Princeton

On a Long Drive with No Direction
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Princeton, WV


Outside the Game:
I got up somewhat groggily and partook of my breakfast buffet as rain poured outside the windows. It seems that I picked as good a day as any for a long drive. Given my prudent choice to stop off in North Carolina again instead of staying in Myrtle Beach, it was going to be a much shorter drive, as well. I was planning to meet up with my friend in West Virginia for a couple of days to grab the teams on the very edge of his state, and because we hadn't seen each other in over a year at that point.

After having my rain-enhanced breakfast, I went back to the room to shower up, pack, and check out of the hotel. I started driving on my way for a 3.5-4 hour run, and I was settled into a nice ride with next to no one on the road with me, going as I was from North Carolina to West Virginia on a rainy Saturday. I eventually had to stop for gas, and I was gassed up and grabbed some snacks and headed back out on the road in no time.

Except that my GPS would not pick up the satellite signal again. Granted, I had this GPS for nearly a decade at this point, but it had never failed me. More and more recently, it would have problems picking up the satellite signal, especially in new locations such as airports after a flight, but it had never completely gone to ground before. The good news, such as it was, was that my directions were fairly simple: Follow I-74 until it turned into I-77, and then get off at the Princeton, WV exit.

So I drove, using the roads as my guide for the extent of the trip. The ride itself was pretty calm and uneventful, and eventually I did a pull off for some lunch a short distance from my goal. I wrote down the exact directions at the exit in Princeton from the GPS during my lunch, and I confirmed them with my tablet before setting off again.

I needn’t have worried. The hotel I was meeting my friend at was literally a straight line off the exit of I-77, so although my GPS crashed, it at least crashed on the least complicated part of my trip.

I parked at the hotel to check in and found my friend had beat me there by a half hour or so, and I missed seeing his mother by the same timeframe. I went to the room and unpacked and took a nap after the longish drive.

After waking up, we took a drive to the nearby Walmart to buy a new GPS for the rest of the trip. I got a new GPS; my friend got a couple new LEGO sets. After getting back to the hotel room, my original TomTom unit finally woke up again, of course. Not quite trusting it anymore, I set up my new Garmin unit. We walked a couple doors down to have dinner at Shoney's (yes, because it was on the Rick and Morty episode, and I had never been in one before), and we had a thoroughly unremarkable buffet dinner.

We walked back to the hotel room, worked out some networking issues, and played video games for the rest of the evening. After looking up what the local entertainment options were, we decided on more video games for tomorrow as well.

Both worn out from our respective drives, we hit the hay relatively early and called it a day.


The Accommodations:

Holiday Inn Express

In case you're wondering, there's not a huge selection of hotels in Princeton, WV. We picked one on the higher end of the scale in a Holiday Inn Express. It was a nice, big, room with two twin beds on one side of the room, across from a dresser, TV, large desk, and small Ottoman.

Outside the bathroom was a small refrigerator and coffee machine, and the bathroom off the main entrance was a fairly standard affair with a tub and a long vanity and sink.

We spent a lot of time in here over the next couple of days, between the rain and the video games. I don't even think that housekeeping got a shot at the place until after we checked out.



On Meeting Friends and Yankee Invasions

H.P. Hunnicutt Field, 2017

Sunday, August 6, 2017
Pulaski Yankees (NY Yankees) vs.
Princeton Rays (Tampa Bay Rays)
H.P. Hunnicutt Field
Appalachian League (Rookie +)
Princeton, WV
5:00 PM

Outside the Game:
We both woke up somewhat early the next day and went down to grab some breakfast buffet. We grabbed our stuff and went outside to a small patio adjacent to the breakfast room and ate our breakfast in the fresh air, which was thankfully not filled with rain again.

After breakfast, we managed to get showered and dressed and spent the rest of the morning continuing the video game from the night before until it was time to go to the park. We parked in the huge parking lot that encircled the stadium and managed to find at least a half dozen batting practice balls each on the tarmac outside of the outfield. I'm imagining not a lot of people come to collect them.

It is free real estate.

We did the walk around, and I took my photos until the ticket gate opened, we bought our tickets, and went in.

After the game, we went to a nearby Italian place for dinner and headed back to the hotel. I did my laundry, and we played more video games until we got tired enough to go to sleep.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, H.P. Hunnicutt Field

H. P. Hunnicutt Field has a grandiose name for a rookie-league park. It is a nice enough facility, also used for high school ball, next door to a football field. As mentioned, the park is almost completely surrounded by a parking lot split with the football field, with the one side not surrounded by the parking lot almost directly onto the road that passes the park.

