Dayton

On Appropriate Civic Pride

Fifth Third Field, 2015

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Lansing Lugnuts (Toronto Blue Jays) vs.

Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds)
Fifth Third Field
Midwest League (A)
Dayton, OH
7:10 PM

Outside the Game: 

I woke up to torrential rain in Perrysburgh, which didn’t give me great hope for the day. I subsequently had a lazy morning, eventually mustering enough enthusiasm to go down to breakfast and then come back up to my room to sulk for a while longer.

Reaching back into my reserves, I again found the courage to shower, pack, and head out into the rainy early afternoon for my two-hour drive down to Dayton. In a small miracle, the weather got better and better as I drove, eventually arriving in Dayton to an impossibly hot and sunny late summer day. I went to the stadium, bought a ticket, took my outside pictures, and then went back to the hotel to collapse for a while. The trip was taking a toll on me at this point, and I was pretty sure I was done for the year.

I spent the afternoon just wallowing on the bed with intermittent naps until it was time to drive out for the last game of the trip, and probably the year. It was a short, uneventful drive, and I parked up and went in at gates open.

The trip back after successfully seeing the game was uneventful as well, and I spent the rest of the evening planning out what to do with my unexpected free day the next day. I had a tip from a co-worker that I was probably going to act on, so I did some research and then spent some in the tub before turning in.

The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Fifth Third Field

The second Fifth Third Field of my trip was in Dayton. It is another park dropped in the middle of a downtown Midwest “city,” with its brick facing and iron fences taking over a block or so of downtown real estate, along with a broad plaza in the shape of a baseball diamond dedicated to Don Crawford. Just around the corner from the stadium is “Ted Mills Baseball,” apparently a well-regarded baseball academy run by a local legend. Next to the main entrance in the plaza are a row of ticket booths built into the building, as well as the suites entrance to the park. Another general admissions entrance is found in center field.

The entrances dump out onto entry plazas at home and center onto a promenade that circles the entire field. All the concessions, stores, and other offerings are on the promenade facing the field so that fans can get food while still viewing the field. A single area of seats, accessible by intermittent stairways, extends down from the promenade, running from outfield corner to outfield corner. There is an additional area of seats in left field (“The Dragon’s Lair”), while a large picnic hill covers right field to center. A legitimate upper deck runs from first to third base, with a row of luxury boxes and party decks at the top of the upper seats, as well as the press box. The single-tier outfield wall only has three ads in the outfield corners, and it runs non-symmetrically, with some indents and out-dents in left-center and center. In one of the indented sections in left are a series of plaques to home sellout streaks and a retired number. The batters’ eye in center rises up to a large backing that covers part of the downtown cityscape that frames the park. The gigantic main digital video scoreboard looms in left-center, topped with a more sinister looking version of the mascot Heater which breathes fire with every Dragon home run. Auxiliary scoreboards are in the outfield wall and on the fronting of the upper deck. There are a covered picnic area in left field, and statue of the mascots at the home place entrance plaza.

Heater and Gem

Heater the dragon (get it?) is the local mascot, along with his distaff counterpart, Gem (also a dragon, but with a less aggressive themed name). Mascots are always popular, but Heater and Gem did seem particularly beloved by the fans, and they were mobbed as soon as they made their appearance in the entry plaza at the gate opening. There was a third mascot, the inflatable Wink, who I guess was a dragon as well. They schmoozed with the crowd all before and during the game, taking time out to help host the between-inning games on the field. Most of those activities were your standard-grade minor-league fare of silly contests, races, and give-aways, but there were some at least unique twists on them, including a tire race (where participants were girded in inflatable tires and forced to race) and a farm dance (a standard dance-off for kids, but they were dressed up in cow and chicken outfits for the duration). There was also a junior dance group on display this evening, who spend some of the inter-inning periods dancing on the tops of the dugouts.

Dayton has a placard boasting of their 1,000 consecutive sellouts, so it is not surprising that they drew a big crowd for the game, even if it was a relatively meaningless late-season contest. And the crowd was into the game as well as the other entertainment, so it seems that Dayton has at least a bright baseball future.

