Midland

On Owing My Soul to the Company Store

Dow Diamond, 2019

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Bowling Green Hot Rods (Tampa Bay Rays) vs.
Great Lakes Loons (LA Dodgers)
Dow Diamond
Midwest League (A)
Midland, MI
7:05 PM


Outside the Game: 
I had ordered my breakfast for the absolute latest delivery time, so it was a lazy, lazy morning. I woke up for the first time and did some productive work, booking a hotel at the airport for this evening, checking into my flight, and trying to work out what to do with my day. Then it was time for another nap. I took a shower and packed everything up, and then my breakfast showed up, which was eaten with gusto, as I hadn't realized how hungry I was. Then it was time for another nap.

Eventually, it was time to fully get dressed and get going. I checked out, got my car from the valet, and  was on my way. My first stop was to be a BBQ place recommended the day before by the tourist bureau people: Meat - Southern BBQ & Carnivore Cuisine. It certainly sounded up my alley, but I'd already valeted my car the day before, so I decided to grab lunch there on the way out of town.

My problems started with some road construction that was right by the "Old Town" restaurants and required a five-minute or so detour to go one block. We were already charting on my frustration meter pretty hard, and then I saw the parking situation, or more accurately, the lack-of-parking situation. Also, there were the visible lines at the restaurant. I double-parked and quickly went to inquire on wait times, and then I was on my way out to Midland. Disappointing perhaps, but I didn't have the time necessary to invest in that lunch.

It was a nothing drive up to Midland over some interesting roads, but I wasn't impeded too much. My talking box took me the weird way to the stadium, but I was able to park my car and go buy my ticket. Even though it was Star Wars night, I was still able to grab a single ticket by the home dugout (hoping that it was a better experience than the night before), and I took all my outside photos. The stadium is apparently right by the first Dow Chemical factory building, which was only recently decommissioned for another locale in town. There is a small dedication garden to this fact with statues of elements and Dow himself right by the first-base side of the park.

I stopped into the team store and was greeted by an overly friendly upper-Michigan type who was holding down the fort in the two-level team store. I shopped around for a bit and when I checked out, I asked him how to kill the afternoon before the game. He suggested the Dow Gardens, which was right down the street. There wasn't a ton to do in this company town, and I had already narrowed it down to a toss-up with this and the nature preserve just outside of town. So I went with the local suggestion after getting some pointers on how to get to the parking lot for the game later.

One really short drive later, I was parked up and into Dow Gardens, which was connected to a small woodland area which all surrounded the local arts theater. To be fair, it was a nice little curated wilderness area. I stopped first at the cafe to finally get some lunch. It wasn't carnivore BBQ, but it was some crunchy sandwiches that were good enough for the moment. I started in the nature area to the north, which had a big playground for the kids, and then a big skyway around the park, with several different stations, including a big net area, a see-through floor, and rope bridges out treehouse things.

Serenity now

Back on terra firma, I walked around on the forest paths for a while and relaxed next to the lake in recliners left out for that purpose. I walked back to take in the gardens, and there was a wedding going on in the wedding area that day, which I suppose made sense. I took in the Dow's old house, and various gardens and river streams before I noticed what time it was.

I headed back to the car quickly, turned on the AC, and took a fortifying nap for the drive after the game. I always worry I won't be able to fall asleep in these situations, but as soon as the car is cooled down by the AC, the seat is reclined, and my hat is over my face, I'm always out like a light until the tablet alarm waked me up.

I woke up and made the short drive back to the game, parking right by the exit to the lot to prep for my trip back. It looked like the gates were already open, so I went up to the outfield gate by the lot and asked about it, and the attendant said that only people with special tickets for the Star Wars pre-event could go in, and I told him I'd just wait. In the next half-hour, I watched as nearly everyone came up to him to ask him the same question I did, and I felt for the guy. But he took it in relatively good spirits. By the time gates were opening for everyone, there was a line halfway around the park, but I was the first one in.

After the game, pretty much everyone was staying for the fireworks, so I had no traffic getting out of the park and out to the weird highway right outside the park that went from a speed limit of 35 to 75 in under two miles. But I was off for Detroit, and it was an easy two hours, although I was getting a little flaky towards the end. It was so cold out that I had to cut the AC, and a combination of the windows being open and the radio blasting kept me alert for the last half-hour.

I arrived at the hotel, and a far too perky attendant checked me in and apologized that I had to get up early, for some reason. A flight crew had just checked in ahead of me, so I was feeling pretty confident about the hotel, because if they put the flight crew there, it has to be at least decent. I went up to me room and did a quick strip down and repack of all my stuff, left my clothes out for the next day, grabbed a shower, and then tried to get as much sleep as humanly possible before waking up later.


The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Dow Diamond

If you get past the corporate monolith name, Dow Diamond is actually a pretty great little park. I mean, we're still talking A-ball, but for the low minors, it is quite nice. There were two entrances to the park, by home plate (and the VIP lots) and at center field (with the general parking lot). There is also a huge bank of Dow solar cells by the outfield entrance that apparently power the giant digital scoreboard in left-center field.

As per usual, the entrances dump out onto a main promenade that runs all the way around the park here. The main seating area runs down from the walkway from about first base to third base, and a second level of luxury boxes, party decks, and the press box runs the same distance over it, housing a digital strip auxiliary scoreboard. Nearly the entire outfield is general admissions picnic hills, with just the scoreboard and the batters' eye in center field breaking up the backdrop of trees and sky.

In the left field corner is The Cove party area and the all-you-can-eat Northern Lights Pavilion. A fire pit is right by the center-field entrance, and "The Road to the Show" runs along an outfield walkway, right by a "Hit It Here" sign in right field, covering the service entrance. The kids' play area anchors the right field corner and leads out to a big picnic plaza running from right to first base. The "Pier 47" group area is right at the top of first base on the promenade. The Midland Country Sports Hall of Fame and the stadium dedication plaques are right by the home plate entrance, and the retired numbers and pennants all hang on the second-tier of the park by home plate.

