A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

detroit tigers

Summer of Baseball: Visiting Tigers in Connecticut

When I worked in newspapers, I had the chance and fortune to cover a professional baseball team for six seasons.

The team was the Oneonta Tigers, the short-season Single-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. There was a storied history with this team, dating back to the 1960s. The same owners had run the team through the years, which included more than 30 as an affiliate with the New York Yankees.

But, in 2009, the owners sold to a group who fled Oneonta after one season and went to Norwich, Connecticut. The city had lose its AA team and now had the blessing of the New York-Penn League to bring a squad there — and that team turned out to be the Tigers.

All stamped in and ready for baseball.

All stamped in and ready for baseball.

Since that move, one in which I’m still heavily disappointed about, I’ve said I wanted to catch a game here.

Allow me to say this — though the stadium itself is better than Damaschke Field in Oneonta, it’s just not the same. Short-season A ball is something I like to be more intimate. Norwich is definitely a stadium for a larger league, though it seems the area didn’t support it well enough (thus why the AA team left).

With all that in mind, two of us made the trek to Dodd Stadium on July 4 to watch the Tigers take on the Vermont Lake Monsters.

There was a good crowd that night, one in which fireworks were to follow the game. An announced crowd of 3,776 watched the home team win, 7-6, in just under three hours.

So, let’s take a look at the stadium itself.

First, one issue I’d have is it’s not easy to get to this spot. It’s in an industrial park area and one way in is closed on game days. So after winding and weaving and such, you come to the stadium.

It’s definitely baseball here. The parking cost a few bucks, even though we got there before they started collecting. They came and asked for it when they did start collecting and then told us we also had to move elsewhere, even though the whole parking lot was … empty.

Another fan told me this was here from the AA team's days.

Another fan told me this was here from the AA team’s days.

It was a bobblehead day, so we got there early enough to snag our bobbleheads and in we went.

A couple of things to note — it’s definitely more of a stadium feel here than in the past. While Oneonta was intimate and “old school,” Dodd stadium is much like many parks in the current day. In others words, there’s a large selection of food and drink. The team store, while a tad cramped for space, is well stocked with the normal items people might want.

The food selections were pretty solid (hot dogs were good) and the beer selection, too, was good. An interesting side to it — there was one beer stand that had some “older” favorites, such as Schlitz and Schmidts. That’s a pretty cool feature and one I’ve not really seen at a park. Heck, there was even PBR, if I remember right.

Lines for ice cream that night were pretty long all night (as to be expected on July 4), but there was a small Ben and Jerry’s cart that people seemed to walk right past, so you could get some ice cream without issue.

The sight lines for the stadium were pretty good. Seats were normal, though felt a little tighter because there was a strong crowd. Therefore, one couldn’t stretch out as much.

The ambiance was decent as people seemed to be watching baseball. We were lucky to see a pretty decent game with some good action, so that helped.

People were also quite friendly here, which is always a good thing. Outside of the one or two people we dealt with in the parking lot (who seemed to be a little pushy), everybody was welcoming and friendly, which is always good in a small-league team.

In the end, I’m glad I finally had the chance to go see the Tigers in Connecticut. It made for a good end to a two-game weekend and is a place I’d likely visit again, especially with two new teams (New Britain in the independent Atlantic League) and Hartford (Eastern League) going to be in Connecticut this upcoming season.

Park Notes:  

Dodd Stadium
Norwich, Conn.
Home of the Connecticut Tigers (Short-season Single A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers)
Visited on: July 4, 2015
Opponent: Vermont Lake Monsters (Short-season Single A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics)

Ratings (out of 10)

  • Stadium: 7.5/10
  • Concessions: 8/10
  • Parking: 7.5/10
  • Ambiance: 8/10
  • Friendliness: 9/10

I am continuing the Summer of Baseball from 2014 and hope to blog about each new stadium I visit in 2015. Ones visited in the past can be viewed linked up in the 2014 version.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Brookens makes it easy to cheer for the Tigers

Tom Brookens, managing the O-Tigers in 2006.

Tonight is Game 1 of the World Series.

People who know me realize that outside of the Phillies, there aren’t many teams I’ll pull for. I have a couple of other teams I’ve been able to get behind over the years, but for the most part, if it’s not the Phillies, I’m not cheering.

This year is slightly different.

With the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, I can root for a team. See, from 2004-09, I covered Detroit’s Single-A short-season squad in Oneonta. It was one of my career goals — covering pro baseball. I enjoyed every aspect of it and over the six years, I met a lot of different personalities. I always got along quite well with the managers and coaches that were sent to Oneonta and many players were extremely fun to deal with.

Tom Brookens coaches third during the 2006 season in Oneonta.

I won’t lie that some teams were better than others to cover. The same can be said about all managers, coaches and players.

But the two years Tom Brookens was the manager of this team made it a lot of fun to cover the squad.

What I always liked about Brookens was his straight-shooting style. He didn’t hold anything back. He remained calm, but he would tell it like it is. And I liked that. He did things based on a mutual respect.

At the beginning of his first season, I spoke with him in-depth for several stories. We were in the dugout during a workout chatting about the team, season and, when the interviews were done, just some chatter about other things.

But professionally he asked one thing — after the game, he would like about five minutes or so to speak to the team. After that, it was open game. And if a player refused to talk for whatever reason, to get him and he’d help with the situation. See, being in the minors is more than just adjusting to play baseball at the professional level. It’s learning all the nuances, such as dealing with fans, media and everything else.

Especially at the level I covered.

Brookens made it that much more fun.

Those two years (2005-06) were also excellent when it came to minor leaguers in the Detroit system.

Brookens’ 2005 team went 48-27 and won the division. That team featured 10 players who, at some point, would at least get a taste of the major leagues. Some of them, such as Matt Joyce (now with the Tampa Bay Rays), Burke Badenhop (also now with the Rays) Guillermo Moscoso (now with the Rockies) and Will Rhymes (also with the Rays) would go on see some significant time in the majors. Joyce was a 2011 All-Star and Badenhop has been a reliever at the top level for several years with the Marlins and Rays.

Brennan Boesch was a core player for Tom Brookens in 2006. He’s now on the big club, where Brookens is a coach.

The following season, Oneonta went 44-32, again winning the division. Seven players on that team have major league experience, including Brennan Boesch, who has been on the big team for the past couple of years. He hasn’t been on the playoff roster this year, however, as he was a bit cold down the stretch.

That team also featured Casper Wells (now with the Mariners), Casey Fien (who pitched in 35 games with the Twins this year) and Cristhian Martinez, who has pitched out of the pen for Florida (2009) and Atlanta (2010-12).

There’s much I remember about “Brookie,” including is southern Pennsylvania sound, his way of dealing with players and the way he always treated everybody with respect. He also made himself available to me for future stories, even after he left this team as he climbed the ranks. In the end, he always showed how much of a class act he is and for that, he’s always been my favorite manager I dealt with.

And, with knowing some people in the organization, it’s nice to see some of these people reach this level and have a chance at that ring.

I watched as the Tigers swept the Yankees in the American League Championship Series and as the celebration unfolded, I saw Brookens with that big smile and his signature mustache among the crowd. It was easy to smile and be happy for this squad.

Brookens won a World Series as a player (1984 with Detroit), and if the Tigers win, this will be his first as a coach.

Knowing what kind of person Brookens is makes it easy to cheer for a Detroit World Series title this season.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!