On a Mission from God
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| Duly Health & Care Field, 2025 |
Quebec Capitales vs. Joliet Slammers
Duly Health and Care Field
Frontier League
Joliet, IL
10:30 AM
Outside the Game:
I woke early this morning and starving, so it is good I was still waking up at 6 AM right as another breakfast buffet opened. This one was a little better than the day before, and I ate to my heart's content before slumping back up to my room to pack up, wash up, and then nap to the last possible moment (which was much earlier this morning).
I booked my hotel in Schaumburg for the night, as there was another early morning game tomorrow (though not this early). Outside of some problem with my rewards number that made the whole process longer than it needed to be, I finished up, packed the car, and headed the short distance to the stadium.
And found there was no where to park. There was an employee standing out in front of the park, and he said the stadium usually used the municipal lot next door, but because of the early start during work hours, it was still being used municipally. As he was new, he ran inside and came back with directions to the closest public lot, which I was able to find, park in, and walk back with minimal issues. The gates were already open at this point, but I bought a ticket and took my pictures outside before going in.
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| "We're ahn a mishon fram gahd." |
The game being over at 1 PM, I looked for things to do. The famous prison was closed until Thursday, but there were a couple of local museums within walking distance of my parking lot. I barely made it inside the Joliet Area Historical Museum before I received the answer to the question, "Do they acknowledge the Blues Brothers at all?", as I was confronted with a "mission from god" diorama right in the lobby. I love me a good local museum, and this was certainly it, delving into the history of Joliet and its industries, as well as the jail and route 66. Right around the corner from that place was the in-progress Illinois Rock & Roll Museum of Route 66. A British couple that I had seen in the first museum had the same idea I did and were leaving this place just as I entered. The museum sold nifty stickers of Abe Lincoln with headphones on and "Illinoise" printed on them.
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| Cue the horn section. |
Before I left, I headed just south of town, where the Blue Brothers car was mounted on a pole right next to a gas station, for some reason. Checking that off the list, I headed out to Schaumburg around 3:30 PM, reaching there after an uneventful drive though cloverleaf intersections. At the hotel, I was originally put in a handicapped room by accident(?), and the overworked attendant apologized profusely then put me in a correct room. It seems like they were short-staffed in a bad way.
I settled into my new room, unpacked, and got my paperwork in order. I went down and had dinner at the hotel restaurant (also short-staffed, but it was fine, despite what some Karens also dining at the same time would have you believe) before heading back up to my room to spend the rest of the night in the tub, watching the finale of Andor. I eventually showered up and went to bed, exhausted as the trip to this point caught up to me a bit.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Duly Health and Care Field |
The mellifluously named Duly Health And Care Field was pretty standard for the indie parks that I would run across during this trip, with some nice exceptions. There was a promenade around the entire park, with the seating bowl and two outfield berms extending down beneath it. There were different levels to the berm, serviced by a stairwell in left and an escalator in right. The concessions and stores lined the promenade, including notable ones like the Old Smokey Distillery in left, adored with a statue of steelworkers on top of it.
A second level of press and luxury boxes loomed above from first base to third base. The main video board sat in left-center, with a speed camera board in right. An very well-used play zone was in left field, and a Miracle League field (used for a modified version of baseball for disabled people) was in center. There was also a small local hall of fame near the home plate promenade, and a baseball player statue and some dedication plaques by the main entrance.
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| A recurring theme so far |
The mascots were Spikes, the dog, and J.L. Bird, a crow-ish thing in an old-timey jail outfit (thus marking the second day in a row of criminal mascots). There were tons of minor-league level-games between the innings, most featuring some of the school group members who were filling the park this morning. The park staff were also inordinately proud of the netting around the seating area. Every time a foul ball hit the net, the announcer in the booth exhorted the crowd to say, "Thank you, Net!"
At the Game with Oogie:
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| "Breakfast" |
Once I made it inside the park, I did my lap on the promenade taking pictures before hitting the team store ("The Clink") before getting... breakfast? Lunch? Brunch? It was a hot dog and a soda because I wasn't adventurous enough to get anything else. I joked about getting a beer with one of the concession ladies at 10 AM-ish, and to my horror, she didn't even imagine that I was kidding, and I had to stop her pouring me a morning beer. Are you okay, Chicago?
I found my seat, which wasn't quite in the shade, so I shuffled over the last rows of the first shaded area of the park and squatted successfully. There was one lady in the row ahead of me, and then three rows down of nothing until the rest of the area was claimed by a student group, who filled most of the entire park. The kids were incredibly loud, especially when the mascots showed up or there was a giveaway, or--god forbid--when the mascots did a giveaway.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Capitales vs. Slammers |
Besides its ridiculous start time of 10:30 AM, this early season, "school day" matchup between the Quebec Capitales and the Joliet Slammers didn't have a ton of action. Perhaps both teams were tired from waking up so early.
The Capitales all struck out in the first, with a double in the middle, while Joliet went in order. Quebec kept it going by going in order in the top of the second, but the Slammers had a leadoff hit batsman, a single, and a walk to load the bases, all erased on a one-out double play. The Capitales got the scoring started in the third, oddly, with a leadoff single, two walks, and a passed ball, to make it 1-0. The bottom of the third was equally bizarre--if not as productive--for Joliet, with a walk, fielder's choice, another walk, a batter reaching on a strikeout that got away from the catcher to load the bases, and then an out to kill the rally.
Quebec scattered two walks in the top of the fourth, while the Slammers went in order. The top of the fifth saw the Capitales get their own hits batman and walk combo, but stranded both, while Joliet left a leadoff walk to die on the vine. Both teams spent the sixth inning meekly going in order.
In the seventh, The Capitales managed a two-out single only to have him quickly picked off, while Joliet just went in order. Quebec had a leadoff homer in the eighth and a stranded double to push their lead to 2-0, while the Slammers went in order again. The Capitales had a single to show for the top of the ninth, while the Slammers went in order yet again, sending the visitors home victorious, 2-0.
The Scorecard:
Quebec Capitales vs. Joliet Slammers, 5/13/25. Capitales win, 2-0.
Once again, I was continuing my erasable pen experimentation in the BBWAA scorebook.
And once again, there wasn't a ton going on out of the ordinary scoring-wise for this game. The Slammers had a knuckleballer starting the game, which was good enough for a note, and a "double" in the top of the eighth in reality fell between three fielders and hit the center fielder's glove.
A player did reach base on a strikeout in the bottom of the third. I noted that the ball caromed away and made it to the backstop.
Otherwise, nothing worth mentioning.
The Accommodations:
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| Hampton Inn & Suites Chicago Schaumburg |
As I'd be spending some appreciable time in this room, I went a little bit nicer with the Hampton Inn & Suites Chicago Schaumburg, close to my early morning game the next day.
Another slightly nicer bathroom off the entrance with a big, well-enjoyed tub, and a slightly nicer bedroom with the king-sized bed, night tables, and easy chair on one side and a bench, dresser, TV, and desk on the other side.
No elevators or ice machines this time, and I spent a good deal of time in the room this evening watching my programs.
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