Not recommended by safety regs

Lou E. Loon and Rall E. Camel (no relation) are the mascots in Midland. And because it was Star Wars Day, they were dressed up in Jedi robes, as were all the cosplaying fan crew this evening. And they were joined by local Star Wars groups, so the mascots could fight Darth Vader and Stormtroopers, because, sure. Of course, all of the between-inning entertainment was Star Wars infused, such as having the contestants in the musical chairs game armed with foam light sabers that they used to pummel their fellow contestants silly until the end of the event. The fans crew had some enthusiasm and fed off the fans, so it was better than average, to be honest.

And it was a sell-out, which always helps the atmosphere. And as many of them that were there for Star Wars night and the post-game fireworks, they stayed involved in the game, and their fortunes went along with the team on the field.


At the Game with Oogie: 

Upland scoring

As mentioned, I was the first one in my entrance, and I quickly went about taking my inside pictures and writing down all my information, as this was a stadium I was writing up to make the trip tax-deductible. I got everything I needed in two trips around, then grabbed a hot dog and souvenir soda before settling in to my seat.

Dog and soda, yo.

Star Wars Night is apparently really popular, because they had a sell-out, so my seat in the season-ticket area by the home dugout was packed as everything else. There were two families next to me. Or at least, I think it was two families. There were two adult guys and two kids, so I'm not sure the exact configuration. Kids, as they will be, got up several times during the game, with or without some of the father(s). Towards the late innings, the father closest to me apologized for all the up and down, and I assured him I was used to it. We got to talking, and I explained my trips to him, and he thought it was fascinating that I went to other countries to watch baseball. The kids were even more wide-eyed than him, so I spent the rest of the game answering all their questions on things.

As the game finally came to a close, he assured me it was an "easy" two hours to Detroit from there, as he had grown up in the area but now lived down in Detroit. I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but I was reassured. (I could tell that he was a local, because when he was describing the drive to me, he immediately went to using his hand as a map of Michigan that you find in such people.)


The Game: 

First pitch, Hot Rods vs. Loons

The first-place Great Lakes Loons were facing off against the second-place Bowling Green Hot Rods, and you'd think you'd have an inkling which way this game was going to go. But it was Star Wars night, and for some reason, the Loons decided to dress up in uniforms that looks like Darth Vader. Now, guys, I don't want to tell you your business, but you're supposed to be the good guys. The fake movie scroll on the video board told us as much. I'm not saying that this is why the Loons lost this game, but I'm also not saying it isn't the reason the Loons lost this game.

This one started quickly in the first, as the second batter cracked a home run to left to stake the Hot Rods to a 1-0 lead. In their half, Great Lakes had a two-out single followed by a double, but he tried to score all the way from first and was gunned down, so the home team was losing through one. Bowling Green managed to somehow strand a leadoff triple in the second, while the Loons got a man on with an error and a single but also got no one across. The Hot Rods struck again in the top of the third, with a one-out homer to left, and then a hit-by-pitch, error, walk, and ground-out brought in another run, extending their lead to 3-0. Great Lakes had just a single in the bottom of the frame.

The fourth saw Bowling Green load up the bases with two singles and a hit batsman, but were unable to get anyone across. The Loons for their part stranded a two-out double. The Hot Rods went in order in the fifth, and Great Lakes had a walk and an error and no scoring thanks to a double-play. Bowling Green had a sole walk in the sixth, while the Loons finally got on board with a double and a home run to cut the lead to 3-2. Some might say the Empire had struck back.

The Hot Rods just had a single in the top of the seventh, but Great Lakes still had some gas in the tank. Two singles started the inning, and then two wild pitches brought in a run, but that was all they got across, and the score was tied at three after seven innings. Both sides went in order in the eighth. But in the top of the ninth, a leadoff Bowling Green single was followed by a hit batsman. A sacrifice bunt moved up the runners, and a wild pitch brought in a run to take back the lead 4-3. The Loons went quietly in their last licks, and the Hot Rods had their 4-3 win.


The Scorecard: 

Hot Rods vs. Loons, 08/10/19. Hot Rods win, 4-3.

The scorecard was a free printout-out that included a game write-up, rosters, and statistics. The scorecard was on one page without any ads, so good start there, pre-printed with the game information. It was a bit too minimalist, however, as it only had a roster slot for the pitcher with no pitching statistics, and no inning or batter totals at all.

There were just enough roster slots for all nine batters, with comfortably large scoring squares with no diamonds or other background printing. There was plenty of space for notes on the white background, but no dedicated area, and the only other entry area was a line score at the bottom right of the card. It was a bit odd.

This game was less weird than the last, but there were still plays of note. In the bottom of the second, a grounder to first was scooped to the pitcher covering, who straight-up dropped it for an E1. An infield single in the top of the fourth was clearly an E6. In the top of the ninth, it looked like the batter watched strike three go by, but it was ruled a ball, and he went on to be the winning run. But erasing that strikeout messed up the card a bit. Also, two runs were scored on wild pitches, which is not normal. There were four total errors for the entire game, too.

The hit man was the Loon's second baseman. He got a double in his first at-bat. The DH for Bowling Green and the catcher for the Loons both caught a sombrero.


The Accommodations:

Clarion, Romulus, MI

Since it was mostly a bed rental, I hooked up on the budget-side Clarion Hotel right by the airport. I didn't spend much time in the room, but it did what it needed to. Most of my time was spent in the big king-sized bed with lots of pillows to drown my sorrows. There were end tables and an easy chair on that side of the room, and a desk and dresser with TV on the other side.

The bathroom entered from the bed facing with a small, serviceable bathroom with vanity, toilet, and tub and shower. I really would have loved to use the tub, but it was just a quick shower before bed and then I was gone six hours later.

