Looking Back on Opening Day

Las Vegas Ballpark was the site of the 2022 AAA Championship Weekend

How could baseball’s off-season go by so slow and so fast at the same time? I remember the agonizing wait for schedule releases, the day-to-day drip of promotion announcements, the slow countdown to spring training and to opening day. I was hoping to make the time go by faster by catching up on the blog, which I neglected horribly last season.

Well, here we are. Yesterday I finally started catching up on the long-neglected blog while waiting to board my flight to North Carolina for tonight’s season opener at the Durham Bulls, the defending AAA champions. I decided to start the 2023 minor league season with the Bulls when I saw a special deal for tickets to the championship weekend celebration and because I was at the game in Las Vegas last year when they won the title.

It was the first time the minor leagues used the championship weekend format for AAA. In previous years, before Major League Baseball took control of the minor leagues, the AAA title was determined in a one-game match between the champions from the International and Pacific Coast Leagues. The title game was played at a ballpark selected earlier in the season, alternating between PCL and IL sites from year to year.

Last, year, the best team from the East and West divisions of the PCL and IL met for three games at Las Vegas Ballpark. The stadium opened in 2019, the same year the team once known as the Stars changed names from the 51s to the Aviators. It was also the same year a new affiliation agreement was signed with the Oakland A’s to replace the New York Mets. You might think the stadium’s name is a generic reference to its location on the western edge of the city of Las Vegas, but it’s actually a result of a naming rights agreement with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

The stadium has palm trees, a swimming pool
and the biggest scoreboard in the minor leagues.

For those keeping score, Las Vegas Ballpark is No. 84 in my quest to visit all 119 affiliated minor league stadiums. It’s a big modern stadium with a broad, ground-level 360-degree concourse, lined with palm trees and surrounding a sunken10,000 seat bowl. Towering over the concourse in left center field is a giant scoreboard, bigger than any of the minor league ballparks. Food concessions, bars and party areas are located around the concourse all with good sight lines to the action on the field. There’s even a swimming pool in center field that has 14 seats and a patio that can handle groups of up to 50 fans.

The PCL championship game was on the first night with the Reno Aces (Diamondbacks) vs, the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres]. The Aces took an early 4-0 lead and the Chihuahuas never caught up, stranding 11 runners in the 6-2 loss.

The Reno Aces splashed around after their PCL championship victory

When a pop-out to third base ended the game, the Aces rushed onto the field to celebrate. After piling on one another like every other championship team does, they raced out to center field, scaled the wall and jumped into the swimming pool, cleats and all. I hope the cool water was as refreshing for them as it was for the fans to see their exuberance as we made our way to the outfield exits.

The next night put the Nashville Sounds (Brewers) against the Durham Bulls (Rays) for the International League Championship. It was a blowout. The Bulls were relentless throughout the game, outhitting the Sounds 15-8 and scoring 13 runs while holding Nashville to zero.

Guards stood ready after game 2 to prevent a second celebration in the outfield pool.

I’m sure the Bulls were as excited to advance to the AAA championship game as the Reno Aces were the night before. They piled on top of one another on the field, jumped up and down as usual, but there was no dash to the pool this time. As soon as the game ended, a small squadron of guards took their places along the outfield wall. There would be no pool party tonight.

In the championship game, the Bulls again jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Aces answered back with 5 runs and took the lead in the third inning. The Bulls tied it up in the seventh, but the Aces scored in the eighth to take a one-run lead into the ninth. The Bulls exploded in the top of the ninth, sending 7 batters to the plate and scoring 5 runs with a double and a home run. It was three up and three down for the Aces in the bottom of the inning, giving the Bulls a 10-6 victory and the AAA crown.

The Aces and the Bulls lined up before the big game on day 3.

The championship weekend was a lot of fun and I’m glad I went. I was able to check off another minor league ballpark and I got to see four teams in three games on consecutive nights. Things will be different this season. Minor League Baseball announced this week that the AAA one-game championship will return to Las Vegas on Sept. 30, but the opponents will be determined in home field league championships from Sept. 26-28. The first half leaders, which will be determined on June 25, will host the second half leaders in the best-of-three series in each league.

