It was an ordinary day. Watching the Barnstormers play the Road Warriors with my two sons, Derek and Tad as well as my grandson Caden at Clipper Magazine Stadium. The Woods' boy's day out. The Barnstormers are Lancaster's professional baseball team and they play in the Freedom Division of the Atlantic League. The Atlantic League is divided into the Freedom and the Liberty divisions and each division has 4 teams. The Road Warriors have no home ball park and play all their games on the road. The team is necessary so that there are an even number of teams in each division. The Atlantic League is an independent league, not associated with any major league baseball team. Most all of the players have played in organized ball with quite a few of them making it to the big leagues. Many are in their declining years and just love baseball too much to give it up while others were in the low minor leagues and were cut, but hope by continuing in the independent league, they will get called back to the minors. A few days ago, the shortstop from the Barnstormers was recalled to the minor leagues and Lancaster now has a new shortstop. The manager of the team is Butch Hobson who played third base for the Boston Red Sox and eventually became their manager for three years. Other managers that have been in Lancaster were former second baseman Tommy Herr and outfielder Von Hayes. Lancaster has a beautiful stadium that can hold somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 fans. Today there are maybe 1,000. Place looks dead! And, today is Cylo's birthday. Cylo is the team mascot and looks much the same as the Phillies Phanatic, only a bright orange-red. Really neat costume and the kids love him. Matter of fact, so do the adults. People line up to have their photo taken with him and to get his autograph. As with the Phanatic, he does not speak. Well, the game started and some very young boy sang the national anthem. Great job! An hour later, as the game was dragging on and getting more boring, the dark clouds rolled in. We were sitting in a sky box. Are you impressed? Tad works for Intelligencer Printing Company and he got free tickets for us for the game. All the popcorn, chips and peanuts as well as sodas, ice tea, lemonade, and beer that you wanted for free. Almost. The beer was gone in about 10 minutes and then you had to buy your own. There were 16 people in the box and it was directly above the third base bag. Great seats. Well, when the rain came we decided that we were done for the day. Game was only in the 5th inning with the Road Warriors ahead by a few runs. We did have a good time and I managed to walk around the park for an inning taking photos, which follow. It was really a big event for the family since it was Caden's first live professional baseball game. And, he's a real fan already. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos follow.
Cylo delivering the 1st pitch on his birthday.
View from centerfield of the stadium.
View from behind homeplate of the stadium.
Barnstormer pitcher Cesar Carrillo, former major leaguer, delivering a pitch.
Barnstormer getting a hit.
Dragging the infield between innings.
An encounter in the hall with Cylo.
One of the many things that you can do at the game.
Caden enjoying himself at the game.
Stadium as we ran to the car after the rains came.
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