Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Bluefield

On It's Always Raining in Bluefield

Rain out
Literally every day in Bluefield
Monday, June 25, 2018
Bluefield, WV


Outside the Game: 
A lovely Monday morning not at work featured breakfast, and then video games until it was time to pack up in the early afternoon. With a wife and son in tow, it took a little bit to get the ship of state moving, but we were off heading east at the appointed time.

The drive out was mostly without incident besides some construction. We stopped off for a late lunch at Appleby's and then made the rest of the drive out to Bluefield. As we were approaching, I found "Car Bingo" cards in the seat pockets in the back seat and had quite the enjoyable time playing with them, even if they had been designed in the early 80s and not updated since then based on some of the squares (Corvette, etc.), but I got into it so much that the youngster in the back seat with me put down his phone long enough to play for a little bit.

The first stop in Bluefield was the Enterprise where I'd pick up my car for the remainder of the trip, as we were parting ways the next day. We drove past out hotel, but the address for the rental place took us to a spot just past a small mall. A quick look in the mall didn't locate the business, so I called up to get directions, as we were flirting with 4 PM, and the place closed at 5 PM.

It took a few efforts to get through, and the woman finally gave us some useful directions, but claimed that I was to have been there at noon. That was when I was originally scheduled to pick up the car, but I had called the previous night to tell them I would be coming in later, and I was assured there would be no problems. She said she would see what she could do. And I got nervous.

After backtracking a little bit, we got to the Enterprise office, which was heralded by a tiny sign in the back of a car dealership. I went in and waited behind a couple that was also picking up a car. Apparently, there had just been a run on the place, and the lady behind the counter was bemoaning that her associate had left for lunch.

Once the other couple was almost done, the other guy showed up and handled me. They did have a car ready for me, so I sent everyone else down the road to the hotel, and then I finished up the paperwork with the representative and went out to see my car.

Chevy Impala rental
It means "antelope"

Despite asking for a compact, they had given me pretty much the opposite, which was a Chevy Impala Medicare sled. The guy showed me a bunch of little dings on the car that he assured me wouldn't be a problem, but I took some photos nevertheless, and then headed down the road to the hotel.

As I came in, I found my friend just finishing up his check in. I got a King Single right next door to his double twin, though we didn't have the adjoining doors to suite up the place. After a quick check in, I dropped all my stuff off in the room, took pictures, and got set up. I was enjoying the nice view of the pool when the rain started.

I headed out to my car to try and figure everything out. I adjusted all the mirrors and whatnot and worked out all the dials and lights and the on-board WiFi hotspot that it came with. I went back inside and called the stadium, and they said the game was still on. But as it came time to go to the park, I went next door, where my friend told me they had just announced the cancellation on their Twitter page. That was two straight rainouts when trying to go to a Bluefield game. I honestly had no idea how they managed to get a season's worth of games in.

But that is also why I budgeted the extra days. With not a ton of options available for dinner, we all went to nearby Chili's and then retired to their room to watch Thor: Ragnoroc streamed on their TV from a laptop. I then went back to my room to hit the sack and wonder what the hell I was going to do tomorrow.


The Accommodations: 
Quality Inn
Quality Inn, Bluefield

I was at the Quality Inn and Conference Center, which was at the top of a windy road off the main state road through town. I had no idea what conferences they would have here, but it was a nice enough hotel, although sometime recently their restaurant had closed down.

The entrance to my room was right to right of the small but adequate bathroom. The king-sized bed was on one wall with end tables opposite a desk, dresser, and TV. I was on the ground floor right next to the pool that no one would be using because of the weather. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of guest besides ourselves in the place.



On Mercy, of a Sort, from the Weather

Bowen Field
Bowen Field, 2018
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Princeton Rays (Tampa Bay Rays) vs.
Bluefield Blue Jays (Toronto Blue Jays)
Bowen Field
Appalachian League (Rookie +)
Bluefield, WV
5:05 PM


Outside the Game:
I woke up early to grab breakfast and say goodbye to my friend and his family, and they headed off to South Carolina. After breakfast, I went back to the front desk to arrange to stay over another day, and then went back to my room for a shower.

I decided to take a drive into town to get used to the car and kill some time. I went out to the stadium, and then drove downtown to see what was there. In addition to a lot of closed stores and displays about how Bluefield was the financing center of the coal region in better days, I ended up browsing through an antiques store downtown, where I bought some old books and a baseball poem plaque. I had lunch at a Burger King, which was the only thing open in the area, and then went back to the hotel to organize and pack a bit before tomorrow and take a nap. They were going to play a double-header to make up for the rainout the night before, so the game time was moved up to 5 PM, so I was ready to head out as soon as I got up from the nap.

