The Memorial Day '07 trip was inspired solely by the adventures of Petey Pab's (PP) actions the first weekend of April. PP ran down the leg of the Ohio to the puddle of a city most call Cincinnati to watch our fearless Pirates do battle with the lowly Red Stockings. the game time temp for PP's game was below freezing and I was not man enough to risk such daunting weather. Instead, I opted for a trip of my own in the last weekend of may. With that I hopped in my car for a trip that would hit Cincinnati, Detroit and Cedar Point. Hearing horror stories of Detroit, and being a scared, gutless white boy, I opted to cut the Detroit leg of the trip off at Toledo. Holy Toledo, Batman, they have a minor league team there! So the trip was planned as such:
May 25 1:00 PM Run out of work
May 25 7:10 PM Pirates v Reds
May 26 7 PM Watch the Toledo Mudhens do battle
May 27 10 AM hit Cedar Point Hard
It was an aggressive schedule. Due to a late departure and the traffic hiccup in Wheeling, we were more than 45 minutes behind schedule when we got to Cincy, so we didn't have the luxury of parking across the river and walking to the park. Instead we parked in a $10 lot (Not a bad price to pay for team owned parking) and walked the two city blocks to the park. We were heckled on the way in by several street vendors and fans, and In a statement that might ring true for the class of Cincinnati, a bum heckled us right before asking for money. Due to the time, and some extremely full batters, we did not waste time getting into the park. Not walking around the exterior of the park was probably one of the few regrets of the trip.
In hindsight, it would have been worth peeing outside on the stadium itselfThe main (home plate) entrance to The Great American Ballpark was very nice. A plaza filled with gardens and statues led the way to the gate.
Stupid Reds fans being led to the slaughterThe ticket taker pleaded with "us" to take it easy on the Reds. I laughed, he obviously did not know our offense was anemic. Looking at how the Pirates busted out in that series, I'm thinking about going back and asking that ticket taker for stock tips... or to be the GM on my next fantasy baseball team. The main corridor inside the park was very wide, very nice and designed for fans to easily watch the game from.
All of the exposed white steel made me think I was waiting
in line for a rollercoaster, not going to get a hot dog.This is the one area that the "Great American Ballpark" lived up to its name. PNC is great, but the price we paid for it being a small park and everyone being close to the action is very small corridors. The restroom facilities were on par with what you get in the newer stadiums. Everyone was starved, but we took the time to tour the entire first level. I was amazed at how much red I saw in the park. I also noticed just how young the fan base was. more than 60% of those in attendance were under the age of 30. This might have been due to exceptional weather or the cheap $5 tickets available and the promotion that students get 1/2 off tickets. The rest of the ticket prices were much more expensive than what you would find at PNC. Regardless, the fans were young and the ladies were consistantly very attractive. Easily the most attractive of the parks I have visited.
The Greatest American Hero would agree aboutthe hot ladies... if he wasn't so gayGame time was approaching and we were in dire need of dinner so we headed to our seats in the upper deck. Two escalators up (one of which did not work) got us to the top level, which was slightly wider than what we are accustomed to at PNC. The workers at the GAP were all very friendly in a genuine 1950s kind of way, not a 2000s good customer service way. I tried out the Big Red Dog and a pretzel. The dog was good, the Pretzel was larger than Adam Dunn. I've never seen a pretzel this massive. Unfortunately it was not as good as it looked. The concession prices were on par with what we have at PNC, but the nachos portion seemed smaller.
We hit our seats, high in the upper deck, to take in the action. My immediate thought was we were further from the field than if I were in the same seats at PNC. Even though they left most of the outfield open so you can see the river, the view was pretty bad. They would have been better off putting the park across the river in Kentucky.
The fans of Cincy don't have anything to look at
during the game... I'm including the play on the fieldFunny enough, a salesman at Hat World in the local mall told us the same thing the next day as he was ranting and raving about his recent trip to PNC and how wonderful the view is at PNC and how crappy it is when you shop at the GAP. That's when I noticed that the architects were not without some imagination and found a way for those in the OF to view downtown. They might have run out of money and could not have afforded to build the final section of the park. They might have been embracing the GAP name of the park and left a gap in the stands. Whatever the reason, it looks stupid and it is the reason so many balls jump out of the park.
Where did sections 519, 419, 319 and my luxury box go?Wind blows through this gap and creates a baseball highway with the only exit being the outfield seats. Jason Bay and Professor X sent balls down this highway while we were there. When a Reds hitter takes one out, the steamboat stacks in left center shoot off flares and smoke. In the circles at the bottom of the stacks the players name and HR distance are displayed.
The red out had injected color splashes of bright yellow. These would be the numerous vendors hovering around the stands like annoying bees. I was very surprised to see that almost all in the upper deck were young kids, which was a throw back to the days of Forbes field when kids would do the in stands selling.
Contest, how many vendors can you find in this picture
once you get past your underarm fetish and notice there
is more to the picture than just unsweaty pits??
The Reds sent their mascot up to the upper deck to surprise a 6 year old on his birthday.
