Richmond

On Finishing Up Strong, if Damp

The Diamond, 2015

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Akron RubberDucks (Cleveland Indians) vs.

Richmond Flying Squirrels (San Francisco Giants)
The Diamond
Eastern League (AA)
Richmond, VA
6:05 PM


Outside the Game: 

Having done the drive the night before, all I had was local driving around Richmond to do for the short remainder of the trip. I had a lazy morning at the hotel, sleeping in before rolling out to catch the end of the extended weekend breakfast buffet, before sullenly retreating to my room for a nap to make sure the sleep all got properly set in my head.

I eventually got the energy to shower up and head out to the stadium to buy my ticket and take my photos of the outside of the park. As early afternoon rolled around, I finally got the gumption to get out and start exploring Richmond. I parked in a lot in the historic center of down town, and my first stop was the "Confederate White House," converted into the Museum of the Confederacy. I was pinching my nose and hoping for the best on the way in, but it was a frankly even-handed review of the events of the way and kept mostly to the straight history of the location. There didn't seem to be a trace of any lost-causim or trash of that ilk. I exited through the gift shop and spent the remainder of the afternoon walking around the historic downtown, visiting the George Washington and Civil Rights monuments, as well as the Old Virginia Executive Mansion.

Confederate White House

It was eventually time to get over to the game, so I drove to the stadium and parked up and got in line. On the way out, I damply got into my car and went back to the hotel to shower up, do some final packing, check in for my flight, and collapse at the end of another long trip.


The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, The Diamond

Despite a generic name, The Diamond is one of the few minor-league parks that either isn’t in one of the modern, cookie-cutter designs or a historic park built up around its quirks. From the outside, the giant concrete structure looks more like a college football stadium than ballpark. Free-standing pillbox ticket booths are by the main entrance at home plate, which is split between regular and season ticket entrances. The outside of the park is extensively decorated, with floral arrangements, pennants, a giant inflatable mascot, posters of all the other mascots, a miniature golf course behind right field (surely a first for me), and small signs for “Squirrels Fun Facts” that circle the park.

All the entrances go up a stairway onto the main concrete promenade that goes around the park from left field to right field behind the plate. The single row of seats extends down in blocks from the main walkway the length of the grandstand, roughly from just beyond first base to just beyond third base. At the top of the lower seating bowl are the luxury boxes and the press box. An entire upper deck is on top, accessed by large, sloping ramps from the lower level. It has a narrow walkway around the outside of the grandstand with ramps leading in, and a small walkway at the base of the stands, with the seats rising up from there. A large cantilevered roof runs out over the upper deck, above a row of banner advertisements. Left field ends in a patio deck with picnic tables, and the right field walkway just ends right before the bullpens, looking out over the mini golf course outside.

A large, pole-fixed netting system keeps the fans protected from foul balls. Looking out, a two-tier outfield wall is covered in local ads except for the batters’ eye in center. A large digital scoreboard sits in left-center in front of the backdrop of treetops and sky that frames the field. The park has a lot of little spaces and tributes crammed in every corner. There is an outfield wall banner for Jackie Robinson’s retired number, signed posters from the starting lineups of every team of every year along the walls, a POW-MIA seat, player posters on the ramps, the inevitable “Road to the Show” plaques, VCU Baseball Championship banners, mascot banners, a small fast pitch tucked in a corner in addition to the larger kids area on the lower level, and a Wall of Fame.

Nutzy

On paper, the Flying Squirrels have no less than five mascots: Parker the Rally Pig, Zinger the nut, Nutzy the Flying Squirrel, Captain ARRR VA the pirate, and Victor the Viking. Only Nutzy and the Captain made big appearances for this game (with Zinger showing up for one race event), with Nutzy sporting garish July 4th clothes, but the Captain maintained his traditional pirate clothes. The park gets immediate points for having an organ player, a much-missed dying tradition in baseball. And they even had a lot of unusual contests and giveaways, including a hula-hoop race, a tug of war, giant glove boxing, and a guy riding a giant flamingo to give away hot dogs (a’la the Crazy Hot Dog Vendor in Reading).

The sacrifice is pleasing.

The crowd on the day after July 4th was quite extensive, even if dampened by the intermittent rain. They were into the game beyond the other entertainments, even if a lot of them were just concerned whether the rain was going to cancel the post-game fireworks (which it did).


