TELUS Field

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TELUS Field (nicknamed the Phone Booth) is a baseball stadium in Edmonton, Alberta. It is home to the Edmonton Cracker-Cats of the independent Northern League and former home of the defunct Edmonton Trappers, a AAA baseball team in the Pacific Coast League. The Trappers moved to Round Rock, Texas and became the Round Rock Express after the 2004 season. TELUS Field is the second largest minor league stadium in Canada after Lynx Stadium in Ottawa.

The stadium's naming rights were purchased by the TELUS telecommunications company. It is located in the North Saskatchewan River Valley, on the south end of downtown Edmonton. The capacity usually is listed as 9200, but there thrice has been crowds over that. June 28, 9688 against the Tucson Sidewinders, July 30 2003, 9231 against Salt Lake and at the very last home game in history against Las Vegas, 10 098 [according to the PCL website] on September 5 2004. Its dimensions are 340 feet to left-field, 420 feet to centrefield, and 320 feet to right-field.

Opened in 1995, TELUS Field replaced the then 60 year-old John Ducey Park, formerly Renfrew Park, on the same site. It has 20 foot walls all the way around except in centre, where the batters eye a 34-foor green monster. No one has ever hit a homerun over it. Telus Field is well known around North America and had the highest ratings for best ball park for 8 years staight by Triple A Best Ballparks.^{[citation needed]}

TELUS Field is a unique field in that the in-field was made up of AstroTurf until recently, when replaced with a more modern artificial surface, and the outfield is natural grass. Speculation as to why the field was done in this fashion ranges from the argument that the northern winters made it too difficult to grow grass in the infield to a belief that the Trappers major league parent at the time, the Minnesota Twins wished to have their prospects play on an artificial surface. Another unique feature is that TELUS Field has ground level luxury suites with a bar/mini restaurant in each one. Club and general seating is built on top of the luxury suites.

The stadium concourse features pictures of historical moments in Trapper history, including Ron Kittle's 50 home run season. There are also pictures from every Trapper championship and trophies. You can see pictures of Terrmel Sledge as he was one of the most popular Trappers to play. People in Edmonton called him "The Sledge Hammer".

[edit] External links

• TELUS Field Views - Ball Parks of the Minor Leagues

Current ballparks in the Northern League
North Division		South Division
CanWest Global Park |Foothills Stadium | Newman Outdoor Field | TELUS Field		Alexian Field | CommunityAmerica Ballpark | Silver Cross Field | U.S. Steel Yard