Saturday, August 2, 2014

Burlington

On Crunchiness at the Edge of America

Historic Centennial Field
Historic Centennial Field, 2014
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Cleveland Indians) vs.
Vermont Lake Monsters (Oakland As)
Historic Centennial Field
NY-PENN League (Short-Season A)
Burlington, VT
6:05 PM


Outside the Game:
With a bit more sleep in my system, I tossed some breakfast buffet in me, packed up, and headed out north to Burlington. As I didn't know when the game that night would end, how fresh I was going to be feeling after the game, or how far I was going to go, I didn't book a hotel for the night before I left. I knew that my likely route would be taking me past some tourist areas about two hours out, and I had at least five hours to home, so I just decided--for better or worse--to leave it to fate and see what happens.

Far removed from civilization, and the need for unnecessary road work on a summer weekend, progress was swift. It seemed to just be me and people heading home to Canada, judging by the license plates. At around noon, I rolled into town and was being directed by the calming British voice from my TomTom to an area in the back of the University of New Hampshire campus. The entrance to the park was pretty well hidden, and I passed it once or twice and almost ran a couple of stop signs trying to find it. On the third pass, I saw the almost hidden entrance and pulled in, driving past an ancient football field to get to "Historic Centennial Field" behind. I parked and got my ticket at the booth and did some preliminary picture-taking. In my walking about, I noticed a good deal of flyovers from military planes, which suggested a military base nearby, or a more careful air patrolling of the Canadian border than I expected.

Pictures taken, I decided to head out to see what there was to see of Burlington. I heard of an aquarium/science center by Lake Champlain, so I went out there, stopping to get some much-needed gas. The city was a mixed pedestrian/bike/car usage layout by the lake, which means that driving is near impossible. I eventually got myself settled into a municipal lot across from the ECHO Lake Aquarium & Science Center, and before heading inside, I stopped at an outdoor grill concession set up across the street to grab a cheeseburger and soda, since we were rapidly moving out of lunchtime.

ECHO Lake
ECHO Lake

Thus fortified, I went to the center, where I was informed that this was the first day of Champ Week in Burlington, and that most of the special events for the day were centered around Champ. Champ, for those not in the know, is the Lake Monster in Lake Champlain, the American cousin of Nessie in Loch Ness, with sightings going back to the European discovers of the lake several hundred years ago. His "birthday" was declared to be the next day, which, in a way that I am not sure is relevant, is also the birthday of my late grandmother.

The entire museum is less an aquarium (though most of the lower-floor exhibits were sea life-based), but the endeavor was quite well-done overall. The over-arching theme was clearly garden-variety New England granola hippie, but it was all executed in an educational and interesting way that wasn't ham-fisted. And a good deal of the exhibits were legitimately interesting, especially an experimental erosion table that was operated with magnetic sand that you could erode by making it "rain" by putting your hand over the area. There were some undeniably neat things going on.

I went out on the observation deck and plopped onto one of the deck chairs in the shade to take a little nap before the 2 PM presentation on Champ. Nap achieved, I went downstairs and watched the presentation, which sadly concluded that Champ probably wasn't real to the disappointment of many.

After an inevitable stop at the museum shop, I headed outside to walk along the lakefront for a bit. The true crunchiness of the place started to show, as there were herds of actual hippies walking along and congregating on lawns here and there. There was a skate park a little way down from where there were doing a breast cancer survivor dragon boat race. A lot of stuff such as that.

After traipsing around the waterfront for a while, I decided to head to the center of town for a little. After a short drive, I even found a street space that I could fill up until I had to go to the ballgame. The center of town was mostly closed off to car traffic except for some crossing streets. The large pedestrian mall was lined with upscale stores, and there was additional foot traffic from the "Festival of Fools" that day, which was several stages of street performers that were showcasing throughout the weekend. The entire place reminded me of a nicer Hoboken distilled down to one street.

Knuck juggles
Knuck juggles

I watched some of the street performers (one was even a clown with an olde timey baseball act) and walked around a bit. I eventually saw a sign for an olive oil store with free samples, and they might as well have just hit me over the head as soon as I walked in and took my wallet; it would have saved everyone a lot of time. The place was wall-to-wall jugs of olive oils, vinegars, and other seed oils. They had an olive oil butter that was made of olive oil, but somehow magically tasted exactly like butter. It tasted exactly like butter. I was already pretty gone by the time I found the exotic sea salts, so throwing some Sicilian Salt onto the purchase really didn't even make a difference. I was rung up by a girl originally from New Jersey, so it is a small world.