I’ll be watching to see if the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders or the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, my three “home” teams, clinch a spot. I will also have my eyes on the eight AAA teams i haven’t yet visited with a chance to see a playoff series in a new stadium.

The big sign said it all as the Bulls celebrated on the field.

But tonight I’ll be at Durham Bulls Athletic Park to help the reigning AAA champs celebrate. There will be more celebrations as the other nine minor league champions begin their seasons in the next couple of weeks. Congratulations to all of them, and to the Tampa Bay Rays organization for three out of four championships. There were the Bulls (International League and AAA), High A Bowling Green Hot Rods (South Atlantic League) and Single A Charleston River Dogs (Carolina League). All three were repeat champions from 2021. Tampa Bay’s AA Montgomery Biscuits lost in their division series to eventual 2022 Southern League champs, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Marlins). In 2021, the Biscuits made it to the Southern League championships, but lost by a run in the final game.

Other 2022 AA champions were the Somerset Patriots (Yankees) in the Eastern League and the Frisco Roughriders (Rangers) in the Texas League. In High A, the South Bend Cubs won the Midwest League title and the Eugene Emeralds (Giants) won in the Northwest League. Other winners in Single A were the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres) in the California League and the St. Lucie Mets in the Florida State League.

Let’s celebrate. Play ball!

I Brake for Ballparks

A blank slate, the Ballpark at Jackson is ready for the name of its new home team.

It’s official. The only thing missing is a bumper sticker. I brake for ballparks.

I was driving on I-40 from Nashville, Tenn., to Memphis when I saw an odd-looking curved, multi-story building with lots of windows. Was it an apartment building? A hotel? An office building?

It only took me a moment to realize I was seeing the luxury suites at a baseball stadium, then it dawned on me that I was driving through Jackson, Tenn., home of the former Jackson Generals. I stepped on the brakes and barely made it to the exit so that I could go check out the ballpark.

I saw the Ballpark at Jackson's luxury suites as I was driving by on I-40.

The Generals were one of the teams that lost its major league affiliation status in the recent shakeup of the minor leagues. Many of the 43 teams that were dropped found new life in independent leagues, but the Generals had to fold their tent after their agreement with the city of Jackson was invalidated.

Other teams were called the Jackson Generals in the city’s past, and there was another team called the Jackson Generals, which played in Jackson, Miss. That team has moved around over the years and currently plays as the Corpus Cristi Hooks in Texas. In 2021, the Ballpark at Jackson was the temporary home of the Winnipeg Goldeyes, who were displaced from their home in Canada by Covid-19 travel restrictions.

A statue at the ballpark's main gate is dedicated to children of fallen warriors 

Next year the staidum will be home to a new team in the summer college Prospect League. The results of a name-the-team contest is expected to be announced in the next week or so.

The five finalists are:

Jackson Locomotives, referring to the railroad industry and engineer Casey Jones.

Hub City Heroes, Jackson being known as a hub between Tennessee rivers and cities.

Jackson Blue Suedes, an homage to area native Carl Perkins, and his famous song.

Jackson Rockabillies, another reference to the music style of Perkins and others.

Hub City Hub Caps, once again pointing out Jackson’s central location. 

The gates were open, so I went in for a peek, but I couldn't find anyone inside.

I’m looking forward to coming back to the ballpark after the new team takes the field.

Backup Bonus

First pitch at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., spring training home to both
the Miami Marlins and the St. Louis Cardinals. This night, the Cardinals were the visitors.

It was supposed to be opening night for the Miami Marlins vs. the World Series champion Braves last night, but the contract negotiations between Major League owners and players put a stop to that. Instead, the Marlins’ season will open on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies in two weeks and their home opener is in mid-April.

