Ron Tonkin Field

• Name: Ron Tonkin Field
• GPS-able Address: 4460 NE. Century Blvd., Hillsboro, OR 97124
• Ballpark Owner: City of Hillsboro
• Architects: SRG Partnership
• Groundbreaking: 9/21/2012
• Minor League Baseball/Professional Development League Teams: Hillsboro Hops (A+) 2021-present; Hillsboro Hops (A-) 2013-2020
• Pro Baseball Class/League History: A+/Northwest League 2022-present; A+/High-A West 2021; A-/Northwest League 2013-2020
• First Pro Baseball Game: 6/17/2013; stadium debut of Class A-Short Season Hops
• Others Playing or Operating Here: None
• Previous Ballpark Names: None
• LF: 325 CF: 401 RF: 325
• Seats: 3,534
• Stated Capacity: 4,500
• House Baseball/Softball Record Attendance: 5,506, 7/3/2018

Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro, OR, is the home of the Hillsboro Hops, the Arizona Diamondbacks' High-A Northwest League farm team. With a March 8, 2023, announcement, its days as such appear to be numbered.

The [Portland, suburb built the stadium on the grounds of the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex for the Yakima Bears, who had tried for years to get Yakima County either to renovate or replace their eastern Washington facility.

After all that, the Hops soon had to do so again. Having been built for short-season baseball near the bottom of Minor League Baseball hierarchy that was then in place, the ballpark was well short of standards MLB imposed in its 2021 Minor League Reorganization.

After initially putting together a deal to renovate "The Tonk" up to those standards, the ball club and its architectural team decided it would be more cost effective to build anew. They say most of the funding will come from private sources the Hops have tapped. The new playpen also will be in the Farber complex, and the city will retain ownership and control of the old one.[1]

The plan has become controversial, with the change of mind plus MLB's 2025 deadline for a completed new ballpark creating a time crunch that caused the team to bypass the Hillsboro Parks and Recreation Commission and deal directly with city administrators.

Because of pandemic border restrictions, Tonkin Field also hosted the Vancouver Canadians in 2021. Although those were easing at the time, the C's announced August 24th they would play the rest of the season at The Tonk. They closed the campaign September 19th as the home team against their temporary housemates.

The playpen opened as Hillsboro Ballpark in 2013. The next year, the Tonkin name went up per a naming rights deal with a local automobile dealership. The Tonkins later sold that business, but Ed and Adam Tonkin have since joined the Hops' ownership. Principal owner Mike McMurray announced in April 2022 that the father-son duo now has the second-largest stake in the club.

Portland had Triple-A baseball from 1919 through 1972, but since then two Triple-A teams moved away amid financial failure, a third lost its ballpark, and two NwL teams were bumped by incoming Triple-A. Déjà vu? Portland is working on an effort to land Major League ball through expansion or relocation of an existing franchise. In either scenario, the Professional Development League team would be unlikely to survive a successful bid except by landing the Portland affiliation.