I eventually left, laden with my purchases, and I did some more walking around before it was time to head over for the game. I went back to my car, put everything in the trunk, got out my game bag, made the short drive back to the park, and got in line for the game.

Post-game
Getting out while the getting's good

Afterward, while most of the assembled were still waiting comfortably in their seats for the post-game fireworks, I set out to my car, entered "Home" into the TomTom and headed out to drive until I dropped. It was a little before 9 PM, so I figured I could at least make it halfway to Hoboken before finding someplace to rest for the night. The TomTom flashed 6 hours for the drive, but when it doesn't know the speed limit, it assumes around 35 miles per hour, so I knew I was going to have a closer to five-hour drive.

I headed out, relatively well-rested and with a full tank of gas. I was largely driving straight south to get home, it was all a matter of crossing over into New York. After leaving Burlington, it was heading further and further into the hinterlands, from interstates, to state roads, to county roads. And I was getting a little concerned about these half-paved strips that the soothing British voice was guiding me down.

It was with some concern, then, when I heard the voice tell me that after 400 yards, I should take the ferry. THE FERRY? How exactly is this an option? Who thought that was a good idea? As the lack of any electrical light for at least five miles would attest, the ferry was not running at night.

So I had a well and proper freak out. After telling the nice box to avoid the ferry, it immediately sent me out the way I came and further south, though I was following it with much less confidence than I had just a few minutes before. I was peeling around these non-existent roads in the pitch dark, with no other cars around, calmly cataloging all the things that could go wrong out here and how long it would take them to find the body. Eventually, signs appeared mentioning a bridge, and I got more confident of my continuing survival.

The bridge came and went, and it was all a matter of getting onto 87 South. The TomTom kept telling me to turn off the state road I was on, but the signs on said state roads said to stay on that road to get to 87 South, and I know which of the two I was believing more at this point, so I followed the signs, and eventually got to 87 South, and as soon as I merged, I put it to the floor and decided to see how long I could hold out. My ETA put me at home at about 2:30 AM, so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility to make the drive.

The next check-in I put in for myself was at 2 hours from home at 12:30 AM. And what residual Adrenalin I had was gone at that point, and while my gas tank wasn't empty, my metaphorical gas tank sure was. With the next exit looming some half-hour in the future, I pulled off at an exit with two hotels visible. I parked and stumbled in to the Howard Johnsons to be told that they were full up for the night, as was the Comfort Inn next door. The only suggestion he had was a motel down the road a bit. I asked if they had rooms, and he said yes, and that was the end of it.

A couple minutes later, I was pulling up the long driveway to the cabin motel. A nice Chinese couple were there waiting, saying they had gotten a call from the Howard Johnsons. I eagerly took their last room and then parked my car and headed to my room. And that adventure will be discussed later.


The Stadium & Fans:
Home to center, Historic Centennial Field
Home plate to center field, Historic Centennial Field

As granola crunchy as Burlington is, it is perhaps unsurprising that their ballpark is of a similar temperament. The "centennial" of "Centennial Field" is not the country, but the first graduating class of the University of Vermont at the turn of the twentieth century. The grandstand was rebuilt in the 20s, and is the basis for the extant park. As with most old parks still in use, Centennial Field has expanded outward, not upward, but without the organization found in many of those parks.

The olde timey affair starts before you even get to the park, marked by a "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" sign that leads down a narrow road, past another old athletic field, past the old shed ticket office, to the park itself. The current ticket office is a low shed-like building a short way off from the main (and only) entrance to the park between the ticket office and the grandstand.

The park is an old-school original. A steep row of seats rises up from a narrow walkway that runs the gamut of the seating area from just beyond first base to just beyond third. A wood overhang provided the only protection from the elements for the seats behind the netting in front of home plate, and the wooden press box is perched at the top of the seats behind home. Two rows of what passes for VIP seating how been added behind homeplate, no doubt built into the field and shortening the distance to the backstop. A surprisingly up-to-date scoreboard and video board watches the action from left-center.

Several narrow and short ramps provide access to the seats from under the grandstand. They have padding on the tops to prevent any coconut-wood beam interactions. The ramps are filled with pictures of UoV baseball teams and inspirational quotes from baseball luminaries, and one has a baseball card vending machine just outside.

