The Hoover Met

Exterior of Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, Aug-2007.

The seating bowl, as seen from down the right-field line.

A look at the view from behind home plate.

• Location: Ben Chapman Drive at Stadium Trace Parkway (1.2 miles from AL 150), Hoover, Ala.
• Opened: 1988 as Hoover Metropolitan Stadium
• Additional names: Regions Park (2007)
• Home team: Birmingham Barons, Southern League (1988-present)
• Capacity: 10,800

Rating: 3 baseballs

The Hoover Met, as it’s often called, was built around the same time, and to similar specifications, as Lackawanna County Stadium outside Scranton, Pa. One advantage this park has, however, is that it never had artificial turf, despite the fact that Hoover High School plays football here.

The night I went, Friday the 13th of August 1993, they sold over 8000 tickets, and they weren’t about to issue that many rain checks when a torrential downpour attacked the field 10 minutes before game time. After a 2½-hour rain delay, the fans got to see the game, along with The Famous Chicken.

I returned to the site over Fourth of July weekend in 2004, and while the Barons were on a road trip, a club employee let me in to take some park photos. Finally, in 2007, I was able to return to the park and get some actual game shots. By then, the park had acquired a naming sponsor, for the first time in its 20-year history.