GCS Ballpark

All photos of GCS Ballpark available on Flickr.

Ballpark #2 of my weekend was across the river from St. Louis for an independent league game.  It was about a 5-hour drive down to Collinsville, Illinois to check into my surprisingly nice hotel room.  How far we've come since the Tour - even Super 8s are fancy now and cost $75.  I relaxed for awhile and watched the last inning of Max Scherzer's should-have-been-a perfect game, and then drove the additional 15 miles to the ballpark.  Why did I stay so far out of town?  Because this ballpark is in Sauget, IL, or in other words, East St. Louis.  Anybody who knows anything about crime rates in America (or has seen the movie "Vacation") knows that East St. Louis has the highest murder rate in the country, by quite an impressive margin.  After going to #2 Gary last year, I might have to plan a trip to Detroit in 2016 to complete the trifecta.  I'm not sure what the story is of why Sauget broke off from East St. Louis, but I'm sure the association with crime was a big reason.  It's a pretty interesting little town in that it has less than 200 people but somehow boasts a professional ballpark and a major airport.  Perhaps the fact that the mayor owns the team and the town takes his family name has a little something to do with that.

But I didn't drive all this way on a danger-seeking mission or a political investigation.  Frankly, baseball wasn't even the top reason - it was the food.  I know of this ballpark primarily from Adam Richman's gastronomical excursion there for his former show "Man v. Food."  In that episode before one of his ridiculous eating challenges, he stuffed his fat face with a bacon cheeseburger utilizing a Krispy Kreme donut as the bun.  Since the media attention gained from Richman's visit, the team has continued to up their game and now claims to have the best food in baseball.  They even have a concession stand arrogantly titled the "Baseball's Best Stand."  I had to see what all the fuss was about for myself.  I tried the donut hamburger ("Baseball's Best Burger") and it was perfectly delicious.  When you think of outrageous ballpark foods these days, in your mind you are probably thinking of something the size of a plate that costs a day's pay.  This burger was of normal human size and only $5, and also surprisingly easy to eat, all of which I liked.  Later in the game I tried the "Baseball's Best Nachos" with queso cheese and ground up steak, also delicious.  Both of these items were up near the top for me in each category.  Now I have to brave one more trip down there to try the "Baseball's Best Cake Bites" (are there any other ones?) and the "Baseball's Best Hot Dog."  I somehow had room in my stomach for a beer as well, and even that was amazing - they have those cups here that fill from the bottom.  There is a hole in the cup with a magnet and when depressed on the dispenser, it fills a 16oz cup in less than 5 seconds with zero waste and very little foam.  Maybe not the best system for a beer snob, but when you're talking about bottom-line speed and profit, it is something that should be installed at every ballpark.

As for the ballpark itself, the one thing I was looking for with a team called the Gateway Grizzlies across the river from the Gateway City was...well, a gateway.  And the entry delivered that.  Nothing too over-the-top like Joliet, to use a comparison from another Frontier League team, but it got its point across and was the defining physical feature of the park.  Other items of note were a very nice outfield berm in right field and a second-level private deck.  A lot of parks this size have these, but the berm was very low to the field behind a short wall, so it was very close to the action, and the second level was open to the back so a fan up there was able to enjoy the weather while still being covered.  Other more standard features were a kids area in left and a picnic pavilion behind the first base grandstand.  Overall a very intimate park that compares favorably with other independent league stadiums, and it was a comfortable enclosed setting despite being surrounded by miles of empty land.  The surrounding area is in fact so vacant that you can clearly see the St. Louis skyline from the parking lot, even on a 90-degree hazy day like Saturday was.  My biggest complaint about the park would be the viewing angles.  The grandstand pitch was much too shallow, and the seats by the right field pole where I sat were rotated awkwardly.

