Tagged: Carolina League

Fayetteville Woodpeckers – July 2, 2019

My first day in Fayetteville had a little of everything — which would make it hard to top on Day #2.

Truth be told, I wasn’t really worrying about trying to make my second day better than the first. If it could be just a fraction as enjoyable, I’d be more than happy.

I began my second day in this North Carolina town by getting up early, peeking out my window at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Fayetteville North to ensure that the Salem Red Sox bus was still sitting in the parking lot (spoiler alert — it was) and then working out in the hotel’s gym. After breakfast, I settled down in front of my computer for a few hours to do some blogging, and headed out after lunch for a bite to eat and to check out my first stop of the day.

The Woodpeckers are reason enough to visit Fayetteville, but they’re certainly not the only thing to check out while you’re in town. A big attraction that I wanted to make time to see was the Airborne & Special Forces Museum, which sits in the city’s downtown area. Fayetteville is home to Fort Bragg which, among other things, is home to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. The museum is free to enter and is a must-see stop for any military history buff. It provides a detailed history of the Airborne and Special Forces from the Second World War right up to the present day. I viewed more artifacts than I can begin to list here, but I want to share one that was especially noteworthy — and one that you might know about.

If you’ve seen the movie Black Hawk Down, you might be aware of the 1993 downing of an American Black Hawk helicopter in Somalia. The museum has on display the rotor of the helicopter in question, named “Super 61,” which wasn’t returned to the U.S. until 2013. It was equally impressive and eerie to see this piece of machinery, given its infamous history:

I spent about 90 minutes at the museum — which is actually within walking distance of Segra Stadium — before making a short drive to a spot in town that partially tells the story of Fayetteville’s deep history with baseball. It was here that a young George Herman Ruth picked up the moniker of “Babe,” long before he became a household name across the country. And, as you’ll see on this plaque, Fayetteville is the town in which Ruth hit his first home run as a professional, way back in March of 1914:

(This news came as a bit of a surprise me, as I’d often heard how Ruth hit his first professional round tripper in Toronto. In fact, there’s a plaque at Hanlan’s Point on the Toronto Islands that claims Ruth had his first pro HR at that location in September of 1914, six months after the Fayetteville home run. Curious, right?)

In any case, this was a special plaque to see, and one that I was glad to visit. It’s situated just over a mile from Segra Stadium, so it’s definitely a spot to check out when you’re in Fayetteville to see the Woodpeckers play.

After I was done taking a few photos of the plaque, I made the short drive over to the ballpark to begin my second visit. I mentioned earlier that I’d had such a good time during my first visit that I wasn’t worried about my subsequent one being better. It quickly became clear, however, that Day #2 would top Day #1 in one regard, anyway — the temperature. Here’s a screenshot that I took just after arriving at Segra Stadium:

Yowsers.

I parked my rental car in the same lot that I’d used a day earlier, and made the short — and hot! — walk to Segra Stadium. My blog entry about my first visit touched on the construction that is taking place around this new Carolina League ballpark, including the tall crane that towered over the area. One thing that I didn’t mention, however, was the large Woodpeckers flag that hung off the crane. A slight breeze on Day #2 meant that I was able to snap this shot of the flag:

After entering the ballpark, I set out down the third base concourse to begin my customary walk around the field. As you can see here, the concourse was very quiet at this hour …

… but as you might notice in this photo, there were some goings-on down on the field:

A handful of players from each team were playing catch, and the grounds crew was well underway in its efforts to get the field ready for action. The careful prep of the field just after 4 p.m. told me that there’d be no batting practice on the agenda for the second straight day.

With no BP to watch, I watched some Salem pitchers play catch for a few minutes, and then set my sights on checking out the kids’ play area beyond the left field grass berm. I mentioned in my previous blog post how this area is really impressive, especially by Class-A Advanced standards. Case in point? Take a look at this outstanding baseball diamond for kids to run around:

The triple-digit heat limited my desire to channel my inner Joe Carter and leap around the bases, so I instead went down to the outfield fence just to the left field side of the Rocking Porch, and enjoyed this view:

I love the funky shape of the outfield grass and warning track, which you can see in the immediate foreground. Symmetrical outfields are so bland, don’t you think?

Even though I was disappointed in the lack of batting practice, it was nice to stand behind the outfield fence before the game and not worry about a ball landing on my head for a change. As such, I watched the scene for several minutes from that vantage point, before continuing over to the right field corner, where I checked out this huge, multilevel picnic deck:

The next place that I visited was the front row on the third base side. By now, most of the players had left the field, so I just hung out for a minutes and enjoyed the quiet space in front of me. From here, I also snapped this photo that shows one of the other things that I like about Segra Stadium’s design — the open appearance of the netting-covered wall, rather than their concrete, foam-covered counterparts that are still the norm at most minor league parks:

This design gives fans the feeling of being closer to the action, in part because they can more easily see players as they approach the wall, as well as track the path of foul balls as they roll past. It’s little details like this that improve the overall ballpark experience, and I commend the Woodpeckers on making this decision.

I spent a little time sitting at field level, and then checked out the grass berm immediately behind the wall between the two bullpens …

… before the heat drove me into the shade of the concourse and, eventually, the air conditioned confines of the team shop. As with many other elements at Segra Stadium, the team shop was impressive. Large and roomy, and with a wide selection of apparel, it definitely didn’t feel like a Class-A Advanced retail space.

Once the gates opened, I went back out to the concourse to take another lap around. As I stood by one of the railings, I looked down and saw my shadow on the field — and couldn’t resist taking the latest version of this shot from Russell Diethrick Park or this shot from Southwest University Park:

Since I hadn’t taken much in the way of action shots a day earlier, and I’d thoroughly explored the ballpark by this point, I decided to head over to the home bullpen to watch starting pitcher Luis Garcia throw:

The grass berm immediately above Segra Stadium’s bullpens gives fans a really good view of the goings-on. I love when ballpark designs provide this up-close-and-personal access, rather than have the bullpens situated where you can’t get too close. From where I stood, I was just a handful of yards from Woodpeckers catcher Michael Papierski, and enjoyed the challenge of trying to snap photos just as the baseball was entering his glove. Here’s a shot that turned out pretty well:

I watched the entirety of their session, and then found a spot behind home plate to watch the first couple of innings …

… and then spent the remainder of the game watching from different vantage points — and grabbed some shade here and there when possible.

I was thoroughly impressed with Segra Stadium, and glad that I finally had a chance to check out an MiLB ballpark in its first year of operation. This is a ballpark that you’ll appreciate for a number of reasons, so I encourage you to give Fayetteville, N.C. some thought when you’re looking at potential destinations for your upcoming baseball road trips.

My two days in Fayetteville were a blast, but my trip wasn’t done yet. I had one more North Carolina city to visit the next day.

Fayetteville Woodpeckers – July 1, 2019

I always admire my fellow baseball road trippers who make plans to visit new MLB or MiLB parks in their inaugural seasons. This is an idea that has often caught my eye, but for various reasons, I’d never been able to make it work prior to this season. I’ve been traveling since 2010 for The Ballpark Guide, but never fared better than visiting a second-year park. (In fact, as far as I can recall, the last time that I visited a ballpark during its first season was Toronto’s SkyDome, waaaay back in 1989. Yikes!)

Fortunately, that would all change this summer.

When I was setting my June and July travel plans for North Carolina, I knew that a visit to Segra Stadium, home of the first-year Fayetteville Woodpeckers, had to be on the agenda. And so, after a day with the Richmond Flying Squirrels and a much-needed off day, I was back on the road and headed to another city.

