A Quiet and Unplanned Baseball Game

Yesterday evening, after dropping off a coworker at the Light Rail, I drove into Towson for another Baltimore Redbirds baseball game. No magical reason for doing so; I’d been expecting to have to stay late at the office or possibly take editorial copy home to write, but Tuesday was incredibly productive in that I wrote all of the editorial copy I had to write for August’s catalog, largely because everything else was going wrong with the catalog. So having reached the limit of what I could do, and having nothing at home to do, a free baseball game seemed like a nice way to spend the evening.

I don’t have much of anything to say about the game, really. Nor will I annotate the photos; I haven’t my notes in front of me and, frankly, if you saw my previous photos, these are pretty much the same. Much as my Harrisburg Senators photos all look pretty much the same. There’s only so much you can do with a mobile phone’s camera at a baseball game.

There was a very talkative chap in the stands. He was very into the game. At one point he looked in my direction and said, “I really love this league.” Later, he asked me if the infield fly rule was in effect in the Cal Ripken League; I have no idea and, more to the point, the onfield situation wouldn’t have led to an infield fly call. (There was no man on first.) When the PA announcer announced the Orioles who were selected for the All-Star Game, he was quite upset that Chris Davis didn’t get a nod, and he loudly let everyone know. Not in a rude or belligerant way. He simply talked loudly, wanted people to hear him, and loved talking about baseball to whomever would listen. Someone a few rows in front of him, wearing a Manny Machado shirsey for the Frederick Keys, ignored him completely, no matter how many times he tried talking to him.

The Redbirds’ opponents for the night were the Baltimore Dodgers, who are based, I think, in Glen Burnie. I arrived in the second inning, there was no score, and the Dodgers scored first. The Redbirds came back to tie it at 2, then the Dodgers scored again. Then, in the fifth, the Redbirds pulled away, putting 5 runs on the board for the eventual 8-5 win.

The crowd was small, only about 40 people.

My memories of Harrisonburg Turks games from my childhood are thin. I remember moments more than anything substantial, and I remember the smells of the ballpark more than the games themselves. These two Redbirds games have been nice. The on-field product is quality, maybe not AA quality, but still quality. These college ballplayers are good, they comport themselves well on the field, they play hard. Good stuff.

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Outside the stadium, people gathered for fireworks. Nothing to do with the baseball game, probably a postponement of the community’s fireworks from Monday’s rains. I did not stay for those. Probably for the best; getting out of the area had I stayed would have been a nightmare, considering how many people were gathered for the display.

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Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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