On It Being Too Early for This Crap

Ass-end of the morning

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Jersey City, NJ


Outside the Game:
My alarm woke me up at 6 AM, and adrenaline had me out the door by 6:15 AM. The same overly cheery front desk person was there to check me out, and he directed me to his shuttle driver on how to get to the rental car returns. This guy was straight out of central casting for just-off-the-boat Eye-Tie, and I thought for a minute he was actually mocking me with his, "And-ah then-ah, you go-ah to the secun-dah light-ah..." But he apparently was actually just a recent immigrant to our fine shores. And he knew what he was talking about, because on previous trips to the area, I had screwed up getting to the rental car return, and he had told me the actual trick to avoid screwing it up.

I dropped off my car and took the shuttle to the airport, and was able to actually quickly get through security and left to my own devices, wandering around the abandoned airport in the early morning. The "Margaritaville" restaurant was one of the only places open, and so I had a "island breakfast," which was basically just regular breakfast food with "island" in front of everything, like "island potatoes," which were just hash browns.

But it was breakfast, and I still had time to kill before boarding. They were showing cartoons on all the screens in the airport, but it was awful recent Tom & Jerry cartoons, so I just wandered around looking at stores. I witnessed a sitcom moment as a Chinese tourist managed to knock a bunch of knick-knacks off a souvenir shore shelf with his bag. I skedaddled pretty quickly as I didn't want anything to do with it, but a little while later, there was an announcement for late passengers for a flight that were clearly Chinese names.

My flight boarded quickly, and I was seated next to a dudebro who didn't look like he had slept the night before. It didn't matter as I slept the whole flight back, and we were quickly off the plane, and a short Lyft ride later had me home. Laundry and chores took up the rest of my exciting day, though there was time in there for at least one other nap.


The Accommodations: 
Sweet home, Jersey City

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2019 Side Trip: Michigan

Lansing

On a One-Hotel Town

Cooley Law School Stadium, 2019

Friday, August 9, 2019

South Bend Cubs (Chicago Cubs) vs.
Lansing Lugnuts (Toronto Blue Jays)
Cooley Law School Stadium
Midwest League (A)
Lansing, Michigan
7:05 PM


Outside the Game: 
So I was using a summer Friday from work to run out to Michigan for a couple of days. I decided to leave Friday morning instead of Thursday night, and even thought it was an early flight, I got at least six or seven hours of sleep before my car came to pick me up at 6 AM. We ran into little traffic on the short ride out to Newark Bald Eagle Liberty Baseball Apple Pie Airport, but even at this early hour of the morning, the traffic in the other direction towards New York was already piling up. My driver said that it wasn't that uncommon, which was super surprising to me. When would you have to get up to beat the traffic into NYC if 6 AM was too late?

That philosophical question aside, I was into the airport and quickly through security--and by quickly, I mean 20 minutes later. I stopped at the nearest restaurant for breakfast, but the credit card reader wasn't working. No one on staff would acknowledge me, so I just left and got breakfast at another place down the terminal a bit, gouging myself on some eggs Benedict.

I tried booking a hotel for that night as I walked over to my gate, but I ran into some unexpected issues. There was only hotel available in downtown Lansing. I was worried that there was a convention in town or something. But I nevertheless booked the Radisson, except that I didn't get my customary confirmation email, nor was the booking showing up in my app. Of course, now it was just about time to board the plane. So I was calling Hotels.com customer service, only to be told they couldn't help me, and they transferred me to someone else entirely who couldn't help, and then I had to board. Just as I was about to scan my ticket, a confirmation email came through, so, whatever, I guess.

It was a packed flight, and I was next to a woman and her young child, and the woman apologized in advance, but the kid was incredibly well-behaved, and I slept through most of the short ride, which was even shorter than normal, as we landed a half-hour early and had to wait a little for the jetway guys to make their way over. Even that delay, we were still playing with at least 20 minutes of house money.

As per normal, I was at the furthest gate in the terminal, so I had a healthy walk to get to the shuttles for the car rentals. After a bit of a wait, I got my Dollar shuttle and my paperwork. It took a couple of tries to select a car because the first few I looked at didn't have a lighter port, so my GPS wouldn't work with them. A converter quickly went on my shopping list for when I went home.

Kia Power

But soon enough I was in a Kia and off on a pleasant, one-hour drive out to Lansing. I arrived in town much too early to check in, but I was able to leave my bag and car at the hotel and take the short walk to the stadium to buy my ticket and take some pictures of the outside. In the small team store, I picked up some souvenirs while overhearing the employees talking about an acquaintance’s run-in with the police--they didn't seem embarrassed of over-sharing in front of strangers, so there's that.

Right across the street from the park was the Lansing Visitor's Center, so I took the opportunity to stop in and ask how to kill the rest of the afternoon. They gave me some ideas nearby, and even suggested a restaurant or two for lunch, but they also confirmed that there was only one hotel in all of downtown Lansing. The staff obliquely mentioned some political shenanigans, which I suppose I should have expected, but outside of confirming that there were new hotels on the horizon, I never got a straight answer. Subsequent research led me to find that in order to lure the Radissdon into building a luxury hotel downtown, the city had to provide a controversial 30-year exclusivity deal to the hotel, which is just coming up now. And, completely coincidentally, the Radisson hotel had decided to do major upgrades to its property in Lansing for the first time in 30 years. Odd, that.

Anywho, I headed across the street to the "Nuthouse," the sports bar across the street from the stadium. I had a French dip steak sandwich for lunch and then moseyed back to the hotel to check in and dump all my stuff in my room before heading out again.

Really, the shiny, metal head

My first stop was the REOldsmobile Museum, conveniently located on Museum Drive, by the shiny metal head. (No, really.) I realize that I know less about the former US auto industry than most, but if you're going to come to the former home of the Oldsmobile, you might as well learn something. The museum was really a giant garage that held models of Oldsmobile from the first to the last produced. There was also a bit on founder R.E. Olds, and perhaps the most ironic thing in the entire museum was that his palatial mansion on the outskirts of town was torn down for an interstate. The Lord giveth...

