Pulaski

On Bigtime Smalltime

Calfee Park, 2015

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Johnson City Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals) vs.

Pulaski Yankees (New York Yankees)
Calfee Park
Appalachian League (Rookie +)
Pulaski, VA
7:15 PM

Outside the Game: 

I woke up relatively early on an overcast morning, but still reluctantly dragged my lazy ass down for the breakfast buffet, before trundling back up the stairs for a shower or more bed-lying. There wasn't a whole lot on the docket today, so I wasn't in much of a particular hurry.

But I did eventually finish packing and getting dressed and then headed out to check out and start the two-hour drive up to Pulaski. There was literally no one making the drive from Danville to Pulaski that day except me, and so it passed pretty effortlessly. Getting to the park was a bit of an adventure, because the stadium was in the middle of another park in such a way that my GPS did not enjoy the experience at all. It took a couple of tries before I just drove into the park and hoped for the best, and eventually I did make it to the stadium, where I took my pictures. I drove out to the hotel in neighboring Dublin, because Pulaski didn't even rate much in the way of hotels. The downtown that I drove through on the way was a couple of blocks of mostly closed buildings with the visage of a town that had lost its way a long time ago.

About fifteen minutes later, I was at my hotel and checked in. I dumped all my stuff out into yet another hotel room, and after looking on the Internet for any local attractions worth my attention, I collapsed on the bed for a nap and spent a lazy afternoon catching up on paperwork and organizing and some such, including a long soak in the tub to try and get my body more enthusiastic about the rest of this trip.

When it was time for the game, I drove back to the park and dropped my car off in the "far" lot before buying a ticket and heading into the game. After the game was over, the crowd headed into the damp night, and another quick drive got me back at the hotel and in bed at a reasonable hour for the long drive the next day.

The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Calfee Park

Let’s get this out of the way: only the Yankees organization would have a luxury box in the Appalachian League, a Rookie league so low on the baseball totem pole, it doesn’t even warrant an “A.” The Rookie Leagues are the dubious inheritors of the old “D” level teams of the most abject rookies with no hint of prospect about them. And the Pulaski Yankees have a luxury box in their Appalachian-League field, Motor Mile Field at Calfee Park.

Calfee Park started its life as a WPA ballpark that was constructed as part of the plan to try and build the country out of The Great Depression. The luxury box came much later, after the Yankees took over recently and did the latest in a string of renovations at the park, which included the curiously cross-shaped structure behind home plate.

The park itself is wedged inside a larger municipal park and residential area. Two small parking lots are outside the main entrance, with the closer one dedicated to seniors and the disabled, and a VIP lot is by the VIP-only entrance near first base. From the outside, the main entrance beyond left field is a solid, low, brick-wall portcullis. But the rest of the park is visible from the parking lots and surrounding streets that overlook the park, in most places with just chain-link fences in the way. One particular house across the street from the ballpark and on a hill overlooking the field has a particularly sweeping view from beyond right field, and the owners regularly come out on their porch to watch the games in the evening. Hell, I know I would.

The main entrance dumps out into a small plaza at the end of left field, right by the visiting bullpen. A long, asphalt path runs the length of left field, connecting up with the general admissions bleachers, which run from short left field to home plate, with all but the furthest extent being covered by a large overhang. A series of small staircases leads to the area by home plate, with box seats crowded around home plate, with a higher section of bleachers on the third-base side, more seats in a separate area on the first-base side, and a series of tables above the walkway behind home plate underneath the “T”-shaped luxury box building, holding the press box and the indoor and patio luxury boxes. Beyond them on the first-base side is a deck area by the home dugout with table service. Behind home plate and down the first-base line is a large plaza area where the VIP entrance empties out, as well as holding the team store, concessions, and a small area of picnic tables. The outfield wall runs between one and three tiers, all slathered in local ads, with the exception of the batter’s eye in dead center. The new digital video scoreboard rises in left-center against the backdrop of trees, and some houses in right and right-center.

"Mantler"? Seriously? You're a Yankees franchise.

Although perhaps heresy to many, the Yankees’ minor-league clubs do have mascots, and Calf-E, the hole-y cow (get it?) is the mascot-de-jur. He is involved in some of the activities, but he definitely isn’t as ever-present as other minor-league mascots. In addition to the MC, there are the Calfee Girls cheerleaders, as well as a Motor Mile drumline, giving the whole thing a lot more high-school flair. The small stadium was packed, even with threatening weather, and they were very much into the P-Yanks victory through it all.

