On Running Away to Unexpected Things
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| Historic Bowman Field, 2013 |
Friday, August 30, 2013
Batavia Muckdogs (Miami Marlins) vs. Williamsport Crosscutters (Philadelphia Phillies)
NY-Penn League (Short-Season A)
Historic Bowman Field
Williamsport, PA
7:05 PM
Outside the Game:
Work was conspiring to kill me; this much was obvious to me now. I lost track of the number of times I nearly just quit and walked out of the building that week, but I kept holding on to the hope of this long weekend of baseball and managed to carry on.
I was planning on leaving relatively early for the first leg of this trip. Williamsport was about three hours away, and there would no doubt be holiday traffic on the Friday of Labor Day, and I had already booked a hotel that morning, so I headed out a little before two. On the way out, I ran into at least one of the new tenants who were moving into the apartment vacated by my Florida-bound landlords. I was a bit nervous about this, as I am all things related to my living arrangements, but at least the one woman I met seemed nice enough.
And so I headed out on the road, and I was nearly immediately stymied by the Pulaski Skyway, which they saw fit to repair on one of the biggest travel days of the year. Okay, great. Groovy.
I found an alternate route on my TomTom, got some gas on the way, and took another way out to 280. Once I got on that road, things proceeded swimmingly, until traffic stopped about another half hour in. After slogging through barely moving traffic, the accident at the end revealed itself (three cars, no fatalities), and the road opened up.
I made up some of the time by ignoring the speed limit, but a full half hour is the kind of thing you can't make up altogether. And then there was the next backup. This was just a merge congestion, but it took another ten minutes out of my life. Oh, and did I mention it was incredibly hot, and my car's only "air conditioning" comes from driving really fast? Standing still for nearly an hour, I was drenched in a Taiwan-level of sweat, and the car was nearly unbearable.
After that last delay, however, it was all relatively smooth sailing, and I made up as much time as I could as I hurtled in the opposite direction from civilization as fast as I could go. But instead of checking in at the hotel, unpacking, and then going to the game, I instead went straight to the game due to the late hour.
They weren't going out of their way to tell you where to enter, but I accidentally found the correct parking lot and went out to do my normal business at the park. In addition, the first Little League field in America was across the street, as this is apparently one of Williamsport's claims to fame. So I canvassed out both before heading to the game itself.
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| Exunt Bowen Field |
After the game, it was pretty simple to get to my hotel, which is good, because I had been driving most of the day and was not in the best of shape.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Historic Bowman Field |
When you go and name your park "Historic Bowman Field," you are pretty much laying your cards on the table from the get-go. The ballpark was originally opened in 1926, and it is the second-oldest operating park in the minor leagues, and there are historic markers that attest to these facts. But much like the field in Reading, while historic, it has expanded outwards with some modern additions, but not nearly as many as its neighbor to the East.
The facility itself is located in a depression next to the main road that runs next to it. A statue just beyond center field commemorates the location of the first Little League game, and it is across the street from Carl E. Stotz Field, the original home of the Little League World Series (until it moved to the south side of town). It is still used by the first and oldest Little League in the world. On the outside of the outfield, you can see most of the historic-ness of the park, as its aged wooden wall still separates a home run from an extra-base hit. More modern walls extend out from behind home plate, where a plaza area, concessions, and a kids area have grown from the original footprint.
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| Center field to home plate, Carl E. Stotz Field |
A VIP entrance is located halfway down the first-base side, but the main entrance is behind home plate, right next to the ticket office. It empties out into a plaza area extended out from the park. On one side of the plaza are the main concession areas, and fan services and the team store on the opposite side of the main entrance. The kids zone is on the opposite side of the plaza from the main entrance. Two covered tunnels on either side of the field lead up to the seating areas, and the first-base tunnel also houses the Bowman Field Hall of Fame.
