All photos of Dutchess County Stadium available on Flickr.
Erik and I left our hostel shortly after 10 this morning to hit the road for Frank's house in Rhinebeck, New York, which is between Albany and Poughkeepse (which I'm sure I spelled incorrectly). Even though Toronto has been my favorite city thus far, it was good to be back in the comforts of our home country, where people
still hate the dollar coin and say "about" instead of "a-boot," which never gets old by the way - hilarious every time you hear it. It took us awhile to get back over the bridge to America, but we got to spend a few minutes admiring the Falls and got no hassle from the border patrol at all. Eight hours later and 400 miles later, we arrived in exurban New York.The redeeming factor on what was supposed to be our off day was that after spending all day on the road, we discovered that Frank
had four free seats to the local minor league club, the Hudson Valley Renegades, a short-season class-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. We didn't quite make first pitch due to the fact that we had to wind down county roads for 45 minutes, but it was a good experience overall. The stadium is a quaint little place set in a wooded area near Marist University, and the game was like any minor league one - lots of between-inning entertainment, a jovial mascot, and lots of fan enthusiasm. The game was a blowout, with the Renegades pounding on the Oneonta Tigers 8-0. Despite the fact that we are now exhausted after a long day on the road, we were glad we took this little excursion, that now brings our "unplanned ballgame total" to two already. Tomorrow it's off to historic Yankee Stadium and I can't wait!park stats and rankings:
aesthetics - 4
views from park - 3 (only some trees and a prison nearby)
view to field - 8 (of course its good, its the minors)
surrounding area - 2 (rural)
food variety - 4
nachos - 6
beer - 6
vendor price - 9
ticket price - 10
atmosphere - 7
walk to park - 3
parking price/proximity - 3 (you should never have to pay nor walk for minor league parking)
concourses - 5
team shop - 7
best food - hot dog
most unique stadium feature - we were very surprised that they had a jumbotron...
best jumbotron feature - Frank got our names put on the jumbotron at the game
best between-inning feature - Crabs race
field dimensions - 325/400/325
starters -Sendy Vazquez (ONE) v. Doug Waechter (HUD)
opponent - Oneonta Tigers
time of game - 2:29
attendance - 4500
score - 8-0 W
Brewers score that day - 5-4 L
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
1 comment:
I'm baaack. C'mon people, we need a few more posts!! GET ON IT!
WOW! The trip has now officially gone international. What's next, Mexican minor league? I must say in the photographs of you two thusfar, Erik is holding a frothy beverage, but Peter is not. Erik keep up the good work, every photo from now on should showcase a new amber beverage. Make it a goal: a new souvenir helmet and beer; Peter, just keep on smilin'. Have fun in The Big Apple.
Post a Comment