I got to Fayetteville early in the afternoon, and after a quick bite of lunch in the car, drove straight to the campus of Methodist University. If you’ve been reading my posts about my trip through North Carolina, you might recall that I’d made a point of visiting a number of NCAA baseball facilities whenever possible, and I’d added Methodist’s Armstrong-Shelley Field to my must-see list. The Methodist Monarchs are notable for making the Div. III College World Series on six occasions, and finishing as the tournament’s runner-up in 1995. Upon pulling onto the campus, I was immediately struck by its beauty and tranquil nature; in a visit that maybe lasted 15 minutes, I saw only two people. After a couple of minutes of driving, I’d made my way to an empty parking lot outside of the baseball facility. I wasn’t able to get inside of the facility, unfortunately, but after snapping this shot of the main gate …

… I climbed up on top of the third base seats and shot this panorama:

Armstrong-Shelley Field is the 15th different NCAA baseball facility that I’ve visited — none to actually see a game, unfortunately — and the sixth different NCAA stop on my June/July road trip. Yes, I even track the ballparks that I visit when it’s only to take a few photos, not to see a game.

After a short walk around the field, it was time to head to my hotel to enjoy some air conditioning for a bit. Why? Well, North Carolina was in the middle of a heatwave that saw the temperatures on this day hit 99 degrees.

During my visit to Fayetteville, I was staying at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Fayetteville North. It was just a couple of minutes from the campus of MU and, most importantly, only 12 minutes from Segra Stadium. It’s the number one hotel in Fayetteville on TripAdvisor, and with good reason — although it opened in 2014, you’d have had a hard time convincing me that the hotel wasn’t a month or two old. Large rooms with comfortable beds, an impressive fitness center, an indoor saltwater pool and a really good free breakfast were all big pluses in my book — and would likely be for any other baseball road tripper, too.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that my favorite hotels are those that are within sight of the ballpark. My second favorite type of hotels are those that host the visiting team, and I quickly realized that was the case when I got to my room, looked out the window and saw the coach bus of the visiting Salem Red Sox in the parking lot:

Its presence made me irrationally giddy, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t peek out my window every 10 or so minutes to look at the bus until it departed.

Once it left, I soon followed suit, and got to enjoy the sights of Fayetteville on the short drive to the ballpark.

I parked a short distance from the ballpark and, upon leaving my car, this was the first view that I had:

Segra Stadium is situated just behind the trees on the right. If you look carefully, you’ll see the stadium lighting rising above the treeline.

A couple of minutes later, I had my first view of this Carolina League ballpark:

As you’ll notice, the area surrounding the park was still under construction at the time of my visit. In fact, it wasn’t possible to do my usual full lap of the park because of all the construction. Construction or no construction, I was thrilled to finally be at ballpark #75 — and very eager to start exploring this first-year facility. Before I entered, though, I wanted to do as much checking out of the exterior sights as I could. That included walking over toward the main gates and team shop:

If you noticed the “Victory Means a Little More Here” design on the wall, it’s making reference to the city’s deep connection with the armed forces. Fayetteville is home to Fort Bragg, which is the largest military base in the world. This slogan was one of many military references throughout the park, making it evident that the park’s designers put a lot of thought into tying the design of the ballpark to the community in which it’s located.

Unless you noticed the under-construction building at the left of the image above, you might be asking, “Where’s all this construction that you speak of?” Here’s one image that shows Segra Stadium from another angle:

And here’s a look at the front gates of the park from a distance:

For the record, I’m not remotely pointing out the construction in a pejorative way. On the contrary, seeing this work being done only served to excite me about what the future holds for this new ballpark and for the fans who will be visiting it. It’s clear that there’s a lot of development being done around the park, and I love parks that give fans a selection of things to see, do and eat before the game. It’s clear that’ll be the case for Segra Stadium, even if all of the work wasn’t quite done during my visit.

I figured that I’d done enough pre-entry wandering for now — besides, the temperature was still hovering just below triple digits, so I felt a strong pull to find some shade. I entered through the gate to the left of the team shop and immediately took a few minutes to stand in the shade and just enjoy some reprieve from the sun. It wasn’t long before I was on the move — fortunately, to another shaded area — as I headed right down to field level behind home plate to snap this panorama:

There are a handful of noteworthy things to point out in this photo. I love how the front-row seats are truly at field level. This is something that seems to be occurring at more and more new ballparks, and it really gives fans in these sections the feeling of being right in the middle of the action. There’s also a wrap-around concourse, which is a must in my books, and a combination of seating options throughout the outfield. I also like the small seating sections down the lines. Lots of newer MiLB parks are taking this approach to give fans a cozy feel, rather than having vast sections that may be half empty on any given night. I share these points because I was immediately impressed with the look of Segra Stadium, and excited to continue exploring.

I watched batting practice from the above spot for a few minutes, and then decided to go back up to the main concourse and walk down the first base line. Here’s the first shot that I took once I headed in this direction:

You’ll notice a number of cool design features in this image, too — standing-room railings behind the upper rows of seats, a wide concourse, a big picnic deck in the corner and a large open space at the end of the concourse. I love these large open areas for a few reasons. As someone who spends a lot of time walking at ballparks, I always appreciate these spaces because they’re easy to get through. When things get tight at the end of a concourse, there tends to be a logjam of people that can make these areas congested. Wide-open spaces such as those at Segra Stadium are always easy to navigate. Of course, the other benefit of these spaces is that they can be optimal for snagging long foul balls. Spend a few innings standing with your glove in any such location, and the odds are good that you’ll be rewarded for your efforts.

So, just how expansive is the space down the first base line at Segra Stadium? Here’s a shot that should answer that question:

This wide-open space wasn’t the only exciting feature in this part of the ballpark. This area is also home to the team’s batting cages, which was visible from the concourse:

Traditionally, teams have often had their cages below the ballpark, which might provide convenient access from the clubhouse, but isn’t the most fan-friendly location. Having the cages in a spot where fans can stand and watch is another big plus in my books.

Next, I made a quick climb up to the Landing Area party deck in the right field corner that was quiet now, but would be lively from the time the gates opened through the end of the game. It offered a variety of seating options, including couches, as well as plenty of ways to keep entertained between innings — table tennis, jumbo Jenga and cornhole were all available in this area:

 

Fortunately for fans, this deck wasn’t the only unique seating option in the area. Here are some other places to hang out for the game:

This impressive selection of seats is located just a few steps away from the large Healy’s Bar structure:

I watched BP for a few minutes from the shade of the bar’s overhang, and then continued my lap around Segra Stadium by walking behind the batter’s eye …

… and around to left-center field, where I took a spot along the railing above the grass berm:

From this spot, I kept an eye on BP while focusing the majority of my attention on the Red Sox bullpen session taking place in front of me. I could watch countless hours of bullpen sessions without ever getting bored. Not only is it impressive to watch a professional pitcher throw from just a few feet away, but it’s fascinating to hear snippets of conversation between the players and pitching coach.

As you might’ve noticed from the panorama above, I was standing in the full sun, and even though it wasn’t the midday sun, it was still enough to have sweat dripping off my face. I was thoroughly enjoying the scene, but soon decided to keep walking. Next, I took a moment to check out the kids’ play area beyond the left field concourse. With a rubber floor, a pair of bounce castles and number of other attractions, including these play structures …

… this was definitely one of the better play areas that I’ve seen in the minor leagues.