The game pitted the cellar-dwelling Grizzlies against the Windy City Thunderbolts.  Max Schonfeld got the start for the Grizz and was bludgeoned with singles and baserunners over his 6 innings of work but somehow gave up only 3 runs and kept his team in the game.  Things became unraveled for both teams after that, as 11 of the total 17 runs were scored from the bottom of the 6th on.  Ben Waldrip ran into one for the home team as part of a 5-run 6th.  Waldrip is a perfect example of the kind of guy you see a lot in independent league baseball - he looks the part, and maybe has one or two good tools, but then you see the 250 pound guy try to run or field and you understand why he's not signed anywhere.  Despite the T-Bolts getting a guy to 3rd base with less than 2 outs in the 9th - and by the crowd reaction they have seen this before - Brett Zawacki managed to wiggle his way out with the save.  Obviously the pitching and defense were terrible in this game, but I was impressed with the batting averages I saw (and in the Saints game a couple of weeks ago too for that matter).  It is interesting to me that where Major League Baseball is now with so many dominating pitchers that none of these hitters are getting a look; I did not see any scouts.

Because of all the league shifts over the last 5 years, I've now crested the hill and seen 8 of the 14 Frontier League stadiums.  If I ever get back to suburban St. Louis to see the team in O'Fallon, I will have completed the west division.

park rankings and statistics: 
aesthetics - 7
views from park – 1 (which is probably for the best)
view to field - 5 (poor viewing angles)
surrounding area – 0 (East St Louis)
food variety - 9
nachos - 9
beer - 8 (bonus points for filling system, but points deducted for only Busch products)
vendor price - 8
ticket price - 8 ($7 GA)
atmosphere - 7
walk to park – 4 (nice view of St. Louis)
parking price/proximity - 10 (adjacent lot for free)
concourses - 7
team shop - 8

best food – donut bacon cheeseburger, a.k.a. "Baseball's Best Burger"
most unique stadium feature – the food
best jumbotron feature – they had one but nothing of note occurred on it.
best between-inning feature – watching Grizzlies bullpen try to toss quarters in cups of water

field dimensions – 318/385/301
starters – Danny Jimenez (WC) v. Max Schonfeld (GAT)
opponent – Windy City Thunderbolts
time of game – 3:00
attendance – 4564
score – 9-8 W
Brewers score that day – 5-1 L

The Corn Crib

All photos of Normal and The Corn Crib available on Flickr.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty depressing for me.  My fiance Lauren and I broke up, and Erik has been on "vacation" in New Hampshire and North Carolina with his girlfriend Katie, so I've found myself alone watching a lot of Little League World Series quintuple-headers on ESPN.  Perhaps driving 3 hours into rural Illinois isn't the best way to curb loneliness, but I can always find solace in a trip to the ballpark.  My first option for how to fill my free Saturday was to attend Game 3 of the Northwoods League World Series in La Crosse, but unfortunately for me the Loggers swept the series on Friday night.  After weighing my options, Normal it was.

The ballpark in Normal is ironically anything but normal.  This 3rd-year stadium is octagonal-shaped in order to accommodate the soccer team of the local community college.  Other than maybe RFK in DC, it's the only other ballpark I've seen that is multi-purpose built primarily for baseball.  Although there is a ton of foul territory out of necessity, the seating bowl and layout of the concessions are most suited for watching a ballgame.  Another obvious quirk is the 100% synthetic turf playing surface.  Perhaps this was installed because of budgetary concerns, or perhaps because the stadium is used for several sports, but either way, it is weird.  This is now the 2nd all-turf stadium I've seen this year and I still need to get used to it.  At least at Kapco Park the pitcher's mounds were dirt, at The Corn Crib even those are turf.  I watched the last inning of the game by the bullpen and asked one of the CornBelter pitchers what he thought of the turf mounds, and he told me he preferred it to dirt because you don't have to worry about divots, which makes sense.  This is another one of those ballpark issues where I'm torn between my lives as a baseball fan and an architect.  As a fan, I find it atrocious that a team has to play on fake grass, even fake dirt.  But as an architect, I recognize what an incredible waste of water, money, materials, and labor it is to install and maintain an 3-acre field for one sport.  If you also take into account the cheap building materials and the wind farms in the area, I really applaud Normal for their innovative and sustainable design solution.

