2025 Baseball Stadium Tour: Louisville Slugger Field

 Initially our baseball trip this summer was going to take us to South Bend and Indianapolis until we discovered the Indiana State Fair was going on also downtown Indianapolis. Hotels and parking were nearly non-existent or exorbitant. When I saw that Louisville was home, we decided to due South Bend and Louisville. Louisville was on my short list of Minor League Parks to see. 

Louisville Slugger Field is the home of the Louisville Bats. The Bats are the AAA-Affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. Slugger Field is downtown Louisville with a parking lot across the street. If you arrive early enough, you can snag street parking with is free after 6 PM. We ended up paying like $2 for parking which is better than $10 and it was the same walk. 

Slugger Field reminds of the Louisville Slugger Museum in terms of looks. It has the same appearance. 

Inside you could watch them make bats.

Of course our first stop was the team store to get my stamp. The lady was wonderful and let me stamp since someone yelled at her for messing it up once. We are particular when it comes to our stamps. I also got my Louisville Bats bat. 

The field was a great field to walk around. Very roomy and open. 

We even got to make our own bobbleheads courtesy of State Farm. 

The game was actually the best we saw all week. It looked like major league baseball. Hunter Green pitched on rehab for the bats. He didn't look very good and got beat up early. 

Because we had pizza before the game, we didn't eat anything at the game. Maybe next time. 

Louisville Slugger Field was a great ballpark and we would definitely go back. It was easy to get to and easy to get back into Indiana where we stayed. 

2025 Baseball Stadium Tour: Day Air Ballpark

 As I was planning our trip, I realized that Dayton was only about 90 minutes from the train ride I was looking at in Connersville, IN. I casually mentioned to the hubby we could extend the trip a day and catch a Dragons Game. He was like isn't that the minor league team that is Lambeau and sell out all their games. I was like probably. After some schedule adjustments, we added Dayton to our trip and found a different train museum for the hubby.

Day Air Ballpark is the home of the Dayton Dragons, which is the High-A Affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. It is located downtown Cincinnati. Tickets can be hard to come by but if you are flexible, you should be able to find tickets for when you want to go. There are several neighbor parking lots and garages you can park in. We paid for parking ahead of time and it was a breeze. 

Day Air Ballpark is an easy park to maneuver through. The concourse is large and roomy. I never felt crowded any time walked around. 

Our first stop was to the team store for a stamp. I was tempted to get a Dragon's mini bat but decided to wait until Louisville to pick one up.

Our seats were along the third base side. Although we couldn't secure aisle seats (waited too long), they were good seats and our neighbors were friendly. 

We especially liked that they still used chalk to line the batter's boxes. They shook the chalk on. It was an exact science that took patience and care.

We opted for dinner at the ballpark. The hot dogs smelled like feet so I opted for a brisket sandwich. Day Air Ballpark has Dr. Pepper. I was a very happy camper. The hubby said his hot dogs were good. 

I think my favorite part of the night was between innings when the Retirement Village People performed. They did this twice.. Once on the third base dugout and later on the first base dugout. They were hilarious. I don't know where they found these group but I would pay money to see them perform again.

The game itself was not that exciting. The Dragons played Lake County Captains. The Dragons lost 7-5. It was just a lot of small. It was fun seeing teams we normally don't see in Appleton. Jackson Churro's brother, Jaison, plays for the Captains. 

Day Air Ballpark is definitely on our list of ballparks to return to if it works out. It was welcoming and just a fun atmosphere for baseball. 

2025 Baseball Stadium Tour: Four Winds Park

 One of my 25 in 2025 items was to see a new baseball park. When we had to cancel spring training, I didn't think it was going to happen as we planned on going to Iowa and Omaha which we've been to before. Then we had to pivot at the last minute and ended up going to Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky which gave us a couple new stadiums

Four Winds Park is the home of the South Bend Cubs, in downtown South Bend, IN. The South Bend Cubs are the High-A Affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and play in the Midwest League. This is our 11th Midwest League Park (8th active). Only 4 more to go.

There is plenty of parking around the stadium. It was a short walk from the parking lot to the gates. We opted to walk to the main entrance and not the outfield entrance. We just followed the paw prints.

One ticket scanned just fine but my other ticket would not scan. The guy was all apologetic when he sent me to the ticket window for a paper ticket. Didn't he know paper tickets are like the ultimate keepsake since all tickets are pretty much digital now. I had no issues going to get a paper ticket. 

First order of business (okay second after getting a pressed penny) was to get my stamp. The team store was out in the outfield in an old Jewish Synagogue. 

We then found our seats which were in the front row. The cubs were playing Fort Wayne Tin Caps. It wasn't a bad game. Our seats were great. 

I found it surprisingly they had the bullpens on the field. There wasn't much foul territory.

Like most minor league parks, you could walk around the whole park. I loved the little pieces of history scattered around the outfield. 

Four Winds Field surprised me since it is a Cubs park. Despite being home to a Cubs team, we would definitely go back even if the fans were definitely Cubs fans. 

2023 Baseball Tour: ABC Supply Stadium

 When Beloit built their new stadium two years ago, we wanted to check it out. It took us two years to get there. Apparently we like hitting Beloit over the 4th of July weekend. 

ABC Stadium is the home of the Beloit Sky Carp, the Marlins High A team. They changed their name from the Snappers to Sky Carp last year after a fan poll. I personally wanted the cheese curds. The stadium is located on the river just across the border from Illinois. We actually went from WI to IL to WI to get to the stadium. 

Like most newer minor league stadiums, parking is minimal. There is no real parking lot. You can park at the Public Safety building next door or find street parking. The bonus is that it is free. If you park at the public safety building, make sure you pay attention to the signs so you don't park in police parking and get a ticket. 

While we were waiting for the gates to open they actually scanned our tickets ahead of time to make it easier to get in. There are stairs to climb to get in from the outfield entrance. 

The concourse isn't overly wide but it doesn't feel crowded. The downside there is very little over hang to hide under when it rains or snows as this is Wisconsin and you never know in spring. You can walk around the entire park.

I did like all the little touches through out the park. Like the geese prints, the giant Beloit sign, and a little free library. The library was filled with kids books but that is great idea to keep the little ones entertained during a game.

Stamping in was easy at the team store. I just had to make sure it was the right stamp and not Pohlman Park. 

We didn't get any food as we were still full from our late lunch. The candy kabobs looked interesting especially since it was a lot of sugar for one person.

It was Poopsy's birthday so there were several area mascots there wishing him a Happy Birthday. Of course I needed a picture with Grimace.

The field is all turf except for the infield dirt which is unusual for a major league or minor league stadium. The game itself was okay. The pitcher for Beloit got hit in the first and second inning by batted balls and stayed. Then got ejected in the third because he didn't like a call in the field. That was probably the most exciting part of the game.

Overall it is a nice park and we would definitely go back. 14 current minor league stadiums down, 106 more to go.