Resisting the urge to take a trip down the play structure slide, I continued along the concourse and stopped to note this group of seats along the edge of the concourse:

This type of seating layout is increasing popular in the minor leagues, but it was the seats themselves that caught my eye. You’ll notice that instead of being plastic, they have fabric/mesh backs and seats. This feature not only makes them more comfortable to sit for long stretches, but also helps fans to avoid the heat that plastic seats can hold on a sunny day. Another smart idea from the folks who designed this ballpark.

As I made my way back toward home plate, I stopped to snap this shot of myself:

The shirt that I’m wearing is one of my raglans, which you might think of being an odd choice on a 100-degree day. I can’t argue much with that sentiment, but I will tell you that the three-quarter sleeves can help to avoid sunburn, which is why I was wearing it on this sweltering day. Plus, its colors were a perfect match to the Woodpeckers uniforms.

I grabbed a seat in the shade behind home plate and watched batting practice from that spot, keeping an eye on a TV nearby that was showing the MLB Network feed. The death of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs had been reported just a short while earlier, so that heartbreaking story was understandably dominating the day’s baseball news. As I watched the Salem squad hit in front of me, I wondered which players might have crossed paths with Skaggs at some point in their careers, or perhaps even been teammates of the deceased young lefty.

After a few minutes of sitting and watching the scene in front of me, I decided to head up to Segra Stadium’s second level and see how things looked from up there. The ballpark’s second level consists of suites, a club area and a party deck — and no matter where you sit, you’ve got a really good view of the field and the ballpark as a whole:

I hung out in the party deck until shortly before the gates opened, and then went down to the main level to take another walk around the field. My next stop was center field, where I looked back toward home plate at this view:

Perhaps it’s the construction crane or the partially finished building that looms above the suite level, but the ballpark has a bit of an incomplete appearance from this vantage point. It’s not a criticism, but I think this area could benefit from a splash of color — maybe a Segra Stadium sign or some team branding. Or maybe even some advertising. Perhaps these things will come in the future and, if so, I think they’ll boost the look of this part of the ballpark.

Near where I stood when I took the photo above is the ballpark’s Rocking Porch, which is definitely one of the best seating sections I’ve come across in the minor leagues. It consists of three levels of rocking chairs, giving fans a fun and unique way to enjoy the game:

Of course, I couldn’t help rocking on one of the chairs for a few minutes, just as I’d done several years earlier in the rocking chair section at Round Rock’s Dell Diamond.

Then, I was on the move again, stopping briefly to snap this photo of the berm and the bullpens in left field …

… and then heading down to field level to watch the players get warmed up. I focused my attention on right field, where the Woodpeckers starting battery of pitcher Chad Donato and catcher Scott Manea were playing catch. Here’s a shot of Donato …

… and one of Manea:

Next, it was time to begin my search for dinner. There were a number of good options that caught my eye — grilled chicken wings from Healy’s, a cheesesteak from Sherwood’s Steaks or any number of enticing hot dogs from Sgt. Stubby’s. In the end, though, I opted for the Rise & Shine Burger from the Bagwell’s Burgers concession stand. It wasn’t just any old burger — it was topped with bacon, ham, smoked gouda, a fried egg, garlic-herb mayo, lettuce and tomato, and definitely goes down as one of the most creative burgers I’ve had at a ballpark:

It wasn’t just creative, though — it was outstanding, and definitely takes a spot among the best ballpark burgers I’ve eaten in all my travels. (By the way, if you aren’t eating your burgers with fried eggs on them, it’s time to get on that.)

Although I shot the above photo in the left field corner just before first pitch, I took the burger over to the bar-style seating in right-center to eat. One thing I’ve learned from eating big burgers (and especially those with over-easy eggs on them) is that you generally want a semi-private location in which to eat, simply because of the risk of a catastrophic yolk mishap.

Fortunately, I managed to avoid such difficulties, and thoroughly enjoyed scarfing down the burger while I kept an eye on the game:

I watched the action from this sunny spot for about an inning after eating, and then went behind home plate for another inning. The next spot that I wanted to check out was the third base side, which was in the shade by this point. First, though, I wanted to grab one of my favorite ballpark treats — frozen lemonade:

Then, it was time to sit back, relax and enjoy the next several innings with this view:

I watched the last inning from a standing-room spot in center field, and then made the short drive back to my hotel after the game — where I kept a watchful eye for the eventual arrival of the Red Sox bus.

Of course I did.

Carolina Mudcats – June 28, 2019

After two outstanding days watching the Durham Bulls at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, I set my sights on the small North Carolina town of Zebulon, home of the Carolina Mudcats, on June 28. This wouldn’t be a day that required a lot of travel — Durham and Zebulon are only 50 miles apart.

Instead of going straight to Zebulon, I first did a bit of baseball-themed sightseeing in Durham and Raleigh, making stops at three notable universities. My first stop was Duke University, which is located in Durham. My primary reason for visiting was to see the baseball field, but as soon as I got onto the campus, its picturesque nature quickly made me realize that I should stick around for a bit. I enjoyed driving around the tree-lined streets until I found a parking spot, and then took a long walk around the campus — concentrating on the area around the athletic facilities, of course.

My first stop was the baseball facility, Jack Coombs Field:

I arrived between games of a youth tournament, and took a few minutes to walk around the field before climbing up to the top of the grandstand to snap this panorama:

My next stop was just a short walk from the baseball facility, and it’s one that you’ll know if you’re a collegiate sports fan. Cameron Indoor Stadium, home of Duke basketball, is arguably the most famous NCAA basketball facility in the country. It’s beautiful from the exterior, but doesn’t exactly scream “sporting venue” — and if not for a couple of signs, I think I’d have likely missed it:

Cameron Indoor was absolutely outstanding. I’m not remotely a basketball fan, but this is a facility with a ton of history. It opened in 1940, and had a seriously historic vibe — wooden doors, narrow staircases, etc. As seemed to be the theme for my sports sightseeing, there was a youth event taking place, so I watched for a couple of minutes and then continued on my way:

Before I left the campus, I stopped to check out Duke University Chapel. At 210 feet tall, it’s a tough building to miss, and it’s also very close to Cameron Indoor Stadium. I didn’t bother going inside, but I was deeply impressed with the beauty of the exterior of this building:

My next stop was just 10 miles down the road, and served as the other half of one of college sports’ best rivalries — the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I quickly made my way to Boshamer Stadium …

… and went inside to look around. Once again, I’d arrived between games of a youth tournament, so the concourse was pretty crowded with players, parents and, I’m guessing, college recruiters. I walked along the concourse until I reached the upper edge of the seating bowl, and then snapped this photo of the pristine field:

Believe it or not, my NCAA baseball sightseeing wasn’t done just yet. While I was excited to get to Zebulon to see the Mudcats, I first made the short drive from Chapel Hill to Raleigh to check out North Carolina State University. It was another absolutely beautiful campus, and it wasn’t long before I found the athletic facilities. I hope you’re sitting down, but there was another youth sports tournament taking place, so Doak Field at Dail Park was full of action. Yet again, I arrived between games — don’t ask how I managed to keep doing this — and after snapping this shot of the exterior of the ballpark …

… I walked inside and took this panorama:

After a short walk around the NC State campus, I headed to my hotel in downtown Raleigh. There are places to stay in Zebulon, but many more choices in Raleigh, the capital city of North Carolina. I opted to stay in Raleigh because I wanted to do some sightseeing the following day, and Zebulon and Raleigh are only about 25 miles apart. Given all of the campus visits that I’d made, I only had time to check into my hotel — the outstanding Residence Inn Raleigh Downtown, which was easy to get to and put me in a beautiful and highly walkable part of Raleigh — and then head to Zebulon.

