TD Bank Ballpark

TD Bank Ballpark is a 6,100-seat baseball park in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey that is the home of the Somerset Patriots, who play in the Atlantic League of Professional baseball. The ballpark hosts 70 Patriots games plus some playoff games and other high school and corporate events each year. The ballpark is centrally located in the heart of Somerset County, New Jersey.

TD Bank Ballpark is named for TD Bank, N.A., which purchased Commerce Bancorp in 2009. Formerly called Commerce Bank Ballpark, the original naming rights were sold to the institution in July 2000. The stadium was originally known as Somerset Ballpark. Its first regular season baseball game was held on June 7, 1999. It was designed by Clark Caton Hintz and SSP Architecture and built by Epic Construction.

History

TD Bank Ballpark was opened by former New Jersey governor, Christine Todd Whitman, and other New Jersey officials on June 7, 1999.

TD Bank Ballpark is also the home of the Somerset County Baseball Tournament and was the home of the Big East Baseball Championship. In the off-season, the ballpark was the site of the Big Apple Circus, and other big events. In 2004, the New Jersey Fire of Pro Cricket played their only season of existence at TD Bank Ballpark.

Somerset Patriots

The Somerset Patriots is an American professional baseball team based in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey. They are a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. From the 1999 season to the present, the Patriots have played their home games at TD Bank Ballpark.

The Patriots are the winningest franchise of the Atlantic League, capturing six Championship Series titles in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, and most recently, 2015.

The "Patriots" name refers to the Middlebrook encampment where the first official flag of the United States was unfurled, after a law to adopt a national flag had been passed by Congress on June 14, 1777. By special order of Congress, a 13-star flag is flown 24 hours a day at the Washington Camp Ground, part of the former Middlebrook encampment, in Bridgewater Township.

History

The Somerset Patriots were one of the founding members of the Atlantic League in 1998. However, the team spent its inaugural season as a road team while TD Bank Park was being constructed. In the 1999 season, the Patriots opened their ballpark, where they quickly became one of the most successful franchises of the league in both of the win and attendance columns.

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that creates credit by lending money to a borrower, thereby creating a corresponding deposit on the bank's balance sheet. Lending activities can be performed either directly or indirectly through capital markets. Due to their importance in the financial system and influence on national economies, banks are highly regulated in most countries. Most nations have institutionalized a system known as fractional reserve banking under which banks hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. In addition to other regulations intended to ensure liquidity, banks are generally subject to minimum capital requirements based on an international set of capital standards, known as the Basel Accords.

Banking in its modern sense evolved in the 14th century in the rich cities of Renaissance Italy but in many ways was a continuation of ideas and concepts of credit and lending that had their roots in the ancient world. In the history of banking, a number of banking dynasties — notably, the Medicis, the Fuggers, the Welsers, the Berenbergs and the Rothschilds — have played a central role over many centuries. The oldest existing retail bank is Monte dei Paschi di Siena, while the oldest existing merchant bank is Berenberg Bank.

Baseball park

A baseball park, also known as a ballpark or diamond, is a venue where baseball is played. A baseball park consists of the playing field and the surrounding spectator seating. While the diamond and the areas denoted by white painted lines adhere to strict rules, guidelines for the rest of the field are flexible.

The term "ballpark" sometimes refers either to the entire structure, or sometimes to just the playing field. A home run where the player makes it around the bases, and back to home plate, without the ball leaving the playing field is typically called an "inside-the-park" home run. Sometimes a home run over the fence is called "out of the ballpark", but that phrase more often means a home run that clears the stands and lands outside the building. The playing field is most often called the "ballfield", though the term is often used interchangeable with "ballpark" when referring to a small local or youth league facility.

General characteristics

The playing field

A baseball field can be referred to as a diamond. The infield is a rigidly structured diamond of dirt containing the three bases, home plate, and the pitchers mound. The space between the bases and home is normally a grass surface, save for the dirt mound in the center. Some ballparks, like Toronto's Rogers Centre, have grass or artificial turf between the bases, and dirt only around the bases and pitcher's mound. Others, such as Koshien Stadium in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, have an entirely dirt infield.