What further supports this sustainability concept is that there is corn planted outside the ballpark and over the right field wall instead of absent-minded landscaping (the only grass on the entire property are berms in the outfield).  The corn is not just there because there is an abundance of it in the area, or for aesthetic reasons; the team's main sponsor is the Illinois Corn Farmers Association.  Everything here - the name of the stadium, the team name, advertisements, the concession stand names, even the mascot - all works in congruence with the team's sponsorship very thoroughly.  There are even ethanol commercials on the jumbotron and corn facts on banners strewn around the ballpark.  In an obvious gesture, there are also several foods containing corn at The Corn Crib.  I had a corn dog and an ear of corn for dinner and both were among the best I've ever had.  The rest of the concessions were wide in variety but nothing really unique other than the corn.  My favorite part of the park were the little patio areas they had spread throughout the concourse.  These areas were probably just ways to use up dead space, but I thought they were well done and not tacky.  In particular, the beer tent above the 1st base seating seemed like a great social space.  Seeing as I was like the 9th person to enter the ballpark, I had plenty of time to investigate these areas.

Getting to the park so early also allowed me to obtain a seat in the first row behind homeplate.  At the time of first pitch, it was so quiet I could hear the radio announcer in the booth behind me calling the game, but eventually the stadium got to about 1/3 full and the din was replaced by zany between-innings entertainment.  If you are not a fan of goofy non-baseball related antics and rowdy mascots, then you will definitely not enjoy a CornBelters game.  This is sort of the norm at minor/indepedent league games now and I've grown accustomed to it, but even this was a little too much for me.  There were two mascots, Corny the Cornasaurus and Reggy the Purple Party Dude.  One of them was lazy and fat and mostly just got in people's way, and the other one talked in a Pee-Wee Herman-esque voice and was very obnoxious and did stupid things on the field.  When I wasn't distracted by the mascots, it was actually an outstanding game.  In true Frontier League fashion, it was a pitcher's duel most of the way.  The visiting Rockford starter gave up only 1 run over 8 innings.  The Normal starter Tyler Lavigne scattered 12 hits over 8 1/3 and left 11 runners stranded.  The CornBelters' manager was solely to blame for this loss.  After escaping jams for 8 straight innings, Lavigne was allowed to come back out for the 9th despite having well over 100 pitches.  He promptly gave up the lead, and the manager finally went to the pen for a sidewinding lefty.  He got his man out but then was for some reason left in the game to face a right-handed hitter, despite a righty being up in the pen, and allowed the go-ahead run to score.  The Riverhawks would go on to add 3 more in the top half of the frame, and closed out the 5-1 victory in the bottom half with the most underhanded submarine pitcher I've ever seen in my life.

Following the game, I got a pretty awesome photo through the corn in the outfield, and decided not to blow money on a motel and headed back to Madison.  With this trip, I've now driven the entire length of I-39 in the past month, from Wausau to Normal.

park rankings and statistics:
aesthetics - 5
views from park - 2
view to field - 5 (seats far away)
surrounding area - 4 (Illinois State, Heartland CC)
food variety - 8 (lots of choices but nothing unique, bonus points for funnel cake)
nachos - 6
beer - 4 (only one stand with non-Bud products)
vendor price - 7
ticket price - 6 ($11 box seat)
atmosphere - 4
walk to park - 2
parking price/proximity - 7 (adjacent lot $2)
concourses - 7 (partially blocked view to field, but nice patio niches and active entry space)
team shop - 4

best food - anything containing corn
most unique stadium feature - 100% turf playing surface
best jumbotron feature - opposing batter songs correspond with their names
best between-inning feature - Reggy, the obnoxious auxiliary Saturday-only mascot

field dimensions - 328/400/328
starters - Ziggie VanderWall (RCK) v. Tyler Lavigne (NRM)
opponent - Rockford Riverhawks
time of game - 2:54
attendance - 2003
score - 5-1 L
Brewers score that day - 4-3 L

