Portland Sea Dogs

Anyone who lives in the Portland area would be remiss to overlook the Portland Sea Dogs baseball team!  This AA Affiliate of the Boston Red Sox has a lot of things going for it.  For starters, the Red Sox are as close to royalty as you'll find in New England so anything associated with that organization is going to have an advantage in this area.  For the record, the Sea Dogs used to be a farm club for the Florida Marlins...not that we have anything against that team in particular, but lets face it: in the major league there's the Red Sox, and then there's everyone else!

As a farm team for the boys who play down the highway, the Sea Dogs get a fair share of players who have either played for the Sox and come here to rehab (Ortiz, Dice-K, and John Smoltz recently) or started playing here and went on to have notable careers with the Sox (Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jonathon Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, and Kevin Youkilis just to name a few).

The Sea Dog's home stadium, Hadlock Field, was renevated in 2003 following the team's transition to the Red Sox organization.  It was given a make-over to more closely resemble Fenway Park, including a "green monster" in left field (known as the "Maine Monster") and even a mini-Citgo sign!  Of course, this being Maine, there are a number of sights seen around Hadlock that are special in our state to include a large LL Bean "boot", a retractable lighthouse (which lights up and sounds its horn when a Sea Dog hits a homerun), and of course in the pavilion there are a number of concession stands carrying local micro-brews and food including Shipyard Beers and Bingas Wingas Chicken!  The Sea Dogs' mascot "Slugger" is known affectionately as "Baseballs hardest working mascot" and delights children and adults alike with his silly antics and team spirit!

With a seating capacity of almost 7,500, the stadium has a small town feel and there is not a bad seat in the house!  It holds the charm of Fenway and other Major League Parks (the brick laden Portland Expo building adjacent to right field gives Hadlock a Camden Yard type feel) without the prices or traffic nightmare of the bigger parks.  So next time you're in Portland when the Sea Dogs are in season, come on by and for $8 you can enjoy a small slice of Americana and watch the future stars of the Red Sox get their game on!  You may even see a celebrity taking in a game while visiting their Maine vacation homes (Former President George H.W. Bush and his family, Bill Parcells, and Kathy Lee Gifford are all regulars). 

Note: I went to the game last night and the Sea Dogs beat the New Britain Rock Cats 13-4 powered by a TEN RUN 7th inning!  We were particularly lucky too because after the game we got to see a 20 minute fireworks display that, to my delight, put a lot of Fourth of July shows to shame!  It was a great evening!!!