Thursday, September 3, 2015

Avon

On Adequateness

All Pro Freight Stadium
All Pro Freight Stadium, 2015
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Joliet Slammers vs. Lake Eerie Crushers
All Pro Freight Stadium
Frontier League (Independent)
Avon, OH
7:05


Outside the Game: 
I had a slow morning, one of many on this trip, where lying around in bed seemed like a peachy idea, until it was almost too late for breakfast, which eventually drove me downstairs, and then back up to the room for more lying around, and perhaps a nap. The inevitable time for checkout arrived, and I had to shower, pack, and check out and hit the road.

My research showed me nothing much interesting near the Crushers stadium, which was deep in suburban Ohio. I decided to drive out and see if the locals had any better idea, so I made the two-and-a-half hour ride without much incident. My first stop was the stadium, where I bought a ticket and took my outside pictures. Getting in and out was a little complicated by some roadway work they were doing, which made finding a working entrance a little more difficult than it needed to be, but with the main highway literally right outside the stadium, it was pretty quick in and out.

I was at a hotel a suburb or so over, and I went over to check in, but even their wall of pamphlets couldn't suggest anything interesting in the area, just in nearby Cleveland, and when Cleveland is your big cultural draw, you know you aren't working with a lot of anything. I got into my room, unpacked, and got ready for the next day, and lacking anything better to do, I took a shower and a nap and then spent some more time looking for perhaps other ways to kill time. And I found there was literally nothing to do on a Thursday afternoon in this place.

It was eventually time to get out to the park, and I decided to get there really early, because it was the best option I had at the time. I showed up and parked, and took more pictures while waiting for the gate to open.
After the game, studied up on the construction and how best to get out, I was quickly on the way back to my hotel room, where I soaked in the tub for the evening before finishing my scorecard and going to bed.


The Stadium & Fans: 
Home to center, All Pro Freight Stadium
Home plate to center field, All Pro Freight Stadium


All Pro Freight Stadium sounds like a fine name for a football stadium, but it is less evocative of the national pastime. The stout brick building has two imposing towers by its entrance, which is where the military relevance ends, and a small ticket booth extrudes by the only main entrance. The park is located literally next to the highway, and there are even warning signs to prevent people from wandering too far into the embankment by the park to avoid accidentally falling into the highway.

The stadium follows a very familiar minor-league layout, with the entrance leading to a main promenade that rings the entire park above the seating areas, whether they be the seats in the main grandstand running to the short outfields, or the picnic hills in the outfield. By home plate, the top of the seating area has reserved table service in specials sections, along with sponsored floral arrangements. A second level runs nearly the length of the grandstand, hosting the press box, luxury boxes, and some party decks. All of the concessions and other concerns were on the promenade, facing the field, so fans can get food without missing the action. A single-tier of outfield fence runs the length of the outfield and covered in ads except for the batters’ eye that rises up n dead center. The digital scoreboard looms over right field, in front of the backdrop of some trees and a lot of blue skies.

A small picnic deck ends left field, and a small kids’ play area is on the picnic hill in right field. A small championship banner hangs by the press box, and there is a mascot-cut out picture stand on the promenade--and that is about the beginning and end of the frills at this indie park.
Stomper the bear is the local mascot, and he and the human MC run the crowd through the minor-league standard paces of games, contest, and give-aways between innings. There was a decent crowd here for the game, though it wasn’t a sell-out by any means. Especially for indie-ball, they seemed engaged with the game instead of the other entertainment, so there is a positive for the local baseball fans in Avon.


At the Game with Oogie: 
Scoring
Indie scoring

I got in and did my photography and shopping at a brisk pace. I was particularly hungry this evening, so I started with a brat, fries, and souvenir soda, and then followed it up with a Proper Pig pulled-pork sandwich when that didn’t fill me up all the way.
My seat was right behind the dugout on the third-base side just to the left of home plate. The season ticket holders in my area weren’t there that night, so I had a small oasis to myself, although the other areas further down on either side were pretty packed.


The Game: 
First pitch, Slammers vs. Crushers
First pitch, Slammers vs. Crushers

This contest between the visiting Slammers and the home-town Crushers was not a slugging contest by any extent. The home team didn't even manage a baserunner until the bottom of the third.

Both sides started the game going in order. Joliet opened up the second with three straight one-out singles to drive in a run for a 1-0 lead. The Crushers went in order again. The Slammers got a man on base with two outs thanks to an error in the third, and Lake Eerie got its first baserunner the same way.

The Slammers got the scoring working again with a one-out double in the top of the fourth, followed by two singles to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Lake Eerie had a walk and a single to kill the no-hitter, but they both got stranded in the bottom of the frame. Likewise, Joliet stranded a single and a walk in the top of the fifth, while the Crushers had back-to-back singles and a passed ball to make it second and third with one out, but a two-out grounder got the runner trying for home, and the score remained 2-0. The Slammers went in order in the sixth, while Lake Eerie got a man to third on a walk, stolen base, and groundout, but left him there again.

Joliet went in order despite a walk in the top of the seventh thanks to a caught stealing, while the Crushers just had a single in their half. The Slammers had a walk in the top of the eighth, while Lake Eerie went in order despite a leadoff hit batsman due to a double play. Joliet went in order in the top of the ninth, and the Slammers could only manage a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth, finalizing the 2-0 Slammer win.


The Scorecard: 
Slammers vs. Crushers, 09-03-15. Slammers win, 2-0.Slammers vs. Crushers, 09-03-15. Slammers win, 2-0.
Slammers vs. Crushers, 09/03/15. Slammers win, 2-0.

The scorecards were free photocopies given away at the fan relations booth, separate from the free full-color program given out at the door. Copyright violations were front and center here, as the scorecard sheets were clearly twelfth-generation photocopies of original Score Right scorecards, as the copyright notice was still legible in the bottom left. The photocopies were off center, so some information on the edges were cut off, and after so many copies, all of the original information in each scoring box disappeared.

The scorecard was quite complex. While there was a space for a player and a replacement in each slot, the totals for each batter included At Bats, Runs, Hits, Doubles, Triples, and Home Runs. Originally, I think that there was supposed to be a second part of the line for strikeouts, stolen bases, sacrifices, RBIs, Put Outs, and Errors, but they were lost with the multiple photocopies. The top of the scorecard had a total score by inning for both team and final score. Underneath that but above the player lines were pitching statistics, and put outs, assists, and errors by position per inning. Because of the way the pitching lines were arranged, I wrote upwards for the Crushers, who used a ton of pitchers in the game. There were also only nine innings printed, which would have made extras interesting. Even though the data was smudged, I used the pre-printed text in each scoring box to record the plays.

Despite the complexity of the scorecard, there were few scoring plays of note. There was a 5-2t put out in the bottom of the fifth, and a CS 1-3 play in the top of the seventh as the catcher fired down to first to catch a napping runner. Everything else was pretty straightforward, except for a double-switch causing me to use a reference letter for the pitchers' line in the batting order.


The Accommodations: 
Comfort Inn & Suites
Comfort Inn & Suites

For the night, I was at the Country Inn and Suites in the next suburb over from Avon. I had a big suite for some reason, with the large bathroom right off the entrance. Next in was a sitting room with an easy chair and a couch, and then the bedroom, with the king-sized bed and night stand in one corner, and a dresser, TV, and two inexplicable dining chairs on the other wall.

It was quiet and comfortable, so I had no complaints.



2015 Ohio

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