Fayetteville

On the Everlasting Hope of Leaving

Newark Liberty Bald Eagle Freedom Apple Pie Airport

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Morrisville, NC


Outside the Game: 
I had this particular trip planned forever, as soon as I found out that there were two new baseball teams that were going to force me to go to North Carolina yet again. I spun it into a summer Friday, but I had always planned to leave on the Thursday from work. But as time and luck would have it, my main client was going to be in our offices that day. Now client visits are never actually fun, but it also made things more difficult in that I couldn't just be wearing my normal "travel clothes," because I had to be dressed for the client. This necessitated packing more than I wanted to, as well as carrying my sneakers with me to work. Now, granted, none of these are exactly insurmountable obstacles, but it did add to my normal travel stress.

This particular client meeting led to a bunch of really insane directives that I won't go into here, but the day did pretty much grind to a halt once they left, with most of the stunned staff leaving early, and I had plenty of time to kill before heading to the airport for my late flight. After murdering enough time, I was off, and took a leisurely run to the airport, which was always welcome. I took a nap on the train, had nice, long walks on the insane security lines they had arranged at Newark Liberty God Bless America Apple Pie International Airport, and then had a relaxed dinner at the Italian place in Terminal C until it was time to board.

Boarding was uncontroversial, and I was able to get to my seat and secure some overhead space with no trouble. This was during one of the bad heat waves, and it quickly got hot on the plane, to the point that the flight crew told us to turn on our overhead air jets to try and make things better, because I guess re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic is better than doing nothing. The old couple next to me was particularly suffering from the heat, but we eventually got underway for the short flight, and high altitiude eventually took care of the heat problems.

I watched most of the Lego Movie 2 during the brief flight before being vomited out into the very last end of the RDU Airport, for a nice, refreshing walk to the rental car area. After a wait, I got a shuttle and my rental Honda Accent and was able to take the short drive to my hotel. The world's slowest Indian man checked me into my room, and I was able to get settled in an asleep before one AM.


The Accommodations: 

Days Inn, Morrisville

I normally go to the Microtel at Raleigh-Durham Airport for my stays here, and it makes me depressed to realize that I have a "regular" hotel for the North Carolina airport. But they do have so many damn baseball teams. Besides the over-long check-in procedure, the Days Inn that was my backup--and right across the street from the Microtel--was fine, which I believe is the mission statement for Days Inn. I had two double beds (which just meant that I had a double bed with a ton of pillows), and the beds were across from a dresser with TV and a small non-descript desk. The bathroom had a toilet and a tub shower, with a vanity outside by the entrance to the room.

I slept, and that's about all I needed from it.

On Christmas in FayetteNam

Segra Stadium, 2019

Friday, July 26, 2019

Carolina Mudcats (Milwaukee Brewers) vs.
Fayetteville Woodpeckers (Houston Astros)
Segra Stadium
Carolina League (MiLB, A+)
Fayetteville, NC
7:00 PM


Outside the Game: 
I woke up early the next day, but I stayed in bed because I was still tired. I eventually dragged myself downstairs for some breakfast, and it was a surprisingly nice spread for a Days Inn, and I downed some yoghurt, Fruit Loops, and a bunch of microwave chicken sandwiches that you could douse with a pot of sausage gravy.

This was all lovely, and then a couple walked in. Many of you may not know about Goreans. They are a BDSM variant that come from the Gor series of sci-fi/fantasy books, where many women are kept as abject sexual slaves. To say the series is controversial is a bit of an understatement. Anywho, the people into this in real life wear distinctive collars (or at least the slaves do), and I know all this because I fell down a Wikihole once that I regret tremendously. Today was the day I'd meet my first in person, as the woman of the pair was wearing that collar. The smug-looking guy sat down, and she went around and wordlessly got him breakfast until he motioned for her to get her own once he was served.

Look, I really don't care what you do in your private lives, but this cringe-topia stuff in public makes me an unwilling participant in your sex life, and I want no damn part of it.

I was just about done eating when they showed up, so I beat (uh, I regret the phrasing immediately) a hasty retreat to my room where I took a nap, arranged my hotel for that evening, bought my ticket to the game, and worked out addresses to put into my talking direction box later on. I then took a nap before showering up, packing, and getting ready for the noon checkout.

Awkward stand-off

On the road by just after noon, I had a short hour or so drive to Fayetteville, home of Fort Brag, and affectionately or not known as FayetteNam. There's not a ton to do in this town that aren't pawn shops or strip clubs, but there is the Airborne and Special Operations Museum, and it had free admission. And I had time to kill, and so there we were. It was quite a nice little museum, if a bit heavy on mannequins and describing things--especially the Special Ops folks--in the most positive light possible. On my way out, there were some Italian paratroopers on the way in who I talked to briefly (the Italian is still functional, hooray) before heading across the street to the North Carolina Veteran's Park for a look around.

It was then that I noticed that they ballpark was literally right across the street. I hadn't planned on it, but since I was here, I decided to pick up my tickets and do my outside photos. The Amtrak train lines were right between me and the park, so I took the car down the street to the park, but due to the big construction going on around the stadium, it required a lap or two to realize where to stop. I parked across the street at City Hall and walked down a long construction corridor to get to the box office and pick up my tickets. I stopped in at the team store to do some shopping and ask where the hell to park for the game that night before heading back to my car to go to the hotel.

Gourmet lunch

I checked in with no issues, and since I didn't have lunch yet and had a suite at the hotel, I bought a bunch of microwave food before heading up to the room. I had my sit-down lunch, as it were, before taking a very serious nap that was the fury of a late arrival last night and a lot of walking so far today. At about 5 PM, I set out for the game and found the $10 lot that the team store personnel had recommended just down the street. It was a give-away night, so they had told me to get there early, and early I was.

There was already a small line by the time I attached myself to the end of it with a half-hour before gates, so I called my parents while I was waiting, and a short while later, I got my team logo winter hat and was off and running.

