Baseball Stadiums: MiLB Mascot Mania

A few weeks ago, I mentioned write a post about my experiences with Minor League Baseball mascots.  After taking some time to gather my photographs and put things into a spreadsheet, I can report that I have photographs with 22 MiLB team mascots over the past four seasons.

I've had my picture taken with mascots at almost all levels: Triple-A, Double-A, Class A Advanced, and Class A.  I do not have any pictures with me and mascots from Class A Short-Season or Rookie level teams.

My first photograph with a mascot happened by circumstance.  In 2011, I attended a Tacoma Rainiers game will in Seattle for the AAG Annual Meeting.  I don't remember the situation, but I was exploring the stadium when Rhubarb the Reindeer walked by, and I jumped on the chance to get my photo taken with him.

Me with Rhubarb the Reindeer.

Although I have been attending MiLB games since the early 1990s, I never sought out photo opportunities with mascots until 18 months ago.  I was teaching in the geography department at Oklahoma State University, and decided to add some life to my first day of class slides and incorporated photos of me with mascots.  If students guessed where I was based upon the picture they got a bonus point, and it helped me learn names with faces, too.

So the first time I did that, I included the my photo with Rhubabr and some others that I accumulated during the 2012 season.  In order, I got photos with the Arkansas Travelers mascot Shelly (put out to pasture since the team's rebranding in 2014), the Montgomery Biscuits mascot Big Mo, and the Memphis Redbirds mascot Rockey the Rockin' Redbird.

Me with Shelly at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Me with Big Mo at Riverwalk Stadium.

Me with Rockey the Rockin' Redbird.

During the Spring 2013 semester before I went to Los Angeles for the AAG Annual Meeting, I had a student ask if I was going to get my picture taken with any mascots at the games I planned to attend.  That's when something that started by happenstance turned into a hunt to get my picture with as many mascots as possible.

On that trip, I attended two Minor League games and got my picture with Tremor from the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and Thunder from the Lake Elsinore Storm.

Me with Tremor at LoanMart Field.

Me with Thunder at the Lake Elsinore Diamond.

During the summer, I visited the Dayton Dragons while in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the AP Human Geography Reading.  So I got my picture taken with all three of the team's mascots: dragons Gem and Heater, and Wink, an ogre.

Me with Gem and Heater during a rain delay at Fifth Third Field.

Me with Wink at Fifth Third Field.

Before my move from Oklahoma to Alabama, I did some sightseeing in in the Ozarks and got my picture taken with the both mascots for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, Strike and Sinker, and the Springfield Cardinals duo: Louie and Fetch.

Me with Strike at Arvest Ballpark.

Me with Sinker the Lake Creature at Arvest Ballpark.

Me with Louie at Hammons Field.

An extreme closeup of me with Fetch at Hammons Field.

During the 2014 season, I got nine pictures with mascots from eight teams.  The first three mascots I saw came during the AAG Annual Meeting in Tampa, Fla.  I got pictures with Phinley from the Clearwater Threshers, Marty from the Bradenton Marauders, and Blue from the Tampa Yankees.

Phinley try to eat me at Bright House Field.

Me with Marty at McKechnie Field.

Me with Blue at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

After the AP Human Geography Reading I made two stops on my way back south, and saw the Bowling Green Hot Rods and Nashville Sounds.  I got photos with both mascots from the Hot Rods, Axle the Bear and Roscoe the Grease Monkey, and I got a picture with the Sounds' mascot Ozzie.

Me with Axle the Bear at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Me with Roscoe the Grease Monkey at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Me with Ozzie at Herschel Greer Stadium.

In July, I went to a Gwinnett Braves game and got my photo with their mascot, Chopper.  I had been to a G-Braves game prior to this season, but did not get a picture with the groundhog.  So I made sure to my picture with him this time.

Me with Chopper at Coolray Field.

