On Laboring Not to Labor
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| Comfort Inn |
Thursday, August 28, 2014
New Columbia, PAOutside the Game:
After suffering through a short week at work, and narrowly avoiding having to work over the holiday, I managed to escape intact. Because of concerns about work, I had avoided making baseball plans for this weekend, the effective last weekend that the minor leagues would be in operation before the September MLB call-ups.
The next states on my agenda were Ohio and Virginia, but more of the teams were home in Ohio. A cursory look at flights towards the middle of the week yielded no last-minute fares to either destination, which meant either spending $800 for a plane ticket, or driving it. In a well-planned, last-minute decision I went with a drive out to Ohio, as three teams that were home were on the eastern border of the state, and the directions would be easy enough: get on I-80 and head West.
I got home from work and did some perfunctory laundry and research. I filled up note cards with pertinent information on the teams, picked out my first hotel for the night about half-way to Ohio just off I-80 in PA, and packed up. I headed out to my car a little before 9 PM and was on my way.
Everything seemed to be an apology for the previous weekend in Buffalo. I managed to navigate the by-roads out to 80 easily, and once I got on 80, there was nothing but open road and darkness. I was listening to the Metropolitans blow a lead until the station faded to static, and then it was onto classic rock stations to keep me attentive.
The drive was without issue. I won't say how fast I was going, but 80 wasn't just the name of the road. It was a night drive on open road, and I just ate up that road. This is everything I liked about driving. The hotel was just shy of three hours from home, but I made it in two and a half, pulling in just shy of 11:30 PM after going down the street to grab some food at a Sheetz, the only food for miles.
The Accommodations:
The top considerations for my hotel this night were 1) location (halfway to Ohio) and 2) location (easy on and off I-80). In case anyone is wondering, the hotel that best meets those criteria are the Comfort Inn in New Columbia, PA. The city is a middle-of-nowhere town just west of Williamsport, and two hotels were the only thing located down a long private road just off of 80.
I wanted someplace nice, but not too fancy, as I wouldn't be there all that long (not expecting making such excellent time out there). The nicely appointed bathroom was just to the right of the entrance, with the bedroom in the rear of the room. One one side of the room was my bed, nightstand, a lounge chair and Ottoman, and refrigerator and microwave. On the other was the dresser with flat-screen on top and work desk.
After the nightmare of Buffalo, just a quiet room would have been appreciated. But this was clean, comfortable, well laid-out, and quiet, so it might as well have been heaven.
On Finishing a League, Oh, and Some Car Trouble
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| Eastwood Field, 2014 |
Friday, August 29, 2014
Auburn Doubledays (Washington Nationals) vs.Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Cleveland Indians)
Eastwood Field
NY-PENN League (Short Season A)
Niles, OH
7:05 PM
Outside the Game:
I woke up the next day quite refreshed and ready to go--if not quite ready to get out of bed. I awakened and went down to breakfast, which was in a hotel room next to the attached restaurant. I filled up with breakfast along with a room sparsely populated by what appeared to be exclusively truckers. Suitably fed, I went back to my room, and, having no agenda before 7 PM that night and being three hours away, I took a nap or two.
Eventually running up against my checkout time, I got up, showered, and finished packing up. My last task was arranging my hotel for the night. I had a $100 voucher from Hotels.com thanks to the Buffalo debacle, so when I found a Residence Inn right next to the ballpark (especially considering I'd be spending a lot of time there), I booked that for something like $80 out-of-pocket and did some research on my destination. There didn't seem much to Niles, Ohio, except the presidential library and birthplace of William McKinnley, so I penciled that in and headed out to the car.
Essentially in the Middle of Nowhere, PA, I didn't expect much in the way of traffic, and progress was good. Outside of some Penny left-lane hogs, there wasn't much to complain about. Except that there was always someone going faster. I was in the right lane going at a good clip, but I had a tractor trailer coming up my tailpipe.
That was the last thought I had before the front of my car exploded.
There was a lot going on in the ole' noggin in the next couple of milliseconds. There was smoke pouring from the front left of my car, the tractor trailer was still behind me, and I had no idea what to do. Some part of my lizard brain eventually kicked in, and I pulled off to the right into the breakdown lane and shut off my car. Happy to not be in a truck grill, I took a moment to assess the situation calmly.