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 08.19:
Brewers 54-66, -19.0 (3 v. Cubs, 3 @ Pirates)
Reds 74-48, +6.5 (4 @ Phillies, 3 v. Cardinals)
Twins 50-70, -15.0 (3 @ Athletics, 4 @ Rangers)

2012 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 25
Peter - 35

Tour 2012: Standard Bank Stadium

All photos of the University of Chicago, Robie House, and Standard Bank Stadium available on Flickr.

Lauren and I started our Saturday off right by hitting Webbs pretty hard, while Erik ran the Summerfest 5K, and the three of us left for Chicago around 10:30.  Erik and I dropped off Lauren at her friend Liz's house, and then it was a slow crawl down Lake Shore Parkway to the south side of town.  We spent the afternoon killing time before ball by walking around the University of Chicago campus and touring the Robie House.  The Robie House is widely considered to be Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece of the Prairie Style, as indicated by my Robie House LEGO set.  Erik and I are both familiar with Wright's design concepts and have seen several of his buildings now, but there was still a lot about the house and Chicago architecture I learned on the tour.  At the time this house was built, Chicago was still trapped in the neo-classical mindset following the World's Fair, and this house was like nothing the city had ever seen.  This is most evident, as the guide pointed out, in the 2 buildings across the street whose outdated style makes them appear hundreds of years old but are in fact younger than the Robie House.  We got to see the fruits of the extensive 1999 brick-by-brick exterior restoration but the house is still raising money to return the interior to its past glory.

If I don't stop myself now, I will write an entire chapter about the Robie House, so let's move on.  After the house tour, we made a quick stop at Binny's Beverage Depot to purchase some much-anticipated silos of Big Hurt Beer.  We then rolled through the hood for a solid 45 minutes and emerged at our end destination of Bridgeview, Illinois to check into a sketch $40 Days Inn.  We had about a half-hour to pound the aforementioned Big Hurt Beer, and let me just say that the name "Big Hurt" works on a couple of levels.  Erik was in some pain but I proudly and boldly consumed my beverage.  Dear Frank Thomas: please stick to baseball, not endorsing products.  Somehow, 24 ounces of that stuff did not cause me to go blind and we headed to the park.

Tonight's game was at Standard Bank Stadium in Crestwood, thankfully not too far from our hotel, and we got there at about 5:45 for a 6:05 first pitch.  Parking was ridiculously $2 and there was a surprisingly long ticket line and large crowd for a Frontier League game.  From what we had seen in the past couple hours, there probably aren't too many alternatives around there on a Saturday night.  When we finally got to the front of the ticket line, there was a sign on the window that said "lower deck sold out."  Wait...so that implies that this park has an upper deck?  That was absolutely the case - this is the smallest ballpark I've ever seen that has an upper deck.  Yes, I realize that many minor league parks have a level for suites and the press box, but this was an actual deck for the general public.  To make it even more strange, the upper deck was only along the 3rd base line, and it had twice as many rows as the lower deck, making the stadium appear top-heavy.  So our seats were up here and we had a decent view (from which we could see that the lower level was very clearly not sold out), but the level is not very functional.  There is no "upper concourse" and the stairs to get up to each section are not easy to find for a first-time visitor, and you have to go back downstairs to use the bathroom and buy concessions.  This creates a strange juxtaposition of a lower level that contains all of the amenities but only 6 rows of seats, and almost all of the patrons sitting in the upper deck.  Despite the inefficiency, this oddness gave the stadium a memorable character, and it felt pretty cool to be sitting in the upper deck of a 3,000 seat stadium.  The other large concentration of fans besides the upper deck was in a huge party deck down the right field line.  So in summary, the upper deck and party deck were nearly full, and 6 rows of seats closest to the field were half-empty.  I interpreted the stadium's layout and location as an analogy of suburban flight: people living outside of the city, but needing to go back into the main part of town to get everything they need.  But I doubt that the designers put that much thought into it.