At the Game with Oogie: 

Damp scoring

While waiting in the crowded line to get in, I was just in front of an older couple who were season ticket holders, and the husband even came equipped with a flag-themed Nutsy giveaway from a previous July 4th. And here was the danger of capital "t" capital "s," The South. The couple were giving me the rundown about the fight between the city council and the team owners, as the city fathers promised the team a new stadium and then didn't deliver, and the last team left, and now they are playing the same game of chicken with the Flying Squirrels, and the sad baseball fans were bemoaning what they expected to be the similar outcome. And we're fine until there. However, the husband kept going and saying that all the city council wanted to do was to give money to "the blacks" and buy their votes; they would never do anything for "white folks," like getting the new stadium built.

And while that was pretty breath-taking, I guess I was sort of happy that the word didn't start with an "n," which was progress of a type. After that, I politely nodded and smiled, and then lost them as soon as the gates opened. You think we've progressed, and then you find out that maybe we haven't.

Regular hot dog and souvenir soda

I went around and did my photography, and whatever you say about The Diamond, it definitely isn’t a cookie-cutter stadium. With all my walking around, I started off with a hot dog and a souvenir soda, but eventually threw a pulled pork hot dog on top of that, because pulled pork hot dog.

Pulled pork hot dog: Recommended by 5 of 5 cardiologists

My seat was in the third row just at the end of the home plate dugout. The stadium at least started pretty packed, and there were families all around me who were probably season ticket holders. They were all mostly watching their kids or keeping out of the rain, depending on when it was.

The one moment of glory I had in the game was that I won the program autograph contest. This was less hard than usual because they mistakenly left the sticky tab they put in the program to show the player where to sign, so I had grabbed that free program to find out why it was like that. And I found the answer pretty easily. So that was perhaps my easiest contest win ever.


The Game: 

First pitch, RubberDucks vs. Flying Squirrels

The Akron RubberDucks and Richmond Flying Squirrels were both in the Western Division of the Eastern League and clawing for a playoff spot until late in the season. This turned out to be a pitcher's duel in a damp afternoon that was ultimately decided on a stolen base.

Akron only had a walk to show for the top of the first, but the Flying Squirrels came out swinging, with a leadoff homer to right. Little did we know that would be the last scoring for this half of the game. Both sides went in order in the second, and the RubberDucks got a batter as far as third in the top of the third with a couple of walks, a steal, and an error, but no further, while Richmond went in order in their half.

In the top of the fourth, Akron scattered and stranded a pair of singles, while the Flying Squirrels did the same, plus a walk, in the bottom of the frame. The RubberDucks got two walks in the top of the fifth, but just into the second half of the game, Richmond managed to score again with a leadoff walk that stole second and was driven in by a one-out single to extend the tenuous lead to 2-0. Akron went in order in the top of the sixth, while the Flying Squirrels somehow came up with bupkis after starting their half with a walk and a double.

The RubberDucks got a walk and a lot of ground outs in the top of the seventh, while Richmond went in order. Akron finally got on the board in the eighth with a two-out homer to left and was threatening more with a back-to-back single and a walk before a reliever got a strikeout to end the inning. The Flying Squirrels just had a single in the bottom half of the eighth. But it concluded quickly, as Akron went in order in the top of the ninth to settle the 2-1 Richmond victory.


The Scorecard: 

RubberDucks vs. Flying Squirrels, 07/05/15. Flying Squirrels win, 2-1.

The scorecard was part of the free mini-tabloid full-color magazine program. The scorecard was the centerfold of the program, taking up about 3/4th of the space, with ads taking up the remainder at the bottom. There was decent enough space for player lines and replacements on empty scoring boxes, with the pitching lines underneath, but the glossy magazine paper made it nearly impossible to write with pencil, and it was especially unsuited for the rainy weather that day, and there was a color background behind the scoring boxes, which made it more difficult to write and erase legibly.

The damp game didn't have particular scoring plays of note, and thankfully went along at a clippy pace.


The Accommodations: 

I was at the Best Western at the airport again. Not a lot to report there.

On the Pleasantness of a Boring Day

Richmond Airport

Monday, July 6, 2015

Jersey City, NJ


Outside the Game: 

This was a pleasantly uneventful day all around. I woke up on time in the morning, grabbed breakfast, showered, and finished packing. I checked out of the hotel, drove the short distance to the airport, turned in the rental car, and went through security at the terminal. I grabbed a snack and went to my gate, where my flight boarded on time, and took off on time.

After two hours--most of which I napped through--we landed at Newark, and I took a cab back to my apartment, where I did my laundry and got my stuff in order for the rest of the afternoon.

