Harbor Park led wave of new stadiums

In the bottom of the first inning during a game between the Norfolk Tides and Columbus Clippers at Harbor Park, beyond the left-center-field wall, you can see half of the black rail bridge that towers over the water slowly lower to accommodate a train. And as the sun sets over downtown Norfolk along the first-base side, you can still make out the tugs and ferries traveling along the Elizabeth River.

This has been the setting for baseball in Norfolk since 1993, when the Tides moved seven miles from Met Park to Harbor Park, nestled downtown along the river. In many ways, the move downtown set the standard for other teams to follow Norfolk's lead. That's fitting, though, as the Tides have been on the cutting edge of stadium design for almost four decades.

Harbor Park's waterfront views and pristine cleanliness -- it's one of the only stadiums in the country that is pressure-washed on a daily basis -- belie its age. Sure, there are some chips and fading on the blue steel of the upper decks along each base line, but the multi-toned brick facade and deep blue seats -- matching the color of the water beyond the fence in right field -- look brand new.

Harbor Park had some big shoes to fill, as Met Park, built in 1970, was at one time a state-of-the-art venue that ultimately suffered from limited capacity and a lack of skyboxes. Instead of renovating the old stadium, the Tides decided to move downtown onto a plot of land owned by the city. Not everyone, however, was initially pleased with the choice.

"We had some misgivings about coming downtown at the time, and we were completely wrong," said Dave Rosenfield, Norfolk's general manager since 1963.

Initially concerned about access and egress, Rosenfield and the Tides found that the benefits of being downtown far outweighed any negatives.

"Before we came down here, some years before that, it was old storage warehouses and Navy bars," Rosenfield explained. "Now there are fine restaurants down here, there's a tremendous influx of downtown living with condominiums being built down here. ... The rebirth of the downtown area in Norfolk has been amazing."

The Tides were one of the first Minor League teams to make the move downtown and help catalyze an urban renaissance. That paradigm has been followed by other southeastern teams in Durham and Greensboro.

When the team moved to Harbor Park, it also took the name of the city, as the Tidewater Tides officially became the Norfolk Tides.

"The city of Norfolk wanted to have its name on it," Rosenfield said. "It was important to the city to get the bylines across the country and the name in the standings everywhere, and our ownership was agreeable."

Harbor Park was one of the first stadiums to embrace an open concourse. The wide concourse stretches from foul pole to foul pole with concessions stands, a team store and a moon bounce along the way.

Rosenfield called the concourse his favorite part of the stadium.

"On a nice summer evening, you see a lot of people standing around talking to their friends on the concourse, maybe having a soda or a beer or a hot dog. It's become kind of a social thing," he said, adding that newer stadiums without the open concourse seem "primitive."

In the right-field corner is another locale for social gathering: the Hits at the Park restaurant. Met Park was the first Minor League stadium to feature a restaurant, and that tradition has continued with Hits at the Park, which includes tiered levels and enormous glass windows so fans can watch the game while enjoying a meal or a drink.

Met Park didn't have the suites now available at Harbor Park on the upper-deck level behind home plate. For groups that want more fresh air, there are smaller picnic areas down each foul line with a larger, two-deck picnic spot beyond the left-field fence.

All this has helped lift attendance in Norfolk over the 500,000 mark eight times in Harbor Park's first 15 years, including setting franchise records in each of the park's first three seasons.

The attendance has stayed high even as the team switched affiliations last season from the New York Mets to the Baltimore Orioles. The Tides had been the Mets' Triple-A affiliate since 1969 -- one of the longest associations in the country. According to Rosenfield, however, it became clear that the parent club in New York didn't appreciate the relationship enough for Norfolk.

Baltimore, only a four-hour drive away and with all its games televised in Norfolk, jumped at the opportunity.

"The attitude that the Orioles had toward each of their affiliates is so completely different than we were used to," Rosenfield said. "They have been willing participants in all sorts of promotional ideas that we have, both for our fans to go to Baltimore and for our fans to realize how important the affiliation is for the parent club."

It was a tough move for Rosenfield, who admitted there was a bit of culture shock after working so closely with the Mets for nearly four decades. But he and the fans have moved on, even if the concourse is still buzzing with fans in Mets hats and jerseys of their hometown hero, David Wright.

For the man who's been tied to Norfolk baseball since 1962, though, no workplace can beat Harbor Park.

"Every once in a while, I'll be sitting watching a game and just thinking, 'I can't believe I have the opportunity to work in a place like this,'" Rosenfield said.