Monday, June 16, 2014

Jamestown

On First Pitch When?

Russell E. Diethrick Jr. Park
Russell E. Diethrick Jr. Park, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Cleveland Indians) vs.
Jamestown Jammers (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Russell E. Diethrick, Jr. Park
NY-PENN League (A-)
Jamestown, NY
11:05 AM


Outside of the Game:
Needless to say, 11:05 AM is an odd start time for a ballgame. This was predicated by "School Day" at the park, and five hundred or so students being bused in for an afternoon of baseball, which is everything this country should be, frankly.

The early start time prompted the drive down to Jamestown the night before for the morning game. For another night, I woke up unnaturally early despite my best efforts. I dragged myself down to the breakfast buffet, which was largely deserted at this ungodly hour. I had some eggs, cereal, and apple juice while sort of browsing Reddit on my iPad. I dragged myself back upstairs and napped in for another hour or so completely immersed in the copious pillows available to me.

Eventually, I had to drag myself back out of bed. Already packed up, I headed out to the car with my bags and then checked out of the hotel.

A truly short drive later got me to the park at a little after 9 AM. The ticket booth wasn't yet even open and nothing was going on outside the park, so I did my walk-around and took my pictures. Next to the park was a soap box derby track, or the soap box derby track. It was unclear. Either way, it was much shorter than I expected a soap box derby track to be.

Soap Box Derby
Soap Box Derby

With my photos done and no indication that the park would be opening any time soon, I drove downtown to see what I could see. I knew about a couple of little museums, but at this ungodly hour, they weren't even thinking about being open yet. I parked and walked around doing some scouting before heading back to the ballpark at ten. And at exactly ten, the ticket booth and main gate both simultaneously opened. I retrieved my ticket from will call and then went into the park.

After the game, broiled to an even 400 degrees or so, I nearly ran back to the waiting air conditioning of my rental car, parked on the grass next to the soap box track and thankfully free of foul ball impacts. I lay supine in the air conditioning for a good five minutes before heading back downtown. As the game was over in under three hours, even with the extra innings, I had some time to kill.

I parked right in front of the Lucille Ball/Desi Arnaz Museum. When such a thing presents itself, how can one possibly resist? Jamestown is the proud hometown of favorite daughter, Ms Ball, and it has erected a two-part museum to her TV career and personal life. I sprang for the audio tour, hosted by Lucy's daughter, Lucie Arnaz. And despite what you might think, it was actually quite informative and interesting. In addition to reproductions of the most famous sets and episodes of the show, the museum gives visitors a great deal of backstory about the program, DesiLu productions, and the legacy that it left. (For example, I Love Lucy was one of the biggest and first syndicated shows in re-runs because it was the first sitcom that could be re-run, since it was shot on film [at DesiLu's expense], a deal quite similar in implications to Fox allowing George Lucas to have the merchandising profits for Star Wars.)

Lucille Ball Museum
Recreated TV set

The second museum focused on the lives of Desi and Lucy, from their beginnings, the show, the divorce, and their later lives (including an unknown-to-me spate of board game endorsements by Lucy). Besides completely whitewashing the divorce and the reasons for it--according to the museum, it just kind of happened, and they remained friends for the rest of their lives--it was an informative trip through TV history. The museum hosts a comedy festival every year, which is ironically headlined by Jay Leno this year.

Coming up on three in the afternoon, I decided to head out to Erie. While it was only a little under an hour drive, baking in the sun all afternoon had taken quite a bit out of me. I was getting drowsy, and I had to make an effort to keep attentive, even with a blaring radio and the AC turned up as high as it would go. But despite my limitations and a few left-lane hogs (nearly as soon as I crossed over in PA), the ride was uneventful.

At least until the end. I had completely forgotten everything about the hotel I booked in Erie except for the address and the name. The TomTom calmly guided me to my destination address, which completely lacked any hotel. I looped around the supposed location of the hotel several times, getting more and more annoyed, until I noticed a hotel-like building at the back of a mall. I recalled that the hotel was next to a mall, so the next time around, I pulled into the mall, drove to the very back of said mall, and eventually found my waiting hotel.

