Nashua Silver Knights (Futures League) @ Holman Stadium (Nashua, NH)

A historic stadium with a high-ish profile team

*This trip occurred on the morning of July 4th, 2025.

Holman Stadium is quite historic: opened in 1937, it's seen a lot of teams and a lot of leagues come and go - from affiliated minor league teams to independent leagues. In 2011, the (then) newly created Futures Collegiate Baseball League became the newest tenant with the Nashua Silver Knights, and they've been there ever since. In fact, they're the most successful team in the Futures League, having won the most championships (six as of 2024) and being the only team from the original FCBL season to still be in the league.

The stadium is similar to the one in Hudson Valley - you enter under a grandstand that blocks the field from the entrance, but once you get inside, the concourse (or, to be more accurate, the main walkway) extends past the grandstand. The seating areas are split into upper and lower areas like Trenton and Somerset, but one thing that should be noted if you’re looking for the “best” views: there’s an aisle right behind home plate (at least in the upper seating bowl), so you can’t really get a "head-on" view of the pitcher without standing (unless you’re in the press box). Also, most of the lower bowl is in the sun during day games, so it can be pretty hot if you’re sitting there (even on a day when it was “cool” like this one). I honestly really wish I could say more about this place, but I really don’t know what else there is to say (remember, the stadium is approaching 90 years old).

If you’re looking for something to entertain kids outside of the game itself, there’s a family area down the left field line with a bunch of activities. In addition to a pair of concession stands under the grandstand, there's a second stand down the right field line that actually has a different selection from the main stand (for example: they had cheese curds). This is also where the Silver Knights bullpen is, and the players often end up talking to folks across the fence. This particular day also featured a video game truck in right (with someone in an Eevee costume) and a dunk tank in left with a few of the players who weren’t scheduled to appear. These areas are at field level, which is below the stadium's walkway, so you actually climb down the lower bowl to get to them from inside (though the outer concourse does slope down to them).

The nice thing about the summer leagues: tickets are usually very inexpensive (the Cape League being technically free and the Futures League usually not being more than ten dollars on average) and parking is free in most places (exceptions: ex-minor league teams). In fact, the ticket for this game was free, as it's an annual Fourth of July promo! The only “catch” is that it’s an 11 AM game that got moved to 10:30 AM, but that doesn’t really change much.

…or at least it wouldn’t if it hadn’t also shortened the game to seven innings. This was done to accommodate a Fourth of July “block party” that was being set up on the road the entrance to the stadium is on. I had seen this information before, but completely forgot about it until Nashua broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh and celebrated like they won (because they had). Also, said seventh inning also featured the visiting team’s only hit - but their run came in an earlier inning.

Crowds here are fairly decent by New England Summer Collegiate standards (especially with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats only 17 miles away - though that’s a bit of a different story). I've been here quite a few times, and the thing that always strikes me about this place is the fans - quite possibly the rowdiest fans in all of New England. The most notable of these fans is the “Mad Dog”: a dude who’s constantly yelling at the players (usually trying to induce bad play from the opponents) and beating a drum for big plays (and his birthday just so happens to be July 4th). I remember hearing about a “two outs” tradition the team had back in the day, but for whatever reason, they didn’t have it when I went this year (despite the fan who leads it being present I THINK); my guess is that the umpires’ association felt it constituted harassment of their umpires…

MERCH

As a collegiate summer league team, merchandise isn't really one of their strong suits (this is the case for most summer league teams - especially the New England ones). They do have a stand with a few items, but most times I've tried to find a hat, I've found myself out of luck (the main exception being going to their second home game one year - but even then, they were MOSTLY out of hats). One thing that separates them from a lot of other teams in New England: they DO have online ordering available, though it’s a little weird and I’ve never ordered anything from them online.

Alas, my hat luck continues to be just a bit off, as they only had small and XL sized hats (one of which I ended up getting), but I did get a program for free - something I hadn’t seen before here. Also, I didn’t see ANY baseballs on sale, making this one of the few stops where I didn’t buy any baseballs (the second one was this same day BTW). They also had an homage to a previous independent baseball team (the Nashua Pride) that I was interested in, but they only had small hats available...