It has been a while. But finally here is another edition of Ballparks Around the World. In today’s episode we pay attention the the home field of baseball club Neptunus from Rotterdam: the Neptunus Familiestadion (family stadium).
Baseball club Neptunus is located at the current site since 1945. In the years before the construction of the current stadium, the site only had a couple of small bleachers on both sides of home plate. Even then it was called Neptunus Familiestadion even though it didn’t look like a stadium at all.
Eventually, in 1999, the new ballpark is constructed. After the Pim Mulier Stadium in Haarlem, the Familiestadion will be the second concrete ballpark in the Netherlands.
The ballpark in the North of Rotterdam, which is situated next to the Rotterdam Zoo, contains twelve locker rooms, massage rooms and umpire dressing rooms.
The ballpark contains 2,500 seats.
As the ballpark would host the 2005 World Championship, the ballpark would get a major upgrade. First of all, the outfield fence was placed back so the dimensions would meet the international standards of 98 meters-120 meters-98 meters (LF-CF-RF). The ballpark also got additional light towers so the ballpark would meet the standards in that area too.
To protect players from being injured, blue padding was added to the fences that surrounds the field. A batters eye was placed in center field and to complete the upgrades, two authentic foul poles were placed at the end of the third base and first base lines.
The site of the Familiestadion hosts the bi-annual baseball event World Port Tournament since 1985, which is a fix on the Dutch baseball calendar next to the Haarlem Baseball Week.
The ballpark is now owned by the city of Rotterdam. Unfortunately, the maintenance of the concrete structure leaves some things to be desired. The concrete of the stands is covered with algae which gives it a dirty look. Also the construction itself has some flaws as there is water running into the clubhouse/restaurant with heavy rain.
Here are some impressions of the ballpark:
Dutch Baseball Hangout 