Principal Park-A “Principal” Park in the Pacific Coast League

As I am winding down my first season as a broadcaster in the Pacific Coast League, I feel that I have been honored to get a chance to see so many great ballparks around the league.  I’ve had the chance to travel to great cities such as Memphis, New Orleans, Albuquerque, Des Moines, Omaha, Sacramento, etc.

Some of these places are within easy walking distance from the hotel where the Sounds stay.  It’s always nice to be downtown since I can still walk around and also see the sights as well as see many fine points of interest.

Des Moines, Iowa, features one of the best ballparks in the PCL as well as in minor league baseball.  For years, Sec Taylor Stadium was the home of the Iowa Cubs, until it got replaced by Principal Park, which opened up in 1992.

Along the left field side, there are 12 skyboxes and approximately 85 Home Plate Club Seats,  The outfield walls are very high all around the ballpark and there is lawn seating beyond the right field wall and an area above the left field wall, where fans can flock and sit and watch a bird’s eye view of the ballgame.

One of the great features of calling a game is that way beyond the center field wall, I can see a nice view of the State Capitol of Iowa, with its gold color reflecting well off the sun.

I feel like I am in Wrigley Field or Fenway Park because despite its modern features, the line scoreboard is manual, where a person changes the signs on his own instead of electronically.  Only thing I don’t like is when there are balls and strikes called, it is marked by a small lightbulb instead of numbers.  In other words, you would see one light bulb on the ball column if it is “Ball One” and two lightbulbs in the strike column if it is “two strikes” and they are bunched together.

Prinicpal Park has a giant playland for youngsters in the concourse along the first base side.  They can enjoy this while in the shade instead of being outside where you could be behind the outfield wall and have to deal with the hot sun and heat.

One of the concessions is called Stu’s Barbecue, but nope, unfortunately, it doesn’t belong to me, so I can’t cut any special deals for anyone.  

Speaking of the outfield, one can find relieve from the heat as Principal Park installed a fountain in right field.  There is also a party deck in the area for group functions and anyone can enjoy visiting the fountain or running through it during the game.  I’m not sure how many would risk getting wet unless they had their bathing suits on.

So, if you ever visit Des Moines, I recommend not only Principal Park, but also visit the State Capitol, the Iowa Hall of Pride Museum (which is downtown) as well as the skywalk

Des Moines is a nice and friendly city and even though it can be a bit of a walk to the ballpark from downtown, it can be done.  I look forward to future visits and broadcasts to Principal Park.  .