On the way back to the car after the game, I realized I had lost my lens cap somewhere, which was annoying, but I beat all the traffic out by ditching the fireworks, and I was back at my hotel in no time. I packed up again, planned for the next day, showered off the sweat, and settled in for an early night.


The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Segra Stadium

Segra Stadium will be lovely when it is finished. Fayetteville is clearly banking on the park being the center of a revitalization of downtown, but most of the surrounding gentrification (condos, parking garages, etc) are still under construction, making it a little bit of a rough going to get to the park.

Once you get inside, it is a very nice park, especially for A+ ball. One big promenade goes around the entire park, with the main seating area descending from it from outfield to outfield. A second level of party decks, luxury boxes, and the press box runs above the man level from about first base to third base. A large kids play area anchors the left-field corner on top of a picnic hill by the bullpen, while a party bar and deck sits in the right-field corner near the batting cages building. Small sections of seats dot the center field wall around the pyramid batter's eye, and the big digital video board sits in left-center against the background of trees above the outfield wall. The Amtrak station is literally behind the left-field wall, and trains make regular appearances during the game, prompting musical cues such as Last Train to Clarksville from the stadium PA.

Most of the main concessions and the Bird's Nest team store are on the promenade behind home plate, making it tricky to grab food while still watching the game. A big Home Plate Bar mixes up the inevitable cornhole with a foosball table. There is a memorial plaque to Babe Ruth (who got his professional start at the defunct team in nearby Cape Fear), and a fully-expected POW-MIA chair.

Demon bird

Bunker the Woodpecker is the mascot that runs the between-inning entertainment with the human crew. It was "Christmas in July," for some reason, so most of the events were Christmas-based. They went all-out on this, to be fair, even going so far as to have a snow-making machine on a small field beyond the center-field wall that turned into exactly the kind of anarchy snowball fight you'd imagine from a place packed with kids. Other events including building a snowman (wrapping people in toilet paper, an event that failed spectacularly), Christmas-themed quizzes, and the present-wrapping contest.

Ah, the present-wrapping contest. The concept was simple. Hilariously huge boxes were given to two women to wrap in the time between an inning, and whoever finished first would win some prize or other. Except one of the women was a young Hispanic lady who was wearing a tight, spaghetti-strap top. I mention this because she was rather blessed, and while she was flailing around and bending over trying to wrap her package (she would win the contest), her straps fell off regularly, and while nothing technically got revealed... well, let's just say it was quite a show, and I'm pretty sure a tweener boy in the row in front of me went into puberty at that very moment.


At the Game with Oogie: 

Chicken fingers and souvenir soda

I scored a seat on the home-plate side behind the long dugout a row back. It was a nice enough seat with a good enough view. There was a big family sitting behind me, mostly women, and no one except the husband was interested in the game. They spent more time out of their seats than in them. The other, smaller family in front of me was watching the game intently, so I suppose that balances things out.

Minor scoring

I entered when the gates opened and did my inside photography. I wasn't too hungry, so I ended up just getting a chicken fingers basket and a souvenir soda. There were multiple events after the game, starting with the minor-league standard ball toss and ending with a fireworks, but I was out the gate and back to the hotel before they even started to fire them off.


The Game: 

First pitch, Mudcats vs. Woodpeckers

This game pitted the middle-of-the road Mudcats against the bottom-adjacent Woodpeckers in a quick-and-tidy, low-scoring, pitcher's duel, decided by one inning.

Things began inauspiciously for the home team in the top of the first as a leadoff walk for the Mudcats promptly stole second, but three quick outs stranded the runner on second. Fayetteville had a leadoff single and a two-out walk in the bottom of the inning, but nothing came of that, either. Both sides went in order in the second, but the Woodpeckers started their inning again with a single, but this time, he was erased on a double-play. Both sides anemically went in order in the third.

The fourth inning saw Carolina get on the hit parade with a one-out single that made it to third on a blown pick-off throw, but there he stayed. Fayetteville again went in order despite a leadoff single, this time the victim of a failed stolen base attempt. In the fifth, it was the Mudcats turn to go in order, but it was finally the Woodpecker's time to shine. A leadoff double made it to third on a single, and a sacrifice fly to right brought in the first run of the night. A double right after only got the runner to third, but an error on the throw in by the center fielder let another run score, and another double brought in a third run, leaving the score 3-0 after five. Carolina stranded a one-out double in the top of the sixth, while a leadoff walk and two-out hit batsman suffered the same fate in the bottom of the frame for the Woodpeckers.

The seventh saw both sides go in order, and the Mudcats did the same in the eighth. Despite two walks, Fayetteville managed nothing in the bottom of the eighth, and Carolina went quietly in order in the ninth, leaving the home team with a 3-0 victory.


The Scorecard:

Mudcats vs. Woodpeckers, 07/26/19. Woodpeckers win, 3-0.

The scorecard was not part of the inaugural-year team program, but a stapled collection of papers that was also a free give-away. It had match-up information and recent news for the team, scoring instructions, rosters, and the scorecard, which was a nice little packet to have. The lineups were pre-printed, with no obvious space for replacements, giving a stats block for each batter and pitchers. The full bench and bullpen were listed out, as were the umpires, and a stats block in the upper right-hand corner had space for first pitch, time, and weather, as well as the R/H/E totals for each team. The vistor abbreviation in this block was wrong, apparently unchanged from a previous series when they were playing the Potomac Nationals (POT).

Outside of one unobtrusive ad at the top, there were no advertisements on the card, and the scoring squares were small, but not uncomfortable. There were ten innings of scoring columns, with each batting line ending in a slightly bizarre Hits / At Bats/ RBI headers. Each inning column ended in a full blow-out of runs, hits, errors, and left on bases. The pitching lines were pretty regular stats, ending with the somewhat uncommon "batters faced." There was extensive space for notes on each team, which was welcome, and pretty necessary.

