Baseball fans across San Bernardino County can enjoy their favorite pastime by visiting Rancho Cucamongaâs LoanMart Field! Previously known as the City of Rancho Cucamonga Epicenter Entertainment & Sports Complex, or the Rancho Cucamonga Epicenter for short, the LoanMart Field is currently home to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes minor league baseball team. Founded on April 3, 1993, it currently has a seating capacity of 6,588 people, with the Quakes breaking several stadium attendance records! People fill the LoanMart Field in droves to talk with local baseball fans that are eager to watch a great game. And since the Quakesâ affiliation with the Los Angeles Dodgers, citizens from that city travel to the ballpark expecting to see future Dodgers stars!
The Quakes will later see themselves signing a ten-year partnership with auto title loan provider LoanMart just twenty years after the park opened, renaming it to what is known as the LoanMart Field. While this partnership has come to a close, the field remains a staple for baseball fans! The association benefited the team, the fans, and the people that use the stadium.
Read below to learn about everything there is to know about LoanMart Field and why you should visit the ballpark today!
The History of LoanMart Field
In the early 1990s, when the Quakes were known as the San Bernandino Spirit, its team majority owner Hank Stickney was informed by the city of Rancho Cucamonga of a new stadium they would be building for over $20 million. Back then, this kind of development was unheard of for a minor league baseball team! So Stickney jumped at the chance to play in this new ballpark. He sold the rights to the name, âThe San Bernardino Spirit,â to a different franchise and moved outside the construction zone. Construction started on November 14, 1991, with the team officially settling in 1993, switching their affiliation from the Seattle Mariners to the San Diego Padres. Named âThe Quakeâ by the teamâs management, they nicknamed the stadium the âEpicenter.â Strangely enough, the ballpark is adjacent to several earthquake fault lines!
The Early Seasons of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes debuted with their first game in the stadium on April 8, 1993, against Adelantoâs High Desert Mavericks, winning 7-3! The Quakes impressed baseball fans so much that ticket sales began to soar! They were so high that on May 22, over 440 temporary bleachers were added(221 in the left and 221 in the right field). By July that year, the team broke the California League attendance record, previously held by the High Desert Mavericks!
The Quakes ended the season with a record of 331,005, fourth of any Class-A team in the country and better than any Class-AA team that year. As soon as the 1993 season ended, The Quakes installed additional seats in the outfield area, increasing the seating capacity to 6,000.
Thankfully, the attendance growth didnât end there! After a triumphant win in the California League Championship, attendance rose in 1995, with the team playing to a 97% capacity. The following year was no exception, topping the league in attendance with 410,214 visitors! Although the team failed in the first round, they still made the playoffs.
LoanMart Field & Its Recent Years
After the completion of the 2009 season, Stickney sold the Quakes to Bobby Brett and his family-led ownership group, Brett Sports & Entertainment. To this day, Brett still operates the team to ensure they still exceed in every game as theyâve done since their inception! Two years after that trade, the Quakes finally began a partnership with the Los Angeles Dodgers, ending a ten-year run as the California League Affiliate of the Los Angeles Devils. That first year started with a bang, with the Quakes setting a franchise record in total wins with eighty! The following year wasnât as successful, but rehab appearances from Dodgersâ own Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp highlighted the season.
As of 2014, the field encompasses a 52-acre sports complex, and its proximity to multiple film studios in Los Angeles means that some studios filmed movies there! The stadium has also hosted non-sporting events like concerts, vehicle shows and exhibitions, community events, and festivals. Itâs also essential to note that on April 3, 2013, the team signed a contract with LoanMart for a ten-year partnership and naming deal, changing the ballpark name to LoanMart Field.
Who is LoanMart?
LoanMart is a title loan servicer that offers unmatched loan experience and support to help people overcome financial troubles. Founded in 2002, LoanMart has been in the business for twenty years, assisting over 250,000 people across the country by servicing safe and affordable title loans.1 2 Instead of solely looking at a personâs credit score to determine eligibility, LoanMart uses the clientâs car title and their ability to repay a title loan.1 That means a person is likelier to earn the money they need through a title loan than with other traditional loans.1 But LoanMartâs mission and dedication to serving their communities didnât stop with providing an opportunity for flexible and convenient funding1; it moved to another level unforeseen by many!
As you may have read previously, LoanMart partnered with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in 2013 with a purpose beyond just being an affiliate to the park. LoanMart had the idea of giving back to the people surrounding the city, donating over $50,000! Some of the contributions they have made can come in the form of:
- Funding the Strikeout Donations Program
- Creating a Scholarship Program
The strikeout donations program was an exciting way to donate money to the local community. Each time the opposing team got a strikeout, LoanMart gave $5 to the Rancho Cucamonga Community & Arts Foundation! Throughout the entire tenure of the partnership, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes scored over 7,000 strikeouts, making the total donations from LoanMart over $37,000.
LoanMartâs Scholarship Program & Its Benefaction to Rancho Cucamonga
The past scholarship program, a partnership between LoanMart and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, worked to reward a $1,000 scholarship for college, university, or vocational schools to three students with outstanding character. These students demonstrated academic excellence and gave back to their community in some way. It was also based solely on a studentâs eagerness to learn and passion for reaching future career goals. To determine which applicants deserve the scholarship the most, LoanMart evaluated a studentâs recommendation letters, past accomplishments, and future aspirations. The chosen student then had the opportunity to watch a Quakes game with their family, where they were awarded the scholarship live in the stadium!
However, the program expanded from being localized in San Bernardino to reaching any high school student nationwide! This new scholarship is known as the LoanMart Merit Scholarship, where one lucky winner will be awarded $2,000. But in San Bernardino, LoanMart gave out $18,000 to students across the valley since they conceived the scholarship.
