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MLB ROAD TRIP 2003
2003.04.19 <VOL.6> Days 18-21
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Location: Jackson, TN (between Nashville and Memphis)
Day # 21
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My Second Win
My luck with winning contests continued in Lynchburg. As usual, I bought a program and listened throughout the game for announcements of winning numbers. In the 6th inning, the announcement was made - if you had a check mark in your scoresheet insert, you won a prize. Yes! I had a check mark. What thrilling prize would I be going home with tonight? After winning a useless satellite dish in Scranton, I was hoping for something more material. Again I made my way to the customer service booth to claim my prize where I was congratulated. Then I was told: "You have won......3 months of free internet service!" You have got to be kidding.
Needless to say, you need to live in Lynchburg to claim this prize, which was only good with a 1-year contract to begin with. So even if I lived in Lynchburg, I would have to pay for 9 months of internet service. Some prize. I returned to my seat disappointed yet again, wondering if my luck would turn better in the second half of my trip.
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Charlotte, South Carolina
As most of you know, Charlotte is a large city in North Carolina. So it was with some surprise when I left my hotel to go to the ballpark, and found myself entering South Carolina. As it turns out, the ballpark is actually located in Fort Mill, SC, just a couple of miles from the border. I had never seen a game in South Carolina, so I was happy with this turn of events.
The other nice thing about the game in Charlotte, SC was having fellow roadtripper Meg join me. She lives in Greenville, SC about 90 miles southwest of Charlotte. She had been kind enough to edit my website over the past couple of months, letting me know about my spelling and grammatical errors. Her own website, which is mistake-free, is at http://www.geocities.com/meg_minard.
Anyway, Meg met me before the game and we enjoyed a long conversation about our various road tripping experiences. She also keeps score during the game, so I was able to enjoy some food for a change (when I am alone, I don't like to miss the action). The one food item that caught my eye was Fried Twinkies. I inquired as to what these things were, and was informed that they are your normal Hostess Twinkies, dipped in batter and fried, then covered with a thick layer of sugar. For some reason, this appealed to me, so I bought a couple. WHAT WAS I THINKING? Imagine a normal Twinkie, already about 5,000 calories, dipped in batter and fried (+2,000 calories), then covered in sugar (+1,000). After two of these monstrosities (somewhere around 16,000 calories by my calculation) I didn't feel like eating anything else. For about a day. Ugh! I strongly recommend that anyone visiting the ballpark in Charlotte steer clear of the Fried Twinkie Stand.
The game itself was much better - it took only 2:20 as Charlotte won 3-0. Big thanks to Meg for driving up to meet me and keeping me company; too bad the game was so short as we had many more things to talk about.
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My New Friend
As I mentioned earlier, I had enjoyed some good luck with the program contests in terms of winning, but bad luck in terms of prizes. A satellite dish and free internet service were not going to help me. But in Charlotte, things finally changed. In the third inning, the announcer said "Look on page 8 of your program - if your program is signed by blah blah, then you have won something". As you can expect, my program was signed on page 8 by blah blah (sorry, I forget the player's name now). The ad on page 8 was for Carl Buddig, a processed meats company. Yes! I would be getting a pound of salami or something similar. There are many a time during a road trip when one gets a hankering for processed meats, and I looked forward to chowing down during my big drive to Chattanooga the next day. Meg offered to pick up my prize for me, so I let her go to the customer service desk. Unfortunately, she returned not with packaged processed meats, but with a stuffed cow. Not a real cow, of course, I mean a cute little stuffed cow. I was initially disappointed that I would not be enjoying free food (this might explain my decision to try the Twinkies), but after some thought, I realized that I could use the cow on my trip. For those of you who saw the movie "Cast Away" with Tom Hanks, you will remember that Tom made friends with a volleyball, which he called "Wilson", after the sporting goods firm that made the ball. He talked to Wilson in order to stave off insanity during his four years of isolation on a deserted island.
So I have decided to keep the cow and call it Wilson in honour of that movie. I will now be talking to Wilson as I drive the highways and byways of America to stave off insanity myself (doubtless many of you are thinking it is too late for that). Wilson will occupy the passenger seat and will ensure that I don't fall asleep in any of my night drives.
For those of you who are interested, I have put a picture of Wilson here: http://www.mlbroadtrip.com/images/wilson.jpg
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Tennessee Travels
In the 2001 trip, Tennessee was one of two continental states that I didn't visit. Given that there are 8 ball teams here, it was hard to believe that I had missed it. So when the 2003 trip was being planned, I made sure to include 4 parks in Tennessee. The first park was in Chattanooga, a town in the southern part of the state. A great park and a great game made my welcome to the state all the more enjoyable, but what really made me realize that I was in Tennessee was the fans. Normally, when an adult catches a foul ball in the minors, fans will scream "Give it to the kids". But in Chattanooga, when a guy caught a foul ball, one fan screamed "Give it to the young'uns". When the guy complied and handed the ball to a youngster nearby, the fan then yelled "Yeeee-haaaw". Oh yes, I was in Tennessee for sure.
