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Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts
and cracker jack,
I don’t care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for
the home team,
If they don’t win it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes
your out,
At the old ball game.
Hadn’t heard those words sung in an authentic environment for awhile, so I thought it was time to head to the ball game last weekend.
My family and I attended our first TinCaps game of the year at the new Parkview Stadium in downtown Fort Wayne. We joined 3,637 other fans.
Early in the morning, I was worried that the wind gusts pushing 40 mph and the gray, overcast sky might make our first trip to the new stadium a flop. But when we walked into Parkview Field for the first time around 3:45 p.m. Saturday, everything had changed.
By the time we took our $9 seats in Section 105 that were only four rows up from the bottom and right next to the TinCaps dugout, the weather was ideal for a baseball game. The sun had emerged, the wind died down and it wasn’t too hot nor too cold.
If you haven’t been to a TinCaps game yet, put it on your list of things to do this summer. The stadium is beautiful, and I am convinced there is not a bad seat in the whole place. Tickets are reasonably priced, and Parkview Field is just as nice as any stadium I’ve visited.
It’s also a very family-friendly environment. From reasonable entrance and concession prices to a plethora of activities during the game for kids, you won’t go broke and children won’t get bored if they’re too young to love the game.
Unfortunately, my first TinCaps game ended in a 7-1 loss to Peoria. The TinCaps loaded the bases in the first inning with only one out, but they didn’t score. The only run came in the bottom of the ninth inning as we had walked back to the foul posts in hopes of catching a ball before we left. The TinCaps narrowly missed getting shut out for the first time, but that one run that came in the ninth inning with two outs saved them.
We hope the new baseball stadium downtown is a smashing success for Fort Wayne, but we still think the city needs some more restaurants and other entertainment venues near the stadium to make it a hit in years to come once the novelty wears off.
Attending my first baseball game of the season got me thinking about the sport and some of the other games I have attended in my life.
I think one of the most exciting for me was back on Sept. 13, 2004, when I was in California on my way back to Arizona after driving to Alaska. A friend and I decided at the last minute to go to an Oakland vs. Texas game. The A’s were trailing in the bottom of the 10th inning but came back to win on Eric Chavez’s base hit with two outs and bases loaded, a wild 7-6 victory.
It was an amazing game, but also crazy because of some action in the bullpen. A fan started heckling one of the Rangers’ pitchers and the Texas player got mad and threw a chair into the stands at the fan in the ninth inning. The chair hit one fan in the head and then bounced and struck a woman in the face. We saw all the action from our seats as we watched in disbelief. I later heard the woman was treated at a hospital for a broken nose and cuts to her face.
Don’t think I’ve ever been to such a wild baseball game where the players got so angry at the fans.
Speaking of players, I’m also reminded of another interesting baseball experience that happened to me while I was studying in Puerto Rico in 2001.
One of the six students who was studying on the same program with me was from Japan. In September, she had gone to a baseball game in San Juan where she met Hideki Irabu, the former Yankees pitcher from the late 1990s.
He told our friend at that game that if she was ever back in San Juan to call him. Three months later, just before we all returned to the United States, we were back in San Juan, so she decided to call the former Yankee. Much to our surprise, he invited all five of us out to eat at a Japanese restaurant in the capital city.
I took one look at the menu and had some sticker shock at the prices. As a college student far away from home, I was on a tight budget. So, I ordered something cheap, but Irabu kept ordering lots of food and drinks for everyone.
When the bill came, he picked up the tab and told us, through a translator, we could take him out for a steak next time he was in our neck of the woods.
Haven’t seen him since then, but I’d like to be able to pay him back someday, as I know the bill at that Puerto Rican Japanese sushi restaurant was in the hundreds of dollars.
Here’s to a long summer of baseball and more memories!
Maybe I’ll see you at a TinCaps game.
by JUSTIN PEEPER
jdpeeper2@hotmail.com
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