Elfstrom Stadium - Geneva, Illinois

-- Matt Nelson 

(Note: Matt Nelson is traveling the "Ballparks of the Midwest" for KCRG. For more ballparks, visit the KCRG.com Ballparks site) 

In the far western suburbs of Chicago they have a new ballpark. Well, not really, but that's the sense you get walking around Philip B. Elfstrom Stadium in Geneva, Illinois. 

The home of the Kane County Cougars, the Oakland Athletics affiliate in the Midwest League, underwent a $10.5 million renovation prior to 2009. This project was highlighted by the addition of a suite level (to see what the park looked like prior to 2009, look at the photos here from DigitalBallparks.com). There were also new team offices constructed and all of this work means that "The Elf" is now a year-round facility capable of hosting events besides Cougar baseball. 

The Cougars moved into brand new Elfstrom Stadium in 1991 after moving to Geneva from Wausau, Wisconsin. For many years the landfill just south of the ballpark parking lots was open and active with garbage truck traffic. Today that landfill is closed and is nothing more than some large heaps of earth. 

When the club arrived in the suburbs there was some question as to just how successful of an experiment the Cougars would be. With regular attendance of more than 6,000, the Cougars are regularly second in the Midwest League in attendance. 

Although the team is in the Chicago area, you don't really get a sense of "the city" when you're near the ballpark. So it's actually pretty appropriate that one of the staple food items at Cougars games is the fresh roasted sweet corn. The corn is roasted outdoors on a roaster that cooks for 20 minutes. On busy nights in peak-corn-season the stand will shell out upwards of 400 ears of the yellow vegetable. 

In Chicagoland it's obvious there are plenty of fans to support baseball, not only at the Major League level, but also at the minor league level. It's also obvious that in many cases there's no need to build a stadium or move a team, at least not when you can invest money into an existing ballpark and significantly improve it.