Last week, I was back on the West Coast for a business trip (ABF Freight) to Sacramento, CA. During the late mornings/early afternoons, I found some personal time to check out some baseball fields. Having already visited Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, I decided to head south to Stockton to check out Banner Island Ballpark, home of the Stockton Ports.

As with my trip on Tuesday to UC-Davis, traffic was very cooperative. It was a very smooth, easy on/easy off situation via 99 South from Elk Grove straight down to Stockton. Banner Island Ballpark is a few lefts and rights off the exit and overall very easy to navigate to. There was an open parking lot with a few cars and no gates, so I decided to pull in and park to check out the field, hoping it would be accessible. Obviously with it being the offseason, I am typically optimistic at best that the actual stadium will be open so I can explore. When I walked up to the entrance, I double checked my GPS map to make sure I was in the right spot. Here was my view…

As I approached the front gate, I realized I was in fact at the right place. Banner Island Ballpark, home of The Stockton Ports, the Single A Affiliate of the (then Oakland) Athletics, had been transformed into an amazing array of lanterns for the Stockton Lantern Festival. It’s theme, “Magic Ocean,” was set to run from November 22nd through January 19th. Just the right amount of time to multi-purpose the field and then get it ready for Spring baseball for the Ports. Great idea. Here was a poster promoting the event near the ticket office.

As I walked towards the front gate, I noticed a pro shop to the left of the ticket office was open. In my experience, many pro shops at baseball stadiums lead to the field of play, the concourse area, some are staffed, and some are open to let visitors see the field, even in the offseason. On Thursday, I got extremely lucky to find someone working in the pro shop who let me walk out onto the concourse and take some photos. I was so thrilled to have access to the field and I promised to be quick. So I set out to see the baseball park, now transformed into a spectacular set of displays for the holidays.

As I was finishing up my spirited walk around Banner Island Ballpark, I took a moment to pause at the POW/MIA seat just passed the front gate area. I hope you will join me in saluting our military when you have a chance and opportunity, like in front of one of these tribute seats at major sports stadiums. As the plaque reads, “you are not forgotten.”

I thanked the pro shop attendant on my way out of the stadium area and took a few last photos of the park and surrounding area. How many have ever seen a photo like this on the east coast? Palm trees standing tall next to trees which have turned beautiful shades of yellow and orange for the fall? Pretty cool photo, only in California I suppose.

It was an awesome visit to Stockton’s Banner Island Ballpark, home of the Stockton Ports. And for the next few weeks, home of the Stockton Lantern Festival’s Magic Ocean. Honestly, whether it is concerts or bark in the park or dinner on the diamond or football games I love when minor league baseball stadiums multi-purpose in the offseason. It is a great way to keep fans going there as an entertainment destination and a nice stop gap between the end of one season and the beginning of another. It was an easy ride back and forth from Elk Grove and the weather cooperated once again. Overall, it was really cool Stockton Ports, Magic Ocean experience at Banner Island Ballpark.