I checked in and went up to my room for a desperately needed shower and bit of a nap. I got situated in the hotel, and then headed out for some dinner. Having had lunch at around 10:30 AM, I was extremely hungry for some unknown reason. There was a Cracker Barrel not too far away (shut up--I like then when I'm on the road), and I scarfed down an American-sized dinner and desert while being waited on by a perfectly nice waitress who was so good at her job that she clearly should be doing something else.

Worn down from the day and the travel, and now weighed down by dinner, I went back to the hotel for a quiet and slow night of catching up on writing this thing up before heading to bed early.


The Stadium & Fans:
Home to center, Russell E. Diethrick Jr. Park
Home plate to center field, Russell E. Diethrick Jr. Park

Russell E. Diethrick, Jr. Park is a tiny little single-A park tucked into the local community college campus. Next door is the All-American Soapbox Derby track, which prompted me to wonder at how short soapbox derby tracks really are. The treeline at the back wall of the park is right in front of the parking for one of the campus buildings, prompting a bevy of warning signs about errant fly balls and the like. Parking for the stadium is on the park by the derby track (and on the derby track), which inspired me to park as far back as possible to avoid any foul balls, or possible soapbox derby cars.

The park has only two entrances behind home plate, one nominally the "main gate" and one for bleachers only, but they both empty into the same place, no doubt due to some renovations at some point in the past. The park is laid out in two rings: the outer wall, and the inner building. The outer brick building holds the concessions (such as they are), bathrooms, and clubhouses, and extended the length of the park. A smaller brick building backs the grandstand and houses the team store only runs from first to third, where they end in an entranceway. Having the clubhouse in the exterior wall means that the home and visiting players have to walk through the crowd to get to the clubhouse, which is a throwback to some older parks (and a boon for kids looking for autographs).

The grandstand behind home plate is the only covered area in the stands. On top of that roof sits the retro press box. Beyond first and third base are straight-out metal bleachers that extend to the edges of the outfield that have a clever two-level walkway. One level is at the base of the bleachers, and then a small stair leads down to the ground, so that people walking by won't interrupt the view of the fans in the bleachers. Left field ends in the home bullpen, and the right field area has the visiting bullpen, plus the "Vineyard" group picnic area. A solitary scoreboard sits in right-center.

Masct
Bubba Grape, the Baseball Ape

Mascot Bubba Grape, the Baseball Ape, helps runs the between-innings activities. Bubba is incredibly popular, but on School Day, in a park packed with kids, he was literally mobbed when he showed up. I'd like to coin a new phrase: "More popular than the mascot on School Day." There were slightly less between-innings contests than normal, and what was there consisted mostly of your standard contests and races.

The crowd, bussed in from local schools, filled the place up and gave some enthusiasm to an 11:05 AM start. They were mostly into the game as well as the between-inning contests, of which they and their schoolmates were heavily featured.


At the Game with Oogie:
Scoring
Morning scoring

So this was an early start to things. When I got into the park at 10 AM, I made my way directly to the program booth to buy one of the same. The gentleman behind the booth got to talking to me, and pointed out that there were about 500 school kids who were going to arrive at any minute, so if I wanted to do anything in peace and quiet, I should do it now.

After taking my pictures and walking around, I decided to get some food before said schoolkids showed up, as there was only the one concession stand, and I didn't want to get stuck behind a wall of kids. Despite the early hour, I got a full-on house hot dog with cheese and chili, which I ate at one of the picnic tables across the way, and watched as the inevitable school children began pouring into the stadium.

Grub
The Swashbuckler

After some more wandering, I found my seat, but it was under the grandstand, and not behind the dugout. There were only bleachers behind the dugout, so I decided to leave my seat vacant. While in the grandstand, however, I saw at least one guy with a "Minor League Parks Tour 2014" T-shirt on. I was going to ask him about that after the game, but he was lost in a swirl of students before I could find him again, and baked as I was from several hours in the afternoon sun, I wasn't in a mood to go looking too hard for anything except shade or air conditioning.