The tiny park has one entrance, guarded by a quaint little ticket booth. The entrance opens up to a tarmac walkway that circles the outside of the field, hosting the one concession stand, team store, the bathrooms, and player and training facilities. There is a small picnic area underneath the home plate grandstand. A small, covered grandstand with flip-down seats sits behind home plate, topped with a tiny press box. Uncovered bleacher seats run down the base lines from either side of the main grandstand. A small digital scoreboard sits in left-center field, along with the site line of trees and distant buildings that provide the outfield view.

A number of memorials are in the park, including five retired numbers along the outfield wall, the dedication plaque for the stadium, a banner honoring "Princeton's Mr. Baseball Lefty Guard," the Dick McCormick Hitting Facility, and a small garden at the entrance honoring local booster Gail Cheatwood.

Roscoe P. Coltrain

Mascot Roscoe the Chicken (number 1/8) runs most of the interactions between innings. There was a small array of your standard minor-league quizzes and games, but a lot less than you see at the higher minors. Given a Sunday afternoon game after a couple of rainy days, there was a decent-sized crowd in the small park that cheered the Rays on to victory.


At the Game with Oogie:

Rookie scoring

As mentioned, I was at the game with my friend, and with the open seating, we grabbed two reserved seats behind home plate. We split up for a bit as I did my photography thing, and he grabbed some food and looked around. When we regrouped, it turned out that he had helped the mascot on with his chicken costume when he stopped in to use the bathroom. So, this was clearly a top-tier organization.

Sausages

There was only one concession stand at the stadium. I ate a brat before the game and grabbed a drink. As we had sprung for the "reserved" seats, there was seat service for concessions, and I snagged a sausage sandwich during the game, as well. A couple of visiting Pulaski Yankees fans who had come down for the game were sitting behind us and bemoaning their team's fate and the drive they had taken to see such a beating.

Roscoe the Chicken mascot tried to get my friend and I to participate in a game between innings, but we demurred.


The Game:

First pitch, Yankees vs. Rays

The visiting Pulaski Yankees were the class of the Appalachian League, facing off against the Princeton Rays at home, but the year up to this point had no bearing on this game, as the hometown boys cleaned the clocks of their brethren from up north.

Things started well for Pulaski in the first, with an early run off a leadoff single, stolen base, single, and sacrifice fly to put them to a 1-0 lead. That would be their first and last lead of the day. In the bottom of the first, the Rays had a two-out rally with a single and a booted grounder to second that was followed by a homer to left to give them to a 3-1 lead. The Yankees went in order in the second, but Princeton kept going with a booted grounder to third making it home on a balk, passed ball, and a triple. The runner left on third got brought in on another single, and the lead was extended to 5-1. Pulaski struck out their side in the third but had two walks in the middle, while the Rays calmed down and snuck in a single and nothing more.

The Yankees got nothing more than a single and walk in the top of the fourth, and even Princeton went in order. Pulaski had a single in the top of the fifth, while the Rays tacked on another odd run with a hit batsman moving to third on a single and then coming home on a wild pitch, making the score 6-1. The Yankees only managed another single and walk in the top of the sixth, while Princeton got three strike outs. But in the middle, there was a one-out rampage, with two walks, three singles, and an error by the center fielder, leading to four more runs to make this increasing blowout 10-1.

Pulaski had a single in the top of the seventh, and the Rays just a walk in the bottom of the frame. The Yankees tried feebly to get back in the game in the top of the eighth with another run on a double, stolen base, and single, to close it to 10-2. Princeton had a single to show for the bottom of the eighth. Not making the most of their last licks, Pulaski went out on three straight ground out, leaving the hometown Rays with a decisive 10-2 final victory.


The Scorecard:

Yankees vs. Rays, 08/06/17. Rays win, 10-2.

The $1 scorecard came with a raffle ticket stapled to it for one of the giveaways. I didn't win, but it was nice, nevertheless. The program was a magazine tabloid, with the scorecard in the centerfold on semi-glossy paper that made it a little hard to write on with pencil. At least 50% of the scorecard spread was filled with ads, but at least it was on a white background that left space for notes.

The scorecard was roomy enough, with just white boxes for each player, so it wasn't so cramped. There were a couple of oddities, though. There were no pitching lines, but there were so many player lines that I was able to fashion some ad hoc at the bottom of the scorecard. Also, there was a printing error on the home side, with one block that should have been two players lines was missing the divider line. It was pretty obvious, so it was odd no one thought to fix that.

There were only a couple of plays of scoring note. There was a balk in the bottom of the second, a CS 1-3-4t in the same half inning, and a CS 9-6 in the bottom of the eighth when the runner tried to turn a single into a double. The Yankees also committed four errors, which can't be good for the skipper's blood pressure, and there were twenty strikeouts combined with both teams.