Hanging out...

The museum had a huge selection of the cars, from the first Oldsmobile, to an actual REO Speedwagon, to a Vista Cruiser, to the prototype fully electric car from the 90s, as well as telling the story of how GM eventually killed the brand after nearly a hundred years. It was an interesting experience, and certainly an important lesson in history of how companies murder the power of organized labor by any means necessary.

Democracy, or something

After stopping there, I headed over to the state capitol building, also a short walk from my hotel. By virtue of state capitols most likely having minor-league baseball teams, I've been in perhaps half of the state capitols in America so far, but I've never gone inside, not even in Trenton or Albany. But the Michigan statehouse was right here, and it was free, so here we went. After a bit of exploring, I found the entrance under the main stairs in the statehouse, and I was greeted by extremely helpful and cheerful people who gave me a tour booklet and sent me on my way. There was a lot of construction going on, so certain parts such as the senate chambers were closed off, but it still surprises me that they just let people walk around a government building like that. I could have broken into the governor's office before anyone could have stopped me. The governor wasn't there, mind you, but you always expect there to be more security on point.

I trundled back to the hotel and took a monster nap to reset myself. The staff warned me about renovation construction on my floor until 6 PM, but I surely didn't hear anything over my snoring. It was time to go to the game when I woke up, so I grabbed my stuff and headed back out to the park to line up, where I called my parents while waiting and eventually was permitted entrance.

After the game and fireworks, I walked back to the hotel and ran a tub. I put out my breakfast order on my door, finished my scorecard, and worked out what my tomorrow would be while in the tub, and then was quickly ready for an early night in a pillow-laden bed.


The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Cooley Law School Stadium

In earlier days, Cooley Law School Stadium was known as "Oldsmobile Park," but now, it is named for the local law school. The stadium is literally dropped in the middle of downtown and adapted to its surroundings in a way I greatly approve. There is only one entrance at home plate, next to the box office and the team store, and there are several baseball statues and a fountain are out in front of the park. The right field stadium walls are spaced bars, so people walking on the sidewalk outside can actually look into the park, which is a nice feature not seen much these days. The entirety of the outfield boundary from left-center to right field are made up of colorful apartments ("The Outfield Lofts") that have the distances printed on the buildings.

Once you get inside, you have the standard A-ball layout, with a single promenade that runs around the entire park. One row of seating runs down from the walkway from about first base to third base. Short right field has bleachers running its length, and short left field has the seating for the Pepsi Porch all-you-can-eat area. A second row of luxury boxes and the press box runs above the promenade, also from about first base to third base.

The park has some unique character with the outfield walls, which are highest on the shoulders, but still high across the entire outfield due to the smaller confines of the park. Those outfield corners turn balls into a bit of a pinball machine, and some weird plays happen when hits go there. The main digital video board sits above a small picnic berm in left field, in front of some condos further on, and they are the only other thing you see outside of the Outfield Lofts. A small video board strip runs in the lowest part of the outfield wall in right, as well. The Chevrolet Terrace out in right field has a Chevy logo made up in baseballs, and further along in the outfield walkway is the Michigan Baseball Hall of Fame, right by the play area in the left field corner. A number of local baseball awards, sponsors, and renovation plaques are found the main entrance to the park.

Pierced

Even given the sun issues, there was a big crowd out for the game, and they were active and involved with the comings and goings, especially when the home team was doing well, which, as it turned out, was a lot of the time in this game. The generic monster mascot is Big Lug, with lug nuts as piercings in a way to make any Brooklynite proud. The events between innings were your standard minor-league fare, although more than average involved nuns, but more on that below.


At the Game with Oogie: 

Free pizza is the best pizza

So the first thing of note at this game was the bus full of nuns. I'm not sure if it was a promotion or something, but there was a literal bus full of nuns that were hanging around as I waited to get in and who went in as a group. I joked with the other people in line that I didn't realize the Lugnuts were in such trouble that they needed that much spiritual help.

It was also "pizza party" night, so everyone got a slip of paper for a free slice of pizza from the concession by first base. I went there as soon as I got in and only had a short to wait for my free slice, but as I walked around taking pictures, as is my want, the line was nearly down to homeplate a half-hour before gametime. I strolled around the park and took my pictures, strengthened by my free pizza. I eventually supplemented it with a souvenir soda and a hot dog, but, to be fair, the pizza was pretty darn good.

Blinded by the light

Under normal circumstances, getting seats behind the home dugout is a sure bet to be out of sun as fast as possible, as very few home teams point their home dugout into the sun. But oh, not Lansing. I was in the first row behind the dugout, and the sun seemed like it was intensely focused directly on me until it finally went down around the fourth inning. I am not exaggerating when I say it was blindingly bright, to the point that I was using my scorecard as a screen for my face, looking around the edges of it to see the pitcher and batter while staying in blessed shade. The way the stadium was constructed, there wasn't even a building or part of the grandstand to block the sun as it was setting, giving everyone in my proximity an extra half-inning or more of sun. It was pretty miserable. To top it off, the local Knights of Columbus, perhaps showing off for the visiting nuns, sang every verse of God Bless America before the National Anthem, leaving us all hatless and unshaded for a good five minutes before the game even started. The fans around me all seemed to be season ticket holders, so they were armed with high-number sunscreen and blackout sunglasses. I'm not lying in saying it was the brightest sun I've ever encountered at a game.

It was mostly families around me, but there were a lot of empty seats in the season ticket section I was in, even for a Friday game. Everyone did breathe a sigh of relief when the sun eventually went below the horizon. The between-inning entertainment even came over to the home dugout after that, so they clearly knew what was going on.

