Yogi Berra Stadium
Little Falls, NJ
Review by Mike
Yogi Berra Stadium is the home of the New Jersey Jackals of the independent Frontier League, and an alumni of the Northeast League and the Northern League. The Jackals have proven themselves to be survivors in the challenging landscape of independent ball. Built on the campus of Montclair State University, Yogi Berra Stadium is perfect for this level of baseball. It is very small and intimate with good sight lines. It makes sense. If you're not expecting 5000-6000 people for a game, why build a ballpark with that many seats?
The ballpark doesn't have a whole lot of character, because it is really pretty simple. A couple of stripes of bright red seats wrap around the field with a concourse above that sells some decent food and that's about it. There is a grass berm down the right field line that wraps around the foul pole all the way to right center. This is a purely functional place.
During my first visit in 1999, there was a guy with a heavy Brooklyn accent who tried to get the crowd going with his cordless microphone. He was very annoying. He would march up and down and demand that people join in with his cheers, then get all pissed off when nobody did. And yet he never gave it up. Even though the score was 7-1, he's trying to lead the crowd in chants and cheers as though the tying run were on 3rd.
There were a couple of interesting things, notably the office building beyond center field where office workers stood on a veranda watching the weekday afternoon contest. My favorite feature of Yogi Berra Stadium is the fact that park has exactly one luxury box. I have seen no luxury boxes, and lots of luxury boxes, but one single, lone luxury box hovering above the stands is a new one to me.
I returned with Gary in 2016 and found the ballpark much the same as it was in 1999, with the addition of some nice championship banners and better food choices. The bright red seats were looking a little bleached by the weather, but the ballpark has maintained it's feeling of pleasant, cheerful functionality. A nice place.
2016
93
1999
36
Gary says...
"I really liked this ballpark too, probably more for the fact that the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center is adjacent to it. The museum is a must for any baseball fan and includes a great short movie in a ballpark-themed theater. You can also see the field from that lone sky box accessible through the museum. ”
We received a letter from Terry H. Parker, the architect who designed Yogi Berra Stadium and the adjacent museum. He gave us some fascinating background on the development of the complex and original plans that did not come to fruition...
"I designed both the stadium & museum. My client for the stadium was the CEO of K-Mart at the time. The Museum was initially funded by Cali until they could get enough donations to pay him back. I hired the person who was responsible for the Hall of Fame exhibits for the initial exhibitions. The museum’s glass entry was added in a latter renovation. The stadium was designed with 24 luxury boxes, but only the one in the Museum was built. We could not find enough sponsors to rent them. All of the foundations, plumbing and electrical services are buried under the concrete walkway. Just try to think what the stadium would look like. Also, the grand stairway was supposed to be surrounded by an octagonal arched enclosure that also was never built. That arcade included the access to the luxury suites. The steep roof over the press box was also to be the seating outside four of the luxury boxes. The stadium would have been entirely different if all of the design was completed. We installed conduits under the infield so that a temporary stage stage could be erected over the outfield grass behind second basem just beyond the inield dirt. Placing temporary seating could accommodate 13,000 for concerts. There were a number of future expansions planned, but the project never got beyond the stage you see."
- Terry H. Parker, Architect