Norfolk Tides
With rain pouring down and a postponement likely, I make a solo Trip to Harbor Park Stadium, home of the Norfolk Tides, who would win the 2023 Triple-A National Championship.
Norfolk's Harbor Park Stadium was one of the most anticipated stops of our 20-ballpark road trip. In the first half of the season, the Norfolk Tides — the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles — had been the best team in Minor League Baseball, playing in the highest-rated Minor League system in baseball. The Orioles were loaded with up-and-coming talent, and we were excited to see the best of it on display.
But it had rained most of the day in Norfolk, and it looked all but certain that our ballgame there would be postponed. We rested up in our hotel in Portsmouth, just across the Elizabeth River from downtown Norfolk and Harbor Park. Dad napped while I sat propped up on my bed, refreshing the Tides Twitter account every minute or so to confirm the bad news. It had been a long day — two-and-a-half hours of driving, plus a full itinerary of sightseeing. I closed my eyes for just a bit to relax…
I woke up with a jolt. I had fallen asleep! I checked Twitter quickly. To my astonishment, I saw that the team had opened the gates, hoping the weather would shift soon. I jumped off the bed and told Dad I was heading to Harbor Park. I still thought it was unlikely that a game would be played, but we had tickets, and I wanted to see what I could. Dad elected to stay behind, and I sped away to the ballpark.
Designed by ballpark-architecture king Populous, Harbor Park opened in 1993 at a cost of $16 million to welcome the newly rebranded Norfolk Tides. The Tides name goes back to 1961, when the Portsmouth-Norfolk Tides joined the Class-A South Atlantic League. Previous clubs from the area, going back to the 19th century, included the Portsmouth Truckers, Norfolk Tars, Portsmouth Cubs, and Portsmouth Merrimacs.
In 1963, the Tides moved to the Class-A Carolina League as the Tidewater Tides. By 1969, the community was ready to step up to Triple-A baseball and launched a new Tidewater Tides franchise in the International League, which took on the Norfolk name in 1993.
Harbor Park can accommodate 11,856 fans and drew 5,745 per game in 2023, 13th in the International League. None of those seats were occupied when I reached the concourse for my first view of the ballpark.
Norfolk has been affiliated with the Orioles since 2007. Before that, the team had a long relationship with the New York Mets, going back to that club’s inception in 1969. Tides alumni include stars that were central to the Mets World Series championship in 1986 (Mookie Wilson, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden), as well as the rising stars that make up the current Orioles roster (Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Bradish).
Norfolk had won five International League titles in its history, but the last ring came in 1985 — a 37-year drought. Later in 2023, however, the Tides would come from behind to win a best-of-three series against the Durham Bulls to secure their sixth league crown. Norfolk would go on to beat the Pacific Coast League winners, the Oklahoma CIty Dodgers, for their second-ever Triple-A National Championship title.
The Tides were scheduled to play the Charlotte Knights, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. The Knights had been straight-up awful to start the second half, posting a dismal record of 5-25.
Fans milled about the concourse, taking the opportunity to grab some food and beer. A DJ along the walkway played tunes to keep things upbeat and lively.
It was United States Coast Guard Night at the ballpark. Representatives of the Guard base in Portsmouth had set up tables to show off their equipment and discuss recruitment.
I ducked into the team store to find a hat to commemorate my visit. The Tides have an excellent selection of merchandise representing the main brand, with tridents, anchors, and splashes of water gracing hats and jerseys; The team also has sharp logos for its numerous alternate identities, such as the Norfolk Coffee (available in regular and iced, celebrating the region’s many coffee roasters); the Norfolk Squeezers (a tip of the cap to Orange Crush, a regional favorite); the Norfolk Lumpia (honoring the area’s Filipino community); and its Copa de la Diversión persona, Pajaritos (“baby birds”) de Norfolk.
Norfolk has two mascots. Rip Tide is a big, blue, fuzzy creature who debuted with the renaming of the franchise in 1993. Triton, a green sea creature more in line with the main brand, first appeared in 2016. Neither made an appearance on the night.
I considered getting a bite to eat, with plenty of good-looking options available — brisket, pulled pork, street tacos, and the usual ballpark fare. But if the game was going to get rained out, I wanted to save my stomach for dinner later with Dad.
The rain continued unabated. The forecast called for much more. A quickly widening lake formed in the left field corner. It was clearer than ever that the contest would be called off.
Finally, there was an announcement over the public address system: The game would be moved to the following day as part of a doubleheader with Charlotte. We had dodged a lot of weather on this trip, and it finally caught up to us. But I was consoled by getting a chance to see the ballpark, even if it the field was under a tarp the entire time.