There is a stadium map sponsored by the Burlington transit system in the style of the city's transit maps, and this was one of the first times I actually had to consult one, as the organic growth of the stadium made for some interesting routes. The exterior promenade went mostly from outfield to outfield around home plate, housing all the stores and concessions in  small barn buildings scattered around. Left field terminates in an open picnic area that services the all-you-can-eat seats at a tented grill area. Getting to the right field area is a bit more challenging. You have to spot a sign pointing in between two groundskeeper sheds (helpfully marked by sort-of-clear mascot footprints), weave through some storage areas, and then you will eventually emerge beyond right field, where home batting cages, a picnic patio, and a children's play area reward you for your persistence.

Mascot
Enter Champ

Champ the Sea Monster is the inevitable mascot. The day I was there was part of Champ's birthday festivities, as well as military appreciation night, prompting a giant inflatable army private to make tours of the grandstand for most of the game. The entertainment was minor-league standards, with a couple of local twists, such as a local door company sponsoring a musical chairs game with doors and a vending company sending out water for the umpires in a tiny electric cart.

The crowd on the drizzly evening was pretty impressive for low A ball, and they seemed to be into the game, though Champ was clearly the star of the evening for most of the families in attendance.


At the Game with Oogie:
Scoring
Historic scoring

I had called for tickets the day before and had requested and received a seat behind the home dugout. As with the minor leagues, it was mostly families all around me, mostly ex-military. A family with a cute little daughter was to my right, and a couple with two boisterous boys were in front of me. Perhaps most interesting was a solo woman just past middle age who was sitting behind me and keeping score. She was clearly a lifer, and although we never talked, there was a clear simpatico going on.

There wasn't much in the way of trademark food, but I did get a "monster" foot-long hotdog, and a corndog, because how can you not get a corndog?

Grub
Cooooorn Dooooog

The worry for the game was the reports of about a 40% chance of the showers and thunderstorms that were plaguing those further south were going to come up and harass the game. My worst-case scenario had multiple rain delays holding up my departure, especially if they didn't get an official game in. When a drizzle started in the fourth inning, I was concerned, but I was more relaxed after the game became official after the fifth, and the half-hearted rain disappeared completely by the sixth.


The Game:
First pitch, Scrappers vs. Lake Monsters
First pitch, Scrappers vs. Lake Monsters

The Scrappers and Lake Monsters faced off under the threat of rain in the early evening that only manifest itself as mild showers in the middle innings that tapered off for good by the seventh, thus preserving the post-game fireworks for the remaining crowd.

The Scrappers went quickly in order in the first, but Vermont started off with a leadoff single that moved to second with a one-out walk, but two more outs stranded the runners there. Mahoning Valley went in order again in the second, but the Lake Monsters got through. A leadoff walk came home on a towering, one-out homer to left. A blown throw by the second baseman put the next batter on second, and a two-out double brought him home before the end of the inning, leaving it 3-0, Vermont.

The Scrappers managed to break up the perfect game with a controversial two-out single in the top of the third, but had nothing else, and Vermont only managed a walk. Things changed in the top of the fourth, as Mahoning Valley started the inning with a double, brought in on a one-out double. The trailing runner made it to third on a ground-out, but he was then driven in with a two-out double to center, before a pop-out ended the half at 3-2, Lake Monsters. Vermont went meekly in order in the bottom of the fourth, as did the Scrappers in the top of the fifth.

A bizarre play lead off the bottom of the fifth, eventually ruled a single and a caught stealing (see below), but another single was enough to chase the starting Scrapper pitcher. The reliever got two quick pop-outs to end the half. The Scrappers got a one-out walk followed by a fielder's choice that erased the lead runner. Another walk made it first and second with two outs, but a fly out to right ended the threat. Vermont only had a two-out bunt single to show for the bottom of the sixth. The Scrappers had their own two-out single and nothing else in the seventh, while the Monsters started the bottom of the inning with back-to-back walks, then two quick outs, a booted grounder at third to load the bases, and a strikeout to strand everyone.

The Scrappers again only had a one-out single to show for the eighth, and the Monsters only had a two-out single to show for theirs. The Vermont closer gave up a one-out single that was immediately replaced by a pinch runner, but the next batter grounded into an around-the-horn double play to end the game with a 3-2 Vermont victory.


The Scorecard:
Scrappers vs. Lake Monsters, 08-02-14. Lake Monsters win, 3-2.Scrappers vs. Lake Monsters, 08-02-14. Lake Monsters win, 3-2.
Scrappers vs. Lake Monsters, 08/02/14. Lake Monsters win, 3-2.

