A Study in Primary Colors

The home-plate entrance to Champion Window Field, Jul-2005.

The seats here are bright red, yellow, and blue, along with two sections in green.

A home-team batter stands in.

Chronological Tour: Stop 293

• Location: Freedom Drive off US 42 Highway (I-75 exit 180), Florence, Ky. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 2004 as Champion Window Field
• Additional names: Florence Freedom Field (2011), UC Health Stadium (2013), Y’alls Ballpark (2021), Thomas More Field (2022)
• Home team: Florence Freedom (2004-19), Y’alls (2020-present), Frontier League
• Capacity: 4,200

Rating: 2 baseballs

In 2004, the Freedom were playing at this new facility, but the place was incomplete. One observer said, “It looked like a truck stop” – perhaps appropriate for its location along the freeway 13 miles south of Cincinnati, but not exactly appealing for a ball game.

Fortunately, new ownership took over for 2005, and the exterior was completed in brickface. Meanwhile, with the exception of two seating sections in forest green, the park is a study in primary colors. The railings are in red, along with the outermost seating sections. The park also features blue seats behind the plate and yellow seats down the lines. Most of the seating is on a single level with a concourse behind it, although there is some premium seating on the press box level.

I revisited the park in 2018 and reduced my rating from three baseballs to two. The stadium itself does have a major shortcoming: with no overhang, there is practically no shade, although the club did erect an awning above the area directly behind home plate to help compensate. In addition, the scoreboard is apparently not adaptable to a brighter setting for day games, so it was extremely difficult to read on a Sunday afternoon.

More significantly, the club increased prices the day I visited, for a one-off post-game concert by a Christian music band. This was totally unnecessary, as the park was much more crowded than usual for a day game in August and so the club did exceptionally well with concession and souvenir stands. I mentioned this to an official-looking person, and he replied, “We had 47 other games at the regular price.” Wrong answer, sir. It’s never a good idea to soak the fans on a promotional day.

For the 2020 season, new club ownership rebranded the team as the Y’alls, evoking the city water tower near Interstate 75 that is emblazoned with FLORENCE Y’ALL. The new ownership group took over in July 2019, a year after the unfortunate incident I cite above. While there is no more shade than there ever was, and the entire field is artificial turf, I encountered no untoward incidents on a 2021 return visit to watch the Y’alls.