The Baseball Trip 2022

Day 3    Wednesday, June 29

Onward to Traverse City, Michigan ,where we encounter again - you guessed it - the Pit Spitters! They have traveled home hoping to erase the memory of last night's loss to the Battle Jacks.

The game was close for six and 1/2 innings, tied 1-1. But the Pit Spitters broke it open in the bottom of the seventh for a 5-2 victory. The winning pitcher, Derek Clark, tossed nine strikeouts and is now the North Woods League's strikeout leader. It was impressive.

Some pix from the park, Turtle Creek Stadium:

Front entrance.

Left field seats toward home plate.

Toward left field.

Left-center scoreboard.

Me and the mascot, Monty. He is described as a blue, furry creature who grew up in the nearby cherry orchards. I need a Marvel origin story. 

Right field toward home plate. By the way, love the architecture of this stadium. One of the workers told me that those suites sell out for concerts faster than any ball game. And for more money.

Favorite City: Stronach, MI.

Favorite Signs: Lock Up Marijuana!

                          Redneck Yacht Club (Apparently a lot of rednecks up here?)

                          Welcome to Mentone - Egg Basket to the World.

Signs of the Rapture - 1 - Jesus is Risen.

Injury Lawyer Billboards - 1

Random Observation from Randy: Those Amish women do look kinda cute in those little bonnets.

Next: Green Bay Wisconsin.

The Baseball Trip

Day 2    Tuesday, June 28

So we are off to Battle Creek, Michigan.

We had breakfast at Liz's Parkview Café. Lots of good reviews. Breakfast for 2: $45.00.

Random Observation from Randy: I don't think we'll be visiting Liz again any time soon.

So it's the Battle Creek Battle Jacks(good name) against the Traverse City Pit-Spitters. That's right, the Pit-Spitters. Cherry orchard country. Batte Creek led the whole way, winning 7-4 in a game much more lop-sided than the score indicated.

Some pictures from the park (C. O. Brown Stadium at MCUU Field).

                                                            \From left field stands.

                                                      Left -center field scoreboard.

Not a lot of interesting ballpark features. The mascot big-timed me as well, so here's another of wacko Jack from Kokomo:

That night we camped at a state park nearby...very nice on the lake!

Favorite sign: Slocum Ditch

Things we can't hang around for: Fish Fry in Gilead, IN.

Favorite Cities: Jimtown, IN

                          Waupecongin, IN

                          White Pigeon, MI

Injury Lawyer Billboards - 2

Signs of the coming Rapture - 2  Are You Ready to Meet Jesus?

                                                        You are forgiven - tell them Jesus has dropped the charges.

Random Observation from Randy: He has a Trump flag on his house. His children will laugh at him.

Another Random Observation from Randy:  Ray's Auto Parts is doing incredible business today...selling drugs out the back door.

Tomorrow: Traverse City, MI

 The Baseball Trip 2022

Day 1    Monday, June 27

The idea this year was to travel back to the west coast and pick up the major league parks we missed in 2018 -Seattle and Oakland. Gas prices put the kibosh on that. We settled for a Midwest/Lakes tour of the Northwoods League. According to Wikipedia (a trusted source), "The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. The league is amateur, and players are not paid, so as to maintain their college eligibility. Graduated senior pitchers are also eligible to play in the Northwoods League. Each team may have four of these players at a time." So yeah, big-time.

Along the way we like to count things to amuse ourselves amidst the corn and soybeans. In the past we have counted Confederate flags, women on riding mowers, Walmarts, war memorials with artillery, and other signs of the apocalypse. This year we are counting injury lawyer billboards and signs warning of the coming Rapture.

First stop is Kokomo, Indiana, which didn't much sound like the North Woods, but whatever. The Kokomo Jackrabbits were facing the Kalamazoo Growlers. The Growlers got off to a fast start, but the Rabbits kept fighting back. It wasn't enough, as the jackrabbits fell to the Growlers, 9-6.

Here are some pictures from the stadium:

Paid attendance: 507.

Behind home plate.

 

                                                             Me with the mascot, Jack.

                                                                    From left field berm.

                                                                  Behind home plate.

                                                                 Center field scoreboard

                                                  Weird wall jutting out toward the foul line.

By the way, the whole shtick of the mascot is to act like a real jackrabbit. Supposedly, jackrabbits will stand up on their hind legs and box you Like a rodent version of a kangaroo. Honest to God, all this guy did all game was punch people. And they all get the gag! They punch him back! It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. (At a ballgame).

Favorite signs: You are beautiful!

                           Quick and confidential STD testing

                           Redneck Pyros!

Favorite City: Toto, IN

Things we cannot hang around for: Ice Cream Social, Greentown, IN

Injury lawyers -2

Rapture messages - 1 Jesus is Coming!

Random Observation from Randy: We'll count that billboard, but they didn't put their pictures on it. I can't trust my injury lawyers if they won't put their pictures up there.

One last note: We saw a student driver semi. Never seen that before. Kinda scary.

Next: Battle Creek, MI