At the Game with Oogie: 

Ohio scoring

I got in when the gates opened, and that was important, because there was a lot of ground to cover in the deceptively large stadium. Not to make a TARDIS analogy, but it was way bigger on the inside. I did my normal walking around and taking pictures. As I was getting my landscape shot from home plate, I sent a lady skittering to get out of my shot. It turned out she was a local reporter, and we talked a little bit about our particular gigs before I set off again on my quest.

I hit the steam store, got my score card filled with the lineups, and then went out in search of food. A brisket sandwich and souvenir soda were a good start, but a Polish sausage was necessary later to finish off the meals for the evening.

Brisket sandwich and souvenir soda

For most of the trip, I’d managed to find a dead space of seats, even in the most crowded parks, and that was the case again tonight. I was in the lower deck of the stadium in the last few rows of seats near third base. There was no one in my row or behind me, and there was only one older couple in the row ahead of me, so I was again mostly left to my own devices for the game.

The Game: 

First pitch, Lugnuts vs. Dragons

This matchup between the Lugnuts--you know what's fun to say? Lugnuts--and the Dragons was a close contest until some late-inning scoring.

The Lugnuts got on the board first in the top of the first with a one-out homer to center. The Dragons came back with their own run in the bottom of the inning, with a one-out double brought in by a single, leaving it knotted at 1 at the end of one. Lansing loaded the bases in the top of the second with only one out, but while a grounder got the lead runner at home, a line drive was snagged by the shortstop to end the threat. The Dragons went in order for their part. The Lugnuts went ir order in the third, but Dayton opened the bottom of the inning with a double, and two short singles eventually brought him in, for a 2-1 lead at the end of three.

Lansing immediately tied it up with a homer to dead center at the start of the fourth, but them went three and out, while the Dragons went in order for their part. The fifth and sixth flew by, with everyone going in order except for a leadoff Dragon's double in the bottom of the sixth that was stranded.

Lansing went in order again in the seventh, but the Dragons got their scoring shoes on. A leadoff single was erased on a pickoff, but the next batter tripled and then a walk made it first and third with one out. A sacrifice fly to center brought in the lead runner, and a double to left brought in the runner from first. A single drove in the runner at second, leaving 5-2 at the end of seven. The Lugnuts got one back in the eighth, with a leadoff walk going to second on a ground-out and third on a wild pitch. A sacrifice fly to center brought him in, shortening the lead to 5-3.

But the Dragons got it back in the bottom of the eighth, with a two-out rally, starting with a single to center. A grounder to short turned into a two-base error, and a single brought in the lead runner from third to make it 6-3. The Dayton closer only gave up a one-out single in the ninth, and the home team sealed a 6-3 victory.

The Scorecard: 

Lugnuts vs. Dragons, 09/05/15. Dragons win, 6-3.

The scorecard was the centerfold of a nicely put-together, free, full-color, half-tabloid program. The magazine paper was not glossy, so it was easy to write on, even with pencils. It included the rosters for both teams, with the opponents filled in. The thing that was most noticeable about it was that it had an actual ounce of visual layout design applied to it. It was extremely noticeable compared to most other programs in the minor (or even the majors) because of their absolute lack of the same. It was nice to see something so well-designed, and certainly tied-in to a community and ownership that actually cared about the quality of the team. So, really, top marks all around.

There were a couple of plays worth note from a scoring perspective. In the top of the second with the bases loaded, a grounder to first was thrown home to the pitcher on a sacrifice bunt attempt, who erased the runner with a tag, not a force at the plate (3-1t). In the bottom of the seventh, the triple with one out was partially due to the center fielder for the Lugnuts getting injured on the play and not able to retrieve the ball. There was also a brief rundown on the caught stealing before it, with a CS 1-3-6. A first for me was the bottom of the eighth where the Dayton DH was thrown out of the game after arguing a strike call in the end-of-inning strikeout. There was no digital lineup, so I have no idea who replaced him, as he wouldn't come up again--a mystery that remains unsolved at this point.