In early August, I made a trip through the Tennessee River Valley and visited the Chattanooga Lookouts and Huntsville Stars.  The primary purpose of the trip was a reunion with former Stars coworkers, as the team has been sold and is supposed to move to Biloxi for the 2015 season.  While I had been to a Lookouts game at AT&T Field many years ago, I had not blogged about my experience and wanted to be sure I got my photo with the Lookouts mascot Looie.  With the Stars set to move, I felt compelled to get my photo with Homer the Polecat.

Me with Looie at AT&T Field before I competed in musical chairs.

Me with Homer the Polecat at Joe W. Davis Stadium.

I have a few places in mind that I hope to visit in 2015, but it's too early to predict how much I may get to travel next season.  I know that I will be in the Chicago area in late April for the AAG Annual Meeting, but many Minor League teams have yet to release their 2015 schedules.  Closer to home, I'm hopeful that I can see the minor league teams in Georgia and Alabama that I have not visited yet, which would add four teams to my tally and theoretically six mascots to my picture collection.

Baseball Stadiums: 2013 Final Recap

With minor league baseball's regular season officially over, it is time to recap the baseball stadiums I visited this year.  In the spring, I visited three ballparks in California (LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga, Angel Stadium of Anaheim in Anaheim, and Lake Elsinore Diamond in Lake Elsinore).  I was able to visit those stadiums because I attended the 2013 AAG Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

Although I had been to many games at ONEOK Field in Tulsa, Okla., I finally documented my experience with photographs and a write-up with a visit in May.  This summer I visited two new ballparks: Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Ark., and Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.  Those stadiums were the highest on my list to visit this year because I have moved from Oklahoma, and wanted to catch a game at those parks before I left the region.

I'm currently living in Alabama, so I'm planning to visit a few ballparks within a four-hour drive by the end of next summer.  I'm aiming to visit Mobile's Hank Aaron Stadium (home of the Mobile BayBears), Pensacola's Pensacola Bayfront Stadium (home of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos), and Birmingham's Regions Field (home of the Birmingham Barons).  I have attended games at Joe W. Davis Stadium (home of the Huntsville Stars), but have not documented my experience.  So that stadium is also on my list.

I'll also be attending the 2014 AAG Annual Meeting in Tampa, Fla., in April, and hope to visit a few Florida ballparks while I'm there.  Right now, I don't know what stadiums I may get to visit because I have not seen the 2014 schedules yet.

I've also made a change to my Google map, and removed college stadiums.  I decided to remove college ballparks because the data about the stadiums is inconsistent, and I felt that I should create a map featuring all the college sports venues where I have seen a contest.

Here my current baseball stadium tally:

• MLB = 20 (13 active)
• AAA = 9 (8 active)
• AA = 17 (13 active)
• High A = 2
• Low A = 3 (1 active)
• Short-Season A = 6 (5 active)
• Independent = 5 (4 active)
• Spring Training = 10 (9 active)

As of this post, I have seen professional baseball games (including Spring Training) in 27 states, the District of Columbia, and one province.  The only new state I added this year was California, as I have previously seen games in Arkansas (2012) and Missouri (2008).

Baseball Stadiums: Arvest Ballpark

At the beginning of the summer I set a goal of watching games at three minor league ballparks.  I recently moved out of my apartment in Stillwater, Okla., and incorporated two stadium visits into my trip.  On the way from Georgia to Oklahoma, I stopped in Northwest Arkansas to do some sightseeing and saw my first game at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Ark., home of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

Like many stadiums built in suburbia, an expansive parking lot surrounds Arvest Ballpark.  The city built the stadium in hopes of spurring development in the area, but so far nothing has arisen near the intersection of South 56th Street and Watkins Avenue.  Across from the stadium there is a sign welcoming people to Springdale that says "Home of Tyson and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals."

Main entrance.

The stadium's location on the outskirts of town not far from I-540 means the backdrop for games isn't a towering city skyline or a set of scenic mountains.  With those limitations in place, the Naturals did a good job of providing a pleasing backdrop.  There is plenty of berm seating, especially on a Monday night, a good scoreboard, and the trees beyond incorporated into the batter's eye provide a break from an otherwise bland backdrop.

