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A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

summer of baseball

Can of Corn Challenge: An early baseball memory (April)

April 19, 2017

My father wasn’t much of a baseball person.

I don’t recall a lot of memories many young boys have with their fathers in regard to baseball. I am pretty sure we might have gone to a minor league game or two as a kid. But I remember being in Philadelphia and left behind when my father and grandfather took my older brothers to a game at the Vet. I do recall getting a Larry Bowa giveaway shirt, though.

1982 champs!

I don’t have memories of playing catch with my father, though in later years, there are some fond memories on the golf course together.

But I do have a pretty vivid baseball memory of him. It was 1982 and I was 8 and playing in the younger division of the local “little league.” My father was the chief of police in town, so he usually worked during the days and such.

For the 1982 season, though, he coached our little league team with another father or two. I do remember him at games, wearing a cap, in jeans and a short-sleeve shirt and doing the best he could as coach. I can still picture him, when the tattoos he got when in the Air Force (on his arms) were a little more vivid and vibrant. I can see him watching the game as it unfolded.

As an 8-year-old on that team, it was an important memory.

I think what is even cooler, though, was that we won the championship that year. I still have the tiny plaque we received for winning that year (something I again experienced five years later – but my father wasn’t the coach of that team), and it’s something I’ve though back on several times.

So despite never learning how to score a game, or have daily catches in the summer with my father, there’s an important memory as a youngster where I shared baseball with him.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: Baseball, blogging, Can of Corn Challenge, challenges, My world, Writing Tagged With: baseball, baseball challenge, baseball writing challenge, can of corn, can of corn blog challenge, can of corn blogging challenge, can of corn challenge, chan of corn baseball challenge, summer of baseball, writing challenge

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Can of Corn Challenge 2017

March 21, 2017

It’s time for the Can of Corn Challenge.

Maybe this year, we can get a few people to join in throughout the summer to follow the themes below and add to this challenge.

It’s pretty simple – the third Wednesday of each month from April-October, there will be a baseball-related theme. So plan a blog post for that day, then come back here and link up.

Last year was the fire year this challenge went and didn’t attract a lot of eyes. Maybe this year will be different.

And don’t think you have to be somebody who watches or goes to a ton of games to be part of this. I’ve tried to make the themes somewhat open in the hopes that more bloggers could take part in this.

The dates and themes for the entire summer are below. Maybe you’ll get into a writing frenzy and get them all done at once and schedule them. Maybe you’ll only want to do a couple of them. But join in and have some fun. After all, that is what this is all about!

The dates and themes are as follows:

April 19: An early baseball memory
May 17: Swing and a miss
June 21: Best baseball movie
July 19: What do you bring to the ballpark?
August 16: The designated hitter
September 20: The voice of baseball
October 18: The fall classic

Again, take the theme and have fun with it. Hopefully, this is open-ended enough to get a bunch of bloggers to join us for this challenge and have some fun!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: Baseball, blogging, Can of Corn Challenge, challenges, My world, Writing Tagged With: baseball, baseball challenge, baseball writing challenge, can of corn, can of corn blog challenge, can of corn blogging challenge, can of corn challenge, chan of corn baseball challenge, summer of baseball, writing challenge

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Summer of Baseball: Portland a good place to catch a game

November 21, 2016

Hadlock Field is one I’ve wanted to get to for a few years now. It’s also one of those fields kind of all by itself (Maine has one affiliated professional team), so going just for a game isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to do, despite Maine being an amazing state.

So, let’s break it down.

img_1278

Hadlock Field, built in 1993, is a solid minor league park. Though I’m not a fan of aluminum bleacher flooring, it’s a pretty comfortable all-around park. The ambiance is solid, which seems to be a pretty good trend when it comes to Boston Red Sox affiliates. The site lines in the park are good and the seats are decently comfortable.

The night we were there was cool, too, as it was a Seinfeld-themed night. Though not the biggest Seinfeld fan, John O’Hurley (who played J. Peterman) threw out the first pitch. It’s always neat to see things like that.

Anyway…

The park has an older flavor to it as the concourse is under the seating bowl. The concourse is decently wide but was definitely crowded. The team store is small, which shocked me, if not just because it’s a Boston affiliate. I think I hold the idea that Double-A and above would have better team stores, and despite seeing many smaller ones, it still shocks me.

The food selection was solid and the hot dogs were really good. I will say I didn’t have the food selection on the minor league food fight as it was this amazingly huge ice cream sundae sort of thing … and well, my blood sugar went up just looking at what it included, let along eating it. So I just went with a regular old ice cream and it was solid. Beer selection was pretty strong, too.

The stadium itself is pretty nice. A “monster” in left field is a nice tough, and I like the scoreboard. The elevated bullpen in right field was a  very cool setup, too. I think overall, it’s hard to not go here and have a good time. That being said, I have to pull off some points for the aluminum flooring because it’s really tough, at times, to pay attention to the game when there’s so much stomping on that flooring.