Boom

Since I was so close to the hotel and had nothing to do after the game, I lingered for the fireworks, or at least the start of them. There's only so much cheapo fireworks displays a man can take, but I finished off my scorecard, saw some explosions for a bit, and then headed for the entrance to beat the rush on the way out and get back to the hotel for a soak in the tub.


The Game: 

First pitch, Cubs vs. Lugnuts

Both the Lansing Lugnuts and the visiting South Bend Cubs were languishing in the bottom-middle of their division, but for this match-up, the home team came out the better team in an utter blow-out.

The Cubs started the game by stranding two singles in the first. Lansing did mostly the same, but managed to also get on base by an E6 and still not get anyone across. Both sides went quietly in order in the second. And then paths would divide. A single, a walk, and another single got a run on the board for South Bend, to grab an early 1-0 lead. Not content to sit back, the Lugnuts got two runs on a single, walk, double, and sacrifice fly to claim a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the inning.

The Cubs went in order in the fourth, but Lansing kept scoring, batting around in the inning with four singles, a triple, and another sacrifice fly getting them four runs and a 6-1 lead. South Bend went in order again in the fifth, and perhaps tired, the Lugnuts also went in order. The Cubs struck back with a solo homer in the top of the sixth to close it up to 6-2, while the Lugnuts went on another scoring barrage. In the bottom of the sixth, three singles, a triple, and a homer got across five more runs, leaving the home squad with a comfortable 11-2 lead.

To switch it up, South Bend went in order in the seventh, while the Lugnuts just had a single to show for their half of the inning. The Cubs just had a single in the eighth, while Lansing got another insurance run in the bottom of the frame on a leadoff hit batsman, a ground-out, and a single, extending the lead to 12-2. In the top of the ninth, South Bend got their leadoff hitter on base despite striking out (thanks to a passed ball), but then went in order, inking the home team's 12-2 shellacking.


The Scorecard: 

Cubs vs. Lugnuts, 08/09/19. Lugnuts win, 12-2.

The bi-fold cardstock scorecard was a $1 premium at the park, and well-worth the modest price. The front and back cover were black, with stylized team logos. The inner fold was 75% scorecard at the top and the bottom 25% was devoted to detailed scoring instructions. Not an ad to be found--very commendable in this day and age.

The scorecard itself was a standard and spacious layout. Both sides had the batting lines at top, pitchers in the bottom left, and game stats in the bottom right. Each team had lines for starters and room for three replacements at the bottom. There were columns for 10 innings, with cumulative totals for At Bats, Runs, Hits, and (R)BIs. Inning totals had runs and hits. There were no diamonds in the scoring squares, which were big enough to be comfortable, although there was screened background printing behind some of the squares, detracting from readability. There were five pitching lines with standard abbreviated stats, and the game stats had starting time, ending time, attendance, and weather on the left and line score and pitching records (along with home runs) on the right.  There was sufficient white space around the card for notes, but not a devoted area. Without the background printing, it would have been one of the best scorecards I've come across.

The game itself had some oddities, mostly on the home side. In the bottom of the third, there was a shot to third with a man on third and second. The runner broke for home on contact, and got caught in a 5-2-1 rundown. The runner from second made it to third, and the batter who hit the fielder's choice ended up on second. There was a sacrifice fly to short later that inning where the runner scored. The Cubs challenged the play at third, and it was denied. In the bottom of the sixth, a two-strike pop-up into foul territory fell between three fielders to extend the at-bat, which led to a single. The next batter hit a triple to left. The left fielder threw wildly to third, and the pitcher was late in backing up; he threw wide to home when he got there, leading to a score on the E7. Two batters later, there was a hot shot to third that was originally ruled an E5, which I disagreed with strongly. The official scorer later changed it to a hit.

The right fielder for the Cubs got a sombrero, and the first baseman for the Lugnuts got a dot, with a 4-5 night, with a double and a triple, scoring three runs and driving in three runs. The K-Man was the Cubs' center fielder. He did not strike out.


The Accommodations: 

Radisson, Lansing, MI

Even though they are contractually the only hotel in downtown Lansing, at least until next year, the Radisson was a very nice hotel and not overly expensive. It had a full staff that were good at their jobs, and the facilities were nice, just pretty outdated (which they were quickly rectifying with the renovations in the face of actual competition on the horizon).

My room entrance was right by the long bathroom to my right, with vanity, toilet, and a recently repaired tub and shower. My main room had the king-sized bed on one wall, opposite a dresser with TV, desk, and mini-fridge. An easy chair was on the wall with the bed. They even spotted me two water bottles.

Once again, nice and in good repair, but it was showing its age.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2019 Side Trip: Michigan

Fort Wayne

On Fleeing & Meeting the Future

My Nissan rental car

Thursday, August 30, 2018
Romulus, MI


Outside the Game:
Work went from being at a relative downturn to 60-hour weeks working on two consecutive pitches in a heartbeat. A crazy prospective client literally gave us a day for a second pitch and wanted it presented the Tuesday after Labor Day in their offices in California, so it was a big sprint to the finish, except that we weren't finished by a long shot, and I wasn't giving up this trip I had planned months ago.

I eventually got everything to the point where it would go on without me or it would crash and burn, and frankly I didn't care either way. I did my bit. If management wanted this to happen, management could make it happen.

I could only get tickets on the late flight out, so I had a leisurely trip to the airport. I originally thought that I had to travel out of La Guardia, but I remembered that at the last minute, I had found a way to leave form Newark, so I was back to my old devices of travelling up to NY Penn Station to get a NJ Transit train to the airport.

I called my parents while I was waiting for the train, and then piled on and managed to grab a seat by the window. I was trying not to, but the release of the stress from the week had me napping for most of the trip, waking just in time to get off and grab the monorail over to the terminal.

