Point Stadium
Johnstown, PA
Team: None (formerly the
           Johnstown Johnnies)
Affiliation: None
League: None
Capacity: 10,000
Completed: 1926

Update - December 13, 2002
Sadly, there will no longer be professional baseball at Point Stadium, at least not for a while.  The independent Frontier League team that played here (the Johnnies) have moved to a different location. What follows, however, is a review from my visit to a Johnnies game in 2001.

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Funky.  From the smell of the river behind the first base line to the dimensions of the field (LF:  251   CF:  385   RF:  262), that is probably the best word that can describe Johnstown's Point Stadium. If you like quirky old ballparks, then this place should be on your "don't miss" list. 

Let's talk a little about quirks.  First of all, the park is wedged tightly into a city block, a configuration that cuts off the corners of the field quite dramatically (see the second and third pictures below).  They have, however, managed to keep the place from becoming a home run factory.  The right field corner, at an amazingly short 262, recovers relatively quickly with a steep angle towards the 385 feet center field.  There is no such angle in the even shorter left field, however, so they compensated by placing a huge net above the right field wall.  I estimate the net to reach at least forty, maybe even fifty, feet above the ground.  The net serves two purposes.  First, it keeps balls from landing in the street behind the outfield wall (any ball high enough to clear the net would surely clear the street).   Second, it keeps balls in play.  And that makes for some very interesting plays; balls that would be hit for extra bases, or even home runs, in many parks are often just long singles here.  

While the dimensions may be one of the first things that you'll notice about Point Stadium, there are other quirks as well.  The entrance to the park is behind right field, and you have to enter the stands through the concourse, which runs along a river.  This would actually make for a very scenic setting if the river itself didn't smell so bad.  Thankfully, the smell is not as  noticeable from the stands.  

Another oddity about the place is that it was built to house high school football as well as baseball.  This was somewhat evident from the fact that there are two press boxes.  A small baseball pressbox can be found several rows down from the top behind home plate (it actually blocks several rows of benches).  The football press box, which is considerably larger, sits atop the stands on the first base side.   

Even the concourse is quirky; it runs most of the way around the stadium, but not continuously.  In order to walk the whole way around the concourse, you have to weave in and out of the stands.  There's even on concession stand under the main grandstand that seems like it's tucked away into a little corner because you have to walk through a hallway to get to it.  

On top of all this, the place is old, and it feels old.  But, this serves mostly to make the quirks feel right - no one would build a park like this today, and that adds to the charm of the place.  Actually, the place has quite a bit of history.  It has hosted teams from the Pennsylvania Association and the Middle Atlantic and Eastern Leagues.  But, from what I can figure out, the place did not host professional baseball from 1961 until 1995, when the city was awarded a Frontier League franchise. 

This is a ballpark fan's ballpark, but unfortunately, it does not seem to do much for the average fan - attendance did not get above 1,000 the night I was there. 

I'm told that the roof leans downward because there used to be seating on top of it

If you look real hard, you can see the poles for the netting above the wall