Five County Stadium opened in 1991 as the home of the Carolina Mudcats of the Southern League. That team existed from 1991 through 2011, before moving to Florida and becoming the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. The team that I was seeing shares the Mudcats name, but is a completely different franchise. It plays in the 10-team Carolina League (Class-A Advanced) and has been in existence in Zebulon since 2012. Got all that?

The first thing that I noticed as I approached Five County Stadium was the Mudcats water tower, which jutted well above the treeline:

What an impressive sight, right? This begs a question — do you know of any other MiLB teams that have their logos on water towers? I can’t think of one, so leave a comment below if you’ve seen one.

After parking my car, I walked around the ballpark to snap this photo of one of the home plate gate. Definitely some neat architecture, but I think this area could benefit from some Mudcats signage, don’t you?

Instead of entering right away, I proceeded along the driveway that wraps around the ballpark to check out other sights. As is often the case with 1990s-era parks, there wasn’t a lot of things to see and do around the park’s perimeter. I made my way toward the right field corner to see if I could take a lap around the park, but was greeted by a “No Trespassing” sign and this is as far as I got:

That was fine, though. After just a few minutes outside on this 90-degree day, I was more than ready to get inside and find some shade. I went back to the home plate gate, walked inside the park and went right down to field level behind home plate to snap this panorama:

Some parks of this era make the mistake of having enormous seating sections. The issue with this idea is that when then crowd is light, the park really looks dead because the empty seats are so visible. That wasn’t the case here, fortunately. I loved the small seating sections around home plate, consisting of just four rows, which is a concept that a lot of the newer small parks are adopting. In this sense, Five County Stadium was ahead of its time:

I watched batting practice for a few minutes in the shade, and then decided to start properly exploring the ballpark. My first stop was the left field corner, where I had this view of the field:

As you might suspect, this area was completely devoid of shade, and the heatwave that North Carolina was experiencing during my visit made any unsheltered area less than hospitable after a few minutes. While I was enjoying watching BP from this vantage point, I soon opted to return to the covered area behind home plate for a few minutes. I decided to head up to the upper deck next, where I took this shot:

You’ll notice not only the action on the field, but also the different seating options that Five County Stadium provides. In addition to the small field-level seating section, there’s a larger upper deck (red seats) and a separate seating deck down the line (green seats). Looking at the latter two seating sections in the same shot should give you an idea of just how steep the red upper deck seats are — something that is often another sign of a 1990s-era ballpark. Everyone has an opinion about steep seating decks, but I tend to like them because you always feel close to the action.

I stood in the shade provided by the suite level for a few minutes, and then descended back to the main concourse and took a walk down the first base line. Here’s a shot from the base of the general admission seats close to the foul pole, looking down the line toward home plate:

My next stop was once again the concourse behind home plate. The big knock on ballparks of this era is that they almost always have enclosed concourses. Virtually all new MiLB parks, of course, have open concourses so that you can always see the game as you walk around. Like the small seating sections, the concourse at Five County Stadium seems to have been a bit ahead of its time. While it’s indeed placed under the upper deck, there are pillars around its outer edge instead of a solid wall. This means that as you walk through the concourse, you can still mostly see the field of play:

Here’s another look at the concourse:

It’s a setup that really works, and that definitely differentiates Five County Stadium from other parks of its age. The natural light coming from the direction of the field (on the left of the image above), as well as the openings on the upper right really make the concourse bright and inviting.

After a walk through the entire concourse, I once again braved the sun by heading down the third base line to an elevated party deck in the corner:

I was really impressed with the bird’s-eye view of the field that this party deck provides. I’ve often found that party decks at smaller MiLB parks tend to be at field level, and while that can certainly be appealing, being elevated in this manner is pretty sweet, too. By the way, I’m seeing more and more of the team-logo metal seats across the minor leagues. It wasn’t too long ago that these seats were an anomaly, but I’m now seeing them almost everywhere I go. (Also, I majorly need to get my hands on a couple of these at some point!)

Since I’d now spent some time in each of the seating sections, my next stop was back behind home plate to watch batting practice for a bit. This is something that I always like to do, and while watching it from the field or from the outfield are my favorite spots, it was simply too hot on this day to be out in the open. I opted for this shaded spot from which I could clearly see the action in the cage:

When BP wrapped up, I once again returned to the upper deck — this time, to check out Cattails Restaurant, which is found above the first base line. It’s a climate-controlled environment (definitely a plus during my visit) with a sizable food and drink menu, as well as comfortable seating options. Here’s the view of the field from Cattails:

Suite-level restaurants are nothing new at MiLB parks, but it’s rare to see one of this size at a Class-A Advanced facility. Eateries of this nature are far more common at Triple-A parks; Syracuse’s NBT Bank Stadium comes to mind.

Remember how I mentioned that the upper deck at Five County Stadium is steep? Here’s photographic evidence, which I documented after leaving Cattails:

Instead of going back down to the concourse next, I made my way around to third base side, where I took this photo to show the position and size of Cattails:

Next, I headed toward the upper deck seats behind home plate. I not only wanted to photograph the view from this spot, but also grab a seat in the shade for a few minutes. The gates had opened by this point, but there wasn’t a single fan in the upper deck other than me. I found a seat from which I took this photo …

… and then relaxed in the shade for about 30 seconds before a family climbed up the steps to my left and made its way toward me. I asked if I was in the family’s seats; sure enough, I was. What are the odds?

I sheepishly got up and left the area, returning to the concourse and waiting for the players to come out. Soon enough, that’s exactly what happened, and I went down the first base line to the visitors bullpen area. There, I watched Potomac Nationals catcher Alex Dunlap perform some drills with Potomac’s pitching coach:

On my walks around the concourse earlier, I’d been checking out the concession stands to decide what I might want to eat. Much of the fare at Five County Stadium is standard — hot dogs, nachos, burgers, popcorn, and so on. As you know, I like to find something unique as often as I can, and that’s exactly what I encountered at a concession stand on the first base side. This is a catfish po’ boy sandwich, and it was absolutely delicious:

The breading was light and crispy, and didn’t have that old oil taste that is too common at ballparks. The fish was flaky and not too fishy. There was a semi-spicy sauce on the sandwich, but it didn’t overwhelm the taste of the fish. I had been allured not only by something unique to eat, but also the connection to the team name — the Mudcats moniker refers to catfish, so it was exciting to find a catfish dish on the menu. And it was good enough that if I hadn’t been so hot, I’d have been tempted to eat a second one.

Once I’d eaten, I went down to field level on the home side to watch the Mudcats warm up. This was a Copa de la Diversión night, so the home team was playing as the Pescados de Carolina. (This was my second Copa game of the season; you might remember that I saw the El Paso Margaritas in action back in May.) As is always the case with the Copa games, the team wore funky uniforms. Here’s starting pitcher Noah Zavolas in his Pescados jersey:

With the pregame ceremonies beginning, I went to the upper deck and found a spot to watch the exchange of the lineups, the anthem and the top of the first inning:

What a view! And did you notice the water tower beyond left field? So good.

In the first frame, a player on Potomac — I think it was second baseman Cole Freeman — hit a foul ball that soared over the suite level and out of the ballpark. I didn’t think about rushing out to look for it, given that there were still lots of fans trickling into the stadium and I figured there was a very good chance that it would be picked up. After the end of the first, however, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to go take a look for it. I left via the home plate entrance, took just a couple of dozen steps, and there was the ball sitting in an open area of the grass. I was very surprised to see it, especially given that there were fans passing by just a few yards away, but I was happy to grab it to add to my collection:

With the foul ball — the 15th foul ball that I’ve collected over the years, for the record — safely tucked in my backpack, I returned to the ballpark and took a spot down the first base line that offered this view:

I watched about an inning from this spot, and then took a walk through the concourse, visited the team shop and found a spot on the third base side to watch the remainder of the game. The evening was still warm, but the heat of the sun has subsided to some degree, making for a perfect night of baseball in a ballpark that is better than I expected it to be. There are certainly some ballparks that are flashier in North Carolina, but if you’re planning a visit to this state, don’t shy away from leaving yourself a day to go see the Mudcats.