The first weirdness of note came in the bottom of the second, where a leadoff grounder to third hit the bag and caromed off into the ether for a hit. In the top of the fourth, a two-base E1 was annotated to reflect a blown pick-off by the pitcher throw far away. The bottom of the fifth was rife with oddities. The leadoff double was noted to say it was hit to the wall, and the left fielder got his glove on it, but couldn't hold it. The next batter scored on an E8 that was explained as the center fielder's wild throw to second. A double to dead center later that inning was noted that it fell between two fielders, either of whom had a play on the ball. And in the bottom of the seventh, there was a full-count walk that was changed to a strikeout after the fact, which provoked a good deal of discussion. Beside all that, the only thing mildly out of the ordinary was a strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out double play in the bottom of the sixth that had a bit of a run-down, scored DP K-2-6-3.

The line of the night went to the Woodpecker's reliever, with 2 innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts, and 6 batters faced. Can't hardly do better than that.


The Accommodations:

Home2, Fayetteville

I relatively splurged on the Home2 for the evening, since this was the only full-day and sleep-in I'd be able to do for this weekend blitz tour. While the place was nice, for what I was paying, I would have liked it to be nicer, for example. There were numerous little problems (stains, broken things, etc) with the room that you'd overlook in, say, a Days Inn, but you can't help but be a little disappointed in with a nicer hotel.

The entrance to the suite was right by the kitchen area (which, for an "efficiency suite," only had a microwave). The bathroom was just to the right with a nice enough shower, toilet, and sink vanity. Further down the room was a living room with a fold-out bed across from the desk/dining table, with a curtain to divide up the room if you so desired. The main king bed was further down on the right, across from a large dresser and a TV with a divan.

Outside of little things, there was nothing really wrong with it, but it didn't seem much worth the price is all.

Click to see all the pictures from this trip.

2019 Side Trip -- North Carolina

Myrtle Beach

On Getting It In Two

TicketReturn.com Field, 2018

Saturday, June 30, 2018
Potomac Nationals (Washington Nationals) vs.
Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Chicago Cubs)
TicketReturn.com Field
Carolina League (A+)
Myrtle Beach, SC
6:05 PM


Outside the Game:
I got woken up early in the morning by a terrific thunderstorm that was passing through the area, blasting lighting and thunder through the early morning. What a great start to the day.

I got back to sleep as best as possible and then had a quick breakfast and packed up. I checked out and drove down to catch the 10:30 AM tour boat for Fort Sumter. Thanks to some construction, I managed to pull up the parking lot at Patriot's Point just as the ferry was pulling away, so I gave up on that idea for some reason and decided to drive straight up to Myrtle Beach.

The drive up was fine, but slow in places thanks to the two-lane road, but I got up to Myrtle Beach at about 12:30 PM and went straight to the stadium. I picked up my will-call ticket, took my outside pictures, and figured out what to do with the afternoon. I had no hotel to stay at, as I was going to do at least part of the drive to Rome after the game and had picked a place about three hours out.

"Broadway by the Beach" was literally across the street from the park, so I decided to partake in the cheesy again. I started off at the Hollywood Wax Museum at the end of the road, because why not? The hook for this one was that it had "Hollywood props" with the models that you could use in your pictures with the statues, as well as a zombie game "interactive movie" at the end that I didn't spring for, for some reason.

A lot of the wax models were really bad to the point that I had to check the displays to see who they were supposed to be. A 50’s tableau was particularly awful, with a Marylin Monroe with visible arm joints, and a Humphry Bogart that looked on the verge of suicide. A Jason Voorhees statue looked less intimidating than filled with ennui. But it was all cheesy fun. They even had a game called "The Vault," where you had to navigate through a room of laser traps. Even the "easy" setting was very hard. I had no idea how the "impossible" setting was even, well, possible.

What if killing is what is making me sad?

A Frank Sinatra area had a fake scotch and piano for you to sit with him, and country music stars had guitars and the like. Indiana Jones had a holy grail. Etc. There was even an original-series Star Trek section, with Bones working the transporter (for some reason) on Kirk and Spock, with an open pad for you. There were some really worn out communicator and phaser props, but the story of this display was the fact that all the models had extremely visible nipples. The Captain's high beams were on. It was very uncomfortable.

After my fill of the wax museum, I went into the full Broadway by the Beach area and grabbed a map, and quickly went inside to grab some lunch, as it was ten-thousand degrees out. I don't remember much about lunch, except one of the ESPNs (one presumes, The Ocho) was showing professional corn hole. I'll never forget that. We spit in the face of god.

In the face of the heat, I went into a nearby Dave & Busters, where they had a coupon for $20 for $20, so I loaded up a card and went to town. Outside of the really disturbing vision of a teen in a MAGA hat, I had fun goofing around for a time, eventually earning enough tokens for a medium stuffed animal and some plastic vampire teeth.

I walked around at the boardwalk a little more before going to my car, which I had thankfully parked in the shade, turning on the AC, and taking a nap to get me through the rest of the evening. Suitably refreshed, I went across the street to the ballpark, parked up, and went in as the gates opened.

It was a mercifully short game thanks to the 6 PM start, and I was out around 9 PM and heading out before the fireworks got started. Driving hard once I got to the interstate, I eventually reached my hotel for the evening without incident around a quarter to one. I blearily bantered with the neckbeard at the front desk before asking for a late checkout and getting my key.

I marched to my room (thankfully already air conditioned) where I organized all my stuff, grabbed a shower, and then went directly to sleep.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home Plate to Center Field, TicketReturn.com Field

Outside of the crappy name, TicketReturn.com Field is a nice enough park, nestled in the beach entertainment district in Myrtle Beach. The outside is a little generic, with brick columns rising through the metal structural work. Around the base of the stadium, several entrances ring the park, along with the executive offices, the team store, and ticket booths. The kids’ area in right field is open to the public before the game and then accessible from the park during the game.

All the entrances dump out onto an exterior promenade that almost encircles the stadium from right field to left-center field and hooks up with the walkway through the seating bowl at the end of the grandstand at first and third base. Two sections of seating are in the grandstand, with box seats by the field and regular seats above, split by the seating walkway. There is an additional set of bleachers in left-center field, by the main digital scoreboard. A generic green batter's eye is slightly down the way from them, all above the single-deck of green outfield wall, mostly covered in local ads and backing the trees that lurk beyond the field. There is a "hit it here" sign for $100,000 in left-center near the main scoreboard.

