Baseball Stadium Tour 2017: Northwestern Medicine Field

Our second stop on our Labor Day baseball tour took us to the Chicago Suburbs and Northwestern Medicine Field. We were going to see the Kane County Cougars play.

Getting out of Chicago and out to the burbs wasn't too bad. We had some traffic but nothing too bad besides we had plenty of time. The parking lot for general parking was paved with bricks.. like the kind you would use as edging in your garden or patio. It wasn't very comfortable to walk on. They said gates didn't open until an hour before game but let us in early for one reason or another.

Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton was modeled after Northwestern Field. However, it was beginning to show it's age and the suites and boxes they added seemed out of place inn the hubby's opinion.

There were limited concessions stand but they had this awesome one set up outside the main bowl area. It offered Italian beef, grilled chicken sandwiches, and other Chicago Favorites.The Italian beef was huge and amazing. It was so big we didn't need a snack later which was a good thing since most stands didn't stay open after the 6th inning. The ones that did, like the Dipping Dots place, had a line mile long.

Before the game, the players lined up on the field and signed autographs and took pictures. They did it for about 15 minutes but it was really cool to see. There was a lot of kids but there were also some autograph hounds out there just for a signature just in case one of these guys makes it to the big leagues and becomes a star. After 15 minutes, everyone left the field and pregame rituals continued. I am not sure if this is something they do regularly or if this was a special night but from the looks of it, it is a regular event.

Oh and they played football too...

Something that was out of the ordinary were the sky divers that dropped in before the game. Just before the National Anthem 3 skydivers jumped from a plane and landed in center field. Having seen skydivers before, I was really psyched to see them at a ball game.

The game was your typical minor league baseball game. Instead crazy fan gimmicks between innings, they had a visiting mascot that caused all sorts of mayhem. He "accidentally" tossed the 3rd baseman's glove over the left field wall. Oops.

Then he started to target the umpires. The field umpire wasn't all impressed by this crazy bird... he was trying to be all professional. However, the crazy bird, cracked the home plate ump and got him to dance with him. At one point the crazy bird swatted the ump's behind. It was actually highly entertaining.

Northwestern Medicine Field was a nice ballpark but because it has one of the highest attendance numbers in the Midwest League it was a full house. Tickets are slightly more expensive than other minor league parks we've been to. Our seats at the Sox game were cheaper than the tickets for Kane County.  Would we go back? Probably but there are many other minor league parks to hit first.