Minor League Baseball

A late night blip. I went with my son Jeff and his work friends to a baseball game in Midland, Mi. The Great Lakes Loons...A single A team affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It was a great night. 80 degrees at game time.(7:05 p.m.) A crowd of 4800. A lot of activities for kids. Fireworks afterwards, and a guy wearing a t-shirt that stated "Jesus hates the Yankees." Amen.

Minor league baseball is hard to beat. Guys playing because they love the game, and hoping for that shot to play in the big leagues. Kind of refreshing.

Everything about the night cried out minor league...except the prices at the concession stands. A league rule said you couldn't bring any food or drink in...so here's a rundown of the prices.

First...a couple of non-traditional ball park items...
1. Beef Brisket sandwich-$6.50
2.Macaroni and Cheese(looked good)-$3.00

Second...more traditional...
3. Lemonade in a Loons cup-$5.00
4."Theatre Size" candy-$3.75(same size at Dollar Tree.)
5. Ice cream(fun watching the kids with ice cream cones in 80 degee heat)$3.75
6. Tub of popcorn-$4.50(big mark-up)
7.Bottled water or soda-$3.00
8.Foot-long hot dog-$6.25
9.Nachos with cheese-$4.50
10. Snow cone-$3.50
11. Dippin Dots(ice cream) $5.75...(but it came in a mini-helmet.)

YIKESSSS!! No wonder they don't want you to bring food in. Jeff and I ate at Arbys on the way up to avoid the 6 dollar dog. Jeff had a 3 dollar Coke, and he violated the rules, and snuck in a bag full of his mothers chocolate chip cookies. I told him to sell them for 2 dollars apiece...but he wouldn't.

Thanks to Mr. Klein...Jeffs boss...for a fun evening. He is an old Ferris State athlete...with the emphasis on old. He plays everything very well...with the exception of golf and corn-hole( a bean-bag toss game.) In the last tourament we were in...Jeff and I put a beat-down on him.


The picture is Lou E. the loon...trying to start the "wave." It's not a real loon. It's a guy in a costume. Good dancer...but with his over-sized tail feathers...had a lot of "junk-in-the-trunk."