The press box, retired numbers, Harry Carray tribute, and the row of luxury boxes runs along the second level of the grandstand above the seats. In left field, there was a "Tito's Beach" area with beach chairs and sand, while in right there was The Clarke and Addison Grille plaza, along with brick ballpark in Grissom Plaza. Left field also had the Tiretown Terrace party area, there was a party deck in right as well, and the "Bullpen Experience" seats at the very end of right field, surprisingly enough by the home bullpen. There were other specialty concessions by the right field entrance, and a Road to the Show in the promenade in right, while the Pelicans’ starting lineups for each year were on banners around the home plate part of the promenade.

I'd nap in the AC if I could, too

Deuce the dog brings out extra balls to the umpires at points during the game and can often be caught napping away from the heat in the team store before the game. Splash the Pelican and Rally the Shark also make the rounds before and during the game, leading the regulation minor-league games, contests, and activities between innings. The crowd, especially for a Saturday game and especially after the fight I had to get for a ticket last year, was pretty small, though they were into things, at least.

Rally and Splash

At the Game with Oogie: 

Winner, winner, Chicken... fries

 It was a stupid hot South Carolina night, even at the beach, and the hot drained all the hungry out of me. I didn't get anything at all to eat, but I did buy Gatorade after Gatorade to keep me from passing out as I was going around.

I was already familiar with the park after the extended rain delay last year, so I knew where I was going, and I kept drinking fluids while I did it. My seats were in the first section by the field, just at the end of the home dugout on the first-base side. There were a couple of old guys in front of me, and an old couple next to me, and the husband was also a scorer. The real story was the guy behind me, who would not shut up. He kept talking the entire game to everyone, and when there was no one left to talk to, he called people on his phone and talked loudly to them. He was telling everyone how he knows a big baseball coach in the area and was bragging how one of the players used to play for his friend. And on, and on, and on. The best part was when he started to complain about Atlanta, where he had previously lived before he moved out here, but, you know, his girlfriend still lives out there. (Did he mention he had a girlfriend?) And then he went into all sort of coded racist talk about how he didn't like how Atlanta had "evolved," and all the "new residents," and the "quality of people." Fantastic.

There was a kid who showed up a little after the game started and sat down with his family for about literally a minute before a foul ball came over the netting and whacked him in the arm. The little soldier (who was at least 14) started bawling and promptly left. So how did you enjoy the game, sport?

The big irony of the night was that it was Rutgers Alumni night at the park. I can't escape Jersey even all the way down here.

The sun was still baking down on my area of seats for the first part of the game, so I resorted to the desert hat until around the third inning, when I was finally, gloriously enveloped in the shade.


The Game:

First pitch, Nationals vs. Pelicans

The visiting Potomac Nationals and the home Myrtle Beach Pelicans faced off in this Carolina League clash, and for once in a couple of games, there were some runs scored and a home team victory.

The Nationals came out swinging, loading the bases with two outs in the top of the first, but a strikeout ended the threat. Not to be outdone, Myrtle Beach turned in a run with a one-out single and two-out double, staking them to the early, 1-0 lead. Potomac had only a two-out walk to show for the second, while the Pelicans stranded a one-out single. Both sides went quietly in order in the third.

In the top of the fourth, the Nationals scattered two hits, while Myrtle Beach one-upped them when a two-out strikeout reached first on a passed ball, stole second, and then was driven in with a single to extend the home lead to 2-0. The fifth went quickly, with Potomac just having a walk and the Pelicans going in order. Both sided again went in order in the sixth.

The Nationals got on the board with a one-out homer to left in the top of the seventh, but Myrtle Beach got some more runs in their half, starting with a one-out bunt single. A triple brought him in, and then a ground-out to short got him home as well, and the lead was now at 4-1. Both sides went in order in the eighth, and out of fight, Potomac also went in order in the ninth, securing the Pelicans 4-1 victory.


The Scorecard:

Nationals vs. Pelicans, 06/30/18. Pelicans win, 4-1.

The scorecard was part of the free, half-tabloid program given away at the entrance to the park. The covers were full-color magazine, but the interior pages were black and white on heavy cardstock, which included the centerfold scorecard. About 3/4th of the spread was taken up by the scorecard, and the rest was ads, and it was on a white background, which left some space for notes. There were plenty of batting lines and space for replacements, but there were no pitching lines. (I used some of the extra batting lines to fill in the pitchers.) Each batting line ended with summary stats, which also doubled as extra innings, and each innings column ended with cumulative runs and hits for the frame. The scoring boxes were a little small, but had no pre-printed diamonds, which made it okay for scoring, and the paper was quite good for pencil writing.

From a scoring standpoint, it started with a couple of minor league standards, as there was a "Circle K" batter, who did strike out, getting free Bojangles fries for everyone in the winning section. There was one golden sombrero on the Nationals, who got his little hat. There was only one play of note, in the bottom of the fourth. What would have been an inning-ending strikeout turned into reaching on a passed ball. When the next batter was up, there was a very close balk call that did not get made in an attempt to pick off the runner that lead to a lengthy discussion with the home manager that was worthy of my note. He did not get chased, however.


The Accommodations: 

Wood Spring Suites, Lexington, SC

I was staying in the WoodSpring Suites in Lexington, for no other reason than it was conveniently located several hours into the drive to Rome. I obviously didn't need a suite, but it was the cheapest hotel just off the highway.

Thankfully, it was just for a night, because the place was a little depressing. It wasn't dirty, and it wasn't like the facilities weren't as advertised, it was just that the place had the empty vibe of a post-divorce bachelor pad. The kitchen at the entrance was functional, but bare-boned, in fake wood paneling and off-white. The dresser with the TV and the desk next to it were fine, but the bulletin board with the hotel ad in the center was stark, as was the wire railing that was the only place to hang up your clothes.

