L. P. Frans Stadium
N 35° 44.899 W 081° 22.725
17S E 465755 N 3956099
L. P. Frans Stadium is home to the Hickory Crawdads, the South Atlantic League affilate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Waymark Code: WMHN0
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 07/18/2006
Views: 120
L. P. Frans Stadium is located in Hickory, North Carolina and is home to the Hickory Crawdads, the Class A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the South Atlantic League. The stadium was funded and constructed by the L. P. Frans Family, the local Coca-Cola Bottler, who were instrumental in bring minor league baseball to Hickory. The stadium opened in 1993 to a capacity crowd of 5,060.
L.P. Frans Stadium was one of the first ballparks to use a design that has become very common among minor league ballparks. Because of that, I sometimes use the term "cookie cutter" to describe this type of design (with both the entrance and the concourse at the top of the stands), but you shouldn't confuse that with the major league use of the term, which implies a huge concrete bowl, artificial turf, and a multi-sport design that doesn't work well for either baseball OR football. Unlike those monstrosities, this template actually works well in most locations, and Hickory is one of them.
While L.P. Frans has a design that is very common among modern minor league ballparks, it has a number of features that make it unique. There is a medium sized cantilevered roof that covers the upper level of seats behind home plate. A walkway halfway between the seats allows fans to roam around behind home plate without the view being obstructed by the press box. There is even a restaurant down the right field line that is surprisingly good for a low single-A stadium. One other nice feature is that this stadium seems to cater to the fans and there are no V.I.P. or Luxury Boxes.
A quaint and cozy ballpark, L. P. Frans stadium seem to be a very good place to spend and evening or afternoon was America’s past time.
Home Team: Hickory Crawdads
Capacity: 5060
Mascot: Crawdad
Team website: [Web Link]
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