When the screaming stopped, I turned on my hazard lights and got out of my car. Thankfully, I had managed to make it all the way into the shoulder before stopping the car, and I was at the start of a curve giving people coming up on me good visibility.
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| Minor damage |
A quick looksy at the car identified the source of my problem. My front left tire had blown out spectacularly. The burning remnants of such created a splatter pattern up the wheel-well of my car that was pretty heavy metal. I had a spare, but I wanted to make sure if anything else in my car was messed up. So I sat on the railing and called AAA. The good news is that I broke down right in front of a mile marker, so I was able to give them a pretty precise location. The operator told me that someone would be out within the hour, and it was about 12:20 PM, so I was feeling okay about that. Also, there were worse days to be broken down. It was in the high seventies with clear skies all around, so I had that.
After twenty minutes or so, I got a call on my cell from AAA, telling me that the tow truck would be there shortly. It was at the end of this call that a state trooper pulled up behind me. I told the AAA person I had to go, and I went to greet the officer. He asked if there was any damage besides the blowout, and I said I didn't know, and that there was tow truck coming from AAA shortly. He pointed out that a lot people have blow outs on this stretch of road. It was then that I noticed the remnants of tires lining the side of the road for at least a quarter mile in both directions.
It was then that the tow truck showed up. The officer thought he'd put me on his truck and replace the tire at his shop, but the mechanic quickly started to jack up my car where it was. The officer went to put out some road flares as I went to get my spare, which hadn't seen the light of day in 20 years.
After removing all my crap from the trunk, it quickly became apparent that some time in the last decades that the spare had rusted into its holder. Asking permission freely given, the mechanic cut out my spare, which turned out to be half inflated at this point. A minute later he had the tire on. He and the officer told me to go two exits and there would be a filling station where I could get some air. I thanked the officer and the mechanic, and I was off again, with a little under an hour and a tip to the mechanic to show for it.
I gingerly drove the two exits, and found the many service stations promised, pulling into the first one and going to the air station. My car was making a weird noise that I was worried about. A quick inspection identified this as the remnants of my wheel-well lining that was scraping against the spare dangerously.
Dressed in tan and white, I got on my knees and wrenched the plastic until it was back to where it sort of should be, or at least wasn't scraping the wheel. It was then I noticed that my front bumper was mildly dislodged as well. Filthy, I went to fill my tire, but then realized I had no idea what I should fill it to. A quick call to my father later, I had filled up the dangerously underfilled spare and was again on my way.
The rest of the drive to Niles was relatively uneventful. I pulled into town an hour or so later than expected and in much more need of a shower and nap than expected. Dreams of William McKinnley quickly dwindled, and I decided to just get to my hotel and shower and nap before the game. However, the hotel address led to a mall, and I had to call to find out where in the mall to go. More succinct directions in hand, I drove to the back of the facility and found my hotel. A quick park and check-in later, I drove around to the entrance by my room. It took me a minute to get in the door as I couldn't figure how to insert my keycard, until it eventually dawned on me that it was an RFID card.
I dragged my stuff to my room, took a shower, and collapsed for a half hour. A little more than a half hour before the game, I got dressed, grabbed the game bag, and was off. I knew I was within two minutes to the stadium, and after one or two false starts, I eventually found the entrance to the park around a corner, parked up, and did my business.
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| Civilized snacking |
After the game, knowing the way, it took under a minute to get back to the hotel. Not having to drive that night and having had a long day, I bought a mini bottle of wine from the hotel store and went back to my room. A quick look around the extensive room found some tea and free microwave popcorn. Still able to see the fireworks display at the park from my room, I watched while having some wine and eating free popcorn. This is the right way for a night to go, even if the day was less than perfect.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Eastwood Field |
There are urban ballfields; there are rural ballfields; there are suburban ballfields. And then there’s Eastwood Field, which is literally built in a giant mall parking lot. As much as I’d like to be kidding, Eastwood Field is smack dab in the center of a sea of asphalt behind a largish mall in suburban Ohio. "Well, at least there’s tons of free parking," you might think. And you’d be right, except for one thing: the entire park is surrounded by a giant chain link fence. While this may score them points for their zombie apocalypse preparations, there is also a more mercenary plan afoot. Whether you drive in the gate, or walk in the gate, you have to pay $3. This is the only such scenario that I’ve ever seen of its kind in minor league ball that might as well be called the “Attendance Suppression Tax.”
