Trenton Thunder Ballpark

Trenton Thunder Ballpark
Location	Trenton, NJ United States 40.203398; -74.760297
Building chronology
Built	1994
Tenants
Trenton Thunder
Capacity
6,606 (largest professional baseball crowd 9,212) Dimensions: Left Field: 330 feet Center Field: 407 feet Right Field: 330 feet

Trenton Thunder Ballpark in Trenton, NJ, was the home of Trenton affiliated baseball from 1994 through 2019, ending the tenure as Samuel J. Plumeri, Sr. Field at Arm & Hammer Park. After the Coronavirus pandemic-cancelled 2020 season and MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization, the New York Yankees dropped the Trenton Thunder of the Double-A Eastern League for the nearby Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League. They then joined the new MLB Draft League.

As recently as the start of the MBLDL's 2023 season, the Thunder publicly said they want back into affiliated baseball. The reorganization eliminated distancing requirements that might have made Somerset a problem, and the 10-year partnership cycles that replaced Minor League Baseball's player development contracts with their two- to four-year cycles apparently have more escape valves for the MLB clubs, so any such move could come as late as any off-season for the next campaign.

Construction delays pushed the opening of what was then known as Mercer County Waterfront Park a month into the 1994 season, with the homes of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, Reading Phillies and Philadelphia Phillies pinch-hitting in the meantime. Even then, rainouts - often declared despite day-long sunshine - plagued the ballpark. The culprit turned out to be the sod, which had been laid so poorly that it had to be entirely redone after the maiden season. Arm & Hammer added stadium naming rights to its existing sponsorship in 2013. Derek Jeter's 2011 Independence Day Eve rehabilitation drew its record crowd, 9,212.

Previously, the Yanks and Thunder had projected their future as far as eight years out despite an official four-year limit. The disappointed Thunder passed up the Pats' berth in the indy circuit, only to be bumped again: The 2021 Toronto Blue Jays, kept in the United States by Canadian Coronavirus pandemic border restrictions, played in Buffalo, NY, in June and most of July. Their Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons shifted to Trenton's vacated ballpark, using the moniker Thunder when home - and the MLBDL club played at Rider University. The Jays returned home July 30th, so the Bisons' last game at Trenton was on July 25th. The Thunder then played their last 2021 homestand, August 3rd through 8th, in Trenton.