This would have been upsetting because I had planned on opening night in Miami and with the Savannah Bananas the next night on their Banana Ball World Tour stop in West Palm Beach. Thanks to baseball’s backup plan, it turns out my trip will be even better. The delay in the big league regular schedule forced them to squeeze in some spring training games and I’ll be seeing a lot more baseball — and a lot more Marlins — than I had planned.

Last night I saw the Marlins at their spring training ballpark in Jupiter against the St. Louis Cardinals. Friday, it’s a double header, first the Marlins at the Houston Astros at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, then the Banana Ball game that night in the same stadium. Saturday, it’s back to Jupiter for the Washington Nationals at the Marlins and on Sunday, I’ll stop for Marlins at the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie on my way back to Central Florida.

But wait, there’s more.

I’ll be in Lakeland Monday when the Detroit Tigers face the Toronto Blue Jays. Tuesday is opening night for AAA baseball, and I’ll be in Jacksonville when the Jumbo Shrimp face the Worcester Red Sox.

Not my first trip to Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, but the first since
I started keeping track in my spring training passport book.  

Spring training comes to an end on Tuesday, but the Tampa Bay Rays have scheduled an extra game against the Phillies at the Trop, their major league home in St. Petersburg, on Wednesday. Too bad the Rays aren’t playing on Thursday, which is opening night for most of the Major League teams, but I think I’ll be ready a day of rest after eight games over seven days in five ballparks.

The fun continues next Friday, opening night for the rest of minor league baseball, and I’ll be joining friends at Jackie Robinson Park in Daytona Beach when the Tortugas play the St. Lucie Mets. Finally it’s back to Jacksonville on Saturday for another Shrimp-Sox matchup.

I say finally, but there might be one more game in Jacksonville on Sunday afternoon, and then I’ll head out on my first road trip of the season. It looks like my baseball adventures are off to a good start in 2022.

A nice spring training pin for the Cardinals.

That first road trip will start in the Carolinas and take me through Georgia and Alabama, then back to Florida. Two of my stops are on the Banana Ball World Tour when they play in Columbus, Ga., and Birmingham, Ala.

My second trip will be built around the last Banana Ball game against the Kansas City Monarchs in early May. I haven’t worked out the details, but it looks like I’ll be driving from Florida to Pensacola, then up to Kansas before heading home to Pennsylvania, with plenty of baseball along the way.

One more trip will take me to Texas for games in Corpus Cristi, Sugar Land, Houston, Frisco, Arlington, Round Rock and San Antonio. This tour includes two Major League games, the Marlins at Houston Astros and my first visit to the Texas Rangers’ new ballpark. Once again, I’ll be able to say I’ve been to all the Major League Baseball stadiums. Also, it’ll be my first time in the capital of Texas, and I’ll have a day off to visit the grave of former President Bush. That's my triple crown: baseball, state capitals and presidents resting in peace.

There might be a trip southern California and I’ll be able to check Nixon and Reagan off the list and complete my tour of presidential burial sites. There are three Single A teams in the area, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to fit that trip in this year.

Some excitement at the ballpark last night. Jorge Soler cleared the bases with a big double and Jazz Chisholm Jr.hit a grand slaw to give the Marlins a big lead early in the game. The Cardinals never caught up. Final: Miami Marlins 7, St. Louis Cardinals 4.

Back to Spring Training

The fans are back at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium for spring training.

It was good to be back. Back in Lakeland where downtown still looks like downtown even though the Maas Brothers department store is long gone along with all the other shops that used to line its streets. Where the swans are the main attraction still in the donut-shaped park that surrounds Lake Morton. Where 50 years ago, I graduated from Florida Southern College and learned so much, not just in class, but from day-to-day immersion in the architectural brilliance of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings.

And it was good to be back in the stands at Joker Marchant Stadium, now known formally as Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. I saw it brutally hyphenated as Publix-Marchant Stadium on one sign. Fans still turn off Lakeland Hills Boulevard onto Al Kaline Drive to get to the parking lots. There were a lot of them at the first game of spring training for the hometown Detroit Tigers vs. the Philadelphia Phillies. The line of cars was so long that I thought I might miss the first pitch, so I darted around the traffic to a freelance lot across the street.

