Bakersfield Blaze

By any objective measure this ballpark should get a one star. The parking lot is a dumb and had some potholes and pools of water that have been unfixed for years. The audio system is a crap shoot in terms of functionality and it has been cutting out mid song for MONTHS and has not been repaired. There is no video screen and the scoreboard is minuscule and it has an error where a 0 appears in the bottom of the 7^th inning for most of the game. The cheap bleacher seats are hard and the pricier blue seats look like they have not seen a paint job since the bush administration. The owner is an absentee landlord living in Iowa and is open about his intentions to move the team to Salinas. This ballpark would have been considered hilariously out of date 30 years ago and it is a shame this city does not have a nicer stadium. The park also lacks a simple water fountain so going to day games would be suicide.
2 stars because they have affordable games on monday with dollar admission and dollar hot dogs. Besides these dates I would rather take the am track to Fresno or Sacramento and see a game in a modern ballpark.

Sam Lynn Ballpark is definitely a dump. This place has history and I can respect that. A lot of great players have come through this stadium. However that doesn’t make up for the fact that the restrooms here are sub par even by highway rest stop standards. The seats are falling off of their base and expect to be snacked on by mosquitoes at night. The beer and food prices are high but I didn’t feel gouged like at a Dodger game.
The positives include free parking and cheap tickets. If you want to see a ball game for cheap and don’t mind the dilapidated surroundings in a bad area of town than this is a good place to go. I definitely would come back but I think that’s just because my love for baseball trumps any fear of potentially acquiring body lice. I would rate the ballpark 2 stars but can give the Blaze three as I’m just happy to have them still in Bakersfield.

We went to Bakersfield partly to see the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes play the Blaze. The stadium here is shaped oddly, and our front row seats were in the location lower than the actual field. My wife & daughter liked the view, but my son and I did not. The action is too far away from the seats. There is a nearby marsh that attracts flies, and they were bugging us all night long. Would not return to watch a game here. Compared to a Quakes event, this one well, blew.

Good family fun. I hope they can get a new park built soon as Sam Lynn is just outdated. My son and I enjoyed watching them win their first playoff game in several years. The players are accessible, the kids enjoy that. I would give them 5 stars for the experience, but because the consession stand ran out of so much stuff, I subtract a star. Note to Blaze: dont run out of candy for the kids, there is alot of profit in candy…

I went and saw the «Bakersfield Blaze» play at Sam Lynn Ballpark in Bakersfield, CA. The «Blaze» are a high A team of the Cincinnati Reds that play in the California League. For many years Bakerfield was a minor league club of the L.A. Dodgers and many famous Dogers played here. Not a modern ballpark but you don’t need one to enjoy a game.

Sam Lynn Ballpark is a dump, plain and simple. The stadium is old, the stands are mismatched, nothing has been painted in years and it’s kind of dingy. That being said, there’s something very charming about it anyway. I had one of the most relaxing, homey, this-​is-​why-​I-​love-​minor league baseball experiences at a Bakersfield Blaze game and I’d recommend it for anybody who loves old-​school no-​frills baseball.
The first thing you need to know about Sam Lynn is that it is the only Minor League ballpark left in use that sits facing west. This means that the sun sets directly over center field creating the very unique sun-​delay. Game time the night I went was scheduled for 7:30 but was delayed by nearly 20 minutes while we waited for the sun to set behind the gigantic center field fence. And once it did set, the view was tremendous with a bright pink sunset over the outfield walls, something that you usually don’t get to see because it’s behind you instead of in front of you.
Like I said, the seating is a hodgepodge of all sorts of different, ugly grandstands. Your best bet is to pay a little bit extra and sit in one of the first four rows. They are sunken below the diamond so if you are sitting in the first row, your head is just above field level. Your perspective is a little bit skewed and you are stuck behind the screen, but it’s still quite the view and is very intimate. You just can’t get any closer to the action than that.
The staff is pretty friendly especially with their regulars. They do a nice job with their on-​field promotions, they weren’t particularly creative but the night I was there they brought out a bunch of people who were big time hams and they made it pretty funny. I can’t comment on the food, I didn’t eat at the ballpark, but it looked pretty standard.
I give the Bakersfield Blaze and Sam Lynn Ballpark four stars, but I love baseball and don’t need all the bells and whistles that most people prefer. I’d be willing to bet that many people would give it one star and I would understand. But I do ask you not to take it for granted, Bakersfield. I would kill to have Sam Lynn and the Blaze in Ventura, warts and all.