Hadlock Field is a Minor League

Minor league baseball

Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

 baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 stadium

Stadium

A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

 in Portland

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

, Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

. It is primarily home to the Portland Sea Dogs

Portland Sea Dogs

The Portland Sea Dogs are the Double-A minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Established in 1994 and based in Portland, Maine, the Sea Dogs play in the Northern Division of the Eastern League....

 of the Eastern League

Eastern League (U.S. baseball)

The Eastern League is a minor league baseball league which operates primarily in the northeastern United States, although it has had a team in Ohio since 1989. The Eastern League has played at the AA level since 1963. The league was founded in 1923 as the New York-Pennsylvania League...

. It is also the home of the Portland Bulldogs and Deering Rams

Deering High School

Deering High School is a public high school in Portland, Maine which educates grades 9–12. The school is part of the Portland Public Schools district. It is named after the Deering Center neighborhood it serves...

 baseball teams. The stadium is named for Edson J. Hadlock, Jr., a long-time Portland High School baseball coach and physics teacher.

History and development

The park opened on April 18, 1994 with a capacity of 6,000 and currently has a capacity

Seating capacity

Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...

 of 7,368 seats. A year later, 500 seats were added, boosting capacity to 6,500. Expansion in 1998 increased capacity to 6,860 and in 2002 to 6,975. About 400 seats were added in right field before the start of the 2006 season. Hadlock Field is located between Interstate 295

Interstate 295 (Maine)

Interstate 295 is a -long connector in the U.S. state of Maine from I-95 in Scarborough to I-95 in West Gardiner.-Route description:...

, the historic Fitzpatrick Stadium

Fitzpatrick Stadium

Fitzpatrick Stadium is a 6,300 seat multi-purpose outdoor stadium in Portland, Maine, USA. It is located between Interstate 295, Hadlock Field baseball stadium, and the Portland Exposition Building, the second oldest arena in continuous operation in the United States. It is located across the...

, and the Portland Exposition Building

Portland Exposition Building

The Portland Exposition Building was designed by Fredrick A. Thompson and is located in Portland, Maine. It is the second oldest arena in continuous operation in the United States...

, the second-oldest arena in continuous operation in the United States. In 2003, when the Sea Dogs affiliated with the Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

, a replica Green monster

Green Monster

The Green Monster is a popular nickname for the thirty-seven foot , two-inch high left field wall at Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox baseball team...

, called the Maine Monster

Maine Monster

The Maine Monster is the nickname of the left-field wall at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine, which is the home of the Portland Sea Dogs, a double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. It is similar to the Green Monster at the Red Sox' home, Fenway Park....

, was added to left field to match the original at the Red Sox' Fenway Park

Fenway Park

Fenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...

. A replica Citgo sign and Coke

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

bottle were added as well to make the field look even more like Fenway Park.

In 2006, the tenant Sea Dogs were Eastern League champions.

The left-field fence is 315 feet from home plate, the center field-fence is 400 feet, and the fence in right-field is 330 feet away.

External links

• Portland Sea Dogs
• Edson J. Hadlock, Jr. Field Views - Ball Parks of the Minor Leagues
• At The Yard magazine. Minor League Baseball Stadium Profiles
• A Day Behind the Scenes at Hadlock Field - MaineToday.com