It had been two years since I was at a spring training game, I managed to catch a handful of games in 2020 right before the pandemic arrived and shut down everything. Spring training returned in 2021, but with limits on crowd size. It was almost impossible to find tickets. This year, it looked like the major league contract dispute was going to mean another year without spring training for me, The schedule had been cancelled, but a new one was slapped together after the owners and players settled their differences.

The Tigers have been training in Lakeland for 84 years and by the time their current lease runs out, it will be over 100 years. The Tigers owns the minor league Lakeland Flying Tigers, a partnership that has lasted 52. They are tied with the Phillies and their AA team, the Reading Fightin’ Phils for the longest major league affiliation. 

Where to take in a spring training game in Florida.

I’ve been to a few games in Lakeland recently since the big 2017 renovation that transformed the stadium into one of the best among spring training and minor league facilities. I’ve only been to spring training games, but not any Flying Tigers games. I’ll have to see if I can fix that one of these days.

I don’t remember anyone ever mentioning the minor league team when I was going to school and working in Lakeland. Back then, they were called the Lakeland Tigers and in the early years they played at Henley Field, a ballpark down the road from Joker Marchant. Some college games were played at Henley as well, some high school football too, but I never went to any games there. 

A variety of caps for the minor league Lakeland Flying Tigers.

When I was in college, I saw our team, the Florida Southern College Striking Moccasins, when they played at Joker Marchant. They were a good team, winning several small college national championships. Back then the space behind the wooden bleachers was dirt and grass, which was a good thing on that day a friend talked me into trying chewing tobacco. Let’s just say the experiment did not end well.

Although I was at school in Lakeland four years, taught at FSC one year and lived and worked in town another year and a half, I don’t remember going to a Tigers spring training game back then. Once I went to the annual Tiger Barbecue, an all-you-eat-and-drink extravaganza set up under a tent. I can still see the row of wall-to-wall tables piled high with boiled shrimp, and I still have the smallish glass beer mug that was included in the price of your ticket. 

A squad of Tigers players working out during the game on a practice field beyond the outfield scoreboard. The same thing was happening on three or four other practice field.

The new stadium has a lot of the amenities found at other modern ballparks. There’s a 360-degree concourse that includes the Runway, a wide terrace from center to right field with a long rail shelf for your snacks and drinks. There’s also a grassy berm under the scoreboard on the left field side and a bar and a number of party areas for group rental. The Runway and the Flying Tigers are named as a tribute to the fighter pilot school that was located here during World War II.

It’s too bad the concessions are still located behind the stands, which means you miss some of the game if you need to get food or drink. But the concourse under the stands is spacious and it’s easy to navigate, even when there are long lines at the food stalls. I found a delicious chili dog at Coney Dogs, where there was almost no line, and I grabbed a big iced tea at an express drinks line. 

It's a good thing the Tigers didn't paint over this mural. Florida State League
and other historic minor league names are back in 2022. And class Low-A is now
Single A. No more Low-A Southeast. An update might be needed.
The Florida Firefrogs and the Charlotte Stone Crabs no longer exist.

How was the game? Well, it’s spring training, so we saw a lot of players including some of the big league stars. The highlight was back-to-back home runs for the Tigers with Miguel Cabrera on deck. He grounded out, but for a few moments, all eyes were ready for liftoff. The lead changed several times during the game, but the Phillies tied it up for good at 6 runs apiece with a two-run homer in the 7th. That’s how the game ended after 9 innings. No winner, no loser, just a good day of baseball under the Central Florida sun.

The Spoils of Summer

Minor league baseball is just around the corner.

I intended to post a final report on my amazing baseball summer of 2021, but it took longer than I expected to sort things out, and baseball found itself on the back burner. Now, as the earth slowly turns its face away from the cold emptiness of winter’s dark night sky, I’m getting ready for the new season. Major League Baseball’s opening day has been cancelled, but AAA minor league teams are preparing for first pitch on April 5th and the rest of the minor leagues three days later.

