Most People Don't Know There's A Little Major League Ballpark In Maine
By Michelle|Published September 27, 2017
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Michelle
Author
Michelle's life is a colorful map of exploration and adventure. From the iconic streets of New York to the sunny shores of Florida, the jagged coast of Maine to the rugged terrain of Montana, she's been fortunate to call some of America's most beautiful states home. Beyond the U.S., Michelle's wanderlust has taken her on a motorcycle journey through India, led her to teach English in Hanoi, and saw her studying Spanish in Guatemala. Michelle graduated with a communications degree from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and in addition to a career in advertising has worked with OnlyInYourState since 2016, where her love for travel and storytelling converges. Alongside writing and exploring, Michelle finds joy in photography, staying active, and time with her family.
For questions, comments and inquiries please email: mstarin@onlyinyourstate.com.
Face it, sports fans: Maine will never have a Major League Baseball team. When your biggest city has a population of 67,000 (the smallest Major League city, Cincinnati, has a population of 300,000) teams aren’t exactly going to be pounding on your door with relocation opportunities. No, we’ll just have to settle for the minor league Portland Sea Dogs, and, of course, having the Boston Red Sox a few hours away. Oh, and one other thing: Did you know that Maine has the only two officially licensed replica Major League ballparks in America?
Located in Oakland, Maine's Fenway opened in 2006 as a 66-percent-scale replica of Boston's Fenway Park.
The ballpark was built by the Alfond Youth Center in honor of Harold Alfond, a Mainer and minority owner of the Red Sox who dreamed of bringing baseball programs to the young people of his home state. Alfond lived to see his field of dreams completed before dying the next year at the age of 93.
Maine's Fenway runs youth baseball camps every summer. Former Major League players such as Tommy John, Bobby Grich and Bucky Dent have participated as coaches.
Other events at the ballpark have also attracted the attention of former players such as Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins, who visited to throw out the first pitch at the Cal Ripken U11 New England Baseball Tournament. Maine's Fenway has a long association with Ripken, the Baltimore Orioles legend and youth baseball advocate, who attended the ballpark's grand opening and braved the pouring rain to pitch to the Little League players.
The success of Maine's Fenway has led to the construction of a second Major League replica: Purnell Wrigley Field, which opened in Waterville in 2017 as a tribute to the legendary home of the Chicago Cubs.
To give the ballpark a mark of Cubs authenticity, former Cub Lee Smith, one of the greatest relief pitchers of all time, was on hand for the groundbreaking. "This reminds me of home," Smith told CentralMaine.com.
With reproductions of Wrigley's own hand-operated scoreboard and famous ivy-covered walls, Purnell Wrigley Field has also earned Major League Baseball's official seal of approval, a feat accomplished by no baseball field outside of Maine. Who knew?
