SOUTH BEND – Four Winds Field, home of the South Bend Cubs, has been voted the best Class-A ballpark in the country in the 2017 Ballpark Digest’s Best of the Ballparks competition.

The Class-A affiliate of the World Series Champion Chicago Cubs came in as an eight seed in the bracket-style contest, defeating the Kannapolis Intimidators (Intimidators Stadium), the Peoria Chiefs (Dozer Park), the number one seeded Fort Wayne Tincaps (Parkview Field), the Asheville Tourists (McCormick Field) and the number two seeded Quad Cities River Bandits (Modern Woodman Park). Both the Tincaps and River Bandits had previously won the title of Best of the Ballparks.

“We are an organization that doesn’t focus on customer satisfaction, rather we go for the thrill!” exclaimed South Bend Cubs Owner Andrew T. Berlin. “As such, our ballpark is beautiful, activities abound, food is incredible and diverse, and the playing surface and state of the art Performance Center for the players are second to none. All of this has driven record attendance for five straight years! Thank you to all our fans for this great honor!”

“It’s incredibly humbling to see the outpouring of support in this competition,” said Team President Joe Hart. “When I first came to South Bend, the facility had recently received an upgrade, while maintaining it’s classic charm. But it was still lacking in a few key areas that we identified and quickly resolved. Now, Four Winds Field is not just a great ballpark, it’s the Best of the Ballparks.”

Voting was conducted on BallparkDigest.com with all 30 Class-A teams represented. In the finals, Four Winds Field topped Modern Woodman Park with 56% of the vote. According to Ballpark Digest, a third of voters work in the baseball industry, a third sell to the baseball industry, and the final third is made up of fans and media.

This is not the first award the South Bend franchise has won from Ballpark Digest. In 2015, the South Bend Cubs were named Team of the Year and in 2012, Four Winds Field (formerly Stanley Coveleski Regional Stadium) received the Ballpark Renovation of the Year award.