Baseball Summer

My spouse and I managed to visit 4 ballparks this summer, taking in 2 minor league games and a Cincinnati Reds game, plus we visited a ballpark used by the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League decades ago. 

These are ordered in reverse chronological order. The first 2 photos are from an August 20 game in Louisville between the Bats and the visiting Omaha Storm Chasers. Omaha is a KC Royals affiliate and a friend had nabbed some free tickets (they were excellent!)

As shown on the big screen, outfielder Drew Waters played in his last minor league game prior to his August 22 promotion to KC -- and it was Captain Marvel night at the ballpark. Omaha won 10-6, Waters was on base 4 times with 2 singles and 2 walks. 

Side note: I'm working with a graduate student writing about Captain America's films. 

I've been to Slugger Field many times. In fact, I went to 4 games in 2021, so this season has not been as active a year locally. As I went to 3 last September, I still have some time. 

                

These next 2 photos were taken Sunday June 26 at Four Winds Field in South Bend, IN. We took in the South Bend Cubs game versus the Peoria Chiefs, which the Cubs won 10-7. Pictured at right is leadoff hitter centerfielder Pete Crow Armstrong, one of the Cubs top prospects. He was actually the NY Mets top draft pick in 2020 and came over in the Javy Baez trade in July 2021. 

Earlier that week, on Monday June 20, we had a picnic lunch at Marsh Field in Muskegon, MI. As noted above, this was an original park for the professional women's team that played there after World War II. Earlier this summer I read Lois Browne's book Girls of Summer about the league and of course "A League of Their Own" is a fine baseball film. 

Finally, back on June 9, we went up to Cincy for an early Reds day game against the Diamondbacks. Thanks are due to my daughter Cate as she had given me a gift certificate voucher as a gift.

The Reds lost 5-4, wasting a fine pitching performance from Tyler Mahle (10 strikeouts in 6 IP with only 1 ER allowed) and an early 3-0 lead. Typically for this year's Reds unit, the bullpen gave up 4 runs in the 9th inning. Josh Rojas (pictured on the screen) hit the go-ahead 2 run single in the 9th and scored the decisive 5th run (rendering the Mark Reynolds HR in the bottom of the 9th moot).

It was fun being back at a major league ballpark and our seats were fantastic. 

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