Parking is decent and not far from the stadium. The area felt safe and after, it was easy enough to get out, which is always a positive.

I’d definitely visit again, as long as it was encompassed with other aspects. For me, it’s a hard trip to pull off just for a game, but it’s definitely not a bad place to take in a game.

Park Notes:  

Hadlock Field
Portland, Maine
Home of the Portland Seadogs (Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox)
Visited on: July 15, 2016
Opponent: New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays)

Ratings (out of 10)

  • Stadium: 7.5/10
  • Concessions: 7/10
  • Parking: 7.5/10
  • Ambiance: 8/10
  • Friendliness: 8/10

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: Baseball, My world, Sports, Summer of Baseball, Travel Tagged With: aa baseball, baseball, baseball of summer, baseball stadium, baseball stadium review, double-a baseball, eastern league, hadlock field, minor league, minor league baseball, minor leagues, portland, Portland seadogs, seadogs, stadium review, summer of baseball, summer of baseball 2016

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Summer of Baseball: Sussex County felt a little dusty

October 26, 2016

As the World Series is underway, I thought it was time to continue the Summer of Baseball posts and reviews. With going to 75 games this summer, I saw a lot of new stadiums and I have a lot to catch up on.

We’ll start the return with the Can-Am League, which is an independent professional league based in the Northeast and Canada.

Sussex County was the second Can-Am game of the year, following a trip to the Rockland Boulders. The experiences were extremely far apart.

The Sussex County Miners grabbed me with their cool logo and such, so it was a Sunday afternoon trip down. I did pick up a hat, for the record. Once there, it was easy to find parking (there were no more than 150-200 people there the day we were there — tops) and in we went. It was hot as could be that day, so we basically were looking for shade. The ticket person was an excellent help and set us up.

In we went.

First impressions go a long way though, and the impressions weren’t positive. The team store was decent, but was based outside the actual stadium. The inside area for team items wasn’t bad, either. Food choices were average and normal for baseball.

The field had seen better days, that’s for sure.

sussexcounty2

I did grab a ball…

Let me preface that by saying we were in a drought, but I’ve played on bad softball fields that were better than this field — and that’s saying something. It was dry all over and just didn’t have the feel of a “professional” team.

I realize, too, that I’ve been spoiled going to Atlantic League games. But Rockland County’s stadium and such was excellent as well, so I was shocked at how downtrodden Sussex County seemed to be.

Skylands Stadium, in Augusta, New Jersey, isn’t the newest of stadiums, being built in 1994. Still, it’s only a little beyond 20 years, so it shouldn’t feel this down. The seats are the ones that are already down and boxy, so that usually just irritates me, too.

I couldn’t get a vibe, either. Of the workers I spoke with, I thought there was a friendly aspect. But at the same time, you have to wonder how many of them enjoyed being there through a game like that with nobody in the stands.

It was in the mid 90s that day — and I only saw one or two people go to the ice cream vendor on the main concourse in the stands. The poor girl kept searching for shade when nobody was there.

Kids did run rampant, dashing all over the field for foul balls and such. That can get annoying when nobody is in the stadium because they don’t care where they go in search of the ball.

Let me give an example — with the full story. When we got there, we checked out where we were sitting and then went for a snack and to walk around. When we came people we in our seats. I wasn’t going to create a stink over it, so we just went to the aisle across from where we were sitting. In the second inning, those people got a foul ball.

That stunk.

Later in the game — in the fifth or sixth inning — an elder lady (probably in her 80s) slowly walked up the steps. We were sitting in the top row. She informed us that I was sitting in her seat.

They say fans in Los Angeles show up late?

Anyway, we decided to pack up and head to the main bleacher area (where like five people were sitting) because it was now in the shade. So I told the lady to give me one moment as I packed up my stuff. As I did, a foul ball came flying up, hitting the “luxury” suites over me and then dropped right in front of me. I picked it up, packed the rest of my stuff and started walking down the steps.

Then came the mad rush of 10 kids rushing for the ball asking where it was. All the while it was in my bag.

Look — I don’t mind if you give a ball to a kid who is sitting near you and acting nice all game. But kids who are running all over the stadium, jumping over seats, and not caring about other people for one — they ain’t getting it.

Not to mention the section we were in was one where a lot of people were because there was shade.

Anyway, that’s my story.

In the end, the experience was that of a baseball game on a sub-par field. The action wasn’t the best that day, which made it worse. Overall, it was a below average experience and one I likely won’t look to replicate. The lack of a crowd didn’t help, either, as the ambiance was basically non-existent. It seemed like a group of people were there for when one of the original Batman helicopters landed and made a dust storm. I was actually shocked it left before the game started as it didn’t seem like it was going to.

The hot dogs were pretty solid, though, so that’s a good thing. The hat I got was excellent as well. Prices, as it seems to be in independent ball, were a little high all around, making the subpar experience a little more of a sting.

