stadium | The Baseball Zealot

Metrodome “snow thud”

Sounds like crews are already on the ball and are inspecting the damage of the “snow thud” at the Metrodome last Sunday.

This isn’t the first time this has happened at the Humpdome.

Commission chairman Roy Terwilliger says it’s the fourth roof collapse since the stadium opened nearly 30 years ago, all caused by heavy snow.

Interesting personal angle with me. The University of Illinois baseball team (who I blog about at Illinois Baseball Report) just came out with their schedule last week and the team is/was scheduled to play at the Metrodome in mid-March at the newly formed Metrodome Tournament.

Gives a new definition to “Tournament jitters”.

Cubs reacting to Wrigley safety measures by Big Ten

A last minute decision based on safety has turned the Illinois-Northwestern football game at Wrigley Field tomorrow into somewhat of a joke. To put it simply, there will be one end zone and whenever there is a switch in possession, the teams will turn to the opposite direction so the offense will face that said end zone.

The end zone is on the west side of the football field now desecrating Wrigley Field.

Maybe this Wrigley Field idea wasn’t such a great idea after all.

Wrigley Field was modified to Big Ten standards. Earlier, Big Ten officials did a walk-through at Wrigley and didn’t raise a fuss. Both of those points were raised in a rather terse even passive-aggressive statement issued by the Chicago Cubs organization after the Big Ten decided to make their changes:

“This game would not have been scheduled if it did not pass the strict and meticulous standards of everyone involved, a process that began more than a year ago. All are in agreement Wrigley Field is a safe venue to host a football game. Other baseball parks, including tomorrow night’s game in Yankee Stadium, feature similar football field-to-venue grid dimensions and rule changes are not considered for football games played in other baseball parks.

“We have reached out to the Big Ten to further discuss the playing field. While we are surprised by this morning’s last-minute statement, all agree that tomorrow will be an historic event and a wonderful experience for the fans, the schools and the student-athletes.”

Well, it doesn’t bode well to upset your hosts. Play Ball!

oh and Go Illini!

Friday night at Victory Field

I went to the Triple-A Indianapolis-Toledo game Friday night. Admittedly, the main reason was to see my friend and former Illini Shawn Roof play. It’s the first time he’s played close to this area so I couldn’t pass up the chance.

But the idea of going to Indianapolis’ Victory Field thrilled me too. It’s been a while. The last time I went the Indians were the Brewers’ farm team. Victory Field is one of nicest Triple-A minor league parks I’ve been to. I’m not the only one to think so… Baseball America named it Best Minor League BallPark in America.

The banners along the runway of former Indian player like you see above (I know a couple readers who might appreciate my choice of Minnie Minoso) were a nice touch and very well designed.

Look out! Indian mascot Rowdie looks angry.

I thought the scoreboard designed like a Facebook page was kinda hokey but I bet it goes over pretty well.

Not a particularly great photo but it does show how many people show up at games. Over 12,000 were at Friday’s event.

No one left after the last out. It was Fireworks night.

The Mud Hens won 8-2. Shawn Roof helped the cause by going 1 for 3, scoring a run.

What’s the Buzz? Vuvuzelas!

I promised myself that the word ‘vuvuzela’ would not be written on this blog anywhere. Sounds too much like the private regions of a woman. But the irony of this is too much to pass up.

First, the Yankees have decided to ban the razzy sounding horn popularized and yet hated at the World Cup from Yankee Stadium. Rumor has it that one fan had one grabbed from him by security as he entered the Yankee-Philly game.

Yet at the same time, the Florida Marlins will be giving away 15,000 similar horns, considered obnoxious by many, as part of a promotion Saturday night. This may backfire on the Marlins.

These horns won’t be exactly the same as the vuvuzelas we’ve been seeing (and most likely hearing) at the World Cup.

From the Palm Beach Post:

The horns to be given away before Florida’s game against Tampa Bay are similar to but not the same as the soccer horns, said Sean Flynn, the Marlins’ vice president for marketing.

"They’re not as buzzing as vuvuzelas, but they’re loud,’ he said.

I’m sure as usual, Major League Baseball will have to come down with an edict, making a policy in horrendous detail, what is allowed and not allowed in MLB parks resulting in more security issues at parks.

Crosley Field website

Cluke passed on a link to a pretty neat web site, www.crosley-field.com, all about the Reds’ former stadium.

Scroll on down and you’ll find a treasure trove of great photos of the stadium itself but also some of the greats (and maybe not-so-greats) who played in Crosley. There are also related scanned news clippings and interesting stories.

Great find!

PSU stadium makes the grade

Rivals.com lists their top ten best college stadiums.

When I think big time college baseball, the south comes to mind geographically. And not surprisingly, the stadiums of teams like Rice, Florida State, Texas and Baylor are representative of this list. Kudos to University of Arkansas for getting top nod for their Baum Stadium.

But look at who occupies the # 10 spot… a Big Ten park.

Lubrano Park — Penn State

Penn State is one of several trendsetters in college baseball. The Nittany Lions got a jump-start in the facilities race by constructing a beautiful facility that came with a $31.4 million dollar price tag. Opened in ’06 and first used by the Nittany Lions in ’07, Lubrano Park has a capacity of 6,000. In addition to having a spacious concourse and press/luxury suites area, Lubrano Park also provides a spectacular view of Mount Nittany, which sits in the distance behind the center field wall. It’ll be interesting to see if the ballpark eventually helps PSU become a national player.

via The College Baseball Blog