I have an ambitious schedule in the works, but the details will depend on when Major League Baseball returns, if at all. One thing for sure, I’ll be visiting several new and historic stadiums on the Savannah Bananas Bananaball World Tour, with games in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Kansas. I’ll also see a number of minor league teams along the way. Join me as we go back to the ballpark in 2022. 

1. The Final Tally For me, it was great just to be back in the ballparks in 2021. Little did I realize that I would see 65 baseball games in 20 states from coast to coast. That’s just over half the states that have minor league baseball teams. I’ve now been to 63 minor league ballparks, which is more than half of the 119 stadiums scattered across the land. I’ve also been to quite a few others that host other types of baseball, like spring training or college games, and several that were home to former minor league teams.

I was lucky to catch a AAA game at one such oddball, the stadium in Trenton, N.J. The Buffalo Bisons played some home games there as the Trenton Thunder while the stadium in Buffalo was on loan to the Toronto Blue Jays. I had hoped to see a major league game in Buffalo earlier in the season, but tickets were limited and sold out fast.

Bobbleheads, shirts, pins, etc.

By the end of the season I had made my first visit to 36 other stadiums, all home to affiliated minor league teams. In the process, I accumulated a lot of baseball gear and memorabilia, from T-shirts to jerseys and bobbleheads to baseballs. I added a lot of lapel pins to my collection from most, but not all, of the stadiums I visited. I picked up more baseball caps than I’ll ever need. There was so much stuff, it filled my dining room table and spilled over onto the chairs, and that didn’t include several items n Florida. A lot of the things were free giveaways, some were gifts, and most of the rest were discounted.

One big mystery remains. I snagged a foul ball at the Brooklyn Cyclones and I picked up a ball in the outfield during batting practice at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders. But I seem to have a third minor league ball. Where did I get it? Does anyone have a clue?

I wonder how long the scoreboard outside the National Baseball Hall of Fame
will be stuck on the World Series results.

2. The Champions

I’d like to congratulate all the minor league champions from 2021. I was hoping to catch some minor league postseason action, but none of the teams near me qualified. I did get to see some good late-season games involved in various minor league pennant races.

The AAA leagues didn’t have post-season and championship games. Instead, the teams with the best records at the end of the regular season claimed bragging rights as AAA East and West Champions. All 30 teams participated in a two-week round-robin kind of tournament that was called the Final Stretch. Each team played five games at home against one opponent and five on the road against another. The team with the best record, the Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay), was declared the Final Stretch winner.

All the other minor league champions were decided in best-of-five series between the top two teams in each of the nine leagues.

AAA East and AAA overall — Durham Bulls (TB)

AAA West Tacoma — Rainiers (SEA)

AAA Final Stretch — Durham Bulls

AA Central

Northwest Arkansas Naturals (KC) 3-0 over Wichita Wind Surge (MIN)

AA Northeast

Akron Rubber Ducks (CLE) 3-0 over Bowie Baysox (BAL)

AA South

Mississippi Braves (ATL) 3-2 over Montgomery Biscuits (TB)

High-A

East Bowling Green Hot Rods (TB) 3-2 Greensboro Grasshoppers (PIT)

High-A

Central Cedar Rapids Kernels (MIN) 3-2 over Quad Cities River Bandits (KC)

High-A

West Eugene Emeralds (SF) 3-1 over Spokane Indians (COL)

Low-A East

Charleston Riverdogs (TB) 3-2 over Down East Wood Ducks (Tex)

Low-A

Southeast Bradenton Marauders (PIT) 3-0 over Tampa Tarpons (NYY)

Low-A

West San Jose Giants (SF) 3-0 over Fresno Grizzlies (COL)

It’s worth noting that the Tampa Bay Rays teams were represented in the postseason or championships at all levels from Major League Baseball to Low-A minor league. The Rays let me and their fans down by not making it all the way to World Series, but three of Tampa Bay’s four farm teams claimed their league championships. The Bulls dominated AAA, the Bowling Green Hot Bods defeated the Greensboro Grasshoppers (Pittsburgh) 3-2 in the High-A East championship and the Charleston Riverdogs defeated the Down East Wood Ducks (Texas) 3-2 in the Low-A East series. The Montgomery Biscuits came close, losing to the Mississippi Braves in game 5 of the AA championship.

