Baseball Stadiums: LoanMart Field

It's spring time, which means two things in my life: the start of baseball season and the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting.  This year I got to combine the two for my trip to Los Angeles, Calif.

After booking my flight to arrive the day before the conference so I could visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, I decided to attend a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes game.

A week before my trip, I saw that the Quakes were running a promotion on their Facebook fan page that would allow the winner to throw out a ceremonial first pitch as the Social Media Monday winner.  I posted many times, but I think that my last post probably clinched the win.

"I've got tickets for April 9, but I've never seen a California League game before.  My students at Oklahoma State University want to see me get a photo with Tremor, but I'd like to one-up them by getting a picture of me throwing out the first pitch!" - the winning entry

I didn't deliver a strike, but I'm happy with my pitch.

I also got a photo with Robbie Garvey, who picked the ball out of the dirt.

Me with Robbie Garvey and the ball he dug out of the dirt.

Three recreational softball fields flank LoanMart Field, which had been The Epicenter until just a few days before the Quakes' season opener.  With the stadium changing names just before the start of the season there was not a lot of signage celebrating the new name, but I did not find any signage for the old stadium name either.  Palm tree flank the main entrance, but nothing screams for the spectator's attention.

Main entrance to LoanMart Field.

I had great seats in the fifth row behind home plate, so I was able to snag this amazing photo of the action.

It was not easy selecting a unique food item to enjoy at the stadium because the only unique encased meat was a Dodger Dog.  While talking with the concessions staff I stumbled upon a uniquely California item: a tri-tip sandwich.  Tri-tip is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin that is typically served as a roast, but in my case was shredded onto a bun and served with barbecue sauce.  It was delicious, although somewhat fatty.  I washed the sandwich down with a local craft brew from Hangar 24.  The only choice at the stadium was the Orange Wheat, which blended perfectly with the tri-tip and had a fantastic zest of its own.

Shredded tri-tip sandwich with barbecue sauce.

Maybe it's the geographer in me, but it was really awesome to see the fault lines in the jersey numbers of the Quakes players and staff.  I know the team tries to push the boundaries with its logo choices and I appreciate that the club plays up its name in almost every way possible.

Quakes batting coach Jay Washington (#15) with Angelo Songco (#22) following what turned out to be the game-winning hit.

I never planned to make it a habit of getting my photograph with team mascots, but I feel like it's become expected of me considering that students asked if I was going to get a photo with the mascot before going on my trip to California.  So here's my obligatory photo with Tremor, the mascot for the Quakes.

Me with Tremor after I threw out the first pitch.

Overall, I had a great time at LoanMart Field with the Quakes.  The customer service was excellent from purchasing tickets over the phone to winning Social Media Monday to throwing out a ceremonial first pitch to receiving some Quakes cash to eating a delicious sandwich and drinking a thirst-quenching beer to watching an entertaining mascot dance on top of the dugout to leaving the stadium following a 1-0 win for the home team over the Modesto Nuts.

LoanMart Field scoreboard after the home team's victory.