The Accommodations:
We had another night in the Holiday Inn Express, mostly playing video games and accumulating a ton of wrappers and garbage, as room servicing was in prime video game time.

Click here to see all the pictures from this trip.

2017 The Carolinas & Tennessee

Pulaski

On Bigtime Smalltime

Calfee Park, 2015

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Johnson City Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals) vs.

Pulaski Yankees (New York Yankees)
Calfee Park
Appalachian League (Rookie +)
Pulaski, VA
7:15 PM

Outside the Game: 

I woke up relatively early on an overcast morning, but still reluctantly dragged my lazy ass down for the breakfast buffet, before trundling back up the stairs for a shower or more bed-lying. There wasn't a whole lot on the docket today, so I wasn't in much of a particular hurry.

But I did eventually finish packing and getting dressed and then headed out to check out and start the two-hour drive up to Pulaski. There was literally no one making the drive from Danville to Pulaski that day except me, and so it passed pretty effortlessly. Getting to the park was a bit of an adventure, because the stadium was in the middle of another park in such a way that my GPS did not enjoy the experience at all. It took a couple of tries before I just drove into the park and hoped for the best, and eventually I did make it to the stadium, where I took my pictures. I drove out to the hotel in neighboring Dublin, because Pulaski didn't even rate much in the way of hotels. The downtown that I drove through on the way was a couple of blocks of mostly closed buildings with the visage of a town that had lost its way a long time ago.

About fifteen minutes later, I was at my hotel and checked in. I dumped all my stuff out into yet another hotel room, and after looking on the Internet for any local attractions worth my attention, I collapsed on the bed for a nap and spent a lazy afternoon catching up on paperwork and organizing and some such, including a long soak in the tub to try and get my body more enthusiastic about the rest of this trip.

When it was time for the game, I drove back to the park and dropped my car off in the "far" lot before buying a ticket and heading into the game. After the game was over, the crowd headed into the damp night, and another quick drive got me back at the hotel and in bed at a reasonable hour for the long drive the next day.

The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Calfee Park

Let’s get this out of the way: only the Yankees organization would have a luxury box in the Appalachian League, a Rookie league so low on the baseball totem pole, it doesn’t even warrant an “A.” The Rookie Leagues are the dubious inheritors of the old “D” level teams of the most abject rookies with no hint of prospect about them. And the Pulaski Yankees have a luxury box in their Appalachian-League field, Motor Mile Field at Calfee Park.

Calfee Park started its life as a WPA ballpark that was constructed as part of the plan to try and build the country out of The Great Depression. The luxury box came much later, after the Yankees took over recently and did the latest in a string of renovations at the park, which included the curiously cross-shaped structure behind home plate.

The park itself is wedged inside a larger municipal park and residential area. Two small parking lots are outside the main entrance, with the closer one dedicated to seniors and the disabled, and a VIP lot is by the VIP-only entrance near first base. From the outside, the main entrance beyond left field is a solid, low, brick-wall portcullis. But the rest of the park is visible from the parking lots and surrounding streets that overlook the park, in most places with just chain-link fences in the way. One particular house across the street from the ballpark and on a hill overlooking the field has a particularly sweeping view from beyond right field, and the owners regularly come out on their porch to watch the games in the evening. Hell, I know I would.

The main entrance dumps out into a small plaza at the end of left field, right by the visiting bullpen. A long, asphalt path runs the length of left field, connecting up with the general admissions bleachers, which run from short left field to home plate, with all but the furthest extent being covered by a large overhang. A series of small staircases leads to the area by home plate, with box seats crowded around home plate, with a higher section of bleachers on the third-base side, more seats in a separate area on the first-base side, and a series of tables above the walkway behind home plate underneath the “T”-shaped luxury box building, holding the press box and the indoor and patio luxury boxes. Beyond them on the first-base side is a deck area by the home dugout with table service. Behind home plate and down the first-base line is a large plaza area where the VIP entrance empties out, as well as holding the team store, concessions, and a small area of picnic tables. The outfield wall runs between one and three tiers, all slathered in local ads, with the exception of the batter’s eye in dead center. The new digital video scoreboard rises in left-center against the backdrop of trees, and some houses in right and right-center.

"Mantler"? Seriously? You're a Yankees franchise.

Although perhaps heresy to many, the Yankees’ minor-league clubs do have mascots, and Calf-E, the hole-y cow (get it?) is the mascot-de-jur. He is involved in some of the activities, but he definitely isn’t as ever-present as other minor-league mascots. In addition to the MC, there are the Calfee Girls cheerleaders, as well as a Motor Mile drumline, giving the whole thing a lot more high-school flair. The small stadium was packed, even with threatening weather, and they were very much into the P-Yanks victory through it all.