3. Stars, One and All

I want to thank everyone who helped make my baseball summer so much fun: my All-Star team. I was able to catch up with so many friends and relatives as I made my way around the country. Some made it to games with me, others did not, but it was great to see so many in visits that were long overdue. Special thanks to all of you who opened your spare bedrooms to give me a break from all the one-night hotel stops along the way.

Season’s End, Part 2: A Big Finish

Skipper takes umbrage and my cap when he sees my Beloit Snappers gear. 

When I hatched the plan for the crazy three-state end to my baseball summer, it was an extra bonus that Ohio’s Lake County Captains were playing the Beloit Snappers, the High-A minor league team of the Miami Marlins. This would be the third game of my trip after a Tuesday game in Allentown with the Iron Pigs and a Wednesday game at the Erie Seawolves. 

Classic Park, home of the Captains, is a short drive east of Cleveland, where I was staying with my friends. That’s a great name for a baseball stadium, even though it’s a corporate sponsor, the Classic Automotive Group auto dealer conglomerate, that paid for the naming rights. There are other examples where a sponsor’s name looks good as a stadium name, like Great America Ballpark in Cincinnati or Valley Strong Park in Visalia, Calif.

The Captains are the High-A team of the Cleveland Indians and one of closest farm teams to its major league affiliates. The two teams also have a long association that goes back to 1991 in Columbus, Ga., when the Captains were known as the Redstixx. The team moved to the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio in 2003, but remained in the South Atlantic League until they switched to the Midwest League. They’re now in the East Division of Minor League Baseball’s High-A Central League.

The nautical theme is everywhere at Classic Park.

It was 3-2-1 Night at Classic Park: $3 draft beers, $2 hot dogs, and $1 fountain sodas or water. I don’t need fantastic menu concoctions with a deal like that.

There was a kerfluffle before the game when Skipper, the Captains’ furry mascot plopped down in the seat next to me. “Uh-oh,” I said, “You’d better not look at my shirt.” Both my cap and t-shirt featured one of Skipper’s arch enemies, Snappy the turtle, mascot for the Beloit Snappers. Skipper shot out of the seat, grabbed my cap, and put his giant sized Captains cap on my head.

He was probably surprised that his cap was almost a good fit for my giant-sized noggin. When he tried to switch back, I threatened to hold on to his cap as a fair exchange. I finally gave it back it him, and he gave me mine . . . but only after wiping it all over his tail end.

The jumbo screen says it all: Captains Win!

The Snappers got the same kind of treatment from the Captains. The Snappers scored first in the fourth inning, but Raynel Delgado tied things up with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning and the inning ended with the Captains up 3-1. The Snappers evened the score at 3-3 in the sixth, but Christian Cairo launched a two-run homer to put the Captains ahead for good. Jose Tena added an insurance run with a solo homer in the eighth. Final: Lake County Captains 6, Beloit Snappers 3.

Friday was a traveling day to get back to my home in Pennsylvania. We left early Saturday with the goal of getting to Yankee Stadium by 11 a.m. in order to line up for our Don Mattingly bobbleheads. There was a good-sized, good-spirited crowd, but we arrived with time to spare. I was expecting to wait an hour before the gates opened for the 1:05 game time, but found out we’d be able to get in at 11:35.

The early crowd gathers with Gate 2's metal detectors in sight.