After having nightmares the weather and delays and all the rest, it was nice to have a strictly boring morning and end up right back at my apartment.


The Accommodations: 

Sweet home, Jersey City

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2015 Virginia

Akron

On Backing It In

Canal Park, 2014

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Erie Seawolves (Detroit Tigers) vs.
Akron RubberDucks (Cleveland Indians)
Canal Park
Eastern League (AA)
Akron, OH
7:05 PM


Outside the Game: 
After getting up and enjoying some breakfast buffet, I thought better of the whole awake thing and went back to bed for a while. That seemed to be working a lot better with me.

Eventually, I had to get going, if only for fear of getting kicked out my apartment--uh, hotel room. I dumped everything back into my injured car and made the short ride to Akron, down the road a piece.

I got to the stadium, and after a little driving around, I found out that the parking meters were off for the weekend, so I parked on a street outside of right field. I picked up my tickets, discovering that the game was sold out in the process, and then walked around to take my outside pictures and stop at the team store. The game only opened up an hour before first pitch, and I'd need every second to explore the park, so I figured I'd at least get my shopping done ahead of time.

In walking around, I found a nice little park in the back dedicated to the Erie Canal. There was even a museum about it, but it was closed on the weekends. I also found out that there would be a concert in another park down the street from the ballpark, so it would probably behoove me to get back here for the game on the early side.

After doing what I do, I sent myself in the direction on the Akron Zoo, which was but a short drive away. On this fine, holiday day, the parking lot was quite full. I found a space, bought my ticket, and went off into the zoological afternoon. I immediately bought a drink to stave off the insane heat of the afternoon I had ignored to this point. The zoo had just undergone a lot of renovations, so there were a bunch of new exhibits. There was an amphibian/rain forest building that also held one of the major concession areas. I ducked in to get some lunch before seeing the exhibits. There was a working Frogger machine in the building, but sadly, it would properly accept quarters, so you couldn't play it. Which was a disappointment.

Debonair

I spent some time walking around the zoo. As I was getting to the end of my circuit, they were about to do a training exercise at the bear exhibit that I stayed to watch. And observing these giant monsters do tricks that facilitated their zoological care, all I could think about is how lucky it is we have guns, because in a regular confrontation, those bears would just make short work of us. To underscore the point, there was a scale near the exhibit that let you know how much your weight was of a bear's daily food intake before hibernation. The subtext was quite clear.

Eventually done, I headed off to my hotel, which turned out to just be a short drive from the zoo. I checked in, dumped my stuff in the room, and tired from an afternoon in the sun, I took a shower and a nap. In short order, it was time to head back to the park.

Another quick drive later, I was back at the park, but all the free spaces were long since gone. A parking lot just across from the park wasn't yet filled, and just $5, so I pulled in there. The lot was an empty lot, and a building was clearly there before, because I ended up driving over a building bracket of some sort while parking, wondering if I had punctured my tire in the process. Not being able to do anything about it at the moment, I went to join the ever-growing line to get in.

Not caring for the fireworks, I found my tires still inflated, so I headed back to the hotel at a reasonable hour. Having to head out a bit on the early side the next day, I packed up as much as possible, showered up, and made an early night of it.


The Stadium & Fans: 

Home plate to center field, Canal Park

Canal Park was pretty refreshing in being a relatively new park that was an anchor to a downtown revitalization effort that wasn't immediately sold off to corporate naming, unless there is a "Canal Corporation" that I'm not aware of, in which case, ignore everything I've said up to this point.

With its fake brick fronting, the park is right on the canal in the middle of downtown. You can circumnavigate the outside by going along the canal park, skirting the other parks and performance spaces in the area, and wandering down the downtown sidewalks. The "Diamond Boardwalk" outside of home plate connects with the canal. On the outside of the park are several facilities, including the several ticket booths, the team store, the Greater Akron Baseball Hall of Fame, and "The Game" restaurant, with its lighted sign by its right-field location proclaiming what meal it is serving and if there is a game today. Entrances to the park are at home plate, third base, left field and right field.

The grandiloquently named "Greater Akron Baseball Hall of Fame" is unaffiliated with the Ducks, but the space offers free admission to the galleries, which features great local players, the Hall of Fame itself, and stories of the various teams that have played in Akron. The place has seen better days, unfortunately, as--for example--the "F" in "Of" in "Hall of Fame" was dangling precariously when I visited. The guy who runs the place was a hoot and half, though.