I remembered the Frontier League as being a pitching-heavy league and that was certainly the case here tonight, as we witnessed 4 1/2 hitless innings to start the game.  I thought we might see a little more hitting talent now with the demise of the Northern and North American Leagues, but aside from a couple home runs there was not much offense.  Most of the hitters for both teams were hitting in the low-mid .200s, but on the flip side, the game program outlined all of the local pitchers that have been snagged up by the White Sox in recent years.  The match pitted the home team Windy City Thunderbolts against the visiting Joliet Slammers.  Dustin Williams got the win for the T-Bolts despite 6 walks, and the bullpen slammed the door on the Slammers by not allowing a baserunner after Williams departed.  The offensive star of the day was Brandon Decker of Windy City, who went 2-4 with a 2-run HR.  As always, I admire the dedication of these players who by all means have every excuse to call it quits, but continue to scrounge around getting paid next to nothing just because they love baseball so much and have a dream.  I made sure to contribute to Decker's beer fund when the home run bucket was passed.

After the game, there was about an 8-minute fireworks show, and on the way back to the hotel, we stopped to critique the Miss Hooters International Competition on the TV at the Oak Lawn Hooters.  Tomorrow we watch the Brew Crew battle the Pale Hosers in our triumphant return to US Cellular Field.

park rankings and statistics:
aesthetics - 3
views from park - 2 (parking lot)
view to field - 6
surrounding area - 2
food variety - 5
nachos - 5
beer - 3 (mostly Busch products in plastic bottles - I hate both)
vendor price - 8
ticket price - 6 ($9 upper deck)
atmosphere - 6
walk to park - 1
parking - 4 (adjacent for $2)
concourses - 3 (getting to upper deck confusing)
team shop - 3 (just a room)

best food - Beggar's pizza
most unique stadium feature - stadium has upper deck
best jumbotron feature - n/a
best between-inning feature - two teams of kids race in giant underpants

field dimensions - 335/390/335
starters - Wander Alvino (JOL) v. Dustin Williams (WC)
opponent - Joliet Slammers
time of game - 2:41
attendance - 2992
score - 4-2 W
Brewers score that day - 8-6 L

Independent Leagues Begin

All photos of UWM-Butler game at Miller Park available on Flickr.

Mid-May is around the time every year when I really get excited about the baseball season. After Opening Week, of course I watch a lot of ball...but it's still cold, there are a ton of rainouts and a lot of off days in April, and the NFL Draft, NBA & NHL playoffs, and even horse racing dominate Sportscenter. Memorial Day to Labor Day is undeniably baseball time though. The sun is out, the grills are fired up, and it's the start of independent league baseball.

The Northern League and the American Association started play last week, the Frontier League begins on Wednesday, and college summer leagues and other lesser semi-pro leagues all start in the next couple weeks. I'm very excited to attend a bunch more Mallards games this year, as well as some games in the Northeast Wisconsin League, which Erik and I just discovered recently. Independent League and minor league baseball has been my favorite kind of baseball for the last several years, and if Milwaukee didn't have a pro team I would probably rarely attend any other kind of games. The games are cheap, there's tons of entertainment, and most of all, the players are dedicated. Most of these players, especially those in the independent leagues, make only enough money to buy food and are riding on buses to podunk towns all across America for 4 months, just to play the game that the love. These players and their families sacrifice and get by on $400/week and second and third jobs just to make ends meet, and I really admire the dedication. So, whenever I get the chance, I like to support these players and teams, and it's no coincidence that my minor/independent league posts are always the most energetic. Erik and I look forward to visiting cities all across America for some new semi-pro experiences every summer.