The extra time allowed us to get our bearings once inside, and we were able to beat the late crowd at Monument Park without a long wait. I had never been to see the legendary display in center field at either the old or new Yankee Stadium, so I’m glad we had time to stop by on our way to our seats. Whether you’re a Yankee fan or not, it is an astonishing tribute to the pantheon of Yankees who represent a large slice of baseball’s history.

The legendary gallery in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park.

I don’t know if there’s still much of a debate over old vs. new Yankee Stadium, but for me, it’s still one of the most exciting places to see a baseball game. The atmosphere is electric and I think they did a good job of bringing a sense of history from the old ballpark into the new one.

It’s only the second time I’ve been in the new stadium and the first time since I retired from my job in New York City. It was fun to watch the players, the majority of the starting lineup, who I’ve been seeing over the years at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders.

The dramatic atrium at Yankee Stadium.

I even got to see Giancarlo Stanton, an old favorite of mine from the Miami Marlins, hit one of his signature home runs. Meanwhile, my friend Paul got to see his Cleveland Indians knock the tar out of the Yankees for an 11-3 victory. The night before we had watched on TV as the Yankees shut out Cleveland, 8-0.

I had only been to the old stadium a half a dozen times in all the years I lived and worked in the city. I could look it up. Maybe it was eight times. But one game in particular was on my mind, 25 years ago to the day, when I took my brother, Drew, to see a Yankees game on his birthday. That was in the old Yankee Stadium and those seats are gone. Still, it was a sweet memory of one of my favorite baseball buddies and the many games we were able to see together over the years. Leaving one memorable season behind, I can look forward to next year, when I can go back to the ballpark.

Season’s End, Part 1: The Tickets That Keep Giving

A September sunset at UPMC Park, home of the Erie Seawolves.

While AAA baseball is in the midst of what they’re calling the Final Stretch, while the lower minor teams are wrapping up their league championship best-of-five series, and while the final pieces of the playoffs in the big leagues are falling into place, my thoughts are focused on closing out my blog for the season. I have no tickets for any games the rest of the way, but you never know with me. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over, right?

It was a good, long season for me and it ended with a great baseball trip with four games over a span of five days in four cities across three states. Two of the ballparks were new to me, so I should be posting at least two reports. The problem is the four games all part of the same tale and I’m having trouble sorting things into their separate and proper compartments. So here we go with one big, season-ending, back to the ballpark blowout, part 1. 

We have to go back to May when I bought two tickets to a Seawolves game on a tag-along business trip with my niece to Erie, Pa. Then her meeting was cancelled and so was the baseball trip. It looked like I would end up losing the ticket investment, so I decided to call and offer the tickets as a donation so a couple of kids might get to see a game. I got lucky when the right person answered the phone and said I could use my tickets for another game. 

The first thing I had to do was decide when I could get back to Erie and use the tickets. Maybe it could be part of a trip to western Pennsylvania coupled with more baseball in Altoona or Pittsburgh. Or I could stop for a game on my way to Cleveland to see my friends there and to see more baseball in Ohio. 

I always ask a few questions when I’m picking a date for baseball tickets. Are there other nearby teams playing at home? Who are they playing? Is there a special event like Bark in the Park? And then there’s the big question: What are they giving away? 

Oops. A mixup over bobbleheads. Wait 'til next year.

It turns out the Seawolves had two bobblehead giveaway dates on September 15 and 18, a Wednesday and Saturday. Saturday’s bobblehead would be Matt Manning, the rookie pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, who was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Year in 2019. Wednesday’s offering was a piñata bobblehead, specifically a bull piñata, the mascot for Las Piñatas de Erie, the alter ego of the Seawolves in baseball’s Copa de la Diversión series. 

One serious giveaway and one silly was OK by me. I penciled the two games into my calendar and moved on. These games were months away in the last week of the regular season and I could make the exchange closer to the dates. It’s a good thing I waited, because I would later pick up two free tickets to see the Yankees, thanks to my association with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders.