At the Game with Oogie: 

Chicken sandwich, souvenir cup, and "Yankee fries"

On this damp evening, I "splurged" for a seat right behind the dugout that cost me ten American dollars. The tarp remained on the field until right before the game was about to start. The ushers said that there was a rain storm that was bearing down on the region that was forecast to plow right through where we were, but in this case, the meteorological failure rate worked to my advantage, for while the sky looked as though it might explode into rain at any point, it managed to not do so for the duration of the game.

The concessions at Calfee Park were strictly on the high-school cafeteria level, but they were cheap and tasty. I grabbed a chicken sandwich and "Yankee fries," which are apparently just thin-cut steak fries, along with a tiny souvenir soda.

My seat was just on the first-base side of home plate in the third row back. The stands in this area were packed with fans, and even the general admissions bleachers were filled with people. Two guys sitting next to me struck up conversations for most of the game. They were season ticket holders, and they said that someone else who was doing a ballpark tour had been sitting in my seat just a couple weeks ago. So, at least I managed to find my designated seat. They talked about all the renovations that the Yankees did, and how that they really brought a lot of fans out to the park. They said they knew the family that had the house that overlooked the park and were sitting out on the porch watching the game this evening, as they usually did. This seemed a little strange until I realized how small a town this was, and how everybody probably knew everyone else anyway.

The Game: 

First pitch, Cardinals vs. Yankees

This face-off between the Infant Bombers of Pulaski and the visiting JC Cardinals was not a pitchers’' duel by any stretch, and in the end, the Yankees big fifth inning was bigger than the Cardinals big fifth inning, and that was the end of it.

It looked like it might be over early as the Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first off two home runs to right-center, but Pulaski came back in the bottom of the inning to turn a single, wild pitch, ground out, and second single into a run to cut the lead in half to 2-1. Johnson City went in order in the second, while the Yankees had a leadoff walk that got stranded on third after a stolen base and a passed ball. The Cardinals had a lone single in the third, while Pulaski had a hit batsman and a single that didn't make it home.

Johnson City went in order in the fourth, but the Yankees tied it up on a leadoff homer to right in the bottom of the frame. The fifth inning was a scoring frame for both teams, as the Cardinals brought in three on the back of a single, double, and homer to momentarily take a 5-2 lead. In the bottom of the fifth, after a flyout to center, Pulaski just kept hitting. Two singles were followed by a dropped fly in center to load the bases, and a double cleared them. A walk made it first and second, and a triple cleared the bases again. A single brought in another run, and another single made it first and second with one out, but a strikeout and a caught stealing ended the threat with the Yankees up, 9-5, after batting around. Johnson City only had a single in the top of the sixth, while the Yankees got two one-baggers and no one across in the bottom of the frame.

The Cardinals went in order in the seventh even after reaching on an error thanks to a caught stealing, and Pulaski matched their feat. Johnson City had just a single in the top of the eighth, while the Yankees loaded the bases with one out but failed to score any more. The Cardinals then went meekly in order in the top of the ninth, making the Yankees' 9-5 victory final.

The Scorecard: 

Cardinals vs. Yankees, 07/01/15. Yankees win, 9-5.

The scorecard was part of the $1 full-color magazine program, located about 3/4ths of the way through the program, not in the traditional centerfold. On glossy magazine paper, it made pencil writing, especially colored pencil writing, very difficult. The scorecard itself was okay, taking up nearly the entire spread outside of a ribbon of team and league promos at the top.

It was a Scoremaster variant, with ball and strike boxes in the upper left of each scoring square, along with a pre-printed diamond. (I even went the distance of scoring fouls as opposed to clean strikes with differing direction slashes that extended out of the boxes.) Each batting line had space for two replacements, with inning totals by batter and by inning, including LOB. The pitching lines were on the bottom, including total batters faced. The stats lines at the top above the batting lines were repeated on both sides, with lines for attendance (1,368--one of the few times attendance was announced in rookie league), wind, game start and end time, weather, and scorer.

There were a couple of weird plays this game. In the bottom of the fateful fifth, the second out came on a CS 2-5 after the runner on second tried to advance on a wild pitch. There was also an F-2b in the top of that inning on a pop-up bunt. In the top of the seventh, after the center fielder dropped the ball, the runner was CS 9-6 after trying to take second on the muffed play.

The Accommodations: 

Sleep Inn & Suites

I stayed the night at the Sleep Inn and Suites in nearby Dublin. My room had a small hallway leading to the bedroom that had the entrance to the sizable bathroom off to the right. The room had two double beds with nightstands and a small easy chair on one wall, and a dresser, refrigerator, and desk on the other.

The room was cozy, especially with all the pillows from both beds stacked onto one, where a pillow fort was properly constructed to encase me for the rest of the night.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2015 Virginia