It was a pretty nice gesture.
The scoreboard quality and stats provided was pathetic. We are spolied at PNC. The animations for when players came to bat often froze and skipped and were very cheesy.... lame. They had a digital race of their mascots with nothing tying in on the field... lame. During the 5th inning base swap and field drag, the Reds ground crew did their best yankee Stadium ground crew impersonation with YMCA... lame. They played the song "shout" during one of the inning breaks and with each "shout" a reds player, in a very gay way, shouted "shout" on the video board..very lame!
Better than "Hang on Snoopy" I guessCome the 8th inning we descended from our porch to walk around the park again to see what its like during the game. Awesome views from the wide concourse area. We checked out the game area, which is in the same place as food plaza in right field at PNC, just a larger patio area. PNC definitely would have benefitted from this. GAP's river walk area, like most of the park, lack's any personality. We watched the rest of the game from the patio area just behind the right field foul pole. As the Pirates piled on the extra inning runs the packed patio are slowly became less and less crowded.
Once the game was over it was fireworks time. Or so we thought. 30 minutes after the game had finished they finally started setting off a very weak fireworks display. They were set off from what would be the equivalent of the walkway by the river behind PNC. You might recall how there is vegetation between the walk way and the park? Same holds true for the GAP. You might recall that vegetation is flammable. Same holds true for that at the GAP. 5 minutes into the display the trees behind the park caught on fire and the fire department showed up. 7 minutes into the display the entire seating area had filled with the residual smoke from the fireworks. It got so bad that it was impossible to see second base from left field. Several fans ran across the field b/c no one could see them. They stupidly forgot there was no where to run to. About this time we realized that the ashes from the fireworks were walling on us so we left.
Cincy was a nice place to visit. The ballpark and the team has nothing to brag about, especially not their fireworks. Of the new parks I have been too, this is certainly the worst of the bunch. So that now leaves my master list:
PNC
Wrigley
Fenway
Camden Yads
Yankee
Minute Made
The Jake
GAP
Three Rivers
The Montreal Experiment
The next afternoon we were our way up to Toledo to catch the Toledo Mudhens play Columbus.
I thought it was a stupid name for a bank. Its an incrediblystupid name for a baseball park!
From the highway to the park is only about 2 blocks and it seemed like a very nice neighborhood. We parked for an awesome $3 right across from the stadium. I love minor league baseball and minor leage prices! Tickets were $8 for any seat in the park and we got picnic table seating in the outfield, which was all that was available.
The game must have been sold out due to the high school
home run derby contest that was to take place
immediately following the game.We grabbed the tickets and took our time walking around the park. Unfortunately, the park is small and this did not kill the remaining 45 minutes we had until the gates opened. From the exterior it was obvious this park was new and designed very nice.
The exterior resembled the park down in Houston. Each gate had a nice cast iron gate with the Mudhen logo. An abandoned warehouse was incorporated in the park as a part of the right field area, more like what PNC has in left and not so much like the Baltimore warehouse. Inside this warehouse is the team store, a restaurant and all of the team's offices. The team store was the best I have ever seen. They had a great variety of team appearl and hats. everything was affordable and fashionable. It was very tough not to walk out of there with a $70 jersey.
Once inside it was great to see how fans at a mionor league game interact. They all knew each other. It was a small town feel, but in a very modern park. The price for food was not very minor league, however. A meatball or smoked kielbasa sandwhich was $5. Nachos were tiny, but still commanded a $4 price tag. I got a "muddy dog" (chili and shreded cheese) for $3. It was easily the best chili dog i had ever had, but the price was still high. Pop was on par with prices you would find at PNC.
Our picnic table sized slice of heavenWe hunkered down at one of the few covered (by a party tent) picnic tables in left center and waited out the approaching rain. During the delay we got to see the Mudhens two mascots, Muddy and Mudonna.
After an hour delay, the game got underway. I was disappointed with the in game entertainment... typically minor leagues have funny/cheesy stuff, but this was run more like a professional game. The two scoreboard were utilized nicely and gave the feel of a major league game.
For the last 5 innings we watched the game from behind the right field foul poul. Blowout win, sloppy play, all you expect at a minor league game.
After the game the two high school sluggers took the field. The first kid had nothing. Nothing in his stance, swing, or physique indicated that he could hit a HR. Sure enough, the best he could do was fall 15 feet short of the the 320 sign down the left field line. He put up his 12 outs and sulked off the field. The other slugger took the field and you could tell he meant business. It took him 2 swings just to make contact and a third before he put a ball in fair territory. He took a shot at the center field fence, but the warning track is as close as he came to poking one out. With that we were off. On the way out we got to see their fireworks, which were not too bad.
If you get the chance, this is a nice park to visit. Also, if you are ever near Cedar Point you have to stop. They have some of the best roller coasters in the world. The Top Thrill Dragster was an absolute rush and their new coaster Maveric will have you wondering what is coming next.
Good weekend... time to plan the next trip.
The numbers lied, loser.
