Charlotte

On Try, Trying Again

BB&T Ballpark, 2016

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays) vs.
Charlotte Knights (Chicago White Sox)
BB&T Ballpark
International League (AAA)
Charlotte, NC
6:05 PM [Doubleheader]


Outside the Game:
Having made the decision to stick it out in Charlotte another day, I spent most of the morning re-arranging my schedule and seeing what I could move to accommodate the extra day stopover. It was a thankfully productive morning, and using the free day I had baked into the schedule, I was able to sort out seeing everything I needed to for the rest of the trip.

I also decided to stay at the same hotel. A quick conversation with the front desk got me to stay over another night at the rate of the first night, so I just decided to run with that and head out into the world.

A record of larseny

There was a small Wells Fargo Museum downtown that I decided to start at (and this was well before all the news of later that year broke). It was an amusing little excursion inside their corporate offices (later to be raided by the feds) that talked about their folksy start up, stagecoaches, pony express, and nothing at all about fraudulent accounts opened up to unsuspecting people. I walked around downtown and got lunch at a taco truck standing on a corner. The guy running it was a California transplant still wearing an Angels' cap. He told me where not to go downtown, and I went on my way to the Charlotte Aviation Museum, because I had time to kill.

It turned out that the main feature of the Charlotte Aviation Museum was the actual airplane from the "Miracle on the Hudson," later made into that Tom Hanks movie. This was certainly a form of kismet that I hadn't run across in a while, except that I was supposed to be in this place.

Miracle Plane: Slightly Used

The exhibit was very nice, and it was just weird to come all this way to see a plane that ditched in the water a couple miles from home and work. There were two older gentlemen volunteering there who I talked with. One of them was a big baseball fan, and assured me that it wasn't going to rain tonight, and we talked shop for a bit before I headed out.

I went back to the hotel for a nap, and then drove out to same parking lot from the night before, hoping for better results. Waiting for me at the front gate was the hat guy from last night. He thought seeing me again was the funniest thing in the world, and he laughed and laughed for a good five minutes. We talked for a while until the park opened up, and we went our separate ways.

After the game, it was with a certain amount of relief that I headed back to the hotel, parked up, and got some shut eye with a game finally under my belt again.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, BB&T Ballpark

BB&T Ballpark was in the AAA, which meant it was going to be nicer than most of the parks I'd see on this trip. It took up a downtown city block, across the street from another grass park, and you could walk the sidewalk all around the facility.

The main entrance plaza was flanked by the team store and ticket booth on top of brick fan walk, but there were additional entrances and ticket offices all around the perimeter. A display on the outfield side of the park had all the past names and logos of the teams, in addition to brick paintings of the old team logos and affiliations.

All the entrances opened up onto a main promenade that extended the total circuit of the field, emptying down into the main seating area. A second level ran from first to third base behind home plate with your requisite luxury boxes and party decks, as well as the "Budweiser Home Plate Club." The seats extended all around the park, tapering in the deepest outfield to a row of seats at a rail. Special seating areas and party decks were in the outfield corners, and the center field entrance was right by the giant digital scoreboard with smoke-spewing “Homer the Dragon” statue and a digital games area.

All the concessions ran along the main promenade--although one or two stores had entrances off the promenade in right field--and the main team store was right by the home plate entrance, and a special bar area at the top of first base.

The park was packed again for the double-header, which speaks well of the fan base, as well as perhaps a little extra juice from the rivalry between Charlotte and Durham, just down the road across the state.

I just work here, buddy.

Homer the Dragon finally got to do his full thang, instead of trying to placate fans hiding from the downpour the previous night. As befitting their AAA status, the between-innings activities were elevated above the minor-league standards, although there plenty of races, quizzes, and skill tests to be had. The t-shirt toss was done with a gold cart dragging a trailer with a pneumatic t-shirt Gatling gun, the Knights had a "royalty" mascot race through the outfield, and there was a giant dragon on the scoreboard that blew smoke every time there was a home run by the Knights.

Of special note was the first pitch, which, swear to god, was done by a blind guy, who nailed a perfect strike. I'm not even sure where to begin the appreciation on that. A prefect strike. It was amazing. I wonder if or how long he practiced for that, and if he’d like a shot with the Metropolitans.