The Accommodations: 

Dayton Marriott

For this stopover, I splurged a tiny bit at the Dayton Marriott. The average bathroom was right off the entrance to the room on the left, with the slightly premium fake granite and hardwood vanity. The bedroom had a large king bed with end tables and an easy chair with side table on one side of the room, and a large dresser with flat screen TV and a desk and chair on the other.

For my purposes, it was quiet, clean, and comfortable, so it did its job for me that night.

On Flying High

National Museum of the Air Force

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Dayton, OH

Outside the Game: 

On the advice of a co-worker from the area, I heard about the National Museum of the Air Force, and especially the Air Force One exhibit, which required you to get their early for tickets. This prompted an odd situation for me.

I got up early, right when the museum was set to open, and then I drove out, bought an admission, and signed up for a later bus for the Air Force 1 exhibit. This caused great confusion of the people at the desk. People who show up right at opening are usually there to get on the first tour bus to the exhibit, so when I said I wanted to go later, they had to actually go and find the sign-up list of the later buses because I was not something they expected. I then went back to my hotel, had breakfast and went to sleep for a little while longer.

I woke up and booked the same hotel I stayed in on my first night just outside of the airport, and then got packed up, checked out, and went to the museum for real this time. The National Museum of the Air Force is an extensive facility in several huge hangars that traces American military aviation from its earliest times up through the government space program. There were also exhibits on such diverse subjects as the Holocaust, Bob Hope, and Walt Disney. The section on the US nuclear arsenal was particularly evocative. It started with a replica of Fat Man and continued with life-sized nuclear missiles. There was something just foreboding about it, especially as someone who lived through the 80s. The world could be completely ended just by these bland metal tubes seemed incredibly silly.

Not threatening at all

One of the main things that I took from the museum is that we really need to bring bomber jackets back. There was an exhibit on WWII and Korean jacket art, and they are seriously the most bad-assed things we've ever done in the US military. They deserve a second act.

Air Force One Hanger

But the Air Force One exhibit was really the key experience. You have to go onto an active air force base to see the hangars that hold that exhibit, as well as the experimental planes section, hence the buses and the tight schedules. They drop you off right by the hangar, and then they come to collect you promptly after an hour.

You get to wander around a historical collection of Air Force Ones (and Twos) throughout history, including the one on which JFK died after his assassination. Some of the aircraft (including the first AF1 for FDR) have truly horrifically bad mannequins of the presidents. The 50s era Air Force One features an Eisenhower mannequin that looks much more like Yul Brenner than Ike.

Seriously, who is that?

After I had my fill (both in the museum and at the cafeteria), I headed out for my three-hour drive back up to Detroit. There was no traffic, thankfully, and it was just a matter of driving up. I eventually got to my hotel, and checked in, grabbing dinner at a nearby fast food place and went to bed ahead of an early morning the next day.

The Accommodations:

Comfort Inn

I was back again at the Comfort Inn Detroit Airport, but there was some construction, or something, going on. All the hallways were being heated in the waning weeks of the summer, for some reason, so walking to and from your room was enough to break you into a sweat. Thankfully, however, the air conditioning in the rooms still worked. For the time I was staying there, I just kept the air conditioning cranked and lived with it.

My room was fine otherwise: a standard bathroom off the entrance to the left and one bedroom with a king-sized bed across from a dresser with TV and desk.

On Leaving Early

Really early

Monday, September 7, 2015

Jersey City, NJ

Outside the Game: 

I had an early flight home this morning, so this is where re-using the hotel right outside the airport came in handy, despite all the issues. I got cleaned up and packed, and at 7 AM, I only had to drive in a straight line to return my rental car and catch the shuttle to the airport.