Speaking of dedicated players, Erik and I attended a UW-Milwaukee game at Miller Park on Thursday. They played after a Brewers' matinee sweep of the Marlins. Honestly, not the greatest crowd, and I'm not a particularly huge NCAA baseball fan, but it was free and there's nothing better than weekday afternoon ball. UWM actually played Butler in two games, but we could only stay for one, as I had a softball game to attend. The Panthers swept the doubleheader, thanks in large part to the energy of their recently renamed mascot, Pounce (Victor E Panther was way better). As far as the game we saw, UWM scored two in the bottom of the 9th to win 6-5 over the Bulldogs. Starting pitcher Tim Lusti gave up 5 earned over 7 and LF Tim Patzman went 2-4 with a HR for the Panthers, and Jeff Sinkiewicz gave up 3 earned over 6 and RF Colin Ziegel was 2-3 with a HR and a walk for Butler. And by the way, in doing the stats research for this post, I discovered that the Horizon League's website has a neat little videogame-like feature where you can watch a play-by-play reenactment of any game that is worth checking out.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 05.17:
Brewers 23-14, +1.5 (makeup game @ Cardinals, 3 @ Astros, 3 @ Twins)
Reds 20-16, -2.5 (3 v. Phillies, 3 v. Indians)
Twins 18-20, -3.0 (3 @ White Sox, 3 v. Brewers)

RACE FOR 2009 "MOST GAMES ATTENDED" TITLE:
Erik - 12 (+ 8 worked)
Peter - 17

Day 5: Bosse Field

Photos of Bosse Field available on Flickr.

The fifth day of our trek took us to southwestern Indiana to watch an Evansville Otters game at historic Bosse Field. The reason we went out of our way to go back to the central time zone was to see this historic park, which is the third oldest continually used professional ballpark, behind only Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. It seats about 8,000 fans and was chosen as the site to film "A League of Their Own" in the 1990s because of its old-timey feel - in fact, "Racine Belles" signs still hang from the stadium, and girls even walk around in old AAGPBL uniforms. It has worn down wooden chairs and a TON of foul territory, which increases the distance a fan is from the field, but these are only two minor drawbacks. All the seats are covered and it is a treat to watch a game here. It was nice to feel like we were part of history and to note all of the minor and independent league teams that have played there for the past 90 years.

Erik and I were Louisvilled-out, so to speak, and decided to leave early yesterday, putting us in Evansville at around 1pm, 6 hours before first pitch. After picking up our free seats, we took this opportunity to enjoy the weather at an adjacent park and take a nap and subsequently watch "The Sandlot" on Erik's computer. We then picked up a 6-pack of Tall Boys and enjoyed our first tailgate of the trip. After spending nearly 5 hours in the Otters parking lot, we finally got into fundraising, and found a great spot, from which we raised $80 (Apparently, the local Habitat office was only 2 blocks away). There was strong but brief thunderstorm about 2 hours before the game which made the rest of the evening a very pleasant one, weather-wise.

The game itself was kind of uneventful. Both starting pitchers went into the 8th, and the Gateway Grizzlies broke the shutout in the 8th to take a 2-1 lead, and the lead stuck. Otters starting pitcher Matt Restivo ended up striking out 11 in 7.1 IP. Independent league baseball is kind of like watching minor league ball, except the players aren't that good. Nobody on the Otters was hitting above .265, and it's kind of like a glorified softball league, since most of the players all have real jobs. Nonetheless, it is a fun experience. We both got our Evansville souvenirs and enjoyed the game - and it didn't hurt that it was Thirsty Thursday and they served RC Cola! We immdiately left for Cincinnati after the game so that I could see Mary and so we could of course have a place to stay for free. Today we are meeting up with about a dozen of my friends from school at the game tonight to watch the Reds take on the Cards.