At the Game with Oogie: 

Make-up scoring

The game was a packed house as the night before, but it was doubly so, as the rain-out had smooshed two days' worth of fans into one days' worth of games. My seat had moved up to the last row behind third base instead of a row or two down. There were two mothers with their kids strewn about the two rows, getting as together as possible, no doubt, after trading in tickets. Two of them and myself moved around so they could all sit together, so they were around with me for most of the game. They lasted for the first game, but went home soon after the second started.

More meatloaf

I grabbed a hot dog and drink before the first game, but between games, I headed back to the meatloaf stand again to get my fix. They remembered me from the night before, and said I'd get something "special." I'm not sure what that turned out to be, but I got a meatloaf sandwich, which is all I really wanted.

I also ran into the concession guy from the night before who recognized me. Between all that, and hat guy at the gate, it was a big old reunion at the park.


The Game (#1):

First pitch, Bulls vs. Knights

This was a stand-off of cross-state rivals who were both just on the unhappy side of .500. The first game looked to be all Bulls, but the Knights pulled it out in the end with a big inning.

Durham started the first with two four straight one-out singles to jump out to a 1-0 lead, while the Knights went in order. The Bulls started the second with a lead-off homer to extend it to 2-0, while the Knights went in order again. Both teams had one hit to show for the third, but then the Bulls went to work again. In the top of the fourth, a single, one through the wickets on the shortstop, and two more singles got home another run, making it 3-0, Durham. Charlotte threatened in the bottom of the inning, with back-to-back, one-out singles, and a two-out walk to load them up, but they stranded everyone with a grounder to second.

The Bulls started the fifth with another lead-off homer to make it 4-0, and it looked to be over, but the Knights finally got in gear in the bottom half of the inning. A leadoff homer got them on the board, then three straight one-out singles loaded the bases. A strikeout rose the Bulls’ hopes of getting out of the inning, but a two-out shot to dead center rocketed out of the park for a grand slam, making it 5-4, Charlotte.

And that was pretty much it, as both teams combined for a single and a walk the rest of the way, ending at 5-4 after seven and a half.


The Game (#2):

First pitch, Bulls vs. Knights

Whether the Bulls were roused by their late-inning collapse with the previous game, or Charlotte just got tired as the night went on, the second contest was over pretty quickly.

The Bulls started the game with a leadoff homer to right-center, while the Knights only also had one hit in their half of the inning--but it was a single and not a dinger. Durham led off the second with another homer, and then had a one-out single, walk, and two singles to bring in two more runs, making it 4-0, Bulls. The Knights went in order in the bottom of the second and third, and while the Bulls only threatened in the third with a second and third and two outs, but they couldn't bring anyone across.

The fourth inning flipped the script for a time, as the Bulls finally went in order, while the Knights led off with a double a walk and another double to bring in two runs to close the lead to 4-2, before going in order. The comeback lasted a half inning, as the Bulls clocked a one-out, two-on homer to dead center to bring in three more runs and run it out to 7-2, Bulls.

With the exception of a two-out double in the top of the seventh, both teams went in order for the remainder of the game, splitting the double-bill with a 7-2 Bulls victory in the second game.


The Scorecard(s):

Bulls vs. Knights, Game 1, 06/28/16. Knights win, 5-4.

The scorecards were full-page photocopies with the lineups already added in. There was no wasted logo or advertising space, so they were incredibly spacious and easy-to-use. In looking at them after the fact, it is amazing how neat these were.

Bulls vs. Knights, Game 2, 06/28/16. Bulls win, 7-2.

Both games were seven innings, thanks to the minor-league double-header rules. The first game was pretty straightforward, with two exceptions. In the top of the first, there was a caught stealing 6-4 after the runner over-ran second base on a single and couldn't get back in time, and the third single in the bottom of the fifth was out of the right fielder's glove and into the wall, yet scored a hit. There was the grand salami that same inning, with all of the runs earned, thanks to that. Nothing much to it beyond that. The Bulls pitcher went the distance (seven, in this case) and got the loss.

The second game was similarly uneventful from a scoring standpoint. There were twice as many pitchers used as in the first game (8 vs 4), and despite the score, not a ton of offense. Seven half-innings went in order, and I think the teams really just wanted to get some sleep at that point.