Detroit Airport

I got through security with little issue, and I was off to the races at the deserted airport. I found a stall open for breakfast, and thankfully, there was no problem with the flight. An uneventful jaunt (that I mostly slept through) later, I was at Newark Liberty God Bless America Freedom Bald Eagle airport and caught a cab back to my apartment for an afternoon of laundry and more naps before going back to work the next day.

The Accommodations: 

Sweet home, Jersey City

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2015 Ohio

Eastlake

On One Over the Minimum

Classic Field, 2014

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds) vs.
Lake County Captains (Cleveland Indians)
Classic Field
Midwest League (A)
Eastlake, OH
1:35 PM


Outside the Game:
I had another semi-lazy morning in another nice hotel. I knew I was going to have a long ride ahead of me later that afternoon and had showered and fully packed up the night before, so I stayed in bed for a good while before getting up. As I didn't spring for the breakfast voucher, I was on my own for food, so that wasn't a concern. However, the rain overnight and the threatening clouds that remaining in the morning certainly were.

I had to be at the park less than an hour away no later than noon, and my checkout was at 11 AM. So, I eventually dragged myself out of bed and got dressed around 10:30 AM. I packed up my car and drove around to the front desk to check out, but I was unable to find anyone at the front desk to check me out. Eventually, someone called over from the cafe and told me just to leave my key on one of the desks. And so I did and was off.

I pulled into the drive-through of the McDonald's next door to the hotel and got two Egg McMuffins to eat on the ride north. After a quick stop-off to prepare the sandwiches for in-car consumption, I was off on the road north. The directions were fairly easy in that I pretty much had to stay on this road until I nearly reached Lake Erie. If I hit water, I had gone too far.

The drive up was uneventful and short, and at a little after 11:30 AM, I was at the park. I quick drive-around eventually found a parking entrance. It seemed like it was at the back of the stadium. I asked the attendant if there was some place I could park to pick up my tickets. He told me that I could use this entrance, so I asked him if I could leave the lot and return, since I was looking to drive a little after I got my ticket. This confirmed, I paid him, drove around to the other side of the stadium, and parked. I walked and picked up my will calls at the booth and then walked around the park to do my regular picture routine.

In course of my photography, I ran into the parking attendant again. We got to talking about what I was doing and why. We talked about my trips, and the site, and what there was to see at the park. He told me that the game was a lock as he was wearing his lucky pirate glasses, which were undefeated for the year. And eventually I was on my way.

As I made my way to the other side of the park near the ticket office again, the other parking attendant saw me taking pictures and asked if I was the baseball blog guy. Apparently, the first attendant had radioed him and let me know I was coming. So I spent some more time talking to him about things, as sporadic early season ticket-holders arrived at the park. Eventually, he got a cell phone call from his wife that he had to take, and I went off to finish my picture run.

One of my topics of conversation with the two gentlemen was where to see the lake. I was under a mile away at this point, and since I came this far, I might as well see it. They both said to head down the main drag in town that was next to the park until I hit water. There was a big industrial chimney that was to be my destination. About 11:50 AM, I went to my car, pulled out, and headed north. When the road ended in a T intersection, my first decision was to pull into a side residential street, but this proved fruitless as the local property owners made it illegal to park on their streets, and there were no good vantage points. I went back out to the T road and drove for a bit in one direction. Most of the properties next to the lake were closed off, and, running short on time, I drove down the dead-end entrance to a large apartment complex, jumped out of my car, stood on a dumpster at the end of the road, and took a picture or two of what I could see through the trees. I then headed back to the park.

At a little after noon, I pulled back into the VIP lot, got my parking pass ripped officially, and parked again, this time closer to my original exit, which I was told would get me to the roads connecting to 80 faster. I got in the short line at the entrance, and the team mascot, Skipper (a Sesame-Street green monster type thing) was already outside the gate and entertaining the waiting fans, paying special attention to the kids in the group.

It was here that I got a bit of a shock, as Skipper was wearing a yarmulke on his head. This was unmistakable. I started wondering the worst about this big-nosed monster mascot being portrayed as Jewish, but I discovered later that this was just part of Jewish Day festivities at the game, and not some bizarre anti-Semitic enclave in northern Ohio.

