| Regency Furniture Stadium is the third ballpark built by the Keystone Corporation which also owns the Atlantic League teams in Lancaster and York. While this brand new ballpark has similarities to those two, there are enough differences to set it apart and make it somewhat unique. It is located in Waldorf, which has a busy road running through it (Rt 301), but is actually set three miles from this main drag. Right now, there is nothing surrounding the park except trees, but it appears that lots of building is underway the ballpark will probably have houses and/or business as neighbors sometime in the future. Because of the remote location, parking is plentiful and fortunately free. The ballpark exterior is built to resemble a beach house, a common thing in this part of Maryland. As with the Lancaster ballpark, there are no ticket “windows”, but instead a ticket counter. Inside, the design is similar to other new ballparks with a few exceptions. Most notable is that the luxury boxes are not all located above the concourse. Half of them are on the same level as the concourse. This takes away much of the seating behind home plate (which is fine by me) but also means that part of the concourse is obstructed from a view of the field (something I don't like). For an Atlantic League park, this is a bit small as the number of fixed seats is only about 4,000. Fortunately there is plenty of berm seating in the outfield which can hold a few thousand more fans. All seats are of the green fold down variety. Most are close to the field, but views down both lines are obstructed due to the way the seats curve in (similar to the park in York). A large picnic area is located above the wall in left field allowing for these fans to have an excellent view of the game. There is also a “club” seating area in the building down the left field line. The night I was there it was not being used so was open to the public. The main scoreboard is located on the left field fence and is manually operated. There is also a video board in right field and auxiliary scoreboards on each side (something more parks need). Several concessions stands are located along the concourse – each has a Brooks Robinson themed name (i.e. Gold Glove Grill) as he is the primary owner. The Blue Crabs have an excellent variety of food options including Italian sausages, buffalo chicken snadwiches, burgers, fish platters, and local specialties like crab cakes and crab filled pretzels. The prices are about average and the quality is excellent. One of the most unique aspects of the park is the Bumper Boats that they have in left field (these were also added to Lancaster in '08). While I think baseball should be providing the entertainment, I thought that this was a neat addition to the usual amusements for kids (there is also a play area in the right field corner). While the ballpark design and concessions are both good, the same cannot be said of the atmosphere. First year teams tend to go overboard with their in game entertainment and Southern Maryland is no exception. I didn't mind the games that were played, but some of the other nonsense was too much. A couple times they just randomly threw water balloons into the crowd, something I've never seen before. They need to realize that perhaps everyone doesn't want to get wet. Also, the team mascot (“Pinch”) was quite annoying as he stood on the dugout for two innings straight just batting a beach ball into the crowd. Is this really what fans come to do ? Mascots should only be on the dugout between innings and should not be encouraging fans to not watch the game. Fortunately sound effects were kept to a minimum. But there was plenty of music and ads blared. And I mean blared – the sound system was cranked too high. Why is the volume always turned way up at new ballparks ? I do have to give the team kudos for handing out free programs, though. I really can't say that this was a fun night at the ballpark, as the atmosphere at Rengency Furniture Stadium is just not conducive to baseball. Hopefully they will learn to tone it down a bit in future years. The ballpark itself is nice, but my lasting impression is the annoying atmosphere.
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