Newman Outdoor Field

Home-plate entrance to Newman Outdoor Field, Aug-2005.

A look at the seating bowl from down the first-base line.

Game action, as seen from directly behind the plate.

Chronological Tour: Stop 296

• Location: North Dakota State University, Albrecht Boulevard at 15 Avenue North, Fargo, N.D. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1996 as Fargo Baseball Stadium
• Home team: Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, Northern League (1996-2010), American Association (2011-present); North Dakota State University Bison, Summit League
• Capacity: 4,513

Rating: 3 baseballs

After playing their first six games at an American Legion field a mile and a half away, the RedHawks moved to this new facility, which in 1998 received a local outdoor advertising company as a sponsor. Yes, “Newman Outdoor Field” means that Newman Outdoor is the sponsor, not that it’s an outdoor field. You expected a dome in Fargo? (Actually, there is one. The Fargodome, located a few thousand feet away and also on the campus of North Dakota State University, is an indoor stadium that hosts Bison football as well as numerous other special events.)

The outside walk-up staircase bringing you near home plate, the upper-level concourse, the sky boxes above the concourse ... all these are typical features of many of the Northern League parks, and it appears that this ballpark led the way.

I am advised that there is now a museum dedicated to Maury Wills in the stadium. While not a North Dakota native, Wills spent time here after his baseball career. I missed the museum on a return trip in 2010.