The doors eventually opened shortly thereafter, and as I entered, I got my ticket ripped by the Captain himself, an older gentleman in nautical attire.

On the way out of the park, the parking attendants were handing out things to and directing the traffic of the leaving fans, and I said a final goodbye. And off I went.

If everything went right, I was about seven hours from home. With the weather questionable, and who knew how much construction or traffic looming, I was content getting home before 1 AM. If everything went right, departing at 4 PM would get me home at 11 PM.

There was a bit of going on back roads and state highways for about a half hour or so, but I eventually got dumped onto an X80 extension, which put me on 80, and from there on, it was a matter of not getting off the road. 80 became a toll turnpike in Ohio, so I got nabbed for $2.25 driving East, over double my $1 Delaware Memorial Gap bridge total for the ride out. Once I got into Pennsylvania, there were a number of construction lane closures that I experienced on the second day of driving after my blow-out, but the traffic kept moving.

After the construction, I didn't even have to slow down once. It was just keeping my wounded car on the road and heading east in as sensible a speed as I could manage. And that's all it was. Around 9 PM, I was running low on gas and high on hunger, so after a couple of false starts, I pulled off at an exit with hop off gas and food. I hit the McDonald's drive through (although I didn't even realize it at the time, it was the first time I had McDonald's for multiple meals on the same day in probably a decade) and then got some gas, as a local in a pickup truck made a truly awful attempt to flirt with the gas station employee trying to collect the garbage can liners. (Let's just say it involved him talking about wiping his ass and leave it at that.)

I was back on the road in under ten minutes, and from there on, it was just a matter of not getting too tired. The food certainly helped and gave me some extra attention, and the drive itself was uneventful. I pulled into Hoboken a little after 11:00 PM, and I was parked and dragging my stuff back to my apartment by 11:20 PM.

My apartment was pleasantly empty, and all I had the energy to do was dump all my stuff at the top of my stairs, proceed to the bedroom, and crash out for about eight hours.


The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Classic Park

“Classic Park” is perhaps one of the most generic things you could name a ballpark, but there you are. It also features a faux brick façade that extends around the park, housing the two entrances (home plate and 3rd base), as well as the team store and the admin offices, and clubhouses for the team. The main parking lot is across the highway from the park (along with unaffiliated “Captain’s Club” sports bar), and a large pedestrian walkway spans the distance to the park.

Both entrances are up a flight of stairs from ground level, and empty out onto the minor-league standard promenade that runs around the entire park. All the seating on the grandstand is reached from stairways down form the promenade, the only exception being the bleachers in left field, located on top of the walkway. The grandstand runs from just beyond the bases behind home plate, with a second level above them holding party decks, luxury suites, and the press box behind home plate. All of the concessions are located on the promenade, mostly in the main grandstand. There is a picnic hill in left field, right field, and center field, all topped by a row of oversized beach chairs. The main digital board is stacked atop the digital scoreboard in right-center, both above a one-tier outfield wall covered in local ads and backed by trees behind the wall. Left field ends in the Castaway’s Bar, and the kid’s area, while a tented party area is in right field. There’s dedication and memorial plaques on the outside of the park, as well as a “Captains to the Major” plaque wall and a Youth Sports Wall of Champions.

Skipper surfs

Generic baseball monster with baseball nose Skipper is the mascot de jour at the park. In addition, there is an older human dressed up like the titular “Captain.” Both were there from the opening of the front gates onward, hanging out with the crowd before the game and participating in the on-field games between innings. It is hard to gauge exactly how the mid-innings festivities usually go down, because in addition to some garden-variety races and contests, it was Jewish Heritage Day at the park, so most of the entertainment was Jewish related, including singing, dancing, and playing the shofar. Additionally, the miniature lighthouse in center lights up and explodes whenever the home team hits a home run. Even with the threatening weather, there was a decent crowd that filled about half the park up. While they definitely were into the non-game activities, they did pay attention to the on-field action as well.


