Cleveland Indians

 

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Well, there is a song that said, “Cleveland Rocks!”  It did well for me.  The Rock and Roll HOF was quite well done, with a ton of memorabilia.  They also did the history of music justice, going all the way back to Robert Johnson and the blues, giving them all the credit they deserve.  And the museum is well laid out, which I appreciate. 

But onto Progressive Field, originally called Jacobs Field, home of the Indians.  Sold out game against the Tigers.  They were playing for first place and while I did wear an Indians hat, I couldn’t help but root for the Tigers.  Before the game, there is an alley where different events are going on, music, magic, etc.  Good idea.  The stadium is right next to the Cavs’ arena, and near some good restaurants (I went to the Winking Lizard).  I got there when the gates opened, and was able to see the Tigers take batting practice.  Fielder and Cabrera were knocking it out like its their job!  A beautiful park with a nice view out past left field (see the sunset picture).  With a sold out stadium, it is easy to realize how little legroom stadiums have!  It was dollar dog night (again) and they were trying to set their record for most dogs consumed.  I think they posted like 50000+ as of the 8th inning or so.  65K was the record.  Either way, that’s a lot of dogs.  I contributed 4 to the good of Cleveland.  The game was a good one for Detroit, they won 6-0.  Then the fireworks show.  It was July 5, and a Friday, so you can believe they brought out the big ones.  It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.  I also love how the lights are positioned above the stadium, with those tall stanchions.  Great job Cleveland, you have great energy at your stadium!

Mahoning Valley Scrappers

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Mahoning Valley Scrappers are outside of Youngstown, Ohio.  The stadium is at the edge of a mall.  With all that free parking available, they fence off an area for themselves and charge $3.  Someone tried to walk in and were still charged $3.  weird.  But it was $1 dog and beer day and $1 GA tickets!  So there were plenty of people, even for a Short Season A (Indians affiliate) game.  A pretty good fireworks show after the game as well.  A nice park though, good fan involvement and another great hat.  They have plenty of food options, and the Kielbasa was quite good.

Erie SeaWolves

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It has been 29 years since I’ve been to Erie!  I found a campground right on the beach near Waldemere, a amusement park, where a roller coaster goes right over the road.  The stadium is right downtown, and is attached to a arena.  The left field fence is actually the wall of the arena, with the yellow homerun stripe painted halfway up, since it is shorter from home plate.  The rest of the set up is odd too.  Jerry Uht Park is home to an AA affiliate, but capacity is only 4300 or so. There are only like 5 rows of box seats, then a wide walkway, then an elevated upper deck on the first base side (also with minimal rows) and an upper seating section (with much more rows) on the third base side.  The game started an hour late due to a rain delay, but there was plenty of covered space for people to hang out and wait, which they did.  Lots of picnic tables up the right field line.  Good food options here.  The team store was ridiculously tiny, but this hat was worth it!  Once the game started, they were a fun experience.  Until the 7th inning, when it started raining again.  Even though fireworks were supposed to be going off after the game, I decided not to wait around for them.  I’m guessing they didn’t start the game back, since it was raining contiually from then on, and the game had been official already.

Reading Fightin Phils

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First off free parking.  Thanks!  Walking up, there is a beautiful  new façade.  Which is weird, because I thought this was built in 1950. Right upon walking in, I feel a buzz about this place.  There is pretty much a plaza once you get in where there are tons of concessions, a live band playing and the normal kid bouncy house kind of stuff.  Once you get out to the field, it is very ordinary by today’s standards.  Metal grandstands for the gen admission folk, average seats (w/o cupholders) for the box seats.  A somewhat covered area for some of the seats behind home plate.  But no skyboxes!  There are places you can rent out, party-deck type places along the outfield and down the third base line.  Even a pool!  Lots of beer selection, huge amount of food options.  Seemed like an old school baseball stadium, and even with the $10 million in upgrades (according to an usher)  I don’t think they are trying to change anything.  I think they like their heritage.  They claim to be the longesst affiliated team in the minors (AA Phillies since 1967).  Tradition is worth it.  Keep it up Reading, you are in my top 10.

Philadelphia Phillies

 

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Got to take a tour, which is always fun.  Get to see the places I’d never get to see.  A dugout, clubhouse, press box.  Kind of fun.  Another newer ballpark, looks beautiful.  Except for all the Phillies logos.  Not sure if I will wear this hat much after today.  I then did some cheesesteak testing, went to Pat’s, then across the street to Geno’s.  Went to Tony Luke’s the day before.  All pretty good.  If I had to pick one, I would say Pat’s.

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Lehigh Valley IronPigs

Allentown, PA.  They seriously need some downtown revitalization.  It looks like they are building a hockey rink downtown, for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.  But the baseball stadium is not downtown.  It is AAA level ball, so my expectations were raised, and it was a good place.  Tons of food selections, including roasted corn, which here was with butter, parmesan cheese and some other something, a little spicy.  It was called ‘Aw Shucks’ Style.  I think that was just the name of the place that sold them.  Very good.  They also had a ticket package that gave you money off of food inside.  Like a $7 ticket plus $3 gave you $5 worth of food inside.  I wish more parks would do that.  Everybody wins.  You save money, and the team makes money because you go to the concession stand and spend more money.  The stadium had an upper deck, which I wasn’t even allowed in because I didn’t have a ticket.  They weren’t even boxes or anything, just upper deck tickets.  Stingy ushers here.  I sat down in a box seat for an inning, then the usher came and told me to leave.  And there were plenty of available seats. 

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LV won 7-0, on a 3-hitter.  I almost won a free hat from the speed pitch game.  I hit 75, but some other guy came later and hit 76. Oh well.  Fireworks after the game, about 8 minutes worth.  Average amount, but lot of turkey-killers(the really bright flash and huge bang).  They also had right behind home plate at ground level, some luxury boxes.  They were inset, and kind of dropped.  Kind of neat, also made the net go all the way to the ground, which I have seen a couple of other places as well.  Ferrous and FeFe were the mascots.  For you periodic table nerds, that will be funny.  They did a good job all around playing off their IronPigs name.  Their program was called ‘Pork Illustrated’, and the font was the same as Sports `Illustrated.

Baltimore Orioles

Back to the big leagues…  And back to Camden Yards.  The first retro stadium, and one I had taken a tour of a few years ago.  Gorgeous park.  Lots of food(bring lots of money) and the sausage tastes great.  $8 beers not tested. $10 parking, not bad for the bigs.  3 homeruns by the O’s won it 4-2.  This was a Sunday Night Baseball game against the Yankees.  The Yankees fans made plenty of noise as well.  Don’t like the lack of a on all the time line-score.  They had 2 beautiful screens in center, but if they wanted to show some video or animation, the line score disappeared.  Of course, I love seeing the warehouse past right field.  Makes me think of Ripken and his streak.  Sat upper deck 3rd base first 7 innings, then moved down behind home plate, no usher giving me a hard time.  I appreciate that.  Rich people shouldn’t have all the fun!  The fans were really into it, both because the O’s are doing well right now, and they don’t like the Yankees much.  Great time there, if you get a chance to go, take it!!