With a work commitment in the afternoon in Avenel, NJ for ArcBest, I had a free morning to take in a baseball game over in nearby Staten Island, NY. From my hotel to Community Park, home of the Staten Island Ferry Hawks, it was roughly 15 miles or so. But if you have ever lived or driven in the NYC metro area which includes parts of NJ, you know full well that 15 miles does not equate to 15 minutes like other parts of the country. 15 miles could take you an hour, an hour and a half, or even longer depending on traffic, accidents, construction or an accident caused in a construction zone that is causing miles and miles of traffic. The smart folks leave early to get to work or an important date or a doctors appointment in this area of the country, the others pay the price by getting to where they need to be late. This being said, a 10:30am game at Community Park on Wednesday meant I needed to leave my hotel no later than 9:15 to get to the game on time for First Pitch. And that is exactly what I did.
Getting over to NY from NJ is not hard, there are multiple tunnels, bridges, and highways that can accomplish that task for a driver. You also have ferry services, which run to and from NY from NJ daily. I found it very easy to get from my hotel over and into Staten Island, in fact it took no time at all. Navigating through Staten Island itself, well that was a bit of a challenge. Single lane roads with a lot of parked cars on both sides of the street, a lot of delivery trucks, a lot of pedestrians can make even the most experienced driver “white knuckle” the steering wheel. After about 20 minutes of lefts and rights and near misses, I wound up on Richmond Terrace and rode that all the way up to the parking garage of Empire Outlets, which was adjacent to Community Park, with about 25 minutes to spare until First Pitch. So, I took the time to walk down to the boardwalk area behind the stadium and check out the famous Staten Island Ferry Terminal and a 9-11 Memorial area.
From the memorial area, I walked up the sidewalk to the front gate entrance. There were about 4 sets of 50 to 60 kids with camp leaders at the front gate area waiting to get in. I was guessing with the 10:30am game start time that they were looking to accommodate local kids camps and perhaps fill the seats for this special game time. The Staten Island Ferry Hawks play in the Atlantic Professional Baseball League or Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Their home field is Staten Island University Hospital Community Park, which was the former home of the Staten Island Yankees, a minor league club that was contracted by in 2020 along with 40 other MILB teams. It sits about 100 feet or less from the Hudson River and as you can see from the photos above, there is a fantastic view of NYC including the Statue of Liberty.
After allowing a throng or two of kid campers and their camp leaders to go ahead of me, I entered Community Park and began my self guided tour of the facility. I walked from behind home plate, out to and past right field, then passed home plate again, and out to and passed the left field area. It was a nice, sunny day in Staten Island and I took advantage of the early gate admission to snag as many photos as I could. Community Park is/was a traditional minor league type stadium with tons of concession stands, tons of lower level seating, and plenty of table top spots to eat, drink, and watch the game from.
As game time approached, I realized that my ticket/purchased seat was in the next to last row of an entire section of camp kids. Kids yelling upon the request of the stadium DJ and the on field talent. Kids that were there mostly as a field trip commitment, not really as fans of the Ferry Hawks. Still, it was fun to hear the stadium loud and enthusiastic for a morning baseball game. Game started pretty much on time, fans were still piling in by the 50s or 60s, and the sun was shining brightly in Staten Island.
I watched a few innings behind home plate in my Section 9 ticket spot, then moved over to right field to see the game from there, and to give my eardrums a break from all the screaming. Along the way, I spotted the stadium’s POW/MIA seat of honor tribute and took a moment to pay my respects for our military men and women it represents. I hope you will join me in doing the same at your local stadium or if you are on the road visiting a sports arena that has a seat of honor tribute section.
From behind the first base dugout to right field, back to behind the plate, and then back to the left field corner of Community Park, I watched about 6 innings of the Ferry Hawks vs. Stormers game. I got some great photos from all over Community Park before and then during the game. Not knowing any of the players sometimes makes it more fun for me because then I can just walk around and explore the stadium instead of being glued to my seat for a pitcher or an at bat. One person of note in the dugout for the Staten Island Ferry Hawks was former NY Mets 2nd baseman Wally Backman, who has had a nice career post-playing as a professional minor league manager. Backman was a scrappy, base hit type player who was a reliable bat and a solid defensive player. Fun to see him in the dugout.
Checking my watch and not wanting to be late for my work assignment, I checked out of Community Park with plenty of time to get back to my hotel in NJ, grab some lunch, and head into work. Traffic wasn’t as bad leaving Staten Island as it was navigating to Community Park, so that was a huge bonus. I was so psyched that there was a game and I could catch the game and tour Community Park to check out just one of the many Staten Island baseball experiences. The 9-11 Memorial Park was really cool to experience, I hope you will visit it if you are down in that area of Staten Island. Overall, it was a fantastic day of baseball at Community Park, home of the Staten Island Ferry Hawks, Staten Island, NY, USA.
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