park stats and rankings:
aesthetics - 6 (very old like Wrigley, but much more intimate and well-kept)
views from park - 1
view to field - 7 (close, but lots of foul ground)
surrounding area - 2 (not a whole lot to do in Evansville)
food variety - 7 (very good items at the grill outside, plus RC Cola!)
nachos - n/a
beer - 7 (beer was $1, but it was Bud products)
vendor price - 8
ticket price - 10 (free)
atmosphere - 8 (would be a 10 if it were full and the game was good)
walk to park - 4
parking price/proximity - 8 (free, but you have to get there early to park close)
concourses - 6 (very unique set-up)
team shop - 7

best food - tri-tip steak sandwich
most unique stadium feature - wood seats, entire seating area under canopy
best jumbotron feature - food dancing between innings (surprisingly they had a jumbotron)
best between-inning feature - Ohio Valley Colon & Rectal Surgery Group's "Pick the Polyp" game

field dimensions - 315/415/315
starters - Nathan Roush (GAT) v. Matt Restivo (EVN)
opponent - Gateway Grizzlies
time of game - 2:35
attendance - 5500
score - 2-1 L
Brewers score that day - off

Photos from Champion Window Field

A Happy Memorial Day to all! Hope everyone is celebrating the day appropriately - by grilling out, watching ball, and getting that set of mini-American flags set up over the front lawn. Anyways, here are some photos of my trip to Florence, Kentucky last week, as promised.

Top left: Freeway sign

Top right: Snappy Tomato Pizza mascot singing the national anthem

Middle: the stadium

Bottom left: scoreboard (note the knuckleball pitch speed at the bottom)

Bottom right: Freedom wins, and the mascot Liberty is there to help celebrate

WEEKEND RESULTS:

Twins 2-1 v. Blue Jays (24-25)

Brewers 0-3 @ Padres (28-22)

Reds 0-3 v. Pirates (18-33)

Thirsty Thursday in Florence

This week was opening week for the Florence Freedom of the independent Frontier League, and I attended the game last night. This was my third independent league game (St Paul Saints and Rockford Riverhawks) and I loved every minute of it. The Freedom won 12-5 behind a strong pitching performance by knuckleballer Chris Webb, and the player of the game was definitely catcher Josh Lex, who had 2 doubles, 2 home runs, and a club-record 6 RBI.

Florence is a special little town about 15 miles south of Cincinnati in northern Kentucky and is one of the area's most rapidly growing cities. For those of you back home, it reminded me a lot of Appleton/Dykesville/Sturgeon Bay, and for those of you in Ohio, it is very similar to the Batavia Pike area. I love driving to Kentucky, because aside from the tourist Newport area, it's like a whole other country. You just feel like you have entered a foreign land when you go to Appalachia, and so I knew I was in for a big treat at the game.

The stadium itself is literally right off I-75 - I could see the "Champion Window Field" sign from the freeway exit. As with all great independent/minor league parks...awesome giveaways and promotions. Thursdays are "Thirsty Thursdays" in which Budweiser and soda are $1. As much as I un-support Busch and Coors products, I couldn't pass up the deal. There was a batter for the Freedom called the "Pesticide Inc. Pest of the Game," and the deal was if he got on base, an entire row of fans got a seat cushion. Unfortunately, despite the fact that he had 2 hits and 2 walks, I did not obtain one of these. I spent a total of around $35 on a pair of mesh shorts, 2 beers, a burger, a ticket, parking, a program, and a magnet schedule, with the latter three of the list being free items. Unfortunately I won't be around for any Dollar Mondays, but I will definitely be returning to take in some more Frontier League action, where you can pay $8 to sit so close you can hear the umpire.

Look for photos of the stadium/game to be posted this weekend sometime.

**A side note: top positional prospect Ryan Braun (3B) was called up for the Brewers today and will start in San Diego over the weekend for his major league debut. Elmer Dessens was placed on the 15-day DL.

LAST NIGHT'S RESULTS:
Twins off (22-24)
Brewers off (28-19)
Reds L (18-30)