Opening in 1941, Sam Lynn Ballpark is the oldest of the California League facilities and in ways it shows it. It's also one of the most unique places you can visit and has had many stars play in it, most of them from the Dodgers organization. Two things stand out the most. First, the fact it was built such that the sun sets behind center field required the construction of a massive wall that serves as a sun shield. Even with that, sometimes games don't start until closer to 8 PM. Second, center field is only 354 feet from home plate. The 15-foot high wall helps compensate for that, but the ballpark can be very unfriendly to pitchers.

While it's not a place with a bunch of new amenities, I like it. Sometimes I'll take an older, different place over newer locations, at least as an occasional alternative. While there's no field access, there is ample room to work from the seating areas behind and to either side of the plate. The only problem from the sides is a chain link fence in the way, which makes getting good photos a bit of a challenge until you find enough of an opening that the fence itself doesn't get in the way. The net behind the plate is much better. At least you can get good, low angles out of it. With the 10:30 start, the sun was behind the plate for most of the game.

It's not unlike Wahconah Park given the orientation of the field, and you can read more about Sam Lynn Ballpark on the Bakersfield Blaze website or Wikipedia.

High Desert scored the first two runs in the second before Bakersfield got all the rest, winning by a score of 7-2. Starter Tommy Hunter was very effective, going 8 innings while allowing just 6 hits, no walks and 8 strikeouts. 6 of those came in two innings when he struck out the side, all swinging. Four Blaze hitters had 2 or more hits.

A sample:

5/14/08: High Desert Mavericks at Bakersfield Blaze