I looked at my upgrade options, and since I had all the time in the world, I just decided to get the extra legroom seat, which would give me some space to stash my rucksack if things went wrong with the overheads. As it stood, there were no lines at security, and I was through in no time at all. I wandered over to the Italian restaurant to get some dinner, which was achieved despite having the slowest waiter in history.

This left me with a bunch of time to wander around before my flight was anywhere near boarding. One of things that I saw was United's new boarding scheme. They were in the middle of converting all the boarding gates in Newark to be--I don't know--some kind of lounges, with tables and seats and rechargers everywhere. There were also modal boarding lines. I think the goal was to get people to "relax," then get boarding groups 1 and 2 on first, and then space out the cattle call. It didn't seem to work much, as people itching to just get on the plane and be done with it were hanging out at the entrance to lines as they always were waiting for their boarding numbers to be called.

My flight boarded on time, and as we weren't in a "converted" boarding area, it was the normal line-up to get in. I was able to get on, grab a small space in one of the overhead bins for my ruck sack, and then sink down into my seat with my baseball bag. Boarding went on for a while, but one of the last few people on were a Japanese couple, who I imagine had standby seats. One of them sat in the row ahead of me, and one sat next to me. I asked the gentleman if they were together, and they were, so I told him I'd switch seats with his girlfriend so they could sit together. I had to wait a bit for the crowd to get to their seats, but we were able to switch seats, and they thanked me again.

Except that it almost came to bite me in the ass. There was a United stewardess looking for a jump seat, and the person up front told them that my new seat was unoccupied. As nightmares of being dragged bloody from the plane swam in front of my eyes, they found her actual seat, and that particular crisis was averted.

After the potential drama, the flight went without incident. I was dumped out into the rapidly ending bit of Thursday and found my way to the shuttles to pick up my rental car at Hertz. I was at the start of a line that was getting longer by the second as the people got off the shuttle bus, but I was quickly moved over to a "virtual assistant," where signs assured everyone that you would be speaking to a human.

There was a line of kiosks with phones and scanners built in. I was hooked up to a gentleman in an indeterminate centralized location who walked me through my rental. I had to hold some documents up to the camera and scan a few others, but in about five minutes, I was done and out the door to claim my rental car, so score one for technology.

I walked out to my designated area, and I picked out a grey Nissan Versa. After taking a minute or two to figure out how it worked, I had put my hotel in my talkie direction box and was off. Unfortunately, even though I had just updated my GPS' maps before leaving on the trip, it had the wrong layout for the airport roads. I got lost for a little bit, and then just did my trick of getting on a main road driving away, and the GPS finally got its act together and dropped me off at my hotel for the evening. I was able to check in and go to my room and collapse for the remainder of the evening.


The Accommodations:

Comfort Inn, Detroit Airport

I got a reasonable room at the Comfort Inn at the Detroit airport. It was a nice middling hotel, and my room was slightly above average. The bathroom was right off the entrance, with a room-long vanity with sink, and a toilet and tub. The bedroom had a dresser, TV, and desk on one side of the room, and two queen beds on the other. All the pillows were quickly deposited on one bed for maximum pillow fortage.

Outside of the AC not being on when I got the room, and thus having to wait for it to cool down, it was exactly what I needed for this evening.

On History & the Present

Parkview Field, 2018

Friday, August 31, 2018
Lake County Captains (Cleveland Indians) vs.
Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres)
Parkview Field
Midwest League (A)
Fort Wayne, IN
7:05 PM


Outside the Game:
Whether from the naps earlier, or the travel, or whatever other reason, I did not sleep well that evening. I woke up groggy and went down to grab some breakfast before the service ended. While I was zombie-walking through gathering up some breakfast, I overheard some woman praising the eggs to the hotel person who was putting them out. Call me jaded, but I couldn't possibly imagine what would be so good about hotel buffet eggs. The hotel cook took the compliment graciously, but I just slouched over to a table to eat.

I had my eggs last, but damned if they weren't excellent. It marked the first time in history that I went back for seconds of buffet eggs. We live in an age of miracles.

The eggs weren't quite enough to make up for the lost sleep, so I trudged back up to my room and took a nap. Feeling a little better about this second wake-up, I took a shower and packed up and finished my planning for the evening. I called to get tickets for the game that evening, but I was told they only had standing room only. I always have been able to sneak in as a single, but they swore that was not the case. So, I got a standing room seat waiting for me, and then, as a precaution, called up Indianapolis to get my ticket for the next night. They, too, said they were sold out of regular seats, but when I told them I was a solo, I got a numbered seat with no problem.

All that was left was the drive. It was a middling three hours, but the gods were with my tailwind, and I hit no traffic or accidents on the way down. My first stop wasn't Fort Wayne, but about a half hour west in place called Pierceton. The town is a hotbed of antiques shops, but my goal was a reproductions shop named "Jas. Townsend & Son."

Jas. Townsend & Son

I first found out about this store while on Boing Boing of all places. They posted a video of a recipe for 18th-century macaroni and cheese. While looking into the comments on the video, most of the people were already familiar with the store, which had this 18th-century food channel attached to it. I went to the site, and it was all 18th-century trade goods and items for re-enactors. Most re-enactors make their own stuff or have informal, local commerce, but this was the first place I saw as general ecommerce for re-enactors and the like. I went on a spending spree for all the neat stuff, and I had ordered a couple times since them from the store. In planning the trip into Indiana, it struck a bell, and I realized the physical store for this company was right outside of Fort Wayne, so I made my plans around visiting it as well.

After three hours, I pulled up and parked a little down the block. As I came in, on a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend, there was no one out front, so I just started poking around the storefront. Eventually, one of the shopkeepers (and people from the catalog and videos) came out. I explained what brought me here, and he was excited I came. He took me in the back and showed me around the place. I met some people who worked there. The only real disappointment was that the head honcho and lead in most of their videos was off that day.