There is a walkway that runs from about the edge of left field to the edge of right field. As with most older parks, most of the seating extends up from the walkway, into bleachers. There is a limited area of box seats that go down from the promenade to the infield wall. Out at the edge of left field is a patio bar open to all comers, while in deep left is "Cutter's Cove," a special ticketed area that has its own entrance, concessions, and facilities. There is an additional area of bleacher seats out towards right field that is only opened as necessitated by the size of the crowd. It wasn't open for my game.
The first thing you'll notice about Historic Bowman Field is the location of the dugouts. The visiting dugout on the third-base side is about where's you expect it (if a little further back), while the home dugout on the first-base side is its own stand-alone shed out in right field. The players have quite a hike to get to the on-deck circle, but the lack of dugout on that side puts the box seats right up against the field.
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| Boomer and Company |
Boomer and the fan crew run the between-innings entertainment. It was mostly your standard mix of races and contests, but at the start of each inning, a card girl comes out with the inning number, much as between rounds at a prize-fight. I hadn't seen that before. And because of the proximity of the box seats to the field, the batters will often high-five or fist-bump any kids in the front rows on the long way to an at-bat. Presumably, this brings them good luck. The day I was there, troubled former baseball star (and the last 30-game winner) Denny McLain was signing free autographs in the plaza, as well as being the guest of honor in the on-field, pre-game interview segment.
The game had a pretty good crowd, although there was a predictable lack of Batavia fans who didn't make the trip down from upstate NY to central PA. The crowd was particularly into the game and cheered at all the right parts, which was a little unusual in the largely family-centric low minors.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| Historic Scoring |
For the first game of the trip, I decided to get some seats behind the home dugout, as per my regular MO. Given the unusual layout of the park, this wasn't possible, so I settled on some box seats behind where the dugouts should be. And, given the name of the park, I don't know why I was so surprised that these were honest-to-god, old-timey box seats, complete with the railing to rest your head on. This was strictly season ticket holder area, as confirmed by the number of people around me who were discussing who wasn't able to come to the game that night, or who was coming later. No one seemed to pay me too much mind. There was one guy who was trying to do a seat upgrade to the boxes from the bleachers, and eventually a kindly season ticket holder allowed him to claim a seat near him that he wasn't using that evening, but after some questioning from the ushers, he indignantly went back to the grandstand even after being given permission. I'm not sure what was going on, but the regulars seemed to just get a chuckle out of it, so who am I to argue?
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| Today's offence to decency: The Lumberjack |
I only got on line to get an autograph from Denny McLain just before he left for the pre-game interview. He didn't come back until right before the game started, and I wasn't willing to miss any of the game for an autograph. Instead, I grabbed a "Lumberjack" sandwich from the concession stand, which was some manner of beef brisket and onions. It was delightful.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Muckdogs vs. Crosscutters |
This one was a legitimate laugher with some truly odd moments, but the .500 Home Crosscutters managed to put away the visiting, bottom-dwelling Muckdogs quite handily.
The Muckdogs started it out by going in order in the first, and the Crosscutters didn't do much better, only getting a leadoff single that was erased on a pickoff by the pitcher (which would prove to be a theme for the game). The Muckdogs went 1-2-3 in the second as well, but the Crosscutters were not as quiet. Their leadoff man went yard to left, earning the dubious honor of tying the team record for home runs in a season. (It is dubious because a hitter with any real power and correctible mistakes would have been promoted long before he could attain such a record.) They kept the party going with back-to-back, one-out singles, which were followed by a double that brought both of them home. Two outs then ended the inning with the Crosscutters up, 3-0.
In the top of the third, the Muckdogs got a leadoff single, followed by a double, making it second and third with no outs. Three straight outs followed, but a grounder to second got the runner from third home on a fielder's choice, cutting the lead to 3-1, Crosscutters. The Crosscutters went relatively quietly in their half. A two-out strikeout would have seemed to end the inning, but the catcher lost the ball and the runner made it to first, and then he stole second. But another strikeout ended the inning with nothing across.
