Getting Spacey on the Space Coast

Approaching Space Coast Stadium, Aug-2003.

The seating areas, as seen from the first-base line.

What you see from directly behind home plate.

Chronological Tour: Stop 261

• Location: Stadium Parkway, Viera, Fla. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1994
• Home team: Brevard County Manatees, Florida State League (1994-2016); spring training, Florida Marlins (1993-2002), Montréal Expos / Washington Nationals (2003-16)
• Capacity: 7,500

Rating: 1 baseball

Brevard County is trying to make a city of Viera, which as of 2003 consisted of a few settlements, a relocated justice center (they’re planning to move the county seat from Titusville), and this ballpark, which is essentially in the middle of a cow pasture.

To make matters worse, it’s a dull, boring park which appears to have been done on the cheap, right down to a post-up scoreboard that doesn’t even look very nice. (That was 2003. By 2016, they had a standard LED scoreboard.) Instead of smaller speakers all around the park, there’s one big speaker column in the outfield (like at old Shea Stadium), which wreaks havoc on announcers and anthem singers. The worst part is that, as of 2003, they got $3 to park in the middle of the cow pasture – not even a paved lot. That parking fee was gone as of 2016, when I attended a game that was rained out after an inning and a half.

Space Coast Stadium lost its tenants after the 2016 season. The Nationals moved their spring training down to a new facility in West Palm Beach, while the Manatees headed inland to Kissimmee for a three-year run, rebranding as the Florida Fire Frogs. However, the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA), an organization that began as the United States Slo-pitch Softball Association but grew into a provider of youth baseball and softball, is relocating here from the Osceola County facility and will use the complex for its headquarters and primary tournament site.