Live baseball in 2019

The Baseball Games

The closest professional team to me is the Salem at least I think it is. There is a league out here called the West Coast League. The league uses wooden bats which is noteworthy in that colleges typically use aluminum. Its players are typically college athletes who are noticeably better than their peers. Most are likely to play at a professional level in the future and a rare one will end up being a star. The Ridgefield Raptors whose home field is about 15 miles north of here play in the league and I took the time one hot Sunday afternoon to go to a game at Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex. Their opponents were the Cowlitz Black Bears.

Stub

The game was not very interesting and the Bears won it decidedly. There were not many amateurish errors or poor decisions which I had expected to see. The Bears simply out hit the Raptors on that day. Neither team pitched notably well.

First Pitch

The stadium or actually field was pretty nice-better than I had expected out of an amateur league. My ticket was for lawn seating and I explored the field for a few innings each from one of the berms in the right and left field. They had an electronic score board that had several functions either not working or somehow idled electronically.

The Stands

There was not a vast food selection nor were there competing vendors. There were no vendors in the crowd. A hungry fan had to walk to a single concession stand. That was manned by several enthusiastic student aged staff. I do not know if it was volunteer work or a paying job.

I selected a bratwurst and was pleased to get one that was cooked perfectly and about 6 inches long. This was coincidently a dollar and inch. That is a better deal than one could expect from any local restaurant. I remember that they also had regular hotdogs and hamburgers. They may have had French fries and they certainly offered bags of peanuts or chips.

Bratwurst

The beer, sold at one of two separate stations included several microbrews which I shunned in favor of the much cheaper Ranier Beer which was 5 dollars for a 16 oz. “Tall Boy”.

So for a little less than $20.00 I enjoyed an afternoon in the sun listening to the bat hit the ball with the familiar satisfying whack.

About a month later I went to Tacoma for a visit and scheduled my tour around a Tacoma Raniers game which is a Triple A team in the fabled Pacific Coast League.

Stub

I took a Lyft ride from my motel near the Tacoma Dome to the game played by the Raniers versus the Las Vegas Aviators. The season was within a week of its regular season finale. The home team was too far away from having a .500 season to reach that goal. The Aviators were able to stay in first place in their division by soundly beating the Raniers. It was 4-0 after the first and 10-2 when I left around the 6^th inning.

First pitch

The stadium which is called Cheney Stadium is neat, trim and 60 years old. In this day and age stadiums do not live to see 60 years old so it was a sight to behold.

Today AAA prices are what I paid for at the major league level about 15 years ago. The price for a ticket was $15.50 for seniors and located about mid-level in a box seat. It wasn’t a bad seat and I could see the whole range of the field. Beer and food were also closing in on major league prices of not too long ago.

However current food is much more variable and a higher quality than the hot dogs, pizza and nachos of yesteryear. You can still purchase those items but you are no longer limited to them. I chose a fish and chips meal for $12.00 at an Ivers concession stand. Ivers being an old traditional Seattle fish venue.

It was a pleasant and warmish evening for the game. It was much improved over the overcast and often misty afternoon. It was a good night for a ball game and that ended my live baseball adventures for the 2019 season.