When planning our vacations, I look at major league teams and then filter my way down to A Teams in the area and on the way back home. Since we were leaving Omaha, we had several possibilities of teams in Iowa to see. The one that we both wanted see was the Iowa Cubs, the Chicago Cubs Triple-ATeam. Lucky for us there were home on the day we needed them to be.
Since it was raining on and off for most of the drive to Des Moines, I checked the Cubs Facebook page to make sure the game was still on. To my pleasant surprise, last night’s game was postponed in the 5th inning and would continue at about 5:00 tonight. Then the 2nd game would be a 7 inning game. Free baseball (with a shortened game) was okay with us.
The Iowa Cubs play at Principle Field in downtown Des Moines. They charged $10 for parking which is the most any minor league team we have visited to date has charged. Most teams charged $5. Typical Cubs….
We got to Principle Field early enough and browsed the team store. We finally found the minor league baseball passport and picked it. We got our first official stamp in it and it had to be the Cubs.
The other nice thing about getting the passport was there is a spot for autographs. Since we were there early and the Cubs were playing the Colorado Spring Sky Sox, the Brewers Triple-A affiliate, we were able to watch warm ups and stretching. Because our seats were by the Sky Sox dug out, we had a few opportunities during warm ups to get a few autographs in our new passport.
In typical minor league ball park fashion, there was plenty of gimmicks and games between innings – some of which were carried over from last night. The featured a lot of kids in them. The hubby comes to see the park and the baseball, he could care less about the frills. I don’t mind them so much because it’s something else to pay attention to besides baseball.
My favorite part of the Principle Field is the manual score board. Just like Wriggly Field, the score board is manually changed after every half inning or when a run scores. I love the old school manual scoreboards.
Food options were relatively inexpensive. We both had decent chicken tenders. There were tables in the concourse to sit and eat at instead of balancing your food on your lap at your seats. Besides your typical concessions, there was also a beer garden with a ton of craft beers.
The games themselves weren’t all that exciting. The Sky Sox won the first game and got trounced in the second game. Our seats were pretty close to the action and if it wasn’t for all the little kids around us in the second game, I’m sure we would have taken home a ball.
Principle Field is a nice park but it’s full of the typical Cub fans. Some of them are friendly others are just as rude as they are in Chicago. I’m glad we got to see the Brewers Triple A team since most of those guys bounced between Colorado Springs and Milwaukee. If our travels take us through Des Moines, we may stop again but I wouldn’t go out of our way to come back.
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