559 Throw Out the First Pitch at a Baseball Game

Back in December I saw that the T-Rats were going to have an All Fan first pitch and I was like I have to do that. Surprisingly the hubby was free and I ordered tickets.

The weather leading up today kept calling for rain and the hubby had basketball scheduled in the morning. He kept asking for logistics. Finally the T-Rats said the event would take place between 11:30-12:30 and you had to be in line by 12;00 to be able to throw out a first pitch. The hubby's last game was scheduled to be over at 11:45 in De Pere and the rain was going to hold off til the afternoon. After dropping a game and the forecast looking promising, we headed to Fox Cities Stadium for some minor league baseball fun.

We actually got to the stadium a little after 11:30 and no one was in line yet for the first pitch. We wandered around for a bit and talked to everyone that the hubby knew. Finally about 11:45 or so we headed out to the outfield to throw out the first pitch.

After picking up our ball and walking in foul territory to first base, we made our way to the pitcher's mound. The T-Rats brought in a portable ramp "mound" to throw from and move up home plate. Instead of the usual 60.5 feet to get the ball to home plate, it was about 50 feet. I'll let you know that 50 feet still looks like a long way when standing on the mound.

Luckily, we knew the catcher (former T-Rats bullpen catcher) and he told me think his face was the hubby's face. Well.... I didn't quite make it. It bounced in front of the plate. There is video of my minor league debut courtesy of the T-Rats Facebook Live Video. The hubby followed and he got his ball there.

Of course we stayed for the game.. well part of it anyways. It started to rain in the 4th inning. It stopped in the bottom of the 5th for a short time and started again in the 6th. We left in the middle of the sixth. It was a good game. The T-Rats were winning until the top of the sixth when the Kernals tied it but ended up going ahead in the bottom half.

I even snagged a t-shirt in the t-shirt toss... ahem hand off.

I'm glad I got my chance to throw out the first pitch. However, I better keep practicing in case I ever get to throw out another one.

Baseball Stadium Tour 2017: Community Field

Our final stop on our Brewer/Cardinal Road Trip was Burlington, IA for the T-Rats and Bees game. It just worked out that the T-Rats were playing the Bees that night. The Burlington Bees are the LA Angels A team.

Community Field, the home of the Bees, is your typical small town ball park. There was no parking lot and we parked for free on the grass. The stadium was remodeled to accommodate the needs of the league. However it was still very old school. The locker rooms were right next to the bathrooms -- visitor's next to the men's room and the Bee's next to the women's room. The umpire room was accessible from outside the park. I am used to stadiums with several concession stand windows -- Community Park had 1 and it looked like something you'd find at the community pool. There might have been a second one down there third base line. 

There is not a lot of seating in community park and almost all of it is protected by netting. Like usual we sat right by the dugout. Unfortunately there weren't really seats down the lines. Most of the seating was behind home plate in an old school grand stand set up. Luckily there weren't many people there so we could move down so we could see the scoreboard better. Speaking of the scoreboard... I have seen high school fields with better scoreboards. It was your basic scoreboard that said Visitor instead of being digital for the teams. 

Unlike the other minor league ball parks we've been to, there was very little fan fare between innings. I think they had about 3 promotions and all done by kids in the stands. I am not even sure what they won. If I remember correctly, there was a t-shirt toss with 3 shirts towards the end of the game. However with the netting tossing things in the stands is difficult and the shirts were tossed (or handed out) from the stands.

The game itself wasn't very good. T-Rats played poorly and it was a like 9-3 or something like that. Because of the netting and lack of setting down the lines, it was difficult to get foul balls. The hubby tried to beat a kid for a foul ball in the grassy area outside of the seating area but wasn't quite fast enough. I stood around for a good 10 minutes and another one didn't get hit our way. Luckily the T-rats catcher handed us one later in the game.

As far as ballparks go I wasn't impressed but the hubby loved the old school ball park. I think I have just gotten used to the all the amenities and fanfare that comes with Minor League Baseball. Maybe I am just spoiled. Either way it was still a nice night at the ballpark. I hope the Burlington Bees and Community Park keep the baseball alive in the town because it is good cheap entertainment. 

Baseball Stadium Tour 2017 -- Wisconsin Timberrattlers

This year we started our stadium tour a bit earlier than we did last year... like 3 months earlier. Because the hubby's game was canceled, we decided to head out to the T-Rats game tonight. It was a perfect night for baseball.

The hubby got us tickets on the first base side in the first row -- my seat literally was right across from first base. This turned out to be the lucky seat of the night. In the bottom of the first, Monte Harrison hit a broken bat ground out. As he was walked back to the dug out, he picked up his bat and walked back to first. Instead of giving it to the first base coach, he handed it to me. I think the hubby was more excited than me. I was in shock. It is now hanging on the wall. Talk about a conversation piece.