At the Game with Oogie: 

Ohio scoring

I made the purchase for the seat for this game the morning before along with my ticket for Akron. After a bit of confusion, I was able to secure my ticket behind the home first-base dugout. At the park, it was a little sparse on the season-ticket section of the park, but there was a large extended family in front of me. The several children were trying quite intently to get a ball or a free t-shirt, but they disappeared for innings at a time, no doubt taking in the other entertainments the park had on offer.

The FDA does not recommend internal ingestion of "The Barge"

As for food, I had grabbed some McDonald's for breakfast, and I was pretty hungry by the time I got into the park. As with everything else at Classic Park, the food stands were nautically named. I settled on a stand on the first-base line with "The Barge," which was a foot-long kielbasa sausage with sauerkraut. I went from "hungry" to "full" rather quickly, to the point that I didn't think about food again until after 9 PM that night.


The Game: 

First pitch, Dragons vs. Captains

This was my first game in the A-level Mid-West League, with the playoff-bound Captains facing off against the playing-out-the-string, intra-state rival Dragons. And the game played out about as you'd expect, only more so, especially with top-prospect Lugo going for the Captains.

The Dragons did start off with a leadoff single in the first, but he was erased on an inning-ending double-play after a strikeout. The Captains wasted no time. A leadoff single was followed by a grounder to short that got the lead runner and a failed base-stealing attempt erased the trailing baseman. But a walk and a line-drive over the right-field wall put the Captains up early, 2-0.

The Dragons again got a leadoff single, and he was again erased on a one-out double-play to end the inning. The Captains only managed a one-out single in the bottom of the second, erased in their own inning-ending double play.

And that was pretty much it for the Dragons. They went in order until the ninth inning, where a one-out single without a double-play to clean it up meant that Lake County pitchers only faced one over the minimum, though surrendering three hits.

In the bottom of the third, the Captains hit back-to-back solo homers to raise their lead to 4-0. In the fourth, a one-out single and walk was followed by another homer to deep center to make it 7-0. In the fifth, a leadoff double moved over on a one-out single. He came home on the next batter's double-play ball, marking the first run not scored on a homer. A two-out double and single followed, and yet another homer left the yard in center, making it 11-0.

Lake County went in order in the sixth, but in the seventh, they were back to it. A one-out single was followed by a double and a walk to load the bases. A sacrifice fly to right brought a run in, but that was it, cranking the score to 12-0. The Captains only had a two-out walk in the eighth but cruised to a 12-0 shutout victory.


The Scorecard: 

Dragons vs. Captains, 08/31/14. Captains win, 12-0.

The tabloid program was a free hand-out at the gate, but there is no scorecard to be found. One must avail oneself of the guest relations desk to get a free roster sheet and scorecard pamphlet. It was on regular paper with reasonable amount of space for scoring and the bottom quarter of the layout taken up by poorly photocopied scoring instructions that are nearly impossible to read.

The story of the game was nearly seeing the minimum batters come to the plate for the Dragons. It is probably even rarer for this not to happen for an imperfect game, as you need caught stealings, double plays, or interferences to erase baserunners once on the base paths. This unlikely arrangement stayed in play until the top of the ninth, when the Captain's closer let a one-out single go, and then struck out the next batter, erasing the possibility of a double-play. It was a little disappointing, to be honest. I doubt anyone noticed or cared besides myself, however.

Given the lack of anything on the Dragons side, there was not much out of the ordinary scoring-wise except for the five homers. There were a number of little notes, such as the home "Ice Cream Batter" (who went 0-4), the opposing "beer batter" (who struck out, resulting in half-priced beer for an inning), and two play notes, one of a fly ball to right in the bottom of the fifth that resulted in a collision that required a trainer's visit to resolve and a foul ball off a batter's foot in the bottom of the sixth that required a trainer visit before the batter would pop out to short.


The Accommodations: 
Hoboken, before the break of September

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2014 Labor Day Ohio