The Muckdogs went in order in the fourth, and the Crosscutters only got a one-out single (that was another pick-off victim at first). The Muckdogs got a two-out walk in the fifth, but he was caught attempting to steal, as opposed to being picked off. A two-out triple in the bottom of the inning by the Crosscutters was brought home by a subsequent single, but (stop me if you've heard this one), the baserunner was picked off to end the inning.
The sixth was a weird one. The new Crosscutters pitcher started the inning off with a walk, and then mangled a throw to first on the next batter, leaving it first and third with no outs. A ground-out brought the run in, but a muffed throw by the shortstop got the runner to second. Two outs followed, leaving the score 4-2, Crosscutters. The Crosscutters got a one-out double in their half, but it was erased on a hard-luck, double-play liner to the first baseman who got the runner flatfooted between second and third.
The Muckdogs went in order in the seventh, but the Crosscutters sure didn't. A leadoff double was followed by a shallow single, and then another double that brought both of them in, and then advanced to third on the throw home. A one-out walk kept the inning going, and a ground-out brought in the run from third. A hit batsman kept up the specter of batting around, but a grounder to second ended the inning with the Crosscutters extending their lead to 6-2.
The Muckdogs only managed a single in the top of the eighth, but the Crosscutters weren't done. A new pitcher walked the first two batters, and a single brought in one run, and an error by the shortstop on the throw moved the runners up. A sacrifice fly brought in the run from third, and the pitcher botched an easy grounder to move up the runners. A ground-out brought the runner in from third before another ground-out ended the inning, with the Crosscutters up, 9-2.
In the top of the ninth, the Muckdogs did not go quietly. A leadoff walk by the Crosscutter closer was followed by a one-out single and another walk to load the bases. Yet another ground-out brought in the runner from third, but a fly out to right finally ended the game, with the Crosscutters winning by a final score of 9-3.
The Scorecard:
Muckdogs vs. Crosscutters, 08/30/13. Crosscutters win, 9-3.
The scorecard was a separate $2.50 purchase and not a free giveaway as they often are at this level of ball. It was worth the price for the most part, as a magazine-sized program with notes and rosters was included, along with your average minor-league content. The scorecard itself was a little on the small size due to ads, but it was useable and on good paper to write on in pencil, if a little cramped.
There were a lot of unusual amounts of things in this game. Firstly, there were a great number of pickoffs (3). There were also a lot of runs driven in on fielder's choices (4), including all of the Muckdog runs (3 of 4).
Besides that, there were also some odd events of note. In the top of the third, a liner went off the pitcher to the shortstop for a 1-6-3 put-out. Also in the third was a strike-out victim reaching first, which almost never happens in the majors. The oddest moment, however, was in the bottom of the seventh, when the umpire rang a Crosscutter player up when he only had two strikes. It was an awkward moment when the batter refused to go, and the umpire had to sheepishly correct himself. The batter would eventually strike out for real.
And this was just me, but they switched around a guy in the Muckdogs lineup from the announced lineup and the lineup on the white erase board, so I was struggling in the later innings to figure out what went wrong. I eventually corrected the situation.
The Accommodations:
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| Holiday Inn |
I booked my room in kind of a rush at home, and frankly, a Holiday Inn sounded just fine, if a little pricy. Thanks to the traffic, I didn't get to the hotel until after the game, but it was just a short ride away. I blearily followed the mellifluous tones of my TomTom to the hotel, and found a parking space, unloaded my crap, and headed off to the front desk.
There was a drunk guy with a beer talking to the smiling clerk, and I didn't know if he knew her or not, or if that was a hostage smile. Either way, I checked in somewhat coherently and went off to my room.
And then I went back to ask if I needed a pass or anything for my car, and when breakfast was, and where the vending machines were. And drunk guy was still there, and it seemed more weird, but she didn't stop smiling, so I assumed it was okay. I went up to my room (which was quite nice with the king-sized bed, and the desk, and the TV), and took a shower to wash the day off me. And then I piled all the pillows into a giant cocoon and packed myself into bed.
The WIFI password was "Baseball." Make of that what you will.
2013 Labor Day
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