He told me that the business was largely split in thirds. One third came from re-enactors, one third came from museums and historical sites to clothe personnel or dress locations, and a third came from Hollywood. That last one surprised me, but it made sense, as he explained that it was cheaper for movies to buy period outfits for background characters from them than it was to have Union seamstresses make the costumes.

He asked why I was in the area, and I told him about the trip. I gave him one of my cards when he asked, and he told me that they really loved their team over in Fort Wayne. What little resistance I had left was gone, so I started grabbing stuff of the shelves. I got a pretty big order put together, and I had to ship most of it back to myself through them, except for a number of small items that I could fit in my bag.

And I was on my way again. A little over a half-hour later, I was at my hotel for the day. I had splurged a little and gotten a high-end residency hotel for a night. I checked in, bought a bunch of cookable food in their pantry store, and made my way up to my room, which was huge. The one issue was that my AC wouldn't turn on. I called down to the front, and the guy who checked me in said it probably needed to be reset and he'd be up.

I unpacked and made myself some White Castle burgers and a bratwurst in the microwave for a late lunch while I waited. Having finished eating, I didn't have my visit yet, and called downstairs again. He apologized and came right up, hit a switch, and I was ready for my nap.

Home-cooked room service

I set my tablet alarm and then dozed off. I awoke slowly, and then I immediately went into panic mode, as my alarm had not gone off, or it went off and I snoozed it immediately, or something. I woke in a bit of a tizzy, but I still had plenty of time to get to the park. I finished getting dressed, grabbed my game bag, and was out the door for the short drive to the stadium. I got there just as it was opening up, and I went straight to the ticket booth to see if there really wasn't a single seat somewhere left. As always, it turned out there was, and I upgraded by ticket for $5, went off to do my circuit of the outside for pictures, and then went in.

After the game, I ditched out before the fireworks started, but I had a bit of a problem. I forget where I parked. I had remembered some details, but the parking lot always looks different at night in the dark. I had parked by a couple of easily identifiable markers, but I couldn't find them in the dark. I couldn't even sonar the car, as I didn't think I had a remote unlock thing on my key (more on that tomorrow). I eventually asked an attendant about the landmarks I used, and he informed me I was a lot over from where I needed to be, and lo and behold, I was able to find my car in the next lot over, as well as all my landmarks. So, there's that.

Once I found the car, I was right back out again and to my hotel in no time. I had some more pantry food to buy, so I was talking to the attendant at the counter who had checked me in and reset the AC in my room before. He talked about how popular the team was locally. I don't know how we got on the subject, but he told me about a local bar that had a 25-cent beer night every month. I explained how that would end civilization as we knew it if they tried that in New York, but it seemed to go over okay without any fatalities in the great city of Fort Wayne.

I bought a cup of noodles and a Gatorade and went up to my room. I boiled some water and nuked the complementary microwave popcorn that came with my room to have an impromptu second dinner of pot noodles, popcorn, and Gatorade as I finished up my scorecard. I've had worse nights.


The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Parkview Field

Fort Wayne is awful proud of Parkview Field. The program is happy to tell you how it is one of the biggest sports draws in all of Indiana, as well as being the top single A minor-league draw that additionally outdraws most AA and a good portion of AAA teams in the country. It is easily the nicest single A park I've ever been to and is definitely on the cusp of AAA-quality.

The park is in the middle of the city, with sidewalk going all around it. The main entrance is at a plaza behind home plate, with a brick arch way around the entrance, ticket window, and store. Two other entrances are in left field and in center by the "North Gate," where they stash the inflatable mascot. That area was under construction development, so something or other else was going to be right by that entrance in the future.

All the entrances lead out to a main, wide promenade that runs the complete distance around the park. The main seating area extends down from the walkway all around the park, and the main grandstand with regular seats extends from base to base around home plate. A second level hovers over the lower deck, holding the luxury suites and press box, while giving shade to the lower deck. The Huntington College picnic pavilion, with a section of tabled seating under a bar, sits in the right field corner, and the Toyota Field Boxes is a similar area in the left field corner. Xfinity has a "Home Run Porch" section of seats in the left-center corner, and there are two picnic hills in left- and right-center field. In dead center is the exclusive 400 Club and the Summit, a restaurant and seating area worked into the batters' eye, much as with the steakhouse at New Yankee Stadium.

There are several "concourse suites" worked into the top of the seating bowls on the promenades, and a section of seats called the "Treetops" on top of the event center in the right field corner. The center-field entrance has an entire park by it, named for Robert E Meyers, complete with a fountain, pavilion, and an art installation (including a warning sign not to touch the metal structure when it has been out in the sun, lest you get burned). The Orchard team store (along with a "To the Majors" memorial), as well as all the concessions, are on the promenade facing the field so fans can gas up while still watching the game. The home batting cage is built into the promenade so fans can watch, and a championship flag flies inside. In fact, each section of seating has a local baseball luminary on it, some with larger plaques about the person or organization. Another championship banner is on the ground's crew door in the outfield wall.

Of special note was a LEGO wall on the left field promenade with a big tub of bricks that people can use to make things, as well as a resident master builder who was showing off some of his technical LEGO creations. I'm not sure what Fort Wayne's connection with LEGO is, but they are all over the place.

The main scoreboard was a giant digital board about the events center in right-center field, and the outfield wall is a single tier of large, local ads. The backdrop of the park is downtown skyline for Fort Wayne, as well as some condo development that runs the length of left field.

Johnny TinCap is the home mascot, obviously evoking Johnny Appleseed with the tin cap on his cartoonish human head. He helps run all the events on-field, which were a welcome change from the average. At the minimum, they put a local spin on things (such as the Bobby Knight Musical Chairs) and local innovations on contests (such as LEGO mini-fig build-off). The grounds crew even gets into the act with a dance number when they are dragging the field in the seventh inning.