The scorecard pamphlet was actually a separate item from the program, all on heavy paper with scoring instructions and full rosters and game notes. With the glossy magazine program, it was $3, which was a bit of a bargain. Considering all the trouble they went to for the separate scorecard, it was a little disappointing that at least half of it was taken up with ads. That said, the scorecard was perfectly fine for scoring, but less so with substitutions or pitchers. The announcers were especially scorecard conscious, and announced the inning totals for all categories at the end of each half-inning, and went out of their way to announce all the extra information (time of game, attendance) that they have on the scorecard, which is seriously missing at many parks, especially in the low minors.

There were a lot of notes on the various "inning events" during the game, all of which were successfully completed. There were a couple of oddities during the game. In the top of the third, the first Scrappers hit that broke up the no-hitter was quite controversial. The umpire called him safe after a close throw from second, but it was apparent to nearly everyone else that he was out by at least a half step. Odd statistical note is that until the bottom of the seventh, every Scrappers hit was a double.

The big weird call of the night was obviously the bottom of the seventh. The leadoff hitter grounds to second base, who rushes and overthrows the first baseman, but the runner does not turn to foul ground after over-running first base, and is therefore in play. The catcher who was backing up the overthrow from second, threw the ball to the pitcher, who tagged the runner before he got back to first, for a caught stealing 4-2-1. They awarded the batter a single, however, before the caught stealing, which I don't think was justified at all. But what are you going to do?


The Accommodations:
Red House Inn
Red House Inn

Where to begin with the Red House Inn? A little research informs me that it was constructed in the 60s as a rental cabin place in the Catskills, and it doesn't seem to have changed since then. I got there at night, which is probably the only reason I decided to actually stay there.

The room I had could be, at best, dated to the early 70s. The door was opened with a physical key, and had only one lock and no peep hole. The room had some funky wood paneling and generic hotel art from the 60s. The pattern on the bedspread was a 70s nightmare. There were two twin beds with this crime of fashion on them on one wall (along with a rickety night stands with rickety lamps), and some worn-down chairs around a worn-out desk with an 80s TV (sans remote). In the back of the room was a cabin kitchenette, with a dual hot plate, an 80s microwave, and a small sink.

The bathroom was at the back, with a long counter and small sink, an aged toilet, a medicine cabinet missing one sliding door, and a run-down shower. There was a furiously working dehumidifier in there as well, and even with that, the towels were damp to the touch. I took a shower in a way that made me regret the decision.

The bed seemed to have clean linens, but I didn't dare go under anything more than the comforter. I piled all the pillows on the bed furthest from the door, and tried to turn on the 70s-era air conditioner unit, which resulted in so much noise and so little cold than I just turned it back to the fan.

Unsurprisingly, the wifi network didn't reach my room. I just got into bed and eventually passed off to sleep in time for my neighbors to get in at 2:30 AM and wake me up. Just like home.

The experience was pretty horrible, but really, with a little bit of effort, this place could be cheap and tolerable. I think the old Chinese couple are the only staff, so they can't do as much. It's a shame, though. The place has kitschy potential in spades.



On Never Having to Go to New England Again

Sunday, August 3, 2014
Hoboken, NJ


Outside the Game:
I awoke blearily, happy to find myself alive at around 8 AM the next morning thanks to the noise of several other guests leaving and slamming various things. I got back to a sleep for a little, but at a quarter to nine, I was re-packed and walking back to turn in my key. A lady from Canada was doing the same, and we passed our keys to the old Chinese lady and went on our way.

I got into the car and turned on the TomTom and hoped to be home before the end of Talking Baseball, which was just coming on the radio as I made it back to the Thruway. The drive did not begin auspiciously, as I managed to pull into the EZ Pass lane, got cars behind me, and then I had to sheepishly pull into the office and walk out to the person in the booth to get a ticket.

That failure behind me, I pointed the car south and floored it. There were few cars on the road and no construction, so the drive was without incident. I pulled off at the last service area on the Thruway to get some breakfast and gas (both in under five minutes) and kept going into Jersey.

After last night, I should have known not give my TomTom any rope, but as I was making good time I decided to follow the calming British directions, which, instead of driving down 17 to meet up with 3, took me a microscopically shorter distance on the Turnpike that only cost me $2.45. I see smashed electronics in the future, I really do.

Nevertheless, I was soon parking and dragging my stuff back to the apartment, for a long soak in the tub, to be followed by a vigorous, vigorous nap, and then some light laundry and unpacking.


The Accommodations:
Thankfully, Hoboken.



2014 Labor Day

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