This fantastic picture was taken by my friend Bryan "Tuba" Howell who attended the game with me and stitched the panoramic photo together. By the way, I had camera envy.
The St. Paul Saints were taking on the Sioux City Explorers in the independent American Association. St. Paul is partially owned Mike Veeck, son of Bill Veeck, and actor/comedian Bill Murray. We were obviously in for some fun. Sadly, Seth and I arrived late causing our group to miss out on the wiffle ball and bat give-away. Probably couldn't have gotten the bat on my return flight anyway.
The Saints play at Midway Stadium which like Standard Bank Field of the Windy City Thunderbolts, is located in the middle of an industrial park. One inside though, coupled with a nice sunset, the park looks pretty sweet.
It was a full house at the game, most likely due to my attendance. Word is spreading. Actually, I did have my biggest attendance yet. Fifteen people joined me at this game including one couple that drove over from Green Bay (nice work Sieberts). I would not have guessed that the farthest game from home for me would draw the biggest crowd. Having the big crowd would also put the pressure on me later in the game.
At the Saints games, under the direction of Mike Veeck, Fun is the key. They pretty much will let you do anything, although it also comes with a price. Here a fan has purchased a chance to steal a base. They did this pre-game and the announcer gave the fans a play by play of the attempt.
Not only do you get to steal the base, but you really get to "steal the base". The fan was able to remove the base and take it home with him as a memento. Can't do that at every park.
For some reason the Saints have a fondness for swine. They have a potbellied pig that lives behind home plate and delivers the extra baseballs to the umpire between innings. This kind of makes Jake the Diamond Dog seem boring.
"TRAIN" - every time a freight train passes on the tracks immediately behind the left field wall, the announcer deadpans "TRAIN" and the crowd goes crazy for some reason. Seemed goofy at first, but then became fun as the game went on.
The promotion started out fairly benign. The contestants had to throw tubs of cottage cheese into the large inflatables.
It turned ugly when they made the loser stand in a kiddie pool and dumped cottage cheese on his head. Can't imagine getting cottage cheese dumped on my head and then watching the rest of the game. Must have stolen this idea from Nickelodeon.
Oh yeah, there was actually a baseball game going on. Here the St. Paul Saints are pitching.
And here the Sioux City Explorers are pitching in their black jerseys.
The Saints at bat.
"TRAIN"
Looking out past left center field in the distance you can see one of the rides at the state fair. You can take rides in the needle to the top.
No signature food, but we had plenty of beer. Apparently the natives refer to Grain Belt Premium as "Primo". There were many Primos consumed by our group. Keep it classy St. Paul.
This was new one for me. They put a guy in a Velcro suit and stuck him to the right field wall. He had to make it the whole game to win a prize. To make it more fun the circle he was stuck to could rotate each way. Sadly he cried "uncle" during the fifth inning. Not sure the tie-in to being velcroed to a mail and health care. Must be a Minnesota thing.
I loved this picture Tube took of one of the Saints in full post swing extension.
Saints score!
"DOUBLE TRAIN" - we actually got to witness the rare "double train" where two trains passed in opposite directions at the same time. Pandemonium broke out at the point.
The Saints have many, many mascots, including a lumberjack, a nerd, a Scotsman, a news reporter, a guy that does terrible Christopher Walken impressions and several others. However the best one was the entirely politically incorrect "Karaoke with a Real Japanese Guy" They sent this guy up in the stands to try and sing Soundgarden's song, Black Hole Sun. Even with the words on the screen you could not understand him. I actually thought it was hilarious. The whole crowd joined in at the chorus and again, fun was had by all. Japanese Guy was definitely a crowd favorite as many people were spotted getting their picture taken with him throughout the game.
Oh yeah, since I had a group of over 15, we got group sales tickets and they posted our group name on the jumbo tron. I had the website posted as the group name and it was pretty cool to see it up on the screen. I then realized this summer is starting to get out of control.
Seth Teply and Mud-donna, another of the Saints mascots.
#15 Brent Krause at bat. Why is this important? Besides playing right field, Brent was about to a have the experience of his life. As the Saints held on for a 5-2 win, the announcer announced that things were not over. Now coming out to throw the Ceremonial Last Pitch, from Chicago, Kevin Marks. Yes indeed, I was headed out to throw out the last pitch and Brent Krause drew the lucky assignment of catching me. This is where the consumption of many Primos was probably not in my best interest and the pressure of 15 friends at the game mounted.
Here I am in clearly perfect form firing a knuckle curve into home plate for a strike. You may ask how I knew it was a knuckle curve? I don't think any other pitch moves that slow. For a video of the pitch see the following YouTube link:I must admit I did a better job throwing the pitch than the camera man did capturing the moment. I actually made it to the catcher on the fly.
The ball I threw.
Brent Krause's signature on the ball.
The attendees: Tim and Matthew Plath, Bryan "Tuba" Howell, Beth and Steve Siebert, Beth's friends Kristin and Robb, myself, Seth Teply, Mary and Robby Copouls and Steve Tang. Not pictured Bruce and Taylor Gaunt and Beth's friends Laurie and Todd.
A first of the summer. Post-game tailgating. The sign in the trunk says "10th Inning Stretch".
Finally, the team hat that only cost me $100. With the hat, I got a free Ceremonial Last Pitch and signed baseball. As I said, in St. Paul anything is for sale.
The rest of the weekend included house alarm going off, car alarm going off and Seth locking his keys in his Corvette. Good times were had by all. Thanks to all the Minnesota people who came out for the game and witnessed the debacle.
4 comments:
Awesome -- love the train that came by during the game! :)
That cottage cheese kid got screwed too. He won the contest but the announcer didn't see it, so he got the cottage cheese bath. That contest needed instant replay!
FYI: Saint Paul, MN was originally named Pig's Eye, hence the affinity for swine in these parts.
I'm sad I moved before this game occurred. I would've loved to hang out with y'all! looks like you had fun!
-Gretchen
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