The next stop was Nashville, capital of Tennessee. I arrived quite late, as I drove from Chattanooga after the game, reaching my hotel at 12:30 am. The next day I slept in and then took a leisurely tour around the Tennessee Capitol, a beautiful sight with views of the surrounding countryside as well as a nearby state park that is a good place to just relax. I then went off to the game, arriving nearly 2 hours before game time, at 5:15. I was surprised that there were so few people in the parking lot, and that there was no one taking money for parking. I then walked to the ticket windows, which were closed. I saw another man walk into the stadium, since the gates were open, so I walked in as well. There were no fans in the place at all, and Nashville was taking batting practice. This puzzled me as well - the home team usually takes BP 2 hours before the game. I then noticed the clock on the scoreboard - it read 4:33. I asked an usher if that was the correct time, and he looked at me kind of strange. "Yes, that's right", he replied. I then realized what had happened. I had driven into the Central Time Zone from Chattanooga, gaining an hour. I had completely forgotten about it! Since arriving at my hotel the night before, I had not checked a clock, and so had not figured it out.
Instead of being 2 hours early, I had arrived at the park nearly 3 hours before game time. Amazingly, the stadium was open so I just sat down in the hot afternoon sun and watched BP, read my baseball newspaper, and enjoyed the smell of freshly popped popcorn wafting through the stadium. As close to heaven as you can get.
Even more amazing, not one person asked me what I was doing there, 3 hours before the game - they must have thought I was a scout or member of the press, since I had my camera and scorebook. I certainly wasn't complaining. I had free parking and free entrance to the game! All because I was too dumb to remember the time zone!
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Lucky Autographs?
One of the things that I don't have time to do when at the game is to get autographs. I usually spend the time before the game wandering around the park, taking pictures and noting the different features. But sometimes I end up in the right place at the right time. For example, I was taking pictures of the Yankees warming up in Toronto, and Raul Mondesi walked by, so I had him sign my scorecard from the night before. The Yankees went on to win that game.
In San Juan, a similar event occurred. I was taking pictures at field level when Jose Vidro, a Puerto Rico hero, came over to sign some autographs. Because it was still early, there wasn't a big crowd, but they still had stadium staff between Vidro and the fans to control things. Vidro signed several autographs while I snapped some close-ups. The lady who was handing him balls and other paraphernalia to sign looked at me strangely - "Don't you want an autograph?" she asked, implying that I would be an idiot to pass up this opportunity to get local legend Jose Vidro to sign. So I passed her my scorebook and Vidro signed the scorecard from the night before.
Later on, I got Scott Stewart (one of the nicest players around, he signed for everybody that asked and talked to each kid) and Jose Macias, a couple of Expos. But the big one was Expos' GM Omar Minaya, who has managed to put together a good team with a limited budget. When I told him I was from Ottawa, he was surprised, and asked if I was enjoying myself. Gee, Omar, 85 degrees in San Juan versus snow in Ottawa, what do you think? (Of course, I didn't say that). But after getting 4 Expo autographs, the Expos went on to win.
So I was beginning to think that my autographs were lucky. In Chattanooga, I was taking pictures when a couple of Carolina Mudcats came over to sign autographs for the gentleman beside me. Both players (Ryan Jorgensen and Josh Wilson) were in the line-up that night, so I got them to sign the scoresheet. I wondered if Carolina would win to keep the lucky streak alive. Well, after two innings, Chattanooga led 7-0, and it looked like the lucky autographs were not. But Carolina chipped away and in the ninth inning, both Wilson and Jorgensen got critical hits to lead the Mudcats to a 10-7 victory.
In Nashville, I decided to put the lucky autograph theory to the ultimate test. Nashville was 12-1 and hadn't lost at home yet after 8 games. So I got two Memphis Redbirds to sign my scorebook, including So Taguchi, a Japanese player who came to the U.S. in 2002, but has yet to stick with the St. Louis Cardinals. I figured if Memphis won, then I would be taking my scorebook to Detroit to help out the 1-14 Tigers. And Memphis got off to a quick 2-0 start with 3 doubles on the first four pitches. But after that, their bats grew quiet. Meanwhile, Nashville tied it at 2 in the 3rd, then won it with 4 runs in the 8th, and so the lucky autograph theory died. But the good news is that Nashville pitcher John Wasdin struck out 10, so everyone in attendance got a coupon for a free hamburger! Free food! Finally!
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Chattanooga Klutzes
I have determined through strict scientific sampling that Chattanooga, in addition to being one of the stranger names in the U.S., is also the klutziest city. At the baseball game, there were about 1,000 fans at the park, and at least 10 of them had casts or braces of some sort. I then saw two individuals stumble while climbing the stairs. One lady just about took a face plant into the cement, but she was saved by her boyfriend, who caught her just in time. Clearly, he knew the reputation of the city and was paying close attention. Then the girl sitting a couple of seats away tried to climb through the railing to the walkway, and of course, slipped and banged her head on the railing, much to her embarrassment. She was OK, wounded pride and nothing more, but I decided that I would be driving real carefully when I left Chattanooga after the game. Interestingly, when arriving in the city around rush hour, I heard the traffic report which described about 4 wrecks in the area - I guess people here can't walk OR drive.
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Other Comments
Four more delightful days in Tennessee, then up to Cincinnati for the new Great American Ballpark. Indianapolis on the weekend (no NBA playoffs, unfortunately) and after that, only one week left. It goes by so quickly, but I am having a lot of fun, and hope you are all too.
See you next time,
Sean http://www.mlbroadtrip.com/english