Hillsboro Ballpark
Hillsboro, OR
Review by Mike
Hillsboro Ballpark, formerly Ron Tonkin Field, is the home of the Hillsboro Hops of the High-A Northwest League. Opened in 2013, the Hops filled the void left by the departure of the Portland Beavers, the Portland area’s professional baseball team for more than 100 years. This ballpark is about 14 miles west of Providence Park, former home of the Beavers, now transformed into one of the premier soccer venues in the country, hosting the Portland Timbers of MLS.
This is a very open and airy place to see a game, with a large roof covering much of the grandstand. This roof is on risers that make it more like a large canopy and less like an imposing structure casting the grandstand into shadow. The surrounding superstructure is minimalist, with concessions housed in structures that almost seem like shipping crates and in the back of the main grandstand of the adjacent football stadium on the 3rd base side.
A two-story press box and suite building stands behind home plate, with small party decks to either side above the main concourse. There is a grass berm in the left field corner and a nice scoreboard in right-center field. The playing surface is FieldTurf and the view to the outfield is one of pleasant greenery.
This is a very bright, clean and well-maintained stadium and seems like a fine place to watch Class-A baseball. However, I am sad to report that its days of hosting professional ball are numbered as a new stadium is currently under construction right across the street on the 1st base side. After only 11 years, Hillsboro Ballpark is obsolete. I am not sure of the reasoning, but I am guessing that the relatively small capacity and lack of suites and hospitality space might have something to do with it.
I also don’t know if the plan is to keep Hillsboro Ballpark for other uses such as tournaments, high school ball, and camps, but I hope they do. It would be a shame for such a nice little stadium to meet its end after less than two decades of service.
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2024
269
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