Canal Park

• Name: Canal Park
• GPS-able Address: 300 South Main Street, Akron, OH 44308
• Ballpark Owner: City of Akron
• Architects: HOK Sport (now Populous)
• Groundbreaking: 1/5/1996
• Minor League Baseball/Professional Development League Teams: Akron RubberDucks (AA) 2014-present; Akron Aeros (AA) 1997-2013
• Pro Baseball Class/League History: Eastern League 2022-present; Double-A Northeast 2021; Eastern League 1997-2020
• First Pro Baseball Game: 4/10/1997; stadium debut of Class AA Aeros
• Others Playing or Operating Here: None
• Previous Ballpark Names: None
• LF: 331 CF: 400 RF: 337
• Seats: 7,630
• Stated Capacity: 9,000
• House Baseball/Softball Record Attendance (as currently configured): 9,328, 5/30/2011

Canal Park in Akron, OH, is the home of the Akron RubberDucks, the Cleveland Guardians' Double-A Eastern League farm team. Its clock tower, modeled on the iconic one at Goodyear Tire and Rubber, salutes Akron's status as the rubber capital of the world.

Akron City Council has agreed to fund $2 million in renovations made necessary by ballpark standards MLB enacted in its 2021 Minor League Reorganization.

As beautiful on its own as had come to be expected from architect HOK Sport, its view of downtown Akron is a real plus. The stadium name salutes the nearby Ohio and Erie Canal, which opened up the then-frontier state in 1825.

In 1989, the former Vermont Mariners moved into brand-new Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton, OH - but in 1997 brand-new "downtown retro" Canal Park drew the Canton-Akron Indians north. Moving into the ballpark designed by HOK Sport (now Populous), they became the Akron Aeros. Their home debut drew 9,068, still its baseball record.

How did a professional baseball club move into separate new stadiums in the same market just eight years apart? Munson opened the year after HOK's new Buffalo Bisons' stadium did. That project, in retrospect, is regarded inside baseball circles as the beginning of HOK's downtown retro concept - but the minors are the minors and the general public didn't notice. That changed at the speed of a fastball with the 1994 opening of HOK's first MLB stadium, Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Once Akron decided to build a new ballpark and signed that architect, the Canton stadium never had a chance of retaining the club.

Akron is also the gravity racing capital of the world, and the Soap Box Derby Parade of Champions starts at Canal Park.