A Souvenir from Wilmington

I had an outstanding visit to Wilmington’s Daniel S. Frawley Stadium to watch the Blue Rocks host the Potomac Nationals last month. That visit included a pre-game, all-access tour, a half-inning in the press box and more. If you haven’t already read about it, here’s how it all went down.

As I said a while back, I added a cool game-used souvenir to my collection while I was in Wilmington, and here it is:

It’s a lineup card that hung in the visitors dugout at Potomac’s G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium during the Blue Rocks’ 5-4 loss to Potomac on May 4. The team was selling these for a whopping $2 in the team shop, so I couldn’t resist getting one.

And because I’m a baseball nerd, here are a handful of cool things about it:

– I think it’s neat that the Kansas City Royals (Wilmington’s parent club) is on the card. It doesn’t actually say Wilmington (or Potomac, for that matter) anywhere.

– As you can see on the Wilmington column, reserve Brian Fletcher was moved off the bench (hence his name being crossed out under the Extras header) to the third spot in the batting order midway through the game.

– Because this was Wilmington manager Vance Wilson’s lineup, there were considerably more notations next to the opponents’ names. I have no idea what the highlighter strokes next to the 1, 2 and 6 hitters mean, but the S and L notations denote switch hitter or left-handed hitter. The other little markings, which you can see around both teams’ lineups are codes used by the manager to note in-game events. And the star next to David Freitas’ name? I have no idea, except it might mean: “Beware. This guy’s good.” Freitas went 0-for-4 in the game but had a .356 average at the time.

– I find it interesting that Wilson didn’t fill out the bullpen pitchers in the designated spot. I’ve seen lots of lineup cards, and I believe this is the first I’ve seen without the pitchers. As you can see, he did add the names of the two umpires.

– Here’s something else intriguing. The 10 spot, which is used for each starting pitcher, isn’t correct on the Wilmington side. Wilson had Yordano Ventura penned in for the start, but it was actually Ryan Dennick who took the ball. (Ventura pitched two days later against Potomac.) It’s funny that Wilson didn’t mark this change.

There are a ton of other cool things, and before long, I’ll have written 1,500 words about a lineup card. Two players I want to quickly point out, though: Randolph Oduber, who led off for the P-Nats, played last season in Hagerstown, where I got a couple photos of him walking with Bryce Harper. And the Beltre you see on the Wilmington side isn’t Adrian, obviously. It’s the lesser-known Geulin. (This is only worth mentioning because I heard fans excitedly saying Adrian Beltre was playing after they saw the starting lineups posted in the stadium concourse.)

This is the second lineup card in my collection. Last year, I bought an MLB one in Detroit, which you can read about here.

Finally, since we’re on the topic of Wilmington, I thought I’d post a picture of the souvenir cup I got during my visit. (With a Carolina League ball beside it for perspective.) I’ve collected a handful of souvenir cups on my travels over the years, so one day, I’ll blog about them. In the meantime, here’s the Blue Rocks one, which features a 2012 schedule:

If all goes according to plan, I should have some early details on my next road trip next week. Either way, I plan to have a couple more blog posts.

First Road Trip Goals Revisited

Now that I’ve blogged about meeting Frederick Keys outfielder Jeremy Nowak, which was the highlight of last month’s baseball road trip, I want to review the 10 goals I made for myself before hitting the road.

In all, I did pretty well, especially considering there were a few hiccups along the way that impacted my ability to cross off some of the goals.

Here’s the recap:

1. Get tours of five of the seven parks

The first stop on my road trip, May 21 in Lakewood, was rained out, so tours at five of seven was skewed from the get-go. That said, of the six games I attended, I did get an official tour at four parks and some great help/advice at the other two, so I’d say I achieved this goal.

2. Get 10 baseballs

The short answer is that I finished with six baseballs, which falls slightly short of my goal. But hang on. One game was rained out and of the other six, only two had batting practice. So, I’d say that six balls in six games is good, considering I try to average a ball a game. Here they are, including two International League balls from batting practice at Buffalo’s Coca-Cola Field, an NCAA tournament ball from Wilmington, two Carolina League balls from Frederick’s Harry Grove Stadium and, at bottom, the Jeremy Nowak home run ball:

3. Get a game-used item

If you read my recent post about Jeremy Nowak’s home run ball, you’d agree I knocked this item off my list of goals. Hard to imagine a cooler game-used item! The runner-up is a game-used item that I picked up in Wilmington, which I’ll blog about later this week.

4. Get autographs from Wally Backman and Ryne Sandberg

This one was a wash. Why? Because I got media passes for all the games I attended, including those in which I saw the two legendary MLBers. And as you can see on the bottom on one of my passes (and they all say this), passholders are prohibited from asking for autographs:

5. Find a food item that gets into my top 10

As a reference point, here are the top 10 things I’ve eaten on my travels. It’s close, but I think I’ll bump off Classic Park’s pulled pork nachos and replace the #10 slot with the crab fries at Trenton’s Waterfront Park. They weren’t quite as good as I thought they might be, but they were unique enough to sneak through the backdoor into the 10th spot:

6. Be interviewed during a game broadcast

Check! This happened twice and both times, it was really exciting. I was interviewed on the Wilmington Blue Rocks broadcast by Jeff O’Connor and the Frederick Keys broadcast by Adam Pohl. And in case you missed the pictures I posted about those interviews, here they are:

7. Get 50 autographs

In the same vein as the attempt to get Backman and Sandberg to sign, this one is a no-go. But I’ll call it an N/A rather than a fail, because I didn’t ask for a single autograph.

8. Buy a hat

Oops! There were a couple times I wanted to get a hat and just didn’t pull the trigger. The first was at the rained-out game in Lakewood. I think the BlueClaws’ hats look neat, but given the cancellation of the game, I wasn’t able to get one. Secondly, I wanted to get a Keys hat at Harry Grove Stadium, but the hats were all behind the counter and I’m a methodical hat buyer. I like to try a bunch on until I find one that fits me perfectly, and didn’t bother doing so. Does this mean that next road trip I’ll get two hats? Yes. Yes, it does.

9. Have my photo taken with a player

It’s fitting that I got a fan to capture the coolest moment of the road trip. The photo is grainy and dark but the smiles say it all:

10. Have some unforeseen fun adventure

I think this qualifies, don’t you? If you want a runner-up, here it is:

– Despite the rainout, I was able to get into Lakewood’s FirstEnergy park and wander around the near-empty park by myself. It might not seem that thrilling on the surface, but imagine getting into a ballpark by yourself and touring it at your leisure. It was special. Here’s a photo of the deserted park I took on my self-guided tour that I haven’t previously published:

So, what’s next for me? Despite the highlights of my May trip, I’m confident my next trip will be great for a number of other reasons. I’m in the middle of planning it now, and I’ll have a blog post about that soon enough.

In the meantime, please check out The Ballpark Guide and remember that your clicks help me pay for future travels and adventures. Thank you.

Meeting Jeremy Nowak

If you’ve read the details of my first baseball road trip of 2012 by now, you’ll know that I’ve been saving the best story for last. But first, a little background.

