Return to Kenosha

All photos of Simmons Field available on Flickr.

Another first for the year for me as I made it to my first Northwoods League game of the season, and in nearly two full calendar years.  My wife and son were in Minnesota for the weekend visiting family, so I had an early Father's Day weekend of sorts, going on all sorts of adventures with my daughter Molly.  One stop was her first Kingfish experience this past Saturday.  We did take Molly along to a game in Eau Claire about 3 years ago, but this was definitely her first Northwoods League game that she could actually do things at and enjoy.  We took the long way down to Kenosha on Hwy 32 along the lake and through Racine, and got inside just in time for first pitch.

Molly did remarkably well at what was really her first ballgame that she was fully interactive and wasn't just strapped to me in a Baby Bjorn.  We were in our seats probably for a total of 5 innings or so, and that's more than a lot of people much older could probably say.  Granted, she spent about 4 of those 5 innings eating and saying hi to every person that walked by, but it's a start.  The remainder of our time there we spent exploring outside of the seating bowl, and there was a fair amount new since my last trip in 2018.  The kids area in right field was a bit revamped - or it may always have been that way but I never noticed without ever taking a kid here before.  We enjoyed the Kingfish bounce house, the sand box, and the speed pitch for a bit before walking down to the 3rd base side to see the brand new and much-anticipated bowling lane that was recently installed.  In true Northwoods League and Kingfish fashion, it was unapologetically rinky-dink and made of repurposed materials, in this case plywood.  It's a 100% charitable endeavor with no money going to the team, and it was fun to share my two major sports passions with Molly in one night - bowling and baseball.  The lane was part of a completely redone communal gathering area including bars, picnic tables, and bags sets.  This used to be the area where the pre-game season seat holder buffet was spread out over used football field turf, but this is a much better use of prime space - although gladly the field turf remains.  The other noticeable addition to the park was a "Grab-n'Go" area.  It was a great use of what looked to be a storage area under the bleachers as a place to grab pre-packaged snacks and drinks and pay for them yourselves rather than waiting in line, sort of like a self-checkout at a grocery store.  It was part of the Kingfish's 100% cashless policy in response to Covid, which I found interesting since they still use paper tickets for some reason.

The game itself pitted the Kingfish against the visiting Battle Creek Bombers (despite the scoreboard thinking it was Rockford).  And oh yeah, that was another new thing - the jumbotron.  Only Big Top Baseball would spend the money on a jumbotron at a summer collegiate ballpark.  Anyways, Brock Weirather pitched for K-Hole the entire duration of time we were there (7 innings) and gave up only 2 runs.  He was not missing a lot of bats, but induced a lot of ground balls.  Looking at the stats it looked like the bullpen threw up all over themselves after we left, but still managed to hang on for the 9-5 win.  Justin Janas had the big hit in the game with a 2-run double to put the game out of reach in the 6th.  There was not much worth mentioning for the Bombers despite them crawling back in the game.  The staff dished out a total of 15 free bases in the form of walks and hit batsmen and just overall looked horrible.  The offensive silver lining for BC was #3 hitter Miguel Larreal who had 2 hits on the night and was hitting over .400 as of Saturday's game.

I'm really excited that the pandemic is slowly ending at a time when Molly is getting old enough to have fun at a ballgame.  I look forward to sharing my love of the game with her as she grows older, and am already looking forward to a trip to Green Bay with her next month to see the Booyah.

updated park rankings and statistics (see original post from 7/9/14):
aesthetics - 5
views from park – 1
view to field - 7
surrounding area – 2
food variety - 9
nachos - 4
beer - 9
vendor price - 7
ticket price - 6
atmosphere - 9
walk to park – 1
parking price/proximity - decreases to 4 (free, but very convoluted...the team uses adjacent unmarked lots from other businesses)
concourses - improves to 5
team shop - 9

best food – Foot-long King Dog
most unique stadium feature – only ballpark in North America with a bowling lane
best jumbotron feature – best feature is they have one now!
best between-inning feature – kids toilet race

field dimensions – 314/410/330
starters – David Williams (BC) v. Brock Weirather (KEN)
opponent – Battle Creek Bombers
time of game – 3:28
attendance – 2112
score – 9-5 W
Brewers score that day – 7-4 W

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 6/18/21:

Brewers 38-31, -1.0; 4 @ Rockies, 3 @ Diamondbacks, 3 v. Rockies

Twins 27-41, -15.5; 3 @ Rangers, 2 v. Reds, 4 v. Indians

2021 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 0

Peter - 3