Three trips to Wisconsin to three different stadiums
Wisconsin Timberrattlers (T-Rats)
Thus was a longer trip – three-hour plus drive to Appleton, WI to see the T-Rats. They are fellow members of the Midwest League with the Sky Carp and are affiliated with the home-state Milwaukee Brewers, giving them some promotional leverage.
The ballpark (Neurosciences Group Field) recently underwent an extensive redo and got a Balpark of the Year Award. I like the park, but still prefer a couple of others (Beloit, Fort Wayne, Quad Cities).
The T-Rats faced the South Bend Cubs (three guesses who they are affiliated with) on a beautiful weekday afternoon. I love being retired.
And I need to note, painful as it is this year and for the last several, I am a White Sox fan. By definition I therefore find Cub fans somewhat…annoying. And they followed through by being overly demonstrative even for their Minor League team. And a 9th inning rally gave the Cubs the win.
A few features of the T-Rats:
- The Bratzooka where the mascots and local celebrities ride around on a vehicle with an air cannon and shoot, yes, brats into the crowd. Not sure I would eat one if I caught it. BTW the local celebrities were the UW-Green Bay women’s basketball team, a perennial NCAA tournament contender.
- They have a small baseball-shaped cart to bring relief pitchers in from the bullpen. I believe the T-Rats purchased it at some point from the New York Mets. While pitchers seem to prefer walking in, the cart is sponsored, so it still takes a lap of the field with each pitching change.
- In an homage to their MLB parent, the T-Rats put in a large slide past the left field wall. In contrast to the Brewers, where the mascot Bernie slides down after a home run, for $2 anyone can ride the T-Rats’ slide. I did not.
- It was Silver Foxes Day (the team used to be nicknamed the Foxes). This promo packages a box seat, a hot dog/brat, soft drink and a seat cushion for one price. However, having been to day games at this stadium before, I know the box seats bake in the sun, and the Reserved Seats save a few bucks and have shade. So I wnt that route and paid for my brat separately. I did like the seat cushions though…
- In terms of logistics, one thing I did not account for with a noon start and approximately 3 PM conclusion, was my return trip hit the Milwaukee metro area spot on rush hour, and with the standard level of summer road construction, it slowed my drive down.
- But, in an outstanding final stop of my day, I visited the Mars Cheese Castle. which is just off I-94 a few miles north of the Illinois-Wisconsin border. And I loaded up on critical provisions – cheese curds and New Glarus beer, which is not sold in Illinois A fabulous end to a beautiful summer day.
The Sky Carp Round II
I returned to Beloit on an early July evening – it was a promotion-less game and iffy weather (which brought a rain delay) so I had PLENTY of room to spread out.
Since my last visit, they installed a giant inflatable Poopsie (mascot). Nightmare Fuel. It was a good early warning, because they deflated it shortly before the rain hit.
Walk-up music: home batters choose the tune that accompanies their walk up to bat. Given the age and backgrounds of the players, it’s a heavy dose of rap, country and Latin music. But one of the Sky Carp has an ancient and somewhat obscure song from AC/DC called Whole Lotta Rosie as his walk-up song. Now, even by AC/DC standards this tune is pretty raunchy, referencing an – um – large woman. Kudos on daring to be different?
And a tip of the cap to the ground crew and Sky Carp team members who pitched in getting the field quickly ready to resume after the rain subsided!
And it was a Sky Carp win over Cedar Rapids.
Lake Country Dockhounds
A couple day later I took advantage of another weekday afternoon game to make my first visit to the Dockhounds. They are located in Oconomowoc, a western suburb of Milwaukee. Attendance figures indicate they are not getting a lot of support, which is too bad, as they have a nice park in an out-of-the-way area.
The Dockhounds are the most recent expansion team in the American Association, and they were facing the Chicago Dogs. So, it was…a Dog Fight. (Sorry).
Observations:
- They play in Wisconsin Brewing Company Park, so, as you would expect, there is a very nice bar with a wide selection of the namesake’s Lake Louie beers immediately on entering. Well done.
- Food concessions were less stellar.
- There are a lot of nice party areas that we were not in. Unfortunately, those were also the places that had the shade on a warm afternoon.
- When the PA announcer said “Dockhounds”, it sounded like “dot.com”. Which was particularly interesting when he referred to the website address.
The Dockhounds overcame 4 errors (including three in one inning), only giving up 3 hits in a 6-4 win.
Another fabulous summer day!