The Accommodations:
I stayed over at the Clarion Hotel Airport to help organize my efforts. Same, room, same everything.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2016 The Carolinas

Charlotte [Rain Out]

On Dampness

Some inclement weather

Monday, June 27, 2016

Charlotte, NC


Outside the Game:
I headed out early on Monday to get the two-hour drive to Charlotte out of the way. I assumed that there would be something to do for the afternoon in Charlotte, but it turns out that most of the museums were closed on Mondays. Undaunted, I parked on the street in downtown and decided to suss out what I could.

The museum is the art

The Bechtlet Museum of Modern Art was open, so despite my predilections against the subject, I decided to take a gander to kill some time. For the most part, it was modern art, which was disappointing, but there was an exhibit on modern functionist furniture as well as sculptor Alberto Giacometti that made the excursion worthwhile.

I found myself out in late lunchtime, so I took a walk around downtown and grabbed a sandwich at a local sub joint. On the way back to my car, I found a St. Peter's church, which was just amusing enough for me to spend a little time in their garden. I then went out to my hotel by the airport to settle in and grab a shower and nap, as per custom in this humid world I was traveling in.

BB&T Ballpark

There was no on-street parking available at the park, so I had to go into a lot down the street. I killed some time in the large park across the street from the stadium and then went to stand in line. There was an older black man already in line, wearing the kind of floppy hat that my uncle used to wear to annoy my mother, so I immediately liked him. We got to talking, and he was out enjoying a ballgame while his wife's sister was in town. He was of the opinion that they didn't need him there to talk to each other all night and ignore him. The logic was quite sound. The gates opened, and we went on our separate ways.

A meatloaf sandwich fixes most things

In the process of my walking around and pictures, I found that there was a meatloaf sandwich concession, so I obviously got a meatloaf sandwich.

But before the game could get started, I was rousted from my seat on the first-base side by rain that hit just as the tarp went out on the field.

Sad panda

And it rained and rained on the good-sized crowd, who were now huddled below most of the overhangs the park had to offer. I got hot dog after a while, and struck up a conversation with a home-plat concession guy for lack of anything better to do.

But the rain eventually kept coming, and the game was called before a pitch was thrown.

Such is the South in late June.

The drive back to the hotel was rainy and depressing, as can be imagined. I went to bed pretty early and decided to figure out what to do the next morning.


The Accommodations:

Clarion Hotel Airport

A moment needs to be spent on the Southern head nod. You find the head nod in the North as well, but it is ever-present in the South. It is not just a no-contact greeting, it is a contract that everything is going to be okay. No two people head nod to each other and then get into a fight. It is a promise of civility.

I had been tracking my exposure to it with interest for the duration of this trip, but it came into focus this afternoon when I was checking into the Clarion Hotel Airport. As I was going to my room, the room across the hall from me was populated by several college-aged kids who were being loud and rowdy on the way to the room. I was getting a little concerned, but as I went into the room, the ringleader gave me a nod, and I gave him a nod, and I knew it was going to be okay. And it was. And there's something beautiful in that.

The Clarion was part of two hotel complex that was next to the airport convention center, and it was interesting in being something trapped in the 70s, but desperately trying to be renovated into something more modern. If you passed through the hallway connecting the hotels, you entered into the big area that used to be a pool and a restaurant, but was now re-made as neither thing. There were still cabanas and tables, and you could still see the outlines of the pool area, but it was all covered in AstroTurf in a way that was both horrific and beautiful at the same time. Horrifically beautiful, if you will.

I took the stairway up to my room on the second floor, and the door to the stairs was not quite full height. And there were dead cockroaches in the hallway. There were a lot of weird little anachronisms like that in the place. I can't say whether I was attracted or repulsed by them. The restaurant in the adjoining hotel, for example, was long folding tables covered in cheap table cloths and served from... somewhere... in a way that I was fascinated by, but not enough to actually eat there.

My room was nice enough. There was the standard bathroom off the side, and the king-sized bed across from a desk, dresser, and TV. It would serve for a lot longer than I intended, but I can't really complain. I remain curiously ambivalent about the entire experience.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2016 The Carolinas