Right as I headed to my car to drive to the stadium, it started raining, but it stopped during my drive out to the park, just enough to dose everything. I walked around and did my photographing, bought a ticket, and went inside.

After they brought the tarp out for the second time before the second game, I saw the writing on the wall and headed out to my car in the drizzle. I just headed back to the hotel to finish packing and hit the sack early.


The Stadium & Fans: 
Home to center at Bowen Field
Home plate to center field, Bowen Field

Bowen Field was an old WPA ballpark built in the 40s. The outside of the park is surrounded by a parking lot and a low wall that goes around it, just shy of the stream that runs on the other side of the road beyond the center field wall. A Sherman tank and a tree grove beyond left field are part of the WWII memorial, and further out past right is a kid's train that seems to run at an irregular schedule.

There is one entrance to the park one the third-base side of home plate, with a single ticket booth out building. The gate empties into a plaza where most of the amenities are found. At the far end by the grandstand is the built-in concession stand, and to its right is the building housing the Birds Nest team store and facilities. There are also entrances to special seating areas on the third base side, the “RailYard” party area, the “Rail Bird” bleachers, and a wooden staircase up to the third-base box seats. At the entrance gate, there is a small set of desks that house the programs and contest areas, as well as another table for the 50/50.

A ramp at the end of the plaza leads up to the grandstand and is lined with nearly a dozen dedications and plaques through the years. The grandstand houses the main seating area of the park. Everything up from the small walkway that runs around the grandstand are general admissions seats, with most falling underneath the overhang. A number are broken and unrepaired, marked with blue duct tape so people don't try and sit in them. More reserved box seats line the front of the walkway right by the field. Another section of box seats is accessed at the first-base end of the grandstand. The press box is located on the top of the first base dugout in an unconventional configuration.

The electric scoreboard sits in right-center, just to the left of the triple-decker batter's eye and on the unending backdrop of trees beyond the outfield. A “hit it here” sign is in left-center and is above the single-row of ads that covers the entire outfield.

The crowd was pretty good for mid-week game with threatening weather, and a good portion of the fans were from nearby Princeton. And that is because of the Mercer Cup.

Mercer Cup
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair

The Mercer Cup is a high-school grade victory cup that goes to the winner of the season series between the Princeton Rays and Bluefield Blue Jays, both residents of Mercer County, right next to the Virginia border. I'm of two minds. On the one hand, it is a nice local tradition and bragging rights for two small towns that both have teams in the lowest of the minors, and it is a fun execution of civic pride. On the other, it is the definition of “never have the stakes been so low.” The fans were getting aggressively into it, all for a cheap trophy they could buy themselves if they were so interested.

That said, there wasn't much else between the innings outside of some PA announcements. But the fans in the seats were there for the game, which was nice, even if they took it a little far.


At the Game with Oogie:
Corn Dog
Corn dog, delayed

For the very first time, I was able to enter Bowen Field, which was momentous in itself. Even after taking the time to do outside pictures, I was the first patron in the park, and I quickly went over to grab a program next to the Mercer Cup and walk in. I was immediately stopped by a guy who was from NY and spotted the Mets hat. We had a talk about it and how he came down here after a stint with Uncle Sam. I did all my interior photos in the old park, and then went back to buy some stuff at the gift shop. The person who was running the gift shop that evening had just shown up, so I was able to buy my souvenirs and then head over to the concessions stand for some food.

My first food order didn't work out, as I was told that they didn't actually have chicken sandwiches that night. I settled on a burger and a corn dog, which they assured me they had. The burger I got, but the counter person hadn't been informed that the fryer hadn't even been started up yet, so my corn dog was a long way off. The guy in the back assured me he'd find me in the stands and deliver it. (He did, just before the start of the game.)

I finished my burger, bought some 50/50 tickets, then headed up into the grandstand to find a seat in the open seating plan they had. I settled into a seat right behind home plate just far enough up to be under the overhang. As people filed in, there was eventually a Rays fan on my right a couple rows up, an older Blue Jays on to my right, a grandpa with his granddaughter behind me, and then a couple of rows of Princeton Rays personnel to my left, sitting by the scouts and the players who were not playing in the first game and thus running stats.

