Simmons Field is a historic ballpark located in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin. It's been around over one hundred years, 101 to be exact, but has seen it's share of moments of renovation and rebuilds. It hosts in the summer the Kenosha Kingfish, a Northwoods League team (see also the Lakeshore Chinooks from my previous article.) The Kingfish, like the Chinooks, are noted with players that can make the major leagues at some point. On a Sunday, I decided to go to the game they had against Kalamazoo. Do note the title and we will see how I rate it the way I do.
Upon getting to Simmons Field, one will note two parking areas mainly, one nearest the ticket office, and another beyond the right field wall. They are both free, but the one near the ticket office is always going to be full because it is so size limited, so your best bet is the right field lot area. However, it can be infested with mosquitos so do bring bug spray if you need. The entrance is easy and the ticket office is a rather large building that also has other things like the fan shop as well. The parking is free and is right outside the park so you don't need a shuttle or anything at all. With that, how are the amenities?
The good part with Simmons Field is the first base line specialty food areas, like pulled pork and specialty sandwiches for specialty ticket holders. Those can be good and are a reasonable price. However their main food/drink stand behind home plate leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of the food is either burned, too soggy or a mix of it. I had a burger and onion rings and the burger was charbroiled it was noted but it was tasting of just everything burned, while the onion rings were full of oil and soggy. The drinks, in this case soda, just came from a machine you would find at a restaurant and it tasted like it would have come from a BK or McDonald's. Needless to say, upgrade yourself for that game for the specialty food/drinks and you will do a lot better for yourself. The park's fan shop is quite nice actually and provide good selections of stuff, and as always I got a hat and it was regularly in the with other teams as well in the Northwoods League. With that, how is the park overall and the on-field product?
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| Simmons Field |
The park itself has all seats to the stadium that I saw and sat in. It was actually pretty comfortable seating so that was a plus. However it is awkward down the first and third base lines and if on a busier day (just about 40 minutes north, the Brewers also played at home) could lead to a lot of crowding to get to seats. They want to exemplify the old school look which would parlay well but in this case it doesn't work overall for a summer league park as it just seems narrow for the sake of being narrow. The seating as I said was good, so you have no issues there. The seating rows and aisles are quite wide for ease of access. I think the field needs a lot of work, as it just needs a lot of maintenance. The dirt looks aged, as does the grass and it seemed too high for really any sort of summer league team should have. The walls probably need to be re-done as well. One cool feature is a boat in left field that is there as well for fans to have a party deck of sorts. All in all, it would suffice that the park go through some intensive upgrades I think. The on-field product is quite good, as is the on-field entertainment and that is something the Kingfish staff should enjoy.
In conclusion, when I say a field is a relic, it means it needs upgrades in a lot of ways. Much like Northwestern's football stadium, Simmons Field needs upgrades I believe to the food and/or equipment to the food to make it a lot better. It would also suffice that with the ice cream part as well. I think upgrades to the field would make this a lot better too and the product that much better. They do a good job the staff do overall and making it just a decent product. However for Simmons Field, it lags behind Madison, Fond Du Lac and Lakeshore on the Northwoods League Stadiums I have been to.
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