The bathroom next to the kitchen was functional, but in the same bland fake wood and off-white color scheme. The bed across from the dresser was similarly stark, with an end table next to it, a small piece of hotel art above it, and nothing else in the area.

For what little time I spent there, it did do the job, however. Sort of.

Click here to see all the pictures from this trip.

2018 East Coast Leftovers

Kinston

On Friggin’ Camp Days

The consolation prize

Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Kinston, NC


Outside the Game:
After hitting the sack early the night before, I was up early and out and about after a quick breakfast and check out. I had a long drive across North Carolina ahead of me for the day.

I got an hour or so into North Carolina before needing to stop for gas. There is an extension project for I-70 that is going on that is not where I-70 used to be and is not on my GPS map, which led to an interesting end to my drive, as I was driving through what my GPS firmly considered to be fields and suburbs. The further on this unauthorized route I went, the more it had a nervous breakdown trying to get me back on track.

I remembered where the next road was and about how long it would take to get to the turnoff, but it ultimately proved unnecessary, as the actual I-70 and the GPS' idea of I-70 came back to the same wavelength shortly before the turn-off. Heisenberg wept.

Five hours after I started, I was pulling into the hotel at about 2 PM. It wasn't really that bad of a drive, in retrospect. Say what you will about the Impala, taking the drive in a giant recliner with modern cruise controls wasn't a bad way to go, although the satellite radio was not included in the rental, so I was at the mercy of local radio stations that bounced between country, gospel, right-wing talk, "classic country," and one or two classic rock stations that I held on to like a life raft. Since it was my first long drive this trip, I wasn't completely sick of the songs at this point, so all in all, it was a pleasantish drive.

I checked in at the hotel, and then had at the short drive to the stadium, where I found the game letting out because it was ANOTHER GODDAMN CAMP DAY.

The game was on a Wednesday. After the incident with Kannapolis two years ago, I specifically double-checked the start time for this game before I left for the trip, and it was still a 7 PM start. Well, sometime between then and now, they changed it to an 11:00 AM Camp Day start, and I was pissed, but mostly at myself. Even if I knew it was a Camp Day, there's nothing much I could have done about it. There's no way I could have made that five-hour drive to get there at 10 AM without leaving at 5 AM in the morning, and that was not happening. I had to write this stadium up to make the trip a business expense, so there was nothing to do about it.

The only thing I really wanted to do in town was go to King's BBQ, a famous local BBQ joint that started as a gas station restaurant in the ‘40s. I went to the original store, which was just down the road from my hotel, and had some late afternoon lunch/dinner. I was seated in a booth from the 70s and waited on by a nice old lady, possibly also from the 70s. She served me up a great BBQ platter, which I wolfed down because I was starving, and then I thought about what to do for the rest of the day.


I stopped at a Walgreen's by the hotel to grab shipping supplies and some toiletry needs, and then I went back to the hotel, got all mopey for a while, and then decided to take a nap. Thus refreshed, I did my laundry to replenish my clothes supply, and then double-checked every last aspect of the trip while I was waiting. I decided to cut down on the four-hour drive to Charleston by going to a hotel halfway down after the game tomorrow. I organized and repacked everything, and then I went to bed early, watching my recorded TV shows on my tablet app and getting some rest.


The Accommodations:

Quality Inn, Kinston

I was at the Quality Inn on one of the main drags of Kinston. It was a nice enough room with two double bed and night tables on one wall, and a desk, dresser, TV, and refrigerator on the other. At the end of the room was a sink and vanity, leading to the tub and toilet room on the left.

Having two beds work out for a number of reasons. I was able to pile all the pillows on one bed for the evening to sleep, plus I was able to spread out all my crap and laundry onto the other bed and organize everything. I got a good night's sleep, which was also important for my long next day.

On a Long, Hot Day in a Small, Hot Town

Grainger Stadium, 2018

Thursday June 28, 2018
Potomac Nations (Washington Nationals) vs.
Down East Wood Ducks (Texas Rangers)
Grainger Field
Carolina League (A+)
Kinston, NC
7:00 PM


Outside the Game:
This was going to be a long, long day. I was going to have to kill all afternoon in small North Carolina town before the game, and then afterword travel about two hours to my hotel.

So I took it easy that morning. The first move was asking for a late checkout after breakfast and then going back to my room for a nap or two. My tablet hadn't fully charged during the night, so I was spending as much time as I could sucking juice, as it had to get me through the entire, long day.

I finished packing up after the nap and bought my tickets for the next couple games in South Carolina and then mapped out a halfway point for my hotel for that night. It turned out to be Dillon, SC, so I picked a hotel just off the interstate to stay, called them up, and preemptively asked them for a late checkout and told them that I would be arriving late that evening.

I lolled around until noon and then headed out into the day, dumping all my stuff in the car and checking out of the hotel. My first stop, for lack of anything better to do for six hours, was going to the park to buy a ticket. The booths were closed, but the gate and team store were opened, so I stopped in there. A nice woman greeted me in the welcome air conditioning, so I did my souvenir shopping before asking her about getting a ticket. She said that they could sell me one in the stadium offices down the way a bit, so I took her directions through the construction and bought a ticket from a half-interested woman at her desk. I did the photos around the park, and then headed out for the rest of the afternoon.

The first stop was one of Kinston's only claims the fame, the CSS Neuse. The Confederate ironclad was one of the few produced during the war, but this one saw little action, providing some shore support for Confederate infantry before being bottled up and sunk to prevent its capture. The remains were dug up by a variety of people over the decades before the state bought them and put them in a converted warehouse downtown in a museum.

As I parked and went in, the guy behind the counter swore that he met me before, and I pointed out the sheer impossibility of that circumstance. He was eventually convinced, and I went into the museum itself after a short movie, and myself and a small family were the only ones inside.