At the Game with Oogie: 

Chicken sandwich, souvenir cup, and "Yankee fries"

On this damp evening, I "splurged" for a seat right behind the dugout that cost me ten American dollars. The tarp remained on the field until right before the game was about to start. The ushers said that there was a rain storm that was bearing down on the region that was forecast to plow right through where we were, but in this case, the meteorological failure rate worked to my advantage, for while the sky looked as though it might explode into rain at any point, it managed to not do so for the duration of the game.

The concessions at Calfee Park were strictly on the high-school cafeteria level, but they were cheap and tasty. I grabbed a chicken sandwich and "Yankee fries," which are apparently just thin-cut steak fries, along with a tiny souvenir soda.

My seat was just on the first-base side of home plate in the third row back. The stands in this area were packed with fans, and even the general admissions bleachers were filled with people. Two guys sitting next to me struck up conversations for most of the game. They were season ticket holders, and they said that someone else who was doing a ballpark tour had been sitting in my seat just a couple weeks ago. So, at least I managed to find my designated seat. They talked about all the renovations that the Yankees did, and how that they really brought a lot of fans out to the park. They said they knew the family that had the house that overlooked the park and were sitting out on the porch watching the game this evening, as they usually did. This seemed a little strange until I realized how small a town this was, and how everybody probably knew everyone else anyway.

The Game: 

First pitch, Cardinals vs. Yankees

This face-off between the Infant Bombers of Pulaski and the visiting JC Cardinals was not a pitchers’' duel by any stretch, and in the end, the Yankees big fifth inning was bigger than the Cardinals big fifth inning, and that was the end of it.

It looked like it might be over early as the Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first off two home runs to right-center, but Pulaski came back in the bottom of the inning to turn a single, wild pitch, ground out, and second single into a run to cut the lead in half to 2-1. Johnson City went in order in the second, while the Yankees had a leadoff walk that got stranded on third after a stolen base and a passed ball. The Cardinals had a lone single in the third, while Pulaski had a hit batsman and a single that didn't make it home.

Johnson City went in order in the fourth, but the Yankees tied it up on a leadoff homer to right in the bottom of the frame. The fifth inning was a scoring frame for both teams, as the Cardinals brought in three on the back of a single, double, and homer to momentarily take a 5-2 lead. In the bottom of the fifth, after a flyout to center, Pulaski just kept hitting. Two singles were followed by a dropped fly in center to load the bases, and a double cleared them. A walk made it first and second, and a triple cleared the bases again. A single brought in another run, and another single made it first and second with one out, but a strikeout and a caught stealing ended the threat with the Yankees up, 9-5, after batting around. Johnson City only had a single in the top of the sixth, while the Yankees got two one-baggers and no one across in the bottom of the frame.

The Cardinals went in order in the seventh even after reaching on an error thanks to a caught stealing, and Pulaski matched their feat. Johnson City had just a single in the top of the eighth, while the Yankees loaded the bases with one out but failed to score any more. The Cardinals then went meekly in order in the top of the ninth, making the Yankees' 9-5 victory final.

The Scorecard: 

Cardinals vs. Yankees, 07/01/15. Yankees win, 9-5.

The scorecard was part of the $1 full-color magazine program, located about 3/4ths of the way through the program, not in the traditional centerfold. On glossy magazine paper, it made pencil writing, especially colored pencil writing, very difficult. The scorecard itself was okay, taking up nearly the entire spread outside of a ribbon of team and league promos at the top.

It was a Scoremaster variant, with ball and strike boxes in the upper left of each scoring square, along with a pre-printed diamond. (I even went the distance of scoring fouls as opposed to clean strikes with differing direction slashes that extended out of the boxes.) Each batting line had space for two replacements, with inning totals by batter and by inning, including LOB. The pitching lines were on the bottom, including total batters faced. The stats lines at the top above the batting lines were repeated on both sides, with lines for attendance (1,368--one of the few times attendance was announced in rookie league), wind, game start and end time, weather, and scorer.

There were a couple of weird plays this game. In the bottom of the fateful fifth, the second out came on a CS 2-5 after the runner on second tried to advance on a wild pitch. There was also an F-2b in the top of that inning on a pop-up bunt. In the top of the seventh, after the center fielder dropped the ball, the runner was CS 9-6 after trying to take second on the muffed play.

The Accommodations: 

Sleep Inn & Suites

I stayed the night at the Sleep Inn and Suites in nearby Dublin. My room had a small hallway leading to the bedroom that had the entrance to the sizable bathroom off to the right. The room had two double beds with nightstands and a small easy chair on one wall, and a dresser, refrigerator, and desk on the other.

The room was cozy, especially with all the pillows from both beds stacked onto one, where a pillow fort was properly constructed to encase me for the rest of the night.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2015 Virginia