First pitch with an endorsement of the team's Twitter handle: @nwaNaturals.

There are two notable food items served at Arvest Ballpark.  The best known is the funnel dog, which was the Naturals' featured item in MiLB.com's Food Fight contest earlier in 2013.  The funnel dog is similar to a corn dog, but the the dog is deep fried in funnel cake batter instead of the traditional corn-based batter.  The funnel dog is also an item that MiLB.com writer Ben Hill ate and recommended following his visit to the ballpark.  I opted to eat the funnel dog with just the confectionery sugar as a complement.  In hindsight I should've tried finding an appropriate dipping sauce for the dog, but the dog seemed to have been grilled before it was deep fried in funnel cake batter which gave it a slightly smoky flavor.

Funnel Dog.

Where can you buy the funnel dog?  Only one place at Arvest Ballpark serves them up:

Home of the Funnel Dog.

The other recommended food item was the BBQ nachos, which I admittedly did not want to try because I've found that a handful of ballparks (Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, Pringles Park in Jackson, Tenn., AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tenn., Regions Park in Hoover, Ala.) in the Southeast carry them.  So while they might be delicious, they are not as unique as some are led to believe.  However, the funnel dog was not sufficient for dinner so I needed to get something more to eat.  Due to the recommendation, I opted for the BBQ nachos, and I was not disappointed.

BBQ Nachos, which features pulled pork, sweet BBQ sauce, nacho cheese, avocado sour cream, red and yellow bell peppers, and chives.

Although I had a difficult time finding a craft brew from Arkansas at the stadium, the Naturals have a concession stand that serves nothing but craft beers.  I opted to skip the craft brew selection and enjoyed a Shiner Bock with my nachos.

The Craft Beer Corner, home of Arvest Ballpark's craft brew choices.

Another unique feature of games at Arvest Ballpark is Ruby, a 13-year-old black Labrador Retriever.  According to Ben Hill's piece, she comes to the stadium with groundskeeper Monty Sowell.  If I hadn't read about her beforehand I would've been quite confused, and I still don't understand her role considering that she comes onto the field when the grounds crew manicures the infield.  Granted, it's a dog's life and she seems quite happy.

Ruby watching her human companion work on the infield dirt.

Although the stadium opened in 2008, the designers (Populous) and team did not create a retro stadium reminiscent of the jewel box ballparks (Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and others).  Instead it's a very crisp, modern ballpark with all the necessary amenities fans expect at new minor league stadiums.  The sleek design of the stadium is clear when you view the grandstand from the outfield.

The visiting Arkansas Travelers taking the field.

Many minor league teams now feature multiple mascots, and I was able to capture a photo with both mascots for the Naturals: Strike the Sasquatch and Sinker the Lake Creature.

Me with Strike.

Sinker was the Naturals nominee for MiLB.com's Mascot Mania contest, which saw it's league round conclude on Aug. 1.  So I bagged two mascots, although I was unable to get them together in the same photo.

Me with Sinker the Lake Creature.

Arvest Ballpark lived up to expectations on a Monday night.  The crowd was sedate and the stadium location lacked any sort of ambiance or charm.  It was easy to reach the ballpark, but the lack of any restaurants or bars or any sort of local entertainment across the street from the stadium diminishes the fan experience.

However, the atmosphere inside the ballpark makes up for the surroundings.  The gift shop has a huge selection of items.  The concession stands offer the standard ballpark fare, but features a few unique items that separate Arvest Ballpark from other minor league stadiums.  One funnel dog may not be enough for dinner, but it's an excellent item that every fan should sample.  While I cannot say the BBQ nachos are totally unique, they are certainly delicious.  I could've eaten just the nachos for my meal and been quite full, so fans get their money's worth.

Ultimately, the visit to Arvest Ballpark was very good.  My stadium visit was complete: first pitch photo behind home plate,local encased meat on a bun, photo with mascot(s), and overly enthusiastic fan who needs a heavy duty camera.

Whether it's an iPhone or a heavy duty camera, this pair didn't miss a moment.