Pronounced "Noose"

It was quite a nice museum, all centered around the remains of the hull that was the obvious centerpiece of things. It gave a good history of the ship and the war and the locality at the time of the war, with reproductions of the turret that you could climb through and other goodies. I stopped in the shop on the way out and asked for suggestions for lunch. They pointed me down the street to the Queen Street Deli, so I walked down and had a sandwich and soda while staying out of the blistering sun. There was also a full-sized replica of the Neuse built right by the downtown parking lot, but entry was by appointment only, so I didn't get to go inside.

After lunch, the only other attractions were a small nature museum near a campground at the north end of town. It was literally a small shed with a couple of local, small animals inside. The highlight was a rattlesnake they had in some flimsy sliding door cage that warned to back away from the glass if the snake started rattling. Buddy, with that kind of warning, I'm not getting anywhere near that cage.

I spent some time in the park by the river after my short visit, and there were giant wooden rocking swings that I took advantage of in the shade, watching the river pass by with a nice breeze blowing. Worse ways to spend some time.

I realized that I needed to get a new recharge cable for my tablet, as my current was too flaky for its job, and why my tablet was only at 60% power at the moment. I used the GPS, which pointed me to a JC Penny’s and Sears at the outskirts of town. It turned out that data was a bit out of date, as both of the big-box stores had closed down since my GPS had an update, in a bleak commercial tableau. Even worse, as I was driving around the parking lot looking to get turned around, there was a horrific traffic accident on the main road. Emergency services were just showing up, and it was a mess. I managed to circumvent it by going out a back entrance to the closed stores and get back towards town that way. I stopped in a Rite Aid I passed and got a new cable, so that was at least checked off the list.

I drove back to downtown to kill some time at local antique stores. One of them had just closed, and the other didn't have anything too interesting, so I was at a loss at how to kill another two hours before the gates opened. I was also drowning in sweat. I drove to a local Walmart to soak up some AC for a while, and then went to the connected Subway to grab a late lunch, also in the AC.

With nothing left to do but kill just under an hour, I drove out the park again, parked in the shade, left my AC on, and took a nap. There was another car next to me with a family inside, but I think they were just waiting in the AC and not napping, but what do I know, I was asleep. Fortified for the rest of the day, I went out into the sweltering heat and entered the park as the gates opened.

As soon as the last out was registered, I was off like a shot into my car and starting the two hour or so drive at just after 10. There was minor construction that caused some slow ups, but I was moving right along until I got into South Carolina, and a huge rainstorm exploded onto the scene. It slowed down the last half hour of my trip tremendously, but I eventually made it to the hotel.

I semi-coherently checked in and confirmed my late check out for, at this point, later this day, and then went up to my room.

Where my key didn't work, so I had to drag all my stuff down and get a new key and then drag all my stuff back up to the room. The AC wasn't on in the room, so I had to wait for it to cool down before I could sleep, so I spent the time finishing the scorecard and unpacking what I needed for the next day, eventually falling to blissful slumber when the ambient temperature was under 80 or so.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, Grainger Stadium

"Historic Grainger Field" was another park built in the 40s and updated since then. After being home to minor league baseball since the 40s, the stadium went dark in the early 10s when the Indians moved out, but after several years of campaigning, Kinston grabbed one of the teams that moved from out west to reinvent themselves as the "Wood Ducks."

Except for this game, it was a Throwback Thursday, so they weren't playing as the Ducks; they were playing as the K-Tribe, their previous incarnation. I have to wonder what the legality of that all was, but supposedly someone had that all figured out. Even new mascot duck Dewd wasn't around for the game, and old dog mascot Scout handled the duties between innings.

Scout, on throwback night

The stadium is a nice old gem that they've kept updating, even to this day, as they were doing construction on the offices in the left field side of the park. It was all real brick construction around the main, covered grandstand behind home plate, with the wooden Delmont Miller Press Box sitting on top.

The only entrance was behind home plate and emptied out into an entrance plaza where the concessions, customer service, and most of the other facilities were located, either near or inside the back of the grandstand. A promenade ran along the outside of the grandstand, hooking up with a walkway in the seating bowl at the end of the grandstand by the first and third-base areas. The promenade extended out to the ends of the outfield, but don't connect, with the left field walkway ending in a picnic area, and the right field walkway ending in the small play area and the Mother Earth Brewery Pavilion. There was a picnic hill on the right field side at the end of the grandstand and a stretch of metal bleachers on the left field side. A row of season ticket seats ringed the field right at the end of the seating walkway. A second concession stand had its own building on the first-base side.

The digital scoreboard sits in right-center field, above a double-rowed outfield wall covered in ads and under the backdrop of trees across the outfield. At various places along the stadium, there are "Wood Duck Fact" plaques, and there are dedication and renovation plaques for the stadium near ramps into the grandstand and on the new concession stand by first base. A unique pyramid-tiered batters eye towers in dead center, no doubt compensating for the thrifty 390 feet to home plate from there.

The game had a pretty good turnout for a Thursday Night. It might have been because it was dollar beer night, but there were enough fans in their K-Tribe gear to say it might be that as well. The broadcast team tape up hand-printed "K"s in the press box for the strikeout counter, and the whole thing had a very cozy feel to it. I'm glad they got a franchise back, as the place clearly likes baseball.


At the Game with Oogie:

Super-hot weather rations

I struggled through the hot and humid night the best I was able. I obviously bought a lot of drinks, but I was so hot, that the only thing I ate all night was a singular hot dog.

After taking all my pictures, I went to my seat, which was behind the home dugout on the third base side. No one was to my right or behind me, but there was a family in front of me, and I was on the last seat in the row. There was a group of older disabled people in the box seats on the walkway in front of me that seemed to be enjoying themselves.

As I sat through so many squandered scoring opportunities by the home team, I started to watch the clock, and I was out like a rabbit as soon as the last out was recorded to start on my two hour drive out and down to South Carolina.


The Game:

First pitch, Nationals vs. Wood Ducks

This was a tight pitcher's duel between the visiting Nationals and the home Wood Ducks (or K-Tribe, thanks to a Throwback Thursday) that the home team eventually lost because, frankly, they just didn't want it enough.

