First Father's Day in Eau Claire

All photos of Eau Claire and Carson Park available on Flickr.

As the title of this post indicates, I spent my first Father's Day as a father in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, of course to watch an Express game, which was shockingly my first Northwoods League game of the year.  Besides being a lot of fun for me, this trip was special for my wife as well.  She graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 2010 and has many fond memories of this city, and it is always fun when we get to go back there to visit friends or just drive around campus.  We haven't been in the area in a couple of years and Megan was quite surprised at how much had changed, but that might just have been because she is used to viewing the city through the lens of a stumbling party-goer.  Among the biggest of changes is the mini-renaissance native Justin Vernon has brought to the Chippewa Valley.  After rising to stardom with his band Bon Iver and subsequently founding the local Eaux Claires music festival in 2015, his latest endeavor is the boutique Oxbow Hotel, which embodies Vernon's spirit and civic pride like nothing else possibly could.  We stayed the night there on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed craft cocktails at The Lakely next door and learning how to use a record player in our hotel room before heading out to the game that evening.  I can't imagine ever staying anywhere else for any future visits to Eau Claire (I'm not going to lie - Ramone's Ice Cream Parlor across the street is also a factor).

I had not been to Carson Park in nearly 5 years, and Megan had not been since college, so in true Northwoods fashion we were both expecting substantial changes at the ballpark.  However, in thumbing through old photos and memories, it was nearly identical to our most recent visits.  Nothing had been noticeably updated, including the party decks.  That's not to say we didn’t have a great time - how can you go wrong with all-you-can-eat seats?!  On my only previous visit I sat in the grandstand, but this time we shelled out the money the right field party area and it was well worth it.  For $28 you get 4 beers and all of the burgers, brats, and dogs you can stuff down.  The downside to the area is the small amount of relief we got from the 90+ degree heat.  The lowly peasants must have been laughing at all of us from their covered grandstand seats that faced away from the sun.  We resorted to standing under one of the party decks for the first half of the game, trying to keep cool by the exhaust of the beer trailer.  Our daughter Molly was in tow and was a champ for the entire evening.  In not even 6 months of life this was already her 5th ballgame and 2nd ballpark!  She is already shattering my pace.

Perhaps it is unfair, but I will admit that no visible upgrades push this stadium down in my rankings a little bit.  It's still one of my favorites in the circuit, but between the newly renovated Athletic Park we visited last year and the continual updates of Warner Park and Simmons Field, the Express are falling a little bit behind.  Again, I'm not complaining - being in an old WPA ballpark is always a treat and an atmosphere you could never recreate today.  The wooded setting in the park, the concession stands below the grandstand, the stone façade, the old-fashioned dot matrix scoreboard - all of the little touches that make this park unique were still there and still things I appreciated on this visit.  Unfortunately for the game itself, the last place Express were matched up against the first place Huskies, and it was very clear that Eau Claire would be outmatched from the beginning.  They ended up losing 10-5 behind a lackluster performance from starter Jake Harrison.  He gave up 4 runs on 6 hits before we even sat down and did not come out for the 2nd inning.  The next man up was Tyler Strzelczyk and he did not fare much better, giving up 4 runs of his own, albeit his were all unearned.  John Lagattuta and Kyle Jacobsen combined to go 4-7 with 2 homeruns for visiting Duluth.  The Huskies also had a kid named Nick Sogard, who I was disappointed to find out is of no relation to the Brewers' Eric Sogard, especially given the fact that he walked twice and has an OBP of over .400.

Despite the outcome of the game, for many reasons, this will be one of my more memorable baseball trips.  I will always think of Eau Claire as fondly as my wife knowing that I spent my first Father's Day there with her and our daughter.

park rankings and statistics:
see original post from July 2013

starters - Andrew Stout (DUL) v. Jake Harrison (EC)
opponent - Duluth Huskies
time of game - 3:16
attendance - 1049
score - 10-5 L
Brewers score that day - 4-1 L

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 06.22:
Brewers 44-30, +1.0 (4 v. Cardinals, 2 v. Royals)
Reds 29-45, -15.0 (4 v. Cubs, 3 @ Braves)
Twins 33-38, -6.0 (3 v. Rangers, 3 @ White Sox)

2018 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 4 (+9 worked)
Peter - 10