Hall O...f

All the entrances dump out onto a wide promenade that runs from right-center field to left field around home plate. Center field is inaccessible, so you can't circumnavigate, but the walkway is very broad, so getting around is not a problem at all. The single section of seating all extend down from the promenade by regularly spaced stairwells, with regular seating running out to right field and to third base on that side of the park, with a table service "Fowl Territory" section running from third base to the left field corner. A second level runs from about dugout to dugout, housing the luxury boxes and the press box above home plate. All the concessions are found along the promenade, either built into the back of the grandstand or as free-standing carts in other parts of the park. Patrons of The Game restaurant can look out from right field, or eat on outdoor seating in the right field plaza to watch the game.

A single-tier outfield wall covered in ads winds through the outfield behind the impressively black batters' eye in center, the main digital video board in right-center, the auxiliary strip board in left-center, and the Akron skyline in the backdrop. A bit of local color is added by the fact that the center field wall by the batters’ eye indents into the field dramatically, leaving a pointed wedge in the wall, whether from necessity or being "quirky." Left field on top of the Fowl Territory ends in a large party area, while right field terminates in a kids' Fun Zone and a Tiki Terrace bar. The park also has a ton of memorials and dedications. There's a POW/MIA seat, a plaque dedicated to fans who met and married at the park, and championship banners along the right field wall.

Mascot lineup

Webster the Duck and Orbit the Cat are the local mascots. Webster can even remove his mascot hat and hand it out to fans, as he often does during the course of the game. Most of the between-inning entertainment was minor-league standards, although there were a couple of unique twists such as slip-n-slide bowling, and less common things such as a seventh-inning grounds crew dance. As this was a potentially playoff clinching event, the game was eventually sold out, and it was rocking, even when it didn't look like it was going to work out for the home team.


At the Game with Oogie: 

Night scoring

I bought my tickets before setting out from Niles, and it seems like a good idea that I did. By the time I showed up mid-afternoon to buy my ticket, the potentially clinching game was sold out to standing room only. With my magical single ticket, I had managed to get in the season ticket section behind the home dugout anyway.

After casing the place for food, I decided on a cheesesteak from local favorite Eddie's, and man, was that the right decision. The $9 cheesesteak was simply one of the best I've ever had, and exactly the right size to fill me up without feeling like you've eaten too much.

Eddie's cheesesteak

As mentioned, the game was a sell-out, but as I was in the season ticket areas, I had the least populous area of the park due to no-shows. That said, there were still three or so families sitting around me. There were a couple storylines in the stands that night. The family in front of me had a young girl that just wanted to get a ball. She tried all game, and around the seventh inning, she finally got the player who caught the last out of the inning to give her a ball, and she was deliriously happy for the rest of the game.

On less happy news, there were a group of pre-teen boys who were sitting in the section to our left who had friends in the section to our right. Since there were a lot of open seats in our section, they kept running back and forth across our section instead of going up the stairs and back down the other stairs. This eventually annoyed the families in the way enough that they yelled at them on their next attempt, and, in the way that only kids who have been yelled out by adults can act, not only walked up and down the stairs, but avoided eye contact with our section for the rest of the night.

The family behind me had the star of the night. This family had a young son who never ceased in his Little League-level-of-enthusiasm chant of "Let's go Ducks!" And frankly, he seemed to be the only one to never lose spirit for the entirety of the game, featuring all of those improbably near comebacks by Akron throughout the night. He eventually made friends with some of the other boys and girls in his section, and he had them all chanting along for the rest of the night, up until the last rally in the bottom of the ninth.


The Game: 

First pitch, SeaWolves vs. RubberDucks

This was a potentially playoff-clinching game for the RubberDucks, with their magic number staying at one due to a loss the previous night. I'd never been to a clinching game before, so this was potentially a first for me.

It started off well for the Ducks, as a leadoff single in the first by the SeaWolves was picked off, and the rest of the side struck out. Akron got on the board quickly, with a one-out single in the bottom of the inning, who then stole second and moved to third and a deep fly to center, scoring when the center fielder threw the ball into the backstop, allowing the unearned run. Two quick outs ending the inning at 1-0, RubberDucks.

The lead lasted until the top of the second, as the first Erie batter was plunked and then came home on a homer to right. A one-out double was erased on an inning-ending double-play, but not before the SeaWolves were up 2-1. Akron only managed a two-out walk in the bottom of the second, and both sides went in order in the third.