The Nationals started it off by all striking out in the top of the first, with a one-out single snuck in. Kinston also had a single (a leadoff one, at that) to show for the first. Both sides went quickly in order in the second, but Potomac had something in the top of the third with back-to-back singles to make it first and third with no outs. The sacrifice fly that brought in the run ended up as a double-play, catching the runner trying to go to second, which proved costly when there was another single just after that might have scored him. But the half ended with a 1-0 lead for the visitors. The Wood Ducks went in order despite a leadoff single thanks to a double play of their own.

The fourth started with the Nationals going in order, but Kinston came out swinging in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff single coming on a one-out double. A walk and single loaded up the bases, but two quick outs ended the threat, one of many squandered opportunities by the home side, but tying the game up at one. The Nationals went in order in the fifth, and Kinston stranded back-to-back singles to leave the score as it was. The sixth went quickly as Potomac only had a single to show for the inning and the Wood Ducks went in order.

The Nationals had only a single in the seventh, and Kinston only had a single. Potomac had a single again to show for the eighth, but the Wood Ducks blew their best chance, with a leadoff walk getting to second on a stolen base and third on an error on the throw. With a man on third and no outs, the Wood Ducks failed to score, with two strikeouts, a walk, and then a ground-out to second. The Nationals took the lead in the top of the ninth, breaking the tie with a two-out homer to right field, granting them a 2-1 lead. Kinston had a single to start the bottom of the ninth and a bunt to get him to second with only one out. But the home team couldn't score again, and the Nationals went away with the 2-1 victory.


The Scorecard: 

Nationals vs. Wood Ducks, 06/28/18. Nationals win, 2-1.

The scorecard was a free handout at the entrance to the park. Unlike most other stadiums, the bi-fold magazine-sized cardstock scorecard was the only program on offer at the park, and it came with a lucky number used in the contests between innings. The scorecard took up the entirety of the right side of the centerfold, printed on a white background with lots of room for notes.

There were exactly nine batting lines for each team, with enough space to write in replacements. Each batting row ended with cumulative statistics, and each inning column ended with inning totals. Pitching lines were located underneath the batting lines for both teams and were to the left of cumulative statistics for the team on errors, doubles, triples, home runs, stolen bases, and time of game. There was no pre-printed diamond, and it was overall a nice card with plenty of room for scoring.

There were a bunch of informational notes to start out. There was a K-Man for the game (who struck out in the his at bat K 2-3), and a Hwy 55 Hitman (who did not get a hit). Because it was "Throwback Thursday," the Wood Ducks were competing as their previous incarnation, the Kinston Indians (or K-Tribe), which was also noted. One player got a golden sombrero drawn in for his three strikeouts.

There were a ton of strikeouts in this game, 23 total, and a couple of weird or notable plays. In the top of the third, with no outs, there were batters on first and third. The next batter hit a sacrifice fly to right field that got the run in, but the runner from first tried to make it to second on the throw and got caught in a SF-9-3-6t double play. Perhaps a little more conventionally, there was a bF3 in the bottom of the seventh on a popped-up bunt to the first baseman defending against the bunt.

The second Potomac pitcher who came in during the seventh was not announced, and his uniform number did not correspond to anyone in the roster for the team, so he went in as "(Unannounced)."


The Accommodations:

Quality Inn, Dillon

I was camping for the night at the Quality Inn in Dillon, SC, just a bit over the border. I rolled in at 12:30 AM and had to wait for the AC to cool down the room for a half hour before I got any sleep.

The room, for the brief time I spent in it, was very nice. There was a king-sized bed and couch with end table on one wall and the desk, dresser, and wall-mounted TV on the other wall. At the end of the room was the sink and vanity, next to the bathroom with tub and toilet.

When the room eventually cooled down enough for me to sleep, it was a good enough place to rest my head for the evening.

Click here to see all the pictures from this trip.

2018 East Coast Leftovers

Lillington

On Being Deep in MAGA Country

Jim Perry Stadium, 2017

Friday, August 4, 2017
Carolina Mudcats (Milwaukee Brewers) vs.
Buies Creek Astros (Houston Astros)
Jim Perry Stadium
Carolina League (A+)
Lillington, NC
7:00 PM


Outside the Game:
Even with a solid night's sleep, it was a lazy morning in the hotel. I had breakfast at the buffet, and then spent time packing up all the formerly wet clothes and gear from the rainout the night before.

Once I was all packed, I made my final decision for the day. Instead of staying in Myrtle Beach for another day to try and get the game in here, I decided to head through North Carolina to pick off one of the new teams. It made for a shorter drive the next day, plus the forecast for Myrtle Beach wasn't all that great again, so there wasn't a big benefit to staying.

I left at about 11:30 AM and grabbed gas, stopping for an early lunch at a Burger King on the road, where a dog sat plaintively outside, staring at me eating my lunch for the duration of my stop, making me feel guilty. I was then out on the road again.

Now, this area of the state is centered around Fort Bragg, a major Army base. One of the main roads through the area runs right through the base, and as I drove up to it, I found it to be closed. Apparently, there was a golf tournament for the brass, and the road through was closed for the duration. This presented a pretty big problem for me, as my GPS kept desperately trying to go through the base road.

I picked a cardinal direction ultimately heading towards my destination and drove on local roads in that direction until the GPS finally gave up trying to take me through Fort Bragg and picked a new route. It was somewhat longer, but I had some time to work with. I eventually checked into my hotel a little west of where I was going, as it was in a slightly larger city and was close to the road I needed the next day. I checked in, dropped off my stuff, grabbed my game bag, and was out on the road to the game.

And I ran into more problems. Following the address for the stadium got me to a Baptist church in the middle of nowhere. I calmly followed my way back the way I came and tried following directions for the college that the stadium was at and drove on the road for a long time without seeing the park. I turned around and drove back and gave up and went into a gas station for directions. They told me I was on a wrong parallel road and showed me the way to go. After driving down that road, I was almost to the end of the college again when I finally saw the back of the stadium. With about forty minutes to go before the game, I parked, bought a ticket, and headed into the game.

