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MLB ROAD TRIP 2001
2001.5.25 <VOL.15> Days 33-40
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*We are in Lexington, KY
Index
1. A lot of firsts
2. Chauffeurs?
3. A wacky museum
4. Rain, rain go away
5. New ballparks in Kentucky
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First, the firsts
It's been a while since I sent the last issue as the last week has been pretty hectic. We have spent every day this week driving to see a game in a new city, so I haven't had much time to get this written. Anyway, this week has seen a lot of firsts on our trip: the first rainout; the first rain delay; the first International and South Atlantic League games, and the first extra-inning game. We also experienced our first independent league game; our first meeting with some players; and our first fried bologna sandwich. So as you can see, we have kept busy trying to experience new and interesting things so we can report them back to you.
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We become chauffeurs
In St. Paul last Friday, we saw the St. Paul Saints against the Duluth-Superior Dukes in a Northern League exhibition game. The website explains in detail why St. Paul is by far the superior baseball experience when compared to the Metrodome in Minneapolis, so I won't go into that here. What made this game particularly interesting for us is that one of the Saints' players is Yuji Nerei, the first Japanese position player to play pro ball in the States. Last year he toiled in the Expos farm system, making it as far as AAA Ottawa (my hometown!) but unfortunately he was released in the off-season. Nerei contacted us while he was in Japan (he found a link to our website and e-mailed us) and asked us to call him when we got to Minneapolis.
The day before we went to the game, Aya phoned him and told him that we were going to Friday's game. He was happy to hear that and when we went to the game next day, he had arranged for a Japanese employee of the Saints, Seigo Masubuchi, to show us around. We got to meet the GM of the club who told us about the differences between indy-league and minor league ball and then we went to meet Nerei who briefly chatted with us and told us that he would meet us after the game. We also found out that the Saints had just signed a Japanese pitcher, Tomohiro Honda, who had been attending a Japanese baseball academy in California.
The Saints won 19-2 and Nerei went 5-5 with a walk. After the game, we waited with Masubuchi-san for Nerei and Honda. Honda appeared first and was pretty quiet. He had just joined the team a couple of days ago, and was still learning English. After a while, Nerei also came out and talked with us about his experiences in minor league ball. He was very happy to be in St. Paul (a nice city) after spending most of last year in Jupiter and Harrisburg (hick towns? - we will visit them later). He said that Ottawa was nice, but there were never any fans - sounds like the Lynx fans have Expositis. It was good to talk to him for a while but as the game had gone on for over 3 hours, it was already past 11 and time to go.
We were ready to head back when Masubuchi-san asked us a favour: could we drive Honda (the pitcher, not the car!) back to his hotel. Since he had just signed, he didn't have a car, a house, or anything yet. I guess in independent league baseball they save money anyway they can, including having their fans drive their players home. We didn't mind helping out, and Aya enjoyed her chance to talk baseball with him. Hopefully he can stick with the Saints - we will follow him throughout the season and let you know what happens.
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Museum of Questionable Medical Devices
We try to visit a variety of sights in each major league city, but after a while, the typical science/history/art museums blend into one. Thankfully in Minneapolis there was a different museum - one dedicated to displaying and explaining over two hundred years of the history of medical fraud. Known as the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, it is located in St. Anthony's Main, on the banks of the Mississippi. It is only one room, but it has an amazing variety of devices that have been used to swindle the gullible who believed that their medical problems could be cured by something other than medicine. A couple of the highlights were the foot-operated breast-enlargement machine, the phrenology machine which does a personality analysis based on the number of bumps on your head, and the radium case, which described in detail the slow death of a man who drank radium-laced water for years in the mistaken assumption it improved his virility.
I can't describe everything here, so please have a look at their website at http://www.mtn.org/quack - it is truly frightening what people will try in order to help themselves. And if you are ever in the Twin Cities, have a look at the museum, there are always new machines coming in.
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Come again another day
On Sunday, we drove back across Wisconsin to Appleton. It rained most of the way, which was to begin our rainy week. On Monday we were planning to see a Midwest league game between Wisconsin and Cedar Rapids but around 11:30 the rains started. The grounds crew was very efficient, and they had the tarp out in no time. The visiting team started sliding around the tarp, arousing the ire of the groundskeeper who asked them to stop - strange to see this older guy chewing out the players. Unfortunately, the rains didn't stop and we had our first rainout - very depressing.