Not so the fourth. Erie strung together four straight hits (three singles and then a double) to start the inning and bring in two runs. A walk followed, and a single brought in two more runs. The runner at second was gunned down trying to steal third, and two more outs ended the half at 6-1, Erie. Akron managed only a two-out single in the bottom of the fourth, and both sides went in order again in the fifth.

The SeaWolves stranded a one-out double in the top of the sixth, but Akron tried to get back in the game. They started the bottom of the inning with a single that went to second on a passed ball. The next batter tripled him in, and a single brought him in in turn. A double made it second and third with no outs, and grounder to second brought a runner in and over on the put-out to first. A double brought in another run and chased the Erie starter, but his replacement got two quick outs to end the scoring with a slim 6-5 Erie lead.

In keeping with the pace of this game, the SeaWolves opened up their lead in the seventh. A leadoff single was followed by a walk and a double-steal to make it second and third with no outs. A new Akron pitcher allowed a double to bring them both in, before getting out of the inning at 8-5, Erie. The RubberDucks went back to work in the bottom of the inning, starting off with a single, a hit batsman, and a single to center. The single brought in a run, and a misplay by the center fielder brought in the runner from first and put the batter at second with no outs. A single made it first and third with no outs, and the runner at first was pulled for a pinch runner. A groundout to short finally got an out, and a new pitcher was brought in, efficiently stopping the bleeding with a strikeout and fly out to left, preserving the Erie lead at 8-7.

And Erie opened up the lead again in the top of the eighth. A leadoff walk was erased on a caught stealing, but another walk followed, and he stole second. A new Ducks pitcher gave up a single to short that was subsequently bobbled by the shortstop, allowing a run to score. Another deep single on a hit-and-run brought in the speedy runner all the way from first, but two outs ended the half at 10-7, SeaWolves.

The RubberDucks went in order in the eighth, and Erie had two-out, back-to-back singles in the top of the ninth, and nothing else. Akron made one last try in the bottom of the ninth. Back-to-back doubles started them off, followed by a short single and a stolen base to put the tying runs in scoring position with no outs. But the Erie pitcher hunkered down and got three straight outs to end the last rally short with a 10-8 SeaWolves win.

That said, the team chasing the RubberDucks lost, so Akron did clinch their playoff berth, and the team half-heartedly put on playoff t-shirts in the dugout after the game.


The Scorecard: 

SeaWolves vs. RubberDucks, 08/30/14. SeaWolves win, 10-8.

The scorecard was part of a free program, but unexpectedly, it wasn't given away at the front gate at all, but needed to be asked for at the fan relations booth. The gentleman behind the counter looked a little taken aback by my request, but eventually went into a back room, returned with a box, and removed a stack of programs that he put on the counter for myself and other patrons. I'm not sure if he just forgot to put them out, or I was just the first person to ask in long while.

The program was a full-colored tabloid pamphlet, with the somewhat cramped scoring area taking up the entire centerfold. Each player line had room for three substitutions, and the visiting pitchers were listed with the opposing team, aligned perpendicular to the batting lines.

For all the on-field scoring, it was a rather conventional game from a scorekeeping perspective. There were certainly more replacements and pinch-runners than I had seen in a while, but outside of a few mildly odd plays (a 1-4-3 putout in the bottom of the third and a K-1-3 in the top of seventh thanks to the uncaught third strike bouncing back most of the way to the pitcher's mound), there was nothing much of note. Two after-play errors by the SeaWolves center fielder and one by the Akron shortstop were all that was left to mention. In the bottom of the first, after making a catch, he threw away the ball letting a run score, and in the bottom of the seventh, while fielding a single to center, he again threw the ball away, allowing another run in. In the top of the eighth, a ball to deep short was knocked down, getting the batter a single, but the shortstop threw the ball away, letting a run score.


The Accommodations: 

Courtyard in Akron Stow

After the Residence Inn the night before, anything short of a castle would probably be a letdown, but I decided to stay at another Marriott property, the Courtyard in Akron Stow, which was just off Route 8 a little north of downtime and pointing towards my destination for the next day.

While no Residence Inn, it was quite nice. The bathroom was off to the right of the room entrance, with the sink and vanity outside the bathroom proper, with the toilet and shower through the door. In the back room, my bed was against the perpendicular wall, facing the windows. The TV, desk, and dresser were on the left wall, and a small couch and dining table were on the right. The windows were sliding doors that opened out onto a small patio landing, with two chairs and a table. So, it had that over the Residence Inn, but no free popcorn.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2014 Labor Day Ohio