The way back was much easier, and I was back at the hotel in under a half hour. I got my stuff together, packed up, got my directions for the next day worked out, and then went to sleep grateful to not be lost in my car anymore.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, Jim Perry Stadium

Jim Perry Stadium is a collegiate baseball stadium primarily for Campbell College, named for MLB alumnus Jim Perry who went to the school. And also, until a new stadium is built downtown, it is the home of the newly relocated Carolina League squad, the Buies Creek Astros (which, as you might guess, is a farm team for the Astros).

It is quite nice and new for a college park, but a bit tiny for a minor league park. The Astros will only be playing there one or two years until they move to the city and change their name, so I grabbed some merch that will be rare, if not valuable. The park had a nice brick facade around it, with the BB&T Bank Gateway serving as the main entrance to the park, right across from the small parking lot. The one ticket booth is just under the iron arch at the entrance. A small fan services stand just through the entrance gives out free programs.

Seats run from third base to first base around home plate, with one row of seating rising up from entry ways at regular intervals along the outside promenade. At the top of the third base seats is the Perry Pavilion, with an inside party area and special seating. Netting rings the entire seating area, so no hope there. The Fighting Camels Press Box sits at the top of the home plate seating area, and a small digital scoreboard sits in right-center field, as a part of the tree-line that covers the outfield wall, only broken up by a college building near dead center.

One small concession stand with super-cheap prices serves the stadium behind first base. A large plaza sits behind home plate for congregations and catch, and there is a standing room area next to right field that seems to be the prime place to grab autographs.

There was no mascot to speak of, at least this night, and the small crowd filled the small stadium. The locals that attended seemed to be into the game, or at least paying attention, which was good, because there was next to no activity or the regular games and contests between innings, which at least had the game moving along at a good clip.


At the Game with Oogie:

Hayseed scoring

Even arriving late as I did, there wasn't a lot to this college park, so I was able to get all my preliminaries done without much ado. At the one super-cheap concessions stand, I got a souvenir soda, a red hot, and a cheeseburger for under $10. So, I was a cheap date that night.

Cheap eats

I had a seat right behind home plate in the middle of the aisle. All the seats, even the nice ones behind home plate, were molded plastic, so it was pretty uncomfortable. There was a decent crowd of locals at the game, and no one that I saw rooting for the visiting Mudcats.

An old dude came in a little late wearing his MAGA hat, and loudly demanding if anyone had a problem with his hat to anyone that would listen or even looked his way. A couple of people cheered him, and most said nothing one way or another. I was a visitor, so I kept my peace, but Jesus Christ, it did not make feel warm and fuzzy about this area of the country.


The Game:

First pitch, Mudcats vs. Astros

The newly minted Astros were facing off against their league rival Mudcats in this early season matchup that did not end up being a pitchers’ duel. The longball played a big part of the game and would factor heavily in its conclusion.

The game started slowly, however, with both teams going in order in the first. The Mudcats started off the second, however, with a double, who made it to third on a ground-out and was driven in with a sacrifice fly to center to stake them to an early 1-0 lead. Buies Creek came back in the bottom of the second with quite a two-out rally. Back-to-back doubles were followed by a homer to left, moving the home team in front, 3-1. The first Carolina batter in the third was hit by a pitch, and then progressed around the bases on a passed ball and two wild pitches to score and close the lead to 3-2. The Astros also worked a base runner around, with a one-out walk stealing second, getting to third on a ground-out, and then coming home on a two-out single to re-extend the lead to two runs, 4-2.

The Mudcats ran the table in the fourth. A leadoff single was followed by back-to-back, one-out doubles and then a triple and a sacrifice fly, leapfrogging out to a 6-4 lead. Unbowed, Buies Creek evened the score with a one-out walk and a homer to center, tying it up at 6-6. Both teams needed a break and went in order in the fifth. In the top of the sixth, Carolina hit a two-out homer to center to make it 7-6, while the Astros went in order.

Not to spoil anything, but Buies Creek went in order for the rest of the game. In the top of the seventh, Carolina turned a leadoff walk, steal, ground-out, and booted grounder to first into another run, went in order in the eighth, and hit a solo homer to left-center in the ninth to secure a 9-6 victory.


The Scorecard:

Mudcasts vs. Astros, 08/04/17. Mudcats win, 9-6.

The scorecard was part of a magazine-paper mini-tabloid free program given out by the gate. The scorecard was part of the center spread, and it was pretty awful. To begin with, it was on glossy paper, which made it very difficult to write on with pencil and decreased its legibility. Further, although it had substitution lines for all the players, each player line had two rows of mini-diamonds, further reducing legibility. Another sin was the fact that scorecard was crammed into about 80% of the space on the page, with 20% taken up a Buies Creek logo, for no good reason. Also, the background of the scorecard was all dark blue, which left no areas for marginal notations at all. Just a bad scorecard, really.

Thankfully, there weren't many interesting scoring plays, because it would be nearly impossible to read or record them on this scorecard. There was a 3-6-1 DP in the bottom of the seventh, and the hit/run/RBI line for Buies Creek was 6/6/6, but that was about how out of the ordinary it got. Also, there was a disproportionate number of homers in the tiny college park (4).


The Accommodations: 

Hampton Inn

I stayed at a hotel in Sanford, about a half-hour from the stadium. There were a lot more hotels in the larger town, it was closer to where I wanted to go the next day, and it was more convenient to the roads I needed for the long drive the next day.

It was a Hampton Inn, so it was pretty much exactly what I expected: slightly, but not really, upscale. A large king bed dominated one side of the room, with a small pull-out leatherette couch along the same wall. Opposite was the dresser, desk, and TV. A decent-sized bathroom, with wall-length vanity was off the entrance to the right.

I didn't spend much time there at all, but it got me a good night's sleep before a long drive, so it was all I needed of it.

Click here to see all the pictures for this trip.

2017 The Carolinas II & Tennessee