My trip would include a stop at Harry Grove Stadium, home of the Frederick Keys, but this visit would be extra special. Finally, I’d get the chance to meet Keys outfielder Jeremy Nowak, who I’ve been in touch with since last December. The full story is at this link, and I definitely recommend you check it out before proceeding. It’s a definite baseball feel-good story.

Obviously, I was pretty pumped to meet Jeremy. I’ve been following his progress closely in 2012 and he’s having a career year. In addition to being named to the Carolina League All-Star team, he’s been among the Keys’ statistical leaders all season. In fact, despite a stint on the DL earlier in the season, his 68 hits put him first among the entire Baltimore Orioles farm system, as you can see from this stat tracker on the O’s website:

I’d kept in touch with him on Facebook before departing on my trip, so he knew I’d be showing up at the Keys game against the Carolina Mudcats on May 23. (You can read about that visit here.)

The weather throughout the afternoon of the game was miserable enough that at times, it looked like the game would be called off before it even began. Still, I hoped to spot Jeremy on the field — or in the players’ parking lot, at worst — at some point to say hello.

Shortly before the scheduled start of the game, the Keys took the field and it wasn’t long until I spotted #11:

Despite the weather, the game was indeed on, and the Keys began to get warmed up. I took a ton of photos of Jeremy, but I’ll just share a few here so I don’t look like a demented stalker:

At the end of the warmup, I stood at the fence and when Jeremy looked up, we sort of made eye contact and he came over to say hello. Even though the game was fast approaching, he was enormously friendly and it was awesome to finally meet him. I wanted to get a photo with him, and we decided to meet up again after the game.

Jeremy was batting third and hitting from the left side, so I moved over to the seats above the visitors’ third base-side dugout to get some pictures of him at the plate:

He struck out during his first at-bat and after I spent the top of the fourth inning in the broadcast booth being interviewed about my website by Adam Pohl, I raced back to field level in time to see Jeremy hit a single in the bottom of the inning:

And when Michael Flacco doubled two batters later, Jeremy moved up to third base:

As the game progressed, the weather got miserable. Don’t get confused — I was still having the time of my life, but the rain and darkness made the quality of my photos quickly deteriorate. Jeremy came up again in the fifth inning, and this time, I was eating a late dinner in a seat down the first base line where I had this view:

Then, with runners on second and third and one out, and the the Keys trailing 2-0, Jeremy blasted a Kyle Blair pitch over the fence in right field! It was on a line and hit the billboards above and behind the outfield fence hard enough that it bounced back onto the field, where Mudcats right fielder Anthony Gallas scooped it up and tossed it to the Frederick bullpen. From there, a Keys reliever flipped the to ball to a couple fans who’d run to the area.

When I saw the ball take off, I jumped out of my seat and thought how it’d be so cool to run behind the fence, grab the ball and give it to Jeremy after the game. (The home was his second at the High-A level.) But when I saw it come back on the field and eventually make its way to the fans, I forgot about it and just stood up and cheered. I probably should’ve run toward the Keys dugout to get a picture of Jeremy crossing home plate, but I think I was in enough awe that I just stood and clapped. Eventually, I snapped out of it and got this rainy photo of him heading toward the dugout after scoring:

I was still pumped, so I emailed my wife a quick message:

JEREMY JUST HIT A HOME RUN!!!!!!!!!

And my wife, who cares about baseball as much as I care about molecular biology, responded with:

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeremy had one more at-bat (a strikeout in the two-run sixth) and as the rain intensified, the game was called in the seventh. Final score: Frederick 7, Carolina 2. In other words, Jeremy’s three-run bomb scored the game’s winning runs.

One of the neatest features about Harry Grove Stadium is that after the game, the players exit the field, walk up a set of stairs at the end of the seating bowl and cross the concourse to their clubhouse. Naturally, I was waiting to congratulate Jeremy and shake his hand. When I spotted him, I went to meet him with a huge smile on my face and told him congrats. He shook my hand quickly and said, “That’s your ball.”

Then he disappeared as I stood there starting to suspect what was happening.

He was referring to something he wrote in his letter to me back in December. Here’s a close-up of what he said:

I’d long since stopped hoping I might get the ball; to me, the big prize was not only meeting him, but seeing him hit a game-winning home run for the Keys.

Minutes later, Jeremy returned with a ball in his hand and a fan trailing behind — only the fan was carrying a bat that I knew was Jeremy’s. It turns out that he’d given the fan one of his bats in exchange for getting the ball back.

This time, it was Jeremy who approached with a huge smile and handed me the ball, which he’d also signed for me. I was completely speechless for a moment as I stumbled to remember to say thank you. After Jeremy and the other fan, Jason, told me the story of the ball/bat exchange, I took a photo of the two of them with the bat:

And then got a photo taken of Jeremy and me:

The three of us stood and chatted for a minute, and Jason asked, “Are the two of you friends? How do you know each other?” In a moment that almost seemed scripted, we both responded at the same time, “It’s a long story!”

Soon enough, Jeremy headed into the clubhouse and I hung out on the concourse for a bit, where I took this photo of the ball:

I’ve since taken these better shots of it:

You know how you sometimes build something up in your mind and then the actual event falls short? And other times, it’s pretty much what you expected. This game and its events absolutely blew me away and were far better than I could’ve dreamed. I can’t imagine what will top it — perhaps catching Jeremy’s first MLB home run when he’s playing for the Orioles!

Thank you, Jeremy, for not only the ball, but for being so accommodating. One of Jeremy’s relatives told me prior to meeting him that as good a ballplayer as he is, he’s a better person. I can say that in addition to playing the game at a very high level, he’s also an athlete who treats his fans well. He certainly didn’t need to give me the ball, and I appreciate him giving away one of his bats to get the ball back. It means a ton.

As always, please check out The Ballpark Guide to help plan your upcoming trips and keep an eye on this blog as I gear up for my second road trip of the summer. You can also follow me on Twitter or send me an email to keep in touch.

Frederick Keys – May 23

It’s fitting that my 100th post on this blog is about an outstanding ballpark visit and one that I’ve been looking forward to for months. I began an exciting May 23 with a trip to Wilmington, DE, to watch the Blue Rocks take on the Potomac Nationals at beautiful Frawley Stadium. And after the game was done, I zipped quickly to Frederick, MD, where the plan was to watch the Keys in an evening game.

I arrived extremely early — before 3:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. game. The Keys were graciously providing me with a media pass for this game, and when you’ve got a pass hanging around your neck, you can come and go as you please. So, I wanted to take advantage of as much time at Harry Grove Stadium as possible. Plus, as you’ll know if you’ve read this blog, this game was my chance to finally meet Keys outfielder Jeremy Nowak. (I’ll include a photo of him in this post, but I’m going to write a separate post about meeting him. It was that awesome.)

When I pulled into the ballpark, the parking lot was almost empty, save for the players’ cars and staff vehicles. I’m almost certain I was the first fan in the area:

Harry Grove Stadium has a large pavilion in front of the main gates, but there wasn’t anything happening just yet:

(I should say the pavilion has one of the coolest features I’ve ever seen. You know those fake rocks that are actually speakers for you to place in your garden? The garden here has these speaker-rocks that play the team’s radio broadcast. I love when a team thinks of little things like this that make a difference.)