Besides getting a bat and the hubby scrambling for a ball, the game was a really good game. The T-Rats won 2-1 against the Clinton Lumberkings. It was a pitcher duel. Both the T-Rats and the Lumberkings had solo home runs. The T-Rats scored their other run on a sac fly. The game itself took 2 hours and 10 minutes... most high school games can take longer than that.

We like going on Wednesday nights since it's bang for your buck night so hot dogs and sodas are $1. We can get dinner for like $6 or $7. A night at the ball park on Wednesdays probably cost about $40 with tickets, dinner, and parking. Since we like sitting in the box seats, the tickets are $14 but for front row seats, it's well worth it. The bleacher seats are less expensive but are not as comfortable. Parking is $5. It's cheap date night. We'd probably get season tickets if the hubby's schedule would allow us to go to more than a game or 2 a year.

Since the hubby is a mission to hit several ball parks including minor league parks this year, there will be a lot more baseball in future. We actually have a mini baseball road trip planned next month to hit a couple more Midwest League Stadiums. I can't wait to see other minor league parks. It should be a fun, baseball-filled summer.

A Soggy Night for Minor League Play-off Baseball

I come home from work and the hubby was home. He was supposed to be at middle school football but it was cancelled because apparently they didn’t want the kids getting hurt. He asked what I wanted to do tonight. He said we could go to the Brewers game or the T-Rats game and it was my choice since I had to work in the morning. Since the T-Rats were in the play-offs, I wanted to see them more. My only concern was the weather since it was raining most of the day. He said the radar looked clear once the current batch of rain went through.

Well the hubby and the radar lied. It rained most of the game. At times it wasn’t much more than a fine mist. Other times it was a light rain. The rain kept most of the fans away since there were only about 350-375 people at the game. This benefited me greatly. I ended up with many freebies and a game ball.

When we got there it was raining lightly. We decided to walk the concourse before going to our seats. The hubby ran into one of the ushers he knew and ended up talking to him for a while. I sat down in a seat under the overhang. The hubby joined me after he was done talking. We stayed there for about half the game. We were right behind 1st base and the hubby could see home plate just fine. In the fifth or sixth inning, we decided to move down to the 2nd row to have a better chance of getting a ball and it really wasn’t raining that hard. These new seats were great. We could see everything and didn’t let a little rain stop us. The couple in front of us left and we moved to the first row to put our feet up on the rail better and stretch out. After Cedar Rapids were done warming up between innings, I asked for a ball and he went in the dugout and got me a game ball. We never actually sat in our seats that our tickets were for.

The game itself was not very good. The T-rats and Cedar Rapid were playing a best of 3 series with the next 2 games in Iowa. This was almost a must win for the T-Rats but they came out flat almost like they didn’t want to play in the rain. The T-Rats got 2 hits to lead off the bottom of the first but couldn’t score. Cedar Rapids scored in the second and third to take 3-0 lead. The T-rats tied in the bottom of the 5th. However, the Kernels broke it open in the 6th. The final was 11-3. It fit the mold of lopsided games this year but I wish the T-Rats played better. The first baseman didn’t have a good night. One guy didn’t hustle down to first after a dropped 3rd strike. It was just a lot of mental errors. Things that shouldn’t happen in play off baseball.

I got to see a playoff baseball game even if it was minor league baseball. We finally went to our first (and only) T-Rats game of the year. For $35 it was a pretty cheap date night and that included dinner at the ball park.

Mike Jirschele Bobblehead Night

Last week I got my weekly update about promotions and happenings at Fox Cities Stadium and the T-Rat game. It said next Thursday was going to be Mike Jirschele, bobblehead night. I mentioned this to the hubby, who said he wanted one and wanted to know where he was. I told him he was in Lomira and asked if he wanted me to go and get him. His response, “Not if you’re going by yourself.” So I put a post on Facebook asking if anyone wanted to go to the game. Danielle said she’d go with me. I ordered tickets to pick up at will call.

I knew from past experience that we would need to get to the stadium before the gates opened to make sure we got a bobblehead since they were only giving away 1000 of them and Mike was a Clintonville native. Danielle was at my place around 4:45 and we were there by 5:00 for a 7 pm start. We stood in line for a half hour before the gates even opened. Luckily it waited to rain.  When we got in line, there were probably close to 100 people already in line and by the time the gates opened, the line stretch all the way down the first base side parking lot. Once we had our bobbleheads, we stood in a much shorter line to have Mike sign them. 

The line when we got in it 30 minutes before gates opened

Now you’re probably thinking why would we stand in line for this Mike guy’s bobblehead? 1. He’s from Clintonville. 2. He used to play for the Appleton Foxes 3. He is now the 3^rd base coach for the Kansas City Royals. So basically, he’s a local guy that made it to the big leagues. If you are not from the Valley or a Royals fan, this bobblehead probably has no value to you. For the hubby, it is a cool piece to add to his collection.

Getting my bobblehead signed

We never did get to see the baseball game. It poured buckets shortly after we got inside and the eventually we left. Shortly after we left, they called the game.