Extra Innings, Extra Excitement

The Views at Coolray. Luxury apartment living in the outfield.

“Did I die and go to heaven?” 

That’s what I would ask if I lived in an apartment complex like The Views at Coolray Field. I would have been able to watch the Gwinnett Stripers (AAA Braves) play the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (AAA Marlins) from the comfort of my balcony or from the salt-water infinity pool that looks like it flows into right center field. Atlanta Braves fans get to select from 1- or 2-bedroom models with names like Spahn, Maddux, Aaron or Jones.

This was my second visit to Coolray Field near Lawrenceville, Ga., and a short drive from the Braves’ major league home north of Atlanta. I didn’t notice the apartments back in 2016 on my first time here, but I was probably more focused on the final game of the International League Championship series between the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders and the Gwinnett Braves. The team adopted the name Stripers in 2018 for the bass fishing that’s popular in the region.

The first 1,000 fans got a free Stripers fish scale jersey
like those worn by the welcome band. 

I had been to the first games in the series at the Railriders’ home field not far from where I live in Pennsylvania. It just so happened that I was leaving for a road trip to Florida and it occurred to me that I could tweak my route and stop for the continuation of the series in Georgia.

The Railriders walked away with the Governors Cup trophy that year, and I left with the a big notion in my head: I could arrange my future travels with stops near minor league baseball stadiums, and see a lot of baseball

I'm on my second ballpark passport book, with about 50 stadium stamps so far.

I got some help from the Gwinnett team store at Coolray, which was having an end-of-season clearance sale back in September of 2016. At half price, I picked up their last remaining copy of the Ballpark Pass-Port book that has pages to record your visits to each stadium. All the team stores have a rubber stamp with the stadium name and date of your visit. This was, in effect, the start of my quest to visit as many minor league ballparks as time and money will allow.

Jumbo Shrimp warming up before the game.

It’s extra exciting for me to be back in Lawrenceville, Ga., because it’s my first time seeing the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp playing as a AAA team. It’s also the first time I’ve seen any Miami Marlins AAA team in action. I wanted to go to New Orleans to see the Baby Cakes, previously the Zephyrs, but that never happened. Before New Orleans, the Marlins AAA team was the Albuquerque Isotopes, but only after I was no longer living there, and I never managed to make a trip back while they were there.

I was all set to go to Wichita, Kansas, where the Baby Cakes moved to a brand new stadium and were renamed the Wind Surge for the 2020 season that never happened. After the pandemic and baseball’s shakeup of the minor leagues, the Wind Surge were reclassified as a AA team and are now affiliated with the Minnesota Twins. They never got to play a game as a AAA team or as a Marlins affiliate.

I’m hoping to make a trip to Jacksonville this week to see the AAA Jumbo Shrimp at a home game. I can’t wait for them to come to Pennsylvania to play the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders whenever baseball eases off on its pandemic travel restrictions.

Jumbo Shrimp escape with a victory

The Jumbo Shrimp were cruising to victory until late in the game when the Stripers turned a 5-4-3 triple play (Jason Kipnis to Johan Camargo to Travis Snider) in the top of the 8th inning and scored a couple of runs in the bottom half. I’m pretty sure this is the first time I ever saw a triple play.

The Stripers tied it up in the 9th to send the game into extra innings. Now, I don’t care how long it takes to finish a baseball game. I share George Carlin’s enthusiasm when it comes to extra innings. But, say what you will about baseball’s new extra innings rule, there’s no denying that the excitement level goes up a notch when the inning begins with a runner on second base. Base runners seem to be more aggressive and the lost art of bunting becomes a useful strategy. The pressure on the pitchers increases from the very first pitch.

Jacksonville’s extra runner was picked off in the 10th and the next batters flied out and struck out. The Stripers had the bases loaded with 2 out in the bottom of the 10th, but the side was retired on strikeouts. In the 11th, the Shrimp scored 3 runs with an rbi double and a home run, and the Stripers went down on a popup, a strikeout and a ground out. Final: Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 8, Gwinnett Stripers 5, 11 innings.

Stadium souvenir pin, a Striper bait worm on a hook.