The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
The Quakes franchise existed way before the â90s, dating back to 1966 when it played in Lodi, California. A team of investors from the city allocated $2,500 together a few years earlier to start the franchise, with the first name being the Lodi Crushers. Since its creation, the team has crossed different hands, being sold from one group of collaborating town residents to another. At the same time, the Quakes have affiliated with other baseball teams since 1984, like the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Aâs, San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, and then returned to the Cubs in â84. During their time in Lodi, their name evolution went almost through the same pattern as their affiliations. After being nicknamed the Crushers, the team underwent several name changes, such as Padres, Orions, Lions, Orioles, Dodgers, and then changed back to Crushers in 1984.
While in Lodi, the team won several California League Championships, with victories coming in 1973, 1977, and 1981. However, after the 1984 season, the Chicago Cubs decided to move all Minor League teams east of the Mississippi River and pulled out of Lodi. This left franchise owner, Michelle Sprague, scrounging for a major league affiliate to back them up; but with no luck in sight, she had no choice but to deactivate the team for a year and sell it off to a group headed by former L.A. Dodger, Ken McMullen. But that only lasted one season, though, when Ken couldnât find a suitable site to locate the team outside of Lodi. So with that being said, he chose to sell the team to a group of investors, including Roy Englebrecht, actor Mark Harmon, and of course, Hank Stickney. The team moved to San Bernardino in 1987, renaming themselves the San Bernardino Spirit. And as you may know, the rest is history.
Many notable players have spent one time or another playing for the Quakes, some becoming superstars within the sport, including:
- Cody Bellinger
- Julio UrĂas
- Matt Kemp
- Mike Napoli
- Mike Trout
- Josh Beckett
- Carl Crawford
On any given year, the Quakes are likely to create dozens of potential Dodgers players that work their way up in the big leagues. You donât know what future stars can come out of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes!
The Features of LoanMart Field
LoanMart Field can provide a memorable experience for baseball fans that visit the stadium from all over the country. To make your way down the ballpark, you would have to go through the beautiful road of Stadium Way before arriving at the parking lot. Visitors can embrace the field outside with palm trees decorating the entire walkway. It creates a glorious, vibrant feel that many places in Southern California are known for. The Quakesâ stadium is also home to some of the most stunning views, with spectacular mountain vistas! While people with first-base seats could enjoy the more dazzling sights, that doesnât mean attendees sitting outside of that area canât have the same feeling. Thankfully, almost the entire park is filled with trees that can make you feel like youâre in the San Gabriel Mountains! Also, you can walk to the first-base side to see the mountains yourself!
There are plenty of group seating options for you to choose from. For example, there are the âDugout Decksâ near third base, the âFault Zoneâ near shallow right field, the âCafeâ near shallow left field, and some six luxury boxes if you want a closed-off area for you and your loved ones. The stadium also has whatâs known as the âBatting Cage Terrace.â where fans can watch players take batting practice in an open batting cage adjacent to the home bullpen. During the games, fans can take a swing at the batting cage for a short period! If youâre a gamer, The Dave & Busterâs Fun Zone offers features that can be entertaining to play, like a jump house, speed pitch, and an obstacle course!
LoanMart Fieldâs Concession & Food Stands
Most baseball enthusiasts may agree that the food and drink are part of the overall experience of watching a game. Some might say itâs not enough to watch a game if they donât have a hotdog! Fortunately, LoanMart Field offers different food items that can satisfy your hunger while enjoying a good ball game.
If youâre a longtime L.A. Dodgers fan, you might know a thing or two about the Dodger Dog! Although you may believe you wouldnât find that on a Quakes game, think again! LoanMart Field can provide you both with the Dodger Dog and the Doyer Dog, with the Dodger Dog topped off with a Cali-Mexican flavor with jalapeños, pico de gallo, and nacho cheese. However, if you want something slightly different, you can try the Loaded Tremor Tots! These are tater tots named after the Quakesâ mascot Tremor, which is covered with nacho cheese, sour cream, green onions, and bacon bits. In addition, you can choose to eat from specialty burger options, teriyaki bowls, tacos, and burritos!
The Rancho Cucamonga Quakesâ Mascots!
Aside from the games and attractions at LoanMart Field, the Quakes mascots are something else that kids can enjoy during a game! They offer the chance to entertain the audience and motivate them to root for the Quakes! Whenever you attend a home game, you might have the opportunity to see Tremor and his little brother, Aftershock.
Tremor is a green-billed dinosaur that acts as the face of the team in the stadium and the community. The âRallysaurusâ is twenty-something years old, seven feet tall, and has what the Quakes describe as â3,000 pounds of Rallysaurus muscle.â His origin story is quite interesting, with Tremor being a baseball player dating back over 2.5 million years ago! One day, while batting for the Green Sox, a massive earthquake struck the present-day LoanMart Field, leaving him trapped underneath the earthâs surface for all those years. As luck would have it, another quake hit the field in 1992, finally releasing Tremor from the rubble. While that event might have given him the chance to play once more, he was unfortunately too tall to play with the humans. But management saw an excellent opportunity to let his personality shine as the Quakesâ mascot!
Visit LoanMart Field Today!
Whenever youâre reading this, if you have the chance to watch a game in the LoanMart Field, itâs recommended that you do so! You might have a great time soaking up the ambiance, being next to excited baseball fans like you, and having fun in or out of the game! People have talked about how great the stadium is, and itâs time you try it out yourself!
Located at 8408 Rochester Ave, take the chance to visit one of the best Minor League stadiums that Southern California has to offer!