Once you pay your tax, you can walk around the outside of the park. The main entrance is by home plate, under a giant portico under the stadium sign, right next to the ticket booths and team store. You walk around the park, but there’s not a lot to see. The only real entrance is the main one at home plate. It has a standard minor-league layout, with an outer promenade running from outfield to outfield behind home plate being mirrored by a walkway at the base of the grandstand seating that covers the same distance. Ramps connect the outer and inner walkways at regular intervals and at the end of the grandstand, including an unusual wide ramp up behind home plate, which steals away some valuable home-plate seating.
The main seats rise up from the grandstand walkway from about first to third base behind home plate, or down from there for field-adjacent box seats. All but the last sections of seats have a level on top of them, which holds the luxury boxes and press boxes, along with the championship banners on the front of the press box. A section of bleachers sits separate down the left-field line, while there is a small picnic hill along the right-field line. A small kids zone is at the end of the left field stands down a small stairwell, while picnics tables are in a small plaza in right field with a party deck and the "Bullpen Bar and Grill." A two-tier outfield wall covered in ads lies beneath a wall of trees that disguises the fact the stadium is in a mall parking lot. A small digital scoreboard rises above right-center field where there is just a single layer of outfield wall.
All the concessions, stores, and stands are in the outer promenade. A small case of trophies and awards sits behind first base on the walkway. “Fitness Stations” are around the promenade, encouraging people to do exercises while watching a ballgame, which doesn’t quite make sense. A “Hall of Champions” is along the end of the grandstand, two retired numbers are on the outfield wall, a dedication for the stadium is on the main entrance, and a plaque honors the namesakes of Cafaro Field.
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| Toodles |
Mascot Scrappy the hard-hatted dog is present as soon as the gates open for the game. He runs the minor-league standard activities between the innings, including races, give aways, and contest. The “Lipton Beer Inning” was in the fifth, with half-priced brews for the duration. Despite having to literally pay twice to get in the door, the grandstand was pretty filled for this game, although the fringes down the lines were sparsely populated at best. The fans paid attention to action on the field, but were most enthusiastic about the stuff between the game, especially the Toss-A-Ball that was featured after its end.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| Night scoring |
I had bought my ticket that morning, and seeing this game with the Scrappers would complete the short-season A NY-PENN league teams for me. So there was that. I got my regular seat behind the home dugout, and I hoped for a four and a half legal innings to finish out my first league since the CPBL the year before.
And speaking of the NY-PENN league, the visiting team that day were the Auburn Doubledays, and I ran into the husband-and-wife team again. I first saw them when they were sitting in my area at the Muckdogs home game in June. The husband was easily recognizable because of a port birthmark on the right side of his face. I saw him the next day at the Auburn home game. They were there again this night. It dawned on me that eastern Ohio isn't all that far from western NY, but I wondered if they were following the team all year, or I had just run into them on the few opportunities they went. I saw them in line, and I think they saw me. (How many guys in Cyclones hats do you really see at these endeavors?) We kind of eyeballed each other for a second, but neither of us said anything.
All of the concessions were on the outside loop of the stadium. After careful consideration, I got a pulled pork sandwich from a BBQ place on the third-base side (that was even on sale), and, still hungry, supplemented it with a corn dog and some chicken nuggets.
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| Corn dog and nuggets, the dinner of champions |
There was a family sitting behind me, and the storyline of the night was the fact that the teenage daughter's crush was at the game with her somewhere. To her great chagrin, her father kept looking around for the boy in question, causing the daughter no amount of angst and calling him a "creeper." She gave a play-by-play of the texts they were exchanging, until the father eventually located the other family, and then, as casually as possible, tried to direct his daughter's attention to the correct location. During the seventh-inning stretch, he was finally able to get her to look in the correct area. And she just "just couldn't with him at all."