A Little League team was going around for collections to get them to a tournament, and there was also the local news there covering the Mercer Cup game, because that passes for news down here.

Between the games, the rain started up, and everyone retreated to my row and further back under the cover. The players who were running stats for the Jays were right next to me, and some big shot local came up and was talking to them, eventually inviting him to a big barbecue he was having the next day. Not with this rain, Champ.

The rain stopped, and the tarp came off, but a short while later, the rain began again in earnest, and the tarp came out again, and that is when I booked it to my car. I had finally gotten my game in here in. My duty was complete.


The Game: 
First pitch, Rays vs. Blue Jays
First pitch, Rays vs. Blue Jays

This game was a first in many ways. It was the first game of a doubleheader to make up the previous day's rain out, while also being the first game between the Blue Jays and the Rays of the year, and therefore the first game of the Mercer Cup series. The tightly-fought, seven-inning contest would go to the home team.

The Rays started the scoring early with a two-out homer to right to stake them to a 1-0 lead. Bluefield immediately tied it up in the bottom of the first with a leadoff double brought in by a two-out single to leave the score at 1-1. Princeton went in order in the second despite a leadoff single thanks to a double play, but the Blue Jays got a two-out homer to left field to get a slim 2-1 lead. The Rays only had a single in the top of the third, but Bluefield kept scoring with a leadoff single that scored on the double that followed, giving them a slightly larger 3-1 lead.

Princeton got a one-out single to third thanks to a walk and a wild pitch, but he was stranded there, while the Blue Jays managed to load the bases with a double, short single, and a hit batsman, but a new pitcher got the last out to leave them all aboard. Both sides only had a single to show for the fifth. In the top of the sixth, the Rays got a run the long way, with a walk, wild pitch, fly out to right, and another wild pitch to bring him home and cut the lead to 3-2. In the bottom of the frame, Bluefield had a weird one. After two strikeouts, they loaded the bases on a single, walk, and dropped third strike on a strikeout, but a fourth strikeout ended the inning and the threat.

In their last licks at the top of the seventh, Princeton got a one-out walk and then a two-out single to right-center. The lead runner booked it to third and drew the throw, but he made it safely. The batsman tried to make it second, but the throw from third to the shortstop got there in time to gun him down, and the Blue Jays walked away with a 3-2 Mercer Cup game victory.

As mentioned, the second game was rained out shortly before beginning. In four total games I tried to watch in Bluefield, exactly one was played. That's just amazing.


The Scorecard: 
Rays vs. Blue Jays, 06-26-18. Blue Jays win, 3-2.
Rays vs. Blue Jays, 06/26/18. Blue Jays win, 3-2.

The scorecard was part of the $1 newsprint mini-tabloid program, which came with a raffle ticket. The scorecard took the entirety of the centerfold and was printed on a white background for ease of notes, although there was a copious notes are in the scorecard itself to the left of the pitching lines.

Each batting line held room for one player, although there was an extra line for a replacement at the end of the batting lines. Each batting line ended with the regular cumulative stats, and each inning column ended with inning totals. The pitching lines were in the bottom right of each scorecard, next to the aforementioned notes areas.

The scoring lines were small, but workable, but were on top of a color background on newsprint, which made for messy erasing.

There were a couple of plays of note. In the bottom of the first, there was a foul ball to left field that was caught seemingly for an out, but the umpire ruled it hit the netting before being caught. This led to an argument and ejection of the visiting manager, and ironically the at-bat was ended several pitches later with a fly out to left. In the bottom of the sixth, there was the rarest of the rare: a four-strikeout inning. After two quick strikeouts, the bases were loaded, and the last batter got on thanks to a dropped third strike that was not thrown to first in time. The next batter also struck out, and the four K inning was made.

For a seven-inning game, there were also 14 total strikeouts, which was a lot, and the Rays run in the top of the sixth was made possible by two wild pitches in the same at-bat.


The Accommodations: 
I was at the Quality Inn again, for a surprisingly early night. Not much of note, but I did find out who had conferences at a mid-range hotel in the middle of nowhere. As I was going back to my room, I saw the meeting for a local mining union taking place in one of the meeting rooms, so that answered that, I guess.

They didn't bother me any, and I got an early night's sleep to offset all the driving for the next day.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/baseballoogie/albums/72157671008262328

2018 East Coast Leftovers
https://baseballoogie.blogspot.com/2018/06/granville.html

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