We originally were going to start our day in Batavia and shoot over to Buffalo,the problem was that the rainstorm that we ran into the previous day cancelled Batavia's game,but Buffalo got their game completed,so we called an audible as we figured going to Buffalo first would allow us to do Batavia in between games of the now doubleheader and then after the game....
I thought that made a lot of sense and we shuffled off to Buffalo,which was less than an hour from our hotel.
Buffalo's Coca-Cola Field is celebrating its 30th year and even though it's 30,it isn't showing its age any as it seems to have been well maintained.
We arrived early to get tickets and asked around about a local place to get lunch and the place that most recommended didn't open until 12.
A lot of places around the stadium (this happens in other urban stadiums) didn't open until 12,which I wonder about,since the stadium is supposed to drive people to the surrounding areas,yet if you open at 12 for a 1 o'clock first pitch,I would think that defeats the purpose.
We ate at one of those places that doesn't look like much from the outside,but serves great food inside as we went into Washington Square,a local bar and grill.
Washington Square was exactly like one of those bars that you see on television,complete with locals with the local accent'.
Mike had the famous wings (they didn't have boneless) and I had the other local item-Beef on Weck,a roast beef on a kimmelweck roll.
Kimmelweck is a harder,chewier roll and it's a little hard to bite off,but the sandwich was quite good-especially with a small cup of horseradish,which I love.
I really liked Washington Square,I mean how could you not like a bar with sports pictures all over the place including a team picture of the old Buffalo Braves?
Coca-Cola Field was the first of the retro parks to be built,preceding even Baltimore's Camden Yards in 1988.Buffalo was going after a baseball expansion team and despite the dazzling stadium came up short to the more populated Miami and Denver areas.
Buffalo still is the largest minor league stadium in the country and despite other great Triple A parks that I have visited
(Louisville,Nashville,Durham and Columbus have great parks),Buffalo's stadium has a special spot with fans (like Baltimore in the majors) because their park was the originator of all the ones to come.
I really liked Buffalo,I liked how it was snugly placed inside the Buffalo skyline rather than the skyline being beyond the outfield.
The other thing that I liked was a northern New York thing-the farther north that you start seeing Canadian flags and in Buffalo before the game,the Canadian anthem is played as well.
Normally,the only time the Canadian anthem is played is when a Canadian team is involved,which wasn't the case on this day,unless Gwinnett, Georgia moved way north!
It wasn't perfect,the concourse is a little cramped for a stadium of its size and the two gift shops were downright claustrophobic and that is from someone that generally isn't bothered by such problems.
We left Buffalo to go to Batavia,basically going from the hardest level of graphing (AAA) to the easiest (short season).
Even though we didn't graph Buffalo,since there was really no one that I needed for my sets and decided to save the AAA aggravation,I was looking forward to bringing the briefcase out and working on the Williamsport Crosscutters.
The short season affiliate of the Phillies,Williamsport was the visiting team and I would do them,while Mike did the home Muckdogs.
I didn't have to learn the layout as I had been to Dwyer Stadium last summer,so when we arrived in the middle of the 5th inning of game one,we were able to settle in.
My problems started with the end of game one,when the Crosscutters rallied to force extra innings,but then blew the game with defensive mistakes.
This meant the Cutters were not in the best moods as they entered the clubhouse,so I only got a few,but the top prospect-outfielder Jhailyn Ortiz signed two of eleven.
Ortiz was aggravated,but his family was there,but watching his father,you could clearly see the pride that he had in his son.
I did get another player or two as they came onto the field for game two,but the biggest catch was former World Series hero and Williamsport manager Pat Borders,who joked about the shape of Bowman Field (who was hosting the Pirates-Cardinals game that night) when they returned to town
In between games,we decided to eat a small dinner and we planned on my return to Bourbon and Burgers,which I loved last year with Doug Hopkins.
We were disappointed to see that they were closed on Sunday's,so we needed to find someplace that we wanted to try and reasonably quickly.
Around a corner,we found a small Irish pub called O'Lacy's that we decided to give a try.
I had a sandwich called the Harold that was on "weck" again with roast beef and ham with another cup of horseradish.
I enjoyed it,although if I had to choose between Washington Square and O'Lacy's,I'd go with the Buffalo pub,but not by much.
Williamsport controlled the second game and held a 3-0 lead entering the final inning and I felt like I was able to get some cards signed after a disappointing start.
That thought disappeared when Batavia scored four runs and won the second game that they should have lost on this day.The Crosscutters were leaving town,so they just wanted to get on the bus and I was only able to get a few more players in one of the worst days graphing that I can remember-And it was in the New York/Penn League,which I usually do well in!
Disappointed (especially next to Mike's haul,where he did massive numbers with the happy pack of Muckdogs),we began to drive to Niagara Falls,which neither of us had ever seen,but wanted to.
Really,if you get this close,you should go see the Falls!
We drove to our hotel and expected to watch the Pirates and Cardinals play at Williamsport's Bowman Field,but there were television reception problem with the hotel and ESPN wasn't on our television,due to some sort of issue!
The really odd thing was ESPN 2 and ESPN News were fine.
Mike and I watched the game on my laptop,prepped cards for the final day and planned just how we wanted to allow the final day to play out.
While Mike went to bed,I did what I often do on the road-watch local TV.
I've written before on how I like to watch different markets news people when I am on the road and remember them for future reference (remember this post and I'll be doing another one over the winter),just see how things progress.
I don't always find people that I look at and they stand out,but I saw a commercial for a new upcoming local show (a preview of the Now Buffalo show can be found here) in Buffalo and decided to watch to see if I could see more.
I only saw the same commercial another time or two,but I looked this person up on YouTube and her video work screams potential star in the news "biz".
Hannah Buehler was her name and I bet that eventually we'll see her in the cable news arena-if she wants it and at minimum,she'll be the top local star in Buffalo,where she was born and raised.
Bet on Hannah making an appearance in the "If I ran a network" bi-annual post later this year...
I found myself pulling for the Bills ( and the Sabres too) a little more now since I've been there.
It reminded me a lot of Cleveland-a sports crazy "Rust Belt" town that deserves a break.
It's hard to believe since the Browns have been so terrible,but its the Bills that currently hold the longest streak of not reaching the playoffs..
A good day,although I was mad at myself for not doing better with cards in Batavia.
Mike and I are almost planning on making Batavia (and Auburn more on that next time) a every year stop.
Those parks are old school baseball and (usually) easy to graph.
One day to go on the road trip,which I'll try to fit in during a busy week....
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