2025 Baseball Stadium Tour: Four Winds Park

 One of my 25 in 2025 items was to see a new baseball park. When we had to cancel spring training, I didn't think it was going to happen as we planned on going to Iowa and Omaha which we've been to before. Then we had to pivot at the last minute and ended up going to Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky which gave us a couple new stadiums

Four Winds Park is the home of the South Bend Cubs, in downtown South Bend, IN. The South Bend Cubs are the High-A Affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and play in the Midwest League. This is our 11th Midwest League Park (8th active). Only 4 more to go.

There is plenty of parking around the stadium. It was a short walk from the parking lot to the gates. We opted to walk to the main entrance and not the outfield entrance. We just followed the paw prints.

One ticket scanned just fine but my other ticket would not scan. The guy was all apologetic when he sent me to the ticket window for a paper ticket. Didn't he know paper tickets are like the ultimate keepsake since all tickets are pretty much digital now. I had no issues going to get a paper ticket. 

First order of business (okay second after getting a pressed penny) was to get my stamp. The team store was out in the outfield in an old Jewish Synagogue. 

We then found our seats which were in the front row. The cubs were playing Fort Wayne Tin Caps. It wasn't a bad game. Our seats were great. 

I found it surprisingly they had the bullpens on the field. There wasn't much foul territory.

Like most minor league parks, you could walk around the whole park. I loved the little pieces of history scattered around the outfield. 

Four Winds Field surprised me since it is a Cubs park. Despite being home to a Cubs team, we would definitely go back even if the fans were definitely Cubs fans. 

2019 Baseball Stadium Tour -- Modern Woodmen Park

When we saw that the T-Rats were closing out the season at Quad Cities and the Brewers were home against the Astros on Labor Day, it made sense that our Labor Day weekend trip was a close one.. Davenport and Milwaukee.

Quad Cities River Bandits play in Davenport, IA which is one of the four cities in the Quad Cities. They play at Modern Woodmen Park which is just south of downtown. Googlemaps actually had us going through town instead of taking the bypass around then getting off the highway. We thought that was easier after we took it getting out of town.

Modern Woodmen Park is right on the Mississippi River. Being so close to the river, it does flood from time to time and home runs could land in the river. There are several lots near the ball park. The website really didn't say where to park so we winged it and it worked out.

The stadium was built in 1931 and has gone over several names and renovations throughout the years. You can tell it's an older ballpark with the having to climb stairs to enter the stadium once you get inside. It is actually a very nice, modern stadium.

Beyond left field is a small amusement park, for a lack of better term. There is giant Bandit Ferris Wheel which if the hubby wasn't afraid of heights I would have insisted on riding. There is also an old school carousel plus a few smaller rides for kids.

The netting pretty much runs from the length of the seating area which is pretty much dugout to dugout. There is some picnic areas and grass seating along the outfield lines but the actual seats extend dugout to dugout. We sat behind the T-rats dugout and had really good seats.

It was a pretty good game with the T-Rats winning (I think). We spent most of the game talking to the bus driver who we met when the hubby went to say hi to someone he knew that is a host family.

We would definitely come back here. It's a nice park with good amenities and the food isn't bad either. Only two more stadiums left in Iowa to hit and they aren't usually home at the same time.

In case you are keeping track, I've been to 13 major league and 12 minor league parks.. the hubby is at 12 and 11. I have Fenway and Jacksonville Suns on him.

Where will our travels take us next year? Stay tuned to see where the 2020 baseball stadium tour takes us.