On Tuesday, after enjoying the Miller Breweries free tour (including 3 free beers!) we drove to Chicago to see the Cubs and Reds. The game started on time, but the rains eventually caught up with us and the game was delayed for about 45 minutes. The grounds crew in Chicago is not nearly as good as the one in Appleton - one portly gentleman fell down twice and was covered by the tarp both times. His antics amused the crowd and made the highlights on Sports Center, which tells you the game we saw wasn't that interesting. The good thing about the rain delay is that a number of fans left, which allowed us to sit in good seats for the rest of the game.
Wednesday we drove to Peoria, and the rain was only a drizzle. But the threat of more rain along with unseasonably cold weather kept everyone at home and attendance at the game was a meager 543, the lowest total we have seen yet.
Thursday we were in Louisville to see the Riverbats take on the Syracuse Sky Chiefs, AAA affiliate of my favourite team, the Toronto Blue Jays. For me, it was great to see some of the Jays' top prospects close up, including Vernon Wells who had just been sent down three days previously (and was still experiencing depression, judging from his 0-6 performance). But again the rains came and the game was delayed for over an hour. When it resumed, it was 10:30 and there were about 30 fans left in the park. Aya and I went to sit behind the Chiefs' dugout and Chiefs' pitcher Willie Banks started talking to us - in Japanese! He had spent the last two years in Japan and Aya was very impressed. Later, when a foul ball was hit into the dugout, a Chiefs' player popped his head up and threw the ball to Aya - her second ball on the trip.
When the rain delay ended, Syracuse was leading 6-5 but Louisville tied it up and then the bullpens took over. It was still 6-6 after 9, 10, 11 innings. Syracuse failed to score in the 12th, and the clock inched toward midnight. In the bottom of the 12th, Syracuse sent some guy out to pitch and he must have had a hot date, because he grooved the second pitch he threw and Louisville slugger Raul Gonzalez crushed it to left field. It was hit so hard that the left fielder began his trot to the dugout as soon as the ball left the bat. The game ended 7-6 for Louisville at 11:57 pm, and all remaining 29 Riverbats' fans went home happy, while the 1 remaining Chiefs' fan (me) wondered why the umpire didn't call the game in the 7th when the Chiefs were ahead.
Today is Friday, and we came to Lexington - no rain at all, our first dry day in a week. Tomorrow we head to Cincinnati for two games, so let's hope that we can have a sunny week for a change.
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New ballparks in the new south
Kentucky is famous for horses, chicken, and bluegrass, but having spent two days here, I think it may soon become famous for new ballparks. In 2000, Louisville Slugger Field opened and it is the best minor-league park we have seen so far. On the banks of the Ohio River, the park has two levels, a great view of the city and the river, three scoreboards, lots of seating options, free parking on the street, and of course, good ol' southern hospitality. Good food too, at least if you enjoy fried bologna sandwiches smothered with onions.
Today we saw Applebees Park in Lexington which is a new park this year. It is home to the South Atlantic League's Lexington Legends, an expansion franchise. Fortunately for the fans, minor league expansion teams are immediately competitive and the Legends are very strong at 33-16, including tonight's 11-0 1-hit shutout of the Savannah Sand Gnats (I kid you gnot, that is their nickname). The park is unbelievable - $13 club seats, $15 "super" club seats (remember this is A-ball, where the most expensive ticket is usually $6). When we arrived an hour before game time, there were only bleacher seats left. A far cry from Peoria, where there were maybe 200 fans in the park, Lexington is a city that could support a Double-A team easily, and perhaps even a AAA team. The park has all the amenities, and Aya won another shirt (number 4). But I wonder if you can justify $15 for the level of ball we saw - 14 walks, 3 wild pitches, and two hit batsmen between both teams made this game a long and rather boring affair.
Anyway, we have just seen four games in four days in four cities with two more to come on the Memorial Day Weekend - hope we have something interesting for you all next week.
Talk to you later,
Sean and Aya
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