UPMC Park

• Name: UPMC Park
• GPS-able Address: 831 French Street, Erie, PA 16501
• Ballpark Owner: Erie County Convention Center Authority
• Architects: Lescher Mahoney Sports Weber Murphy Fox
• Groundbreaking: 7/24/1994

• Minor League Baseball Teams: Erie SeaWolves (AA) 1999-present; Erie SeaWolves: (Short-Season A) 1995-1998
• Class/League History: AA/Eastern League 2022-present; AA/Double-A Northeast 2021; AA/Eastern League 1999-2020; A-Short Season New York-Pennsylvania League 1995-1998
• First Professional Baseball Game: 6/20/1995; stadium debut of Short-Season A SeaWolves
• Others Playing or Operating Here: None
• Previous Ballpark Names: Jerry Uht Park 1995-2016
• LF: 317 CF: 400 RF: 328
• Seats: 4,109
• Stated Capacity: 6,000
• House Baseball/Softball Record Attendance (as currently configured): 7,070, 5/24/2023

History

UPMC Park in Erie, PA, is the home of the Erie SeaWolves, the Detroit Tigers' Double-A Eastern League farm team. Finished in May 1995, it was originally named for Gerard "Jerry" Uht Sr. - who played in the minors from 1948 through 1951 and set up a permanent endowment for the stadium the year it opened.

After the Erie Sailors of the New York-Pennsylvania League fled Ainsworth Field for New York state, the city broke ground for a new ballpark in July 1994. "The Uht" lured the NYPL's Welland Pirates to town, then in 1999 landed an Eastern League franchise that kept the SeaWolves name and bumped the NYPL club to Niles, OH.

Attendance runs in the low 200,000s, never higher than ninth in the twelve-team league. The University of Pennsylvania Medical Center bought naming rights after the 2016 season.

In a project announced in August 2018, the Indiana-based architectural firm Jones Petrie Rafinski thoroughly renovated the aging ballpark - without doubt saving professional baseball for Erie. MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization reduced the minors by a net of 40 franchises, but within those cuts the net change in each of the 11 surviving circuits had to be an even number. Two lists leaked in late 2019 were nearly identical and included the SeaWolves and the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Perennially being the EL's bottom two in attendance made them logical candidates, and depending when the lists were made their stadiums may have moved them from logical to obvious. Both could have been described as aging facilities past their prime; by the time of the restructuring, neither could be. Based on media reports, each city thinks it saved the other under the need to have an even number in the league.

Unique Features

What is now UPMC Park was thoroughly renovated between the 2018 and 2021 seasons - so thoroughly that some say it was actually rebuilt.

The original ballpark, then called Jerry Uht Stadium, was built for Single A ball. As a result, the ballpark that soon stepped up to Double-A lacked features associated with newer ballparks at its level. The downtown location required that the park be built in a space less than a city block. In order to fit the park into this space, "The Uht" was built asymmetrically. Because of this design, many visitors describe The Uht as "two different parks put together". Along the third-base line leading into left field, the Uht had the feel of a Single-A park in an urban setting.

The third base grandstand was single-tiered with a large pedestrian walkway above the infield box, and a row of luxury skyboxes at top. Past the left field bleachers, the downtown skyline of Erie is set off by Tullio Arena which is home to the Erie Otters, a minor league hockey team. A long homer to left can easily land on top of the building's roof. Tullio Arena shares its locker rooms with The Uht in a conservation of space. In contrast, the first-base grandstands are double-tiered in a similar manner to many newer minor league parks. Past the right field bleachers, the view is of a residential neighborhood and is directly bordered by Holland St. In June, 2007, ESPN.com ranked the first base grandstands at "The Uht" #5 in the "top ten seats in minor league baseball".