The Game:
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| First pitch, Doubledays vs. Scrappers |
The Doubledays got a two-out double and nothing else in the first, while the Scrappers got on the board right away. A leadoff double that missed going out by inches was followed by a steal of third, with the runner coming home easily on a two-out double to right. A single brought in the runner on second, but a fly to left ended the inning at 2-0, Scrappers. Auburn went in order in the second, while Mahoning Valley kept going with a two-out rally started with a single up the middle and a stolen base. Another single up the middle brought in the run, and the play at home got the runner to second. A passed ball got him to third, but a strikeout ended the second at 3-0, Scrappers.
The third began with a leadoff single, but the Doubelday was erased on a double-play and a come-backer to the pitcher quickly ended the half. The Scrappers, meanwhile, only had a one-out single that made it to third on a fielder's choice and wild pitch, but was stranded on a fly to left. The Doubledays had some life in the fourth. Although a leadoff single was erased on a double-play, another single followed and made it to second on a wild pitch. A walk put two men on, but a strikeout ended the threat. Mahoning Valley went in order in their half.
Auburn only had a two-out single to show for their half of the fifth, as did the Scrappers. But Auburn got on the board in the sixth, with a leadoff double followed by a short single, leaving it first and third with no outs. The next batter lifted a sacrifice fly to center to bring in the run and move the runner over, but two more outs ended the scoring at 3-1, Scrappers. Mahoning Valley only had a one-out single in their half.
The Doubledays kept it going in the seventh, with a back-to-back single and double that brought in the lead runner. A fielder's choice that couldn't be executed made it first and third before a passed ball made it second and third. A ground out to first froze the runners, a come-backer to the mound got the runner at third in a rundown, and a grounder to short ended the top of the seventh at 3-2, Scrappers.
Mahoning Valley got some of that back in the bottom of the inning. A one-out bunt single was followed by another single, and then a double to clear the bases. A hit batsman chased the Auburn pitcher, and a double-play ended the seventh at 5-2, Scrappers. Both sides went in order in the eighth, and the Mahoning Valley closer did his job in the ninth, getting the Doubledays in order and sealing the 5-3 Scrapper win.
The Scorecard:
Doubledays vs. Scrappers, 08/29/14. Scrappers win, 5-3.
The scorecard was part of the $3 program sold at park kiosks. It was a full-color magazine program with the scorecard taking up the centerfold. Because it was on glossy magazine paper, pencil writing was difficult, and the writing in red colored pencil is almost illegible. That said, it was a comfortable-sized scorecard, with three replacement lines for each player line, detailed scoring instructions on the bottom quarter of the card, holding miscellaneous data lines for League, Attendance, Time, Weather, and umpires. Nearly uniquely, each side of the scorecard had a section dedicated to proving out the card (by adding Runs, Left on Base, and put-outs, and comparing that number to the sum of at bats, walks, sacrifices, and hit batsmen/interference calls).
There were only a couple of odd plays/scorings. The first hit by the Scrappers missed a home run by inches, warranting a note. A fielder's choice in the top of the sixth on a non-force play to third ended as a "6-5t," and a come-backer to the mound in the seventh led to a 1-2-5 putout.
The Accommodations:
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| Residence Inn |
Since I figured I'd be spending a long time at the hotel for this night one way or another, I decided to splurge a little and get a room at the Residence Inn that was right next to the park. As mentioned, I used the voucher from last weekend to drive the normally pricey hotel to under $100. Thanks to the blow-out, I was an hour or later getting in than I expected, but since I abandoned all touristy activities to rest up, and with a relatively short game, I spent my money's worth of time at the hotel.
Firstly, the room was just a smidgen smaller than my actual apartment, and it was at a brand-new hotel that opened up in late spring. To the right of the entrance was a full-fledged kitchen, with appliances, cooking and eating utensils, cabinets, and a dining island. The next room in was the living room, with a spacious desk, TV-stand, and a couch (with dining table) that ran the length of the kitchen island.
It is then when you got to the bedroom (with reading and accent lights), then a bathroom foyer/dressing area (with dressers), and then the spacious bathroom in back, with a fancy sink and toilet on one side and the glass-walled shower to the right.
The only thing to be said against my room was that it was on the first floor, and the unkind garbage truck that came by in the morning made too much noise. But otherwise, it was a quite enjoyable stay.
2014 Labor Day Ohio
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