ranking: 1.5 out of 5
Location
Before the game, we toured the city’s famed Lighthouse and drove down to the beach area. This was a few miles from the ballpark as the facility is outside of Jupiter’s core. The surrounding community is Abacoa, an upscale residential area that includes businesses, a golf course and a “town center”. It almost behaved like a mini town. The beautiful, tree-lined center of this community features a few places to eat or grab a drink, all within walking distance to the ballpark.
Location Ranking: 6.5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
It’s very easy to get to the stadium, as just a few roads are needed from I-95. Plus, the Hammerheads website has excellent, detailed directions. Grass fields make up the parking, but my trip was confusing because they were all blocked off. I didn’t realize crowds were so sparse that I was able to use parking on the side of the streets right next to the stadium.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 6.5 out of 8
Exterior
Around the ballpark is some nice landscaping, most of which are tall palm trees. Though it provides a pleasant setting, the closeness of the landscaping does obscure seeing the outer face of the building. Roger Dean is painted in Florida colors, using peach, beige and sea green coloring. The stadium certainly fits in perfectly with the surroundings. There are three gates with entrance archways and each gate has the name of the stadium adorned near the top of the wall.
Exterior Ranking: 7 out of 10
Concourse
Most of the concourse is enclosed and it is somewhat roomy, with the exception being several square support columns that are placed every five feet or so in the middle. The soothing Florida coloring is mostly retained in here with walls decorated in beige and peach. There is an average sized team store within the enclosed section. The concourse does head out into the open air at the ends, but there isn’t much to speak of as the field is still obstructed by seating until you get near the end.
Concourse Ranking: 3.5 out of 5
Food
Food was disappointing because most of the stands were closed. I couldn’t even see what they would have offered if they were open. The lone concession stand providing food just was hot dogs, burgers and snacks.
Food Ranking: 2 out of 8
Interior
Inside Roger Dean is a simple two-level design split by a walk-way as the initially pleasant introduction gives way a generic interior. Sections behind home plate are skinnier and smaller, while the seating area (colored green) extends into shallow outfield. Press boxes and a limited number of suites are located in the back of the seating bowl and unfortunately, there isn’t much of a roof to protect fans from the sun. A grass berm and picnic area is located towards the right foul pole. Deep into the third base side is an oddly angled section of aluminum bleachers, that doesn’t fit in with the bowl, instead they are sharply pointed towards the infield. Fans have a rather bland outfield view of a couple light-colored buildings, which are the Spring Training offices for the Marlins and Cardinals. Seats are comfortable and come with cupholders. Overall, an average facility that is dull in many spots.
Interior Ranking: 6 out of 14
Scoreboard
On either side of centerfield are a couple of small, simple boards. The one on the right is an outdated box score type board. Meanwhile, the video board on the left is surrounded by ads and has a digital clock at the top. The video is so poor that when people are on, you can barely make out their heads.
Scoreboard Ranking: 1.5 out of 4
Displays
In the concourse, those middle support columns each hold a side banner for the yearly classes of the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame. This is worth a look as I didn’t realize how many star athletes Palm Beach County produced. Otherwise, the lack of displays is quite disappointing. With four tenants, maybe neutrality was their goal. If so, they succeeded.
Displays Ranking: 1 out of 6
Cost
Everything is on the cheap here, which certainly is welcomed. We even had someone give us free tickets outside the gate. Tickets were $8.50 and parking, along with the programs were free. Food prices were average.
Cost Ranking: 8 out of 8
Fan Support and Atmosphere
I’ve learned that attendance at Florida State League games are rather poor all around. Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s the type of population, but the numbers are often paltry. Jupiter has been averaging around 1,000 per game the last few years, including this season. That actually ranks around #6 – #8 in the twelve team league. Our Tuesday game featured a tiny crowd of no more than 50 people. 50. Noise was non-existent and it was eerie at times how quiet the ballpark was. In fact, whispering felt appropriate. It was almost kind of sad and pathetic to watch the Hammerhead game crew go on with in-between innings fun, trying to find volunteers in the crowd.
Fan Support Ranking: 1 out of 8
Atmosphere Ranking: 1 out of 14
Other Stuff
While watching the game, the design of the outfield light fixtures struck me as being different. The two rows of lights were not at the top of the pole, but instead 3/4ths of the way up the lightpole. It appears that this is a retrofitted design, because Hurricane Frances caused damage to the lights in 2004…..Since it is a multi-team spring training facility, there are a whopping 13 other baseball fields in the complex.
Game
We walked into a doubleheader unknowingly and came in during the 6th inning of the first game. It was then that I saw evidence as to why Jupiter is locked into last place. They were down 3-2 in the last inning with a runner on third and one out. Maybe there was a misread sign, but they tried to steal home and the batter didn’t even try to swing or bunt for a suicide. He was out by a mile and a ground out later, the game was over. At the start of the 2nd game, Jupiter made three errors in the first inning (including some bad decisions) and Charlotte put three on the board that held up for the win. Jacob Thompson pitched five innings, only giving up one hit and striking out three.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
