Back to Back in Bama

Welcome to Toyota Field, home of the Rocket City Trash Pandas

It looked like trouble for two baseball games I wanted to see in Birmingham and Madison, Alabama, on Thursday and Friday. Both the Birmingham Barons and the Rocket City Trash Pandas were rained out on Wednesday and both scheduled double-headers for Thursday, Rocket City to play their postponed game and Birmingham to resume its game suspended in the bottom of the third inning. Rain was still a potential threat to both teams on Thursday and I kept one eye on the weather as I tried to figure which back-to-back games I wanted to see.

A real ticket. Up until now it's been all digital since the pandemic.

It didn't take me long to decide. The Rocket City Trash Pandas are a new team in a new stadium in a new town and that put them near the top of my list of stadiums to visit. Then there is that goofy name, the winner in a competition that looked at suggestions from fans. Trash panda is a nickname for the clever raccoons that find ingenious ways to get into the garbage of residents in the beautifully wooded countryside around Huntsville and Madison County, home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The Trash Pandas' mascot, Sprocket, is shown in the team logo blasting himself into space in a rocket made from a garbage can and other spare parts.

Sprocket blasts off on a souvenir cup
and plants the flag on the promotional giveaway hand sanitizer.

The team was supposed to have its inaugural season in 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic had other ideas. Formerly known as the Mobile Bay Bears, the team was moved after unsuccessful efforts to get an agreement for a new stadium, or at least renovations to the existing one. They left behind historic Hank Aaron Park, named for the legendary ballplayer from Mobile.

Where they landed is the sleek and modern Toyota Field that is loaded with fan-friendly features. A wide concourse surrounds the field with unobstructed views, even from behind the batter's eye in center field. It's made of a fabric that looks solid from home plate, but lets you see through when you are walking behind it. 

Bullpens for home and visiting pitchers can be seen from the outfield concourse.
Fans can watch the game from the spacious lawn in right field.

The ballpark has real bullpens in the outfield where fans can get a closeup look at the pitchers biding their time or warming up. The placement of the bullpens creates a quirky outfield wall that has no curves, just a series of jagged zigzags, crooks and crannies.

Food stands, with names like Dumpster Dive and Gravity Grille, are easy to get to, and you can watch the game while you wait in line. Giant lightboards above the two main food vendors and visible to fans in the seats show how long they'll have to wait — 10 minutes, 20 minutes, etc. Smaller food carts and beverage stations are located around the concourse and huge entrance plaza.

A trash talking food stand at Toyota Field.
A Lawler's potato "stuffie" full of BBQ pork from All Stars.

The team store, called the Junkyard, keeps busy. Even with the year-long wait for the Trash Pandas' inaugural season, or maybe because of it, merchandise sales have been through the roof. A t-shirt that proclaimed "Trash Panda Nation" was the only one left on the rack. 

I have to say a word about the friendly and helpful staff at Toyota Field. From the parking attendants to the ushers to the food servers and guest relations staff, all were enthusiastic about making the fan experience memorable

On the field, the Trash Pandas (Angels AA) and the Chattanooga Lookouts (Reds AA) split the doubleheader. The visitors scored first in both games. Rocket City came back with a late rally in the first game, but they simply ran out of innings in the second. Finals: Trash Pandas 4, Lookouts 2 (game 1); Lookouts 5, Trash Pandas 1 (game 2).