Mascot Johnny

This was a sell-out crowd and the last home game of the year, with the TinCaps being one game out of first place with three to go. The fans were really into the game (some a little too into it, but I'm ahead of myself). But you can really tell when a fandom cares about their team when they have their own derogatory nickname for them. In this case, it is "Potheads," which got thrown around a lot when they were squandering opportunities on the field.


At the Game with Oogie:

Chicken sandwich and souvenir soda

I got in as the stadium was opened and did my walking around, picture taking, and shopping. It was a big and fancy park for single A, which they were inordinately proud of. After doing my bit, I grabbed a chicken sandwich and souvenir soda--about what I could stomach in the heat--and then got a drink or two to last me for the game.

My last-chance ticket put in me one of the last rows in the bottom section in the season ticket area by first base. Right next to me were a single guy (who was really into the ballgame), and a couple (who really weren't), and everyone else around me were families, including one kid behind me with a cough who kept coughing on the back on my neck.

There was another family a couple rows ahead of me with a dad in a Dodgers t-shirt. Later into the game, he got drunk and rowdy, and started cursing up a storm when the TinCaps blew another opportunity. He was talked to by several men around him, and then a stadium attendant came down and talked to him as well. He stayed quiet for the remainder of the game. Make your own Dodger's joke here.


The Game:

First pitch, Captains vs. TinCaps

This very late-season matchup found the TinCaps just a game out of first place and basically needing to win out to get a playoff spot, so this game against the visiting Captains meant a whole lot for their playoff chances.

But the Captains were playing spoiler early, as a single, double, and two other singles got them to an early 3-0 lead. Fort Wayne just has a single in their half of the inning. Things kept going in the second with Lake County getting another run on two walks and a single, making it 4-0, and the TinCaps went in order. The top of the third had the Captains go in order for the first time, and the bottom of the frame had some life for the home team. Two singles got brought home by a triple, who himself made it home on a wild pitch to close it to 4-3 at the end of three.

The fourth saw Lake County erase a walk by a snap throw from the catcher, while the TinCaps only had a single in the bottom of the inning. Things slowed, as the Captains and Fort Wayne had solo singles in their parts of the fifth, but Lake County got another run in the top of the sixth on a solo homer to left to extend their lead to 5-3, and the TinCaps went in order in the bottom of the frame.

The uneventful seventh had the Captains strand a single on third after two errors, while Fort Wayne erased a one-out single on a double play with the next batter. Lake County went in order in the top of the eighth, and the TinCaps squandered three singles that loaded the bases with one out by two straight strikeouts, ending the threat and the inning. The Captains only had a walk in the top of the ninth, but the TinCaps made one last run at a comeback. A leadoff double was followed by a single to make it first and third with no outs. But a double play got a run in, yet still kill the momentum, and a groundout ended the game 5-4 Captains, further dimming the playoff hopes for the TinCaps.


The Scorecard:

 Captains vs. TinCaps, 08/31/18. Captains win, 5-4.

The scorecard was part of a free, newsprint, mini-tabloid program given out at the gates. The scorecard is the centerfold of the program, taking up about 80% of the space, with a header and some unobtrusive ads filling the rest. There were player lines with some extra lines for replacements, and each batting line ended with cumulative stats, and each inning column ending in runs/hits.

The pitching lines were on the bottom right of each team's card, and the top of the scorecard had an additional section to the left of the pitching line for total game statistics. The scoring boxes were small, but without pre-printed diamonds, they were adequate. The newsprint was sturdier than normal, so there was no tearing, even with pencil.

The strikeout batter of the game finally whiffed in his last at bat in the ninth, and one other play of note was in the top of the seventh, where an infield single prompted an attempt at a 4-6-3 putout that was thrown into the dugout by the shortstop, prompting a note. A further throwing error by the pitcher that inning got the runner to third. There was a balk in the bottom of the third that advanced two runners who would both score. But outside of the that, the scoring was straightforward. Two players earned the golden sombrero sketch.

However, the story of the night was my new scoring pencil. While driving around earlier in August, I caught a pre-game broadcast for a Yankees’ game, and I nearly crashed when I heard them read a promo for "the official scoring pencil of the NY Yankees." When I got home, I looked it up online, and yes, in fact a boutique pencil shop in NY had bought a real sponsorship for the Yankees to be the official scoring pencil, and they were selling a "baseball scorekeeping" pack of pencils on their Website. So, of course, I bought two sets.

The Future, Soon

The pencils in the pack were hand-picked for being able to leave a dark mark but erase easily, and they included a lot of pencils made for scantron testing. I made a trip out to their NY store one afternoon to see what else they had, and I potentially found my Holy Grail: They had a Swiss editing pencil that was black lead on one end and red lead on the other, an actual manufactured version of the two-headed pencil I had been rubber-banding together for nearly a decade now. This was the pencil I tried out this evening, and it was wonderful. Outside of having to have a separate eraser at the ready for corrections and mistakes (two points, no eraser), it was everything that I had wanted.


The Accommodations:

Candlewood Suites

As mentioned, I splurged on the Candlewood Suites just north of downtown. With the exception of having to wait for my air conditioning unit to be reset, it was a flawless stay. The attendant told me that a lot of companies put up their long-term traveling employees in the place, and a woman that I saw when I checked in had been there for several months now. They even had rental appliances for such things as slow cookers.

My room was a spacious suite, with the bathroom just off the entrance to my left. It had a big tub (used welcomingly), toilet, and a large vanity counter. Just across from the bathroom was the kitchen, with full-sized refrigerator, sink, dishwasher, hot plates, and microwave oven. A semi-circular dining/work table extended from the end of the kitchen. Beyond that was the bedroom, with two queen beds that got all of the pillows piled onto one. An easy chair was across from a dresser with a flat-screen TV on top.

I used the kitchen for two meals (a late lunch and late second dinner), both stocked from the pantry store in the lobby. I was also prepared for breakfast the next day.

Great stay; worth the price.

Click here to see all the pictures from this trip.

2018 Indiana