Park Notes:
Skylands Stadium
Augusta, New Jersey
Home of the Sussex County Miners (Independent)
Visited on: June 26, 2016
Opponent: Quebec Capitales (Independent)

Ratings (out of 10)

  • Stadium: 4/10
  • Concessions: 7/10
  • Parking: 9/10
  • Ambiance: 4/10
  • Friendliness: 7/10

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

Filed Under: Baseball, My world, Sports, Summer of Baseball, Travel Tagged With: baseball, baseball of summer, baseball stadium, baseball stadium review, can-am league, Canadian American league, independent baseball, independent league baseball, miners, minor league, minor league baseball, quebec capitales, stadium, stadium review, summer of baseball, summer of baseball 2016, sussex county, sussex county miners

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75 games — a quick look

October 5, 2016

The Summer of Baseball is over for me.

And I’ve thought about doing this as I also want to post this in a Facebook group I’m in … so being I need a post, it was a good time for this.

This summer, I went to 75 baseball games. That’s a crazy number for me. I’m not sure I’ll do it again (that many) as I was constantly going to games. As much as I loved it, there were some other things I wanted to do this summer and didn’t. That being said, let’s see what I did do this year.

  • 75 games (58 Minor League, 11 Major League, four independent, 1 exhibition — Hall of Fame, 1 summer college league game).
  • 30 new stadiums (20 MiLB, 7 MLB, 3 independent)

Where I went:

  • Binghamton (AA)*
  • Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA)*
  • Syracuse (AAA)*
  • Rochester (AAA)
  • Pawtucket (AAA)
  • Lehigh Valley (AAA)*
  • Rockland (Ind)
  • Washington (MLB)*
  • Southern Maryland (Ind)
  • Reading (AA)
  • Mahoning Valley (A)
  • Cleveland (MLB)
  • Erie (AA)
  • Auburn (A)
  • Sussex County (Ind)
  • Tri-City (A)*
  • Philadelphia (MLB)*
  • Lakewood (A)*
  • Portland (AA)
  • Hagerstown (A)
  • West Virginia (A)
  • Louisville (AAA)
  • Cincinnati (MLB)
  • Salem (A)
  • Charlotte (AAA)
  • Kannapolis (A)
  • Danville (A)
  • Carolina (A)
  • Burlington (A)
  • Lynchburg (A)
  • Hickory (A)
  • Durham (AAA)
  • Winston-Salem (A)
  • Greensboro (A)
  • New York – AL (MLB)
  • Batavia (A)
  • Buffalo (AAA)
  • Lancaster (Ind)
  • Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB)
  • San Diego (MLB)
  • Anaheim (MLB)

* – Visited multiple times (doesn’t include double headers)

Overall, it was a great time. I had at least one hot dog at every stadium. I took photos with my main camera at most. I kept score book at all but the collegiate league game and I stamped in with the passport wherever it was available. Several of these stadiums I went to several times.

This winter will feature a lot of posts baseball related and to this summer’s baseball fun. But this is an overall feel of what I did. Kind of crazy, once I think about it — that’s for sure.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: Baseball, My world, Summer of Baseball, Travel Tagged With: baseball, baseball games, baseball stadiums, baseball travel, summer of baseball, travel

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A great bark in the park day Sunday at the Bingham A great bark in the park day Sunday at the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Harper got her first foul ball (as you can see she enjoyed!) and we also had the chance to grab a couple others and give them to some other dogs. All in all, four dogs walked away with balls! 

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One year ago today, I put a down payment on this g One year ago today, I put a down payment on this goof. Two weeks later, she came home … look at her now! 

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Life is good. My dog. Good beer. Photography. Baseball. Hockey. Blogging. Take care of yourself. You're the only one who can control that. #isles #ringthebell

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2008philz John Foley @2008philz ·
16 Aug

Through 115 games...

2022 Phillies: 64-51
2008 Phillies: 62-53
1980 Phillies: 62-53

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softball29 P.J. @softball29 ·
15 Aug

I rarely sit on a window seat when flying, but both flights today had open spots, so two of us could comfortably be in a three-seat row. Sat next to the window to do some photos/video and got some nice shots. Flying still amazes me. @SouthwestAir #Southwest #Flying #Airplane

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jomboymedia Jomboy Media @jomboymedia ·
5 Aug

Absolute rollercoaster of a sequence

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P.J. Harmer

P.J. Harmer
When these boxes come, there usually some excitement. But this one ... is the ultimate unboxing! 

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Music: Happy to be Happy (Dapun)

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I hate being in front of the camera, but also realize sometimes it's not the worst thing in the world. So, I'm getting better with it. Week 4's theme was all about us and having us in front of the camera, so I tried to come up with a creative way to do it. 

#cielovideo52 #52weekchallenge #week4 #weeklychallenge

Music: Infinite Wonder (Ben Fox)

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The theme for Week 3 of the 52-week video challenge was "Show your process of making something." Alas, I didn't get the time to do what I wanted to do, so I attacked something I filmed over the summer that I kept putting off. 

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