Warner Park

Left field entrance to the "Duck Pond" of Warner Park, Jun-2019.

The seating bowl, from down the third-base line.

A view from behind the plate.

• Location: Sherman Avenue and Northside Drive, Madison, Wis. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1982
• Home team: Madison Muskies (1982-93), Madison Hatters (1994), Midwest League; Madison Black Wolf, Northern League (1996-2000)
• Capacity: 6,000 (approx.)

The Mallards are a success story of their own, drawing over 4000 fans per game in 2003; when I arrived, they had hit 100,000 in attendance after just 23 home games, with 10 to play. General manager Jason Karegeannes told me that the Mallards have promoted themselves as a group that's in town to stay, and they've put a lot of work into Warner Park as well.

It's an unspectacular facility, perhaps a little better than Heritage Park in Colonie, N.Y., but the promotions department has made the place work, and the field improvements continue.

I finally got to the park in 2019 for a Northwoods League game and I found a greatly expanded ballpark, one that was capable of handling a crowd of well over five thousand on a Monday night. Unfortunately, the game day production staff seemed to think the game was about them rather than the collegians on the field. I was subjected to a constant aural assault for the entire game, with the momentary exception (usually) of when the ball was pitched or put in play. It was the most miserable nine innings I have spent at a ball field.