Including a stop on your baseball road trip at Huntington Park for a Columbus Clippers game is good. Making time for two games is better. From the minute you arrive to the time you leave, you’ll experience one of the best ballpark experiences the International League has to offer, and you’ll likely have no trouble putting this park up against the best you’ve visited. Huntington Park is that impressive.
The ballpark opened for business in 2009, and effectively combines a throwback look and feel with the perks baseball fans have become accustomed to. Outside the park, you’ll enjoy the brick design and the viewing points that allow you to check out the action from the sidewalk. But it’s once you get inside this 10,100-capacity park that its light shines brightest. From the numerous seating options – comfy loge seating and tower seats, particularly – to its BBQ menu, enormous team shop and even a water park for the kids, Huntington Park has it all.
One of the perks of visiting Huntington Park is that its gates open 90 minutes before first pitch on the days of 7:05 p.m. games. Sixty minutes is more the norm in the minors, and the extra time you’ll spend here gives you a better chance to explore the park. If you’re visiting with kids, be sure to check out the fountain behind the center field fence, which gives kids a chance to cool off in the hot weather. Instead of carrying around a change of clothes, use one of the available lockers in the building beyond the left field fence. For Clippers souvenirs, visit the Clippers Cargo team shop, which is found in the ground floor of the building behind left field. It’s sizeable and sells anything you might want to remember your visit. A second souvenir shop, Backstop Shop, is found in the concourse behind home plate on the third base side.