The bleachers behind the dugouts had a row of real pull-down seats, so I grabbed one of these. I was mostly surrounded by schoolkids behind me with varying interest in the game. They were all into the cheering at least, so the home team had that going for them.


The Game:
First pitch, Scrappers vs. Jammers
First pitch, Scrappers vs. Jammers

Perhaps it was the early start-time. Perhaps it was the earliness in the season. For whatever the reason, this game was a mostly punchless contest between the Jammers and regional rivals, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.

The Scrappers scattered two singles in the top of the first to no avail. The Jammers had a leadoff walk promptly picked off trying to steal second, and then stranded a two-out single in their half. The Scrappers went in order in the second, and the Jammers had a leadoff single become part of a double-play to end the inning. In the top of the third with one out, the batter reached first on an error by the third baseman, leading to an inexplicably early hook for the starter. The runner stole second and then was joined on base by a walk, but another double-play ended the minor threat.

Jamestown went in order in the bottom of the third inning, as did both teams until the bottom of the fifth, when the Jammers managed to sneak in a one-out single before stranding him. The Scrappers went in order in the sixth, but the Jammers finally found some offense with a one-out triple, brought home by a following single. Two outs eventually ended the inning with Jamestown in the lead, 1-0. Mahoning went in order again in the seventh, as did Jamestown.

Things changed in the eighth, as the Scrappers got a surprise one-out homer to right to tie the game up, 1-1. The Jammers had a one-out walk and a two-out hit batsman in the bottom of the eighth, but nothing came across. In the ninth, the Scrappers got a leadoff walk sacrificed over to second by the next batter. A fielder's choice got him to third, and a two-out walk got him some company, but a ground-out to third ended the half with nothing across. The fading Jammers went in order in the ninth, and we went to extra frames for the first time this trip.

The Scrappers seemed to want to end this quickly, as the same batter from the eighth inning homered to right again with one out. A two out hit batsman was perhaps a message, but he stole second to send a message right back. A walk made it first and second with two outs, but a grounder to short ended it at 2-1, Scrappers. The Jammers gave up the ghost in the bottom of the tenth, striking out in order, capped by a strikeout looking to end the game 2-1, Scrappers.


The Scorecard:
Scrappers vs. Jammers, 06-16-14. Scrappers win, 2-1.Scrappers vs. Jammers, 06-16-14. Scrappers win, 2-1.
Scrappers vs. Jammers, 06/16/14. Scrappers win, 2-1.

Once again, I had to spring a couple bucks to get a program/scorecard at a short-season A park. I guess they must make money this way, or they wouldn't do it. This one, at least, was a handsome color magazine program, with a scorecard centerfold, and truly plentiful mimeographed and stapled player data for up-to-the-minute information and opponent rosters.

The card itself was magazine paper, which made it difficult to write on with colored pencils, but not nearly as bad as Auburn's program. The scorecard itself was two whole magazine-sized pages without any ads, so it had generous space to write on, and also included instructions for scoring newbies.

The game itself was rather mundane, scoring-wise. There were a ton of strikeouts (17 total), with a corresponding dearth of offense. (But, sadly, the K-Man did not strike out.) Perhaps the only oddity of note is that both Scrapper runs came from the same number 8 hitter belting two home runs in back-to-back at-bats. One wonders why he wasn't walked the second time.


The Accommodations:
Fairfield Inn
Fairfield Inn

For the next two nights, I was to be staying at the rather well-hidden Fairfield Inn by Marriott in Erie. Once located, it was a nice enough place. I had a king-sized bed with an inordinate amount of pillows (and even more hidden in the dressers, so it seemed), with a pull-out couch, refrigerator, and a microwave. The bathroom was generously sized as well.

I spent a great deal of the late afternoon and evening in the room. The travel was starting to catch up to me, and I spent most of the night seeing how many pieces of furniture on which I could site and avoid typing up this travelogue.



2014 Western New York

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