I quickly picked up my media pass at the will call window:

And then took a photo of the pass:

I took a quick peek inside the ballpark to see that Jeremy was in the starting lineup. Sure enough, he was hitting third, where he’d been hitting for the previous several games:

As you probably know if you’ve read other accounts of my travels, I like to start each visit with a walk around the outside of the park. There’s always the opportunity to find a baseball, of course, but the tour also provides different perspectives on the park. So, I headed down the pathway to the right of the main gate:

See the red fence in the above photo? The visiting Carolina Mudcats were hitting in a cage here because the uncooperative weather meant the tarp was on the field. The fence was difficult to see through, but the thwack sounds emanating from behind it were unmistakable. When I got halfway along the fence, I saw this:

The ball must’ve somehow flown out of the batting cage, despite all the protective netting. I picked it up and was pumped to see it was an Official Carolina League ball:

This is the first Carolina League ball in my collection, which now includes balls from eight leagues. For a complete rundown of some of the coolest balls I’ve collected on my travels, check out this blog post.

After finding the ball, I stuffed it in my backpack and continued walking toward the outfield, where I could see the visitors on the tarp-covered field:

I scoured the area outside the center field fence for any balls that might’ve been hit in a previous batting practice session or game, but didn’t come up with anything. But when I made it to the left field corner, where I could see the Mudcats with ease …

… I saw another Carolina League ball, which I grabbed. Afterward, I made it back to the space in front of the park, where there still wasn’t much going on:

So, I decided to head in and tour around. I would be meeting assistant GM Adam Pohl for a tour later on, but in the meantime, I took the opportunity to scout out the nearly-empty ballpark. As you can see here, the sky had quickly become extremely dark and foreboding, and I wondered if the night’s game would even get started:

You can tell from the time on the scoreboard that there was still a ton of time to wait until the game’s start time:

I spent the next while touring the park, taking in sights such as the batting cage area:

The suite level:

And the empty seating bowl …

… before the sky opened up and it began to rain. As the rain fell around me, I retreated to this row of seats, which was protected from the elements by the overhang:

I started to get the impression that not a pitch would be thrown, but I kept my fingers crossed and sent out Tweets like this:

And, eventually, this happy one:

Woo hoo!

Eventually, I met up with Adam in the team’s office and we started our tour. While I was still in the office, I snapped a quick picture of the framed jerseys of former Keys Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters:

The tour itself was great. I always love meeting baseball people and talking about the ballpark and the game. Adam was really proud to point out a number of accessibility improvements made at Harry Grove Stadium over the recent years, including large, open spaces on the concourse for wheelchairs:

As they always seem to do, the tour flew by, and before long, Adam had to go to the press box to continue getting ready for the game. We agreed to meet in the radio booth at the top of the fourth inning for my on-air interview. Adam is also one of the team’s broadcasters, so I looked forward to speaking with him again.

I was anxious for the Keys to come out onto the field, but used the time to take photos of some of the park’s attractions, including a great kids’ area that includes inflatable games:

And a merry-go-round, almost identical to the one at Bowie’s Prince George’s Stadium:

Soon enough, the Keys hit the field, and I spotted Jeremy:

And the video board in left-center came to life, which boded well for the evening:

It certainly wasn’t a perfect day for baseball, but after Miss Maryland shot-putted a ceremonial first pitch toward home plate …

… we were ready to play ball!

It turns out that I saw a lot of the Keys last year when they were members of the Delmarva Shorebirds. I visited Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in June and saw Nowak, Mike Flacco (brother of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe) and several others. Here’s Flacco:

Richard Zagone got the start for Frederick. Check out his high leg kick:

I decided to spend the second and third innings sitting behind home plate, where I enjoyed this view:

In the top of the second, Carolina’s Delvi Cid smashed a pitch over the fence in left-center, and while I was tempted to run and see if I could find it, I didn’t want to be all soaking wet from rummaging through the grass and out of breath when I got to the broadcast booth for my interview. Still, I wondered if the ball was sitting out there, just waiting to be claimed.

Before long, it was up to the broadcast booth to reconvene with Adam and talk about my website and my visit to Harry Grove Stadium. It was a lot of fun and went by quickly. We had our photo taken together afterward:

Like the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Keys graciously provided me with a media meal voucher, so I had my choice of dinner once the interview was done. First, though, I ducked out the main gate and hurried toward the area beyond the outfield fence to look for Cid’s ball. I ran stealthily through the soaking wet grass …

… which I regretted quickly, and then behind the fence where I looked all over for the ball …

… but couldn’t find it. I guess someone had gotten there before me.

When I got back inside, I took a quick photo of the Carolina League Championship Trophy, which the Keys won last season:

And then, it was time to eat! Unfortunately, many of the concession stands were closed by now (it was around the sixth inning) because the crowd was very thin and the rain was picking up again. I’d hoped to try something unique, but settled for a pair of hot dogs, which were a welcome reprieve, given how I was cold and wet:

There wasn’t much baseball played after I finished my dinner. A heavy downpour began around the seventh inning, and the game was called after seven innings were complete. The Keys were on top handily, 7-2. As for getting to meet Jeremy, it was awesome. I’ll have a blog dedicated to that soon. I hung out for about 20 minutes after the rain delay began, taking a series of pictures to make up this panorama:

When it became clear that the game wasn’t going to resume, I hit the road. Although the entire night was great, I was quite wet at the end, so I was looking forward to getting to my hotel. Fortunately, I was staying at the Hampton Inn Frederick, which is located just a few minutes from Harry Grove Stadium. This is one of those nights that I wouldn’t have been up for driving a half-hour to my hotel after the game, so if you’re visiting Frederick for a Keys game, I’d definitely recommend you stay at this hotel. Here’s how it looks from outside:

When I checked into my room, I was super pleased at how it looked — large, clean and with a king-sized bed, sofa, desk and flat-screen TV:

The room’s bathroom was also amazing …

… and despite the hotel’s close proximity to I-270, it was very quiet. As an added bonus, there are a ton of eateries (which are a staple of every baseball road trip) within walking distance, including T.G.I. Friday’s and IHOP. It’s the perfect spot if you’re in Frederick for a baseball road trip.

As always, please check out my website and follow me on Twitter.

Wilmington Blue Rocks – May 23

There’s no doubt I was pumped about my entire road trip, but I was secretly (well, I suppose it’s not a secret any more) especially looking forward to May 23. This day would include games in Wilmington and Frederick, and each visit would include a half-inning on the respective home teams’ radio broadcasts, talking about The Ballpark Guide. Plus, in Frederick, I couldn’t wait to meet Jeremy Nowak, who you’ll probably know if you’ve followed this blog for a while. That said, I got on the road very early on the morning of May 23 and drove southwest from Trenton to Wilmington. As I left New Jersey and crossed into Delaware, I got to drive over the enormous Delaware Memorial Bridge, which is more than three miles long:

The game between the Wilmington Blue Rocks and Potomac Nationals (who I saw last year at G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium) was scheduled for 11:05 a.m., and I pulled in to Frawley Stadium just before 9 a.m. As you might expect, the ballpark’s lot was mostly empty and there weren’t many people around. (I even beat a few of the Blue Rocks players to the park!) I took the opportunity to photograph the front of the park …

… and also shoot some photos to turn into this panorama:

The Blue Rocks were awesome to deal with prior to my visit, and were leaving a media pass for me at the will call window. Unfortunately, I was so early that the window wasn’t open yet …

… so I decided to use the time to walk around and document the park’s surroundings. One of the neat things to see is a statue of former Negro league star Judy Johnson, who spent the latter portion of his life in Wilmington:

The pavilion in front of the park also has plaques honoring Wilmington’s Vic Willis, a hall of fame pitcher, and Bill McGowan, a hall of fame umpire. I set out to take a walk around the outside of Frawley Stadium, heading to the left of the front pavilion …

