I had been to Canal Park once before as Ryan and I stopped by years ago on a non-game day to buy a team set when we were in the area, but I have two lists for ballpark visits.The most important is actual game action, but there is a second list that is less prestigious that covers ballparks that I have been inside, but did not see a game there.
That list covers Ernie Shore Field, the former home of the Winston-Salem Dash (then Warthogs), and a bunch of Appalachian league stadiums, so eventually, I would like to eliminate this list altogether.
The only way that Ernie Shore is getting off the list is for me to see a Wake Forest game (The Demon Deacons own the field now) and I doubt that will happen anytime soon.
I originally was going to go to Akron on Saturday for the Joe Walsh bobblehead (I hate the Eagles) and be able to add it to the pile that accumulates of giveaways that I sell at the end of the season, but that game was sold out, so since Rachel was finished with the festival for the day on Friday, I decided to make the 45 minute run to Akron.
Right off the bat-parking is a pain.
Akron is one of the cities using the downtown revitalization reason to put their park there and it did seem to do just that.The streets were closed around the park for the fan experience and that makes things rough on the GPS as it obviously doesn't deal with closed streets when it calculates directions.
Finally after parking on the roof of a parking deck, which at least allowed us to look straight down into Canal Park for what I hope was a cool picture.
Upon entering the park at the ticket window, I was greeted by one of the nicest employees that I've met, who saw my pass and went to the extra mile to get the best seats possible with three together, which wasn't easy considering that this game was also an eventual sellout.
Very nicely done and super professional.
Inside, the place was a zoo.
I've been to three other Eastern League parks (Altoona, Harrisburg, and Reading) and none of them were like this-lots of people, frenzied activity all over, and simply put-a major league crowd in a minor league park.
In other words, a team's dream and my nightmare.
It wasn't a baseball guy's crowd, it was a party crowd with the park as the backdrop.
Now, I don't blame the Rubber Ducks, it is a business and the object of said business is to fill the seats and make as much money as possible.
The Ducks can check that box for sure.
It did seem more about the peripheral things than baseball, but that's the way it can be at times.
The hardcore baseball fans usually aren't enough to fill the seats on their own, so this is what it is.
For a team with a new name and everything else, you would never know they re-branded things because other than the retained (as one of ) mascot Orbit, they have scrubbed everything that remotely said "Aeros".
Cherie asked how long they had been the Rubber Ducks and the reply that this was the first year surprised her.
In the team shop, normally you see lots of leftover items on clearance and past team sets etc-in Akron-gone.
One would think that perhaps the team decided not even try to get a sliver of clearance sales and move the Aeros to the dust bin as quickly as possible by taking the loss on anything that retained the name.
I'm not sure if this is correct or not, but one urban legend is that the teams held two "Name the team" contests that Aeros won both times, and new owner Ken Babby just decided to change the name anyway, only relenting on the fans pleas to keep Orbit around...
After a team set purchase for Mike Oravec in return for Mike's constant help with 7up 10 and a sharp-looking road alternate hat that was my Father's Day gift from Cherie and Rachel (thanks ladies!), we moved to our seats.
The seats were boxes and nice ones, especially considering the crowd and that we walked up.
The sightlines were quite impressive and the video board was nice as well.
I intended on attempting to graph the visiting Portland SeaDogs, but an EBAY purchase of Henry Owens and his top 100 didn't arrive in time (I bought in enough advance times that it should have been and it was waiting for me in the mailbox when I returned of course), so I didn't lug the briefcase along to weigh me down.
From what I saw, I wouldn't have had a ton of success as there seemed to be a lot of graphers and the crowd would have made things tough.
I'll get another shot at Owens, who is a good signer, in Reading on an upcoming date as long as he isn't moved up by then.
I'd like to report that I stayed the entire game, but I didn't.
Between the long trip, the travel back in forth to Avon, traffic hassles on a Friday in Akron, etc, I left after a few innings, but as we walked out, I saw a familiar face in Mike, who was there with our most loyal reader Big Don!.
After a few minutes of verbal patter, we left Canal Park, but not after giving our seats to Don and Mike to give them an upgrade from general admission, which I imagine wouldn't be fun.
All and all, Canal Park was just a little too busy for me.
Nice park, nice employees, and pretty customer-friendly equals that I would consider a return trip.
IF I could hit a weeknight day or travel with another driver that is!
Perhaps back later with another anniversary from yesterday or more from the trip and if the Cavaliers officially name a coach today (I hear that could happen), I'll be back.
I told you that I'd be back with a flurry of posts!!!
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