Once again, I went through the process to find a good date for the Yankee game and hit the jackpot. On Sept. 18, they would be giving away a Don Mattingly bobblehead at their game with the Cleveland Indians. As much as I hated to give up the Matt Manning bobble, there’s no way I could miss out on Don Mattingly, the manager of my favorite team, the Miami Marlins.

Bubblegum and Stardust hurry to the starting line for the unicorn race
across the outfield between innings, "the fastest 20 seconds in all of sports."

This also meant I’d probably miss out on the piñata bobblehead too, because it would be sandwiched between a Tuesday night game in Allentown and Saturday’s game in New York. Then I got a crazy idea. I could drive to Cleveland, take my friends Paul and Sally to the Seawolves on Wednesday and maybe go to another game on Thursday. Then Paul and I would drive back to my home in northeastern Pennsylvania on Friday so we could go to the Yankees-Indians game on Saturday. From there Paul would fly home to Cleveland.

Paul was on board, but with one small change. It would be me flying to Cleveland and Paul and Sally would do the round-trip drive. There’s icing on this sweet cake. On Thursday, the Lake County Captains, who play just east of Cleveland, were scheduled to play the Beloit Snappers, the High-A team of my Miami Marlins, in the final week of their farewell season before re-branding as the Beloit something or others next year.

Waiting to board the bus for the "flight" to Newark and on to Cleveland.

Adding to the wackiness of this trip is that the first leg of my flight from Allentown is a bus ride at 6 a.m. to Newark Liberty International where I get on a plane to Cleveland. Did I mention I went to an Iron Pigs game in Allentown the night before? (The Railriders beat the Pigs 4-2.) It was a short night’s sleep at another niece’s house near the airport before the flight, and an ill-fated ride to drop me off. I made it to the bus with plenty of time, but her car broke down after dropping me off. This is just the latest in a series of car mishaps the two of us have had involved with sporting events. At least she had the use of my car while I was gone.

At the Iron Pigs '90s Night, Mitch Williams was on hand to sign his bobblehead box.

I arrived in Cleveland on schedule and even had time for a short nap before we headed for Erie, an hour and a half away. UPMC Park, where the Seawolves play, is named for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Erie. It might be the most unusual baseball stadium I’ve seen, and I’ve been to at least 100. It has two separate grandstands, one on the first base side and the other on third. There’s a high gray wall in left field where the stadium butts up against the arena.

Erie’s previous baseball team, the Sailors, moved to New York in a dispute over stadium improvement issues and became the Hudson Valley Renegades. Not long after that, Erie’s city government was able to get help from the state to build a new ballpark, and the Welland Pirates moved from Ontario, Canada, and became the Erie Seawolves.

The team is no longer affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it has kept its piratical identity even though it’s one of the Detroit Tigers’ teams. Give them a call some time and go through their automated menu until you get to the last option. “Press 7 to hear a pirate joke.” 

There's a hot dog underneath the rest ot the Cuban dog ingredients.

There are good food offerings at the ballpark. I had a Cuban dog that was a challenge to eat on it’s tiny, regular hot dog bun. A Cuban roll would have made it a lot easier. Another option was a basket of French fries covered with the ingredients you’d normally find on super nachos. I forget what they called it, but it sure looked good.

Pepperoni balls, two per order, are the specialty of the house. They’re filling, so consider sharing with someone if you want to have room for some of the other tasty offerings. Hand scooped ice cream is particularly good at UPMC Park.

Imagine a filled doughnut, but without the sugar coating
and stuffed with pepperoni instead of jelly.

It was a big disappointment that the piñata bobblehead giveaway was postponed until next season. The good news is that our tickets will be honored next year when the bobblehead game is rescheduled. Looks like it’s back to the ballpark next year thanks to the tickets that keep giving.

The Piñatas on the ball field took the lead early in their game with the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Erie answered back with 2 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning after Richmond tied the game at 2 apiece in the top half. Both teams added a run in the eighth, but Erie held on to win. Final: Piñatas de Erie 5, Richmond Flying Squirrels 3.

Next: Season’s End, Part 2. More minor league baseball and back to Yankee Stadium.