… and down the side of the ballpark …

… until I got to an opening in the left field corner where I could see the tarp-covered field:

With no batting practice, I didn’t expect to find any balls behind the outfield fence, but scoured the area anyway. The area looked like this:

I even got right under the scoreboard and aimed my camera up to take this neat shot:

Eventually, I got to the first base line, where there was another spot from which the field was visible:

To the right of the main pavilion, sits the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame, which was closed, unfortunately:

The space in front of the park is very picturesque. You can tell the stadium crew puts a lot of care into maintenance, and the vast flower gardens are a testament to that:

After I finished the circuit, I looked up at perhaps the grayest sky in history. This photo isn’t an error — it’s actually a shot of the sky above the park:

Fortunately, it never did rain during the game, and it actually turned into a hot, sunny day. The ticket office still wasn’t open, and while I could’ve gone into the team’s office and asked to pick up my media pass, I wasn’t in a huge rush. I climbed the long ramp up to the concourse level …

… where I could see that the tarp was still on the field:

After a while, the will call window opened and I received my pass and went into the park. I took the elevator up to the concourse, and during my ride, had a little chuckle at this sign, which is posted inside the elevator:

Ha! As you can see from the panorama below, by the time I’d entered the park, the team’s staff had just finished removing the tarp:

I was supposed to meet Jeff O’Connor, the team’s assistant director of broadcasting/media relations, who would introduce me to Joe Valenti, the team’s director of marking. Joe would give me a tour when he had a few moments, so I kept my fingers crossed. While I waited for Jeff, I took a short walk around the concourse. Like the other games on my trip, I got in early enough that there wasn’t much going on. The Blue Rocks players were hanging out around the dugout:

And the seating bowl was very quiet:

The Blue Rocks, who are associated with the Kansas City Royals, have had a number of MLBers come through over the years, including Zack Greinke:

Still killing time, I went down to field level and took this shot, looking up at the press box and suite level:

By now, most of the Blue Rocks were out. Check out their high socks in the photo below:

Another neat thing to note is that while they were wearing their Wilmington batting practice caps before the game, they actually switched into their Kansas City Royals caps for the game. Is this the norm? I’ve never seen an MiLB team wear an MLB cap.

While I’d yet to get my tour of Frawley Stadium, I could already tell this was an impressive facility. Not only was it immaculate outside and in, it included a number of unique features that I hadn’t seen elsewhere, including HD TVs listing the items on the concession menu:

Right after I took the above photo, I met up with Jeff who took me deep into the heart of the ballpark and introduced me to Joe, who was just starting to give a tour to three high school students from Philadelphia, who were doing a project on the Minor League Baseball experience. The tour was absolutely amazing. It included several stops that most fans will never get to see, although I’m excited to share them with you here. Our first stop was one of the storage rooms under the concourse. This room included a ton of items the team uses for promotions …

… signed photos of several celebrities who’ve visited the stadium over the years …

… and the costumes for Rocky, the team’s mascot:

From there, our tour headed to the home team’s clubhouse area, where I snapped a quick shot of the players’ bats:

Then we went under the stands, directly behind home plate. This area isn’t fancy, but go through the opening in the center of the photo, and you’re on the field right behind home plate:

I believe this is the door the umpires use, and it’s also used by the promotions staff. Once we went through the door, we walked onto the field. That’s Joe in the lead and one of the high school students right behind him:

Here’s what the field looked like from here:

The home dugout:

When we were standing here, Blue Rocks manager Vance Wilson came by and shook our hands and welcomed us to the ballpark. I wish I’d gotten a photo with him, but if you know baseball, you’ll probably know Wilson’s name. He played eight years in the Major Leagues with the Mets and Tigers. After being on the field, we went back under the stands and saw the indoor batting cages, which were doubling as a meeting spot for the team’s gameday staff:

We continued down this path …

… until we ended up in the umpires’ room. Incredible! Their little room is small, and one wall is lined with lockers where their gear hangs:

On a table in the center of the room, there was a box containing some rubbed-up official Carolina League balls:

And in the middle locker stall, there was a jar of Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud, which is the mystery mud used throughout professional baseball:

The mud also comes from the area, I believe. The company doesn’t reveal the exact location, but does say the mud is from a bank of a tributary of the Delaware River. Visiting the umpires’ room was a definite highlight. When I took a tour of Baltimore’s Camden Yards last summer, I saw the umpires’ room from the outside, but this was the first time I’ve ever actually been in one.

After touring the lower level of the ballpark, we climbed up to the suite level, and went into the main suite, where I took this panorama:

The tour just flew by, and after a while, Joe needed to get back to his pre-game duties. I really appreciate how accommodating Jeff, Joe and the Blue Rocks were. Thanks, everyone!

Left to my own devices, I set off to look around the park a little more. There was still a chunk of time until the game was set to begin, so I had plenty of time to explore. I decided to climb to the top of the general admission bleachers on the third base side to take this panorama:

Eventually, the Potomac Nationals, who’d been out stretching earlier, returned to the field and I caught this cute picture of Rick Hague and Randolph Oduber signing autographs:

I was scheduled to join Jeff on the team’s radio broadcast for the top of the third inning, so I decided to cool my jets for the first couple innings and just watch the game. I found a spot behind home plate with this view and chilled until it was time to head to the press box. Although the protective netting is an obstacle to good photos, I thought this one of Wilmington’s Guelin Beltre attempting a bunt turned out well:

Just before I was due in the radio booth, I went up to the press box where I snapped a photo of a picture of Johnny Damon, who’s perhaps the most famous Blue Rock of all:

The interview with Jeff went well. It’s always a little nerve-wracking, but it was fun to talk about my website with Jeff, who was really easy to talk to. The half-inning just flew by, and after it wrapped up, we got our photo taken:

Jeff also surprised me with a voucher to have lunch compliments of the team, so I scouted out something that looked delicious, and found this menu:

I settled on the Rocky’s Crab Burger, which was a burger topped with crab meat and Old Bay seasoning. The photo below isn’t the most exciting, but the burger was tasty and definitely something I’d order again:

Remember Joe, who gave me the pre-game tour? Before long, he was out on the field, leading one of the between-inning games:

Once I’d finished eating, I moved a little closer to the field and started taking some action shots. Here’s Potomac starter Matthew Grace, who took the loss:

Wilmington starter Tyler Sample, who picked up his first win of the season:

The visitors’ dugout:

Blue Rocks reliever Jon Keck, who got the hold and was promoted the following day to AA Arkansas:

Remember how I mentioned that the Blue Rocks were wearing Royals caps? Here’s the proof:

P-Nats cleanup hitter Justin Bloxom, who struck out on this pitch:

And, finally, one of the best action shots I’ve taken since I began traveling for my website. It’s center fielder Michael Taylor, who played with Class-A Hagerstown last season:

Soon enough, there was a close play on the field that got reversed after an umpire discussion. You’ve got to love call reversals, because the team that gets burned usually loses it, and that’s exactly what happened. Potomac’s Adrian Sanchez was initially called safe on a close play at first, which brought Wilson out to contest the play:

And after the umpires had a short conference, Sanchez was called out, which ticked him off …

… and brought P-Nats manager Brian Rupp out to complain:

The atmosphere may have been tense, but it was quickly lightened up when Goofy made an appearance:

The play didn’t end up affecting the game either way. Wilmington scored a run in the fourth and added two insurance runs in the eighth to win 3-0. The second the game wrapped up, I dashed out of Frawley Stadium, jumped in my sauna-like car and punched Frederick’s Harry Grove Stadium into my GPS.