Gameday Experience

Buck Yeah, I Attended a Rodeo!

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In the Chute at Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo
Helena, Carol, and I pose behind the door of Chute 5 at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.

I’m not sure what possessed me to include rodeo on the Around the World in 80 Sporting Events list, but I did … and I’m happy about it.

When I first began sketching out my “dream big” schedule for this project, I actually included two rodeos on the list: The Calgary Stampede and Cheyenne Frontier Days. The fantasy was to attend a day or two in Calgary, enjoy a drive south through the Canadian Rockies into Montana, check out Yellowstone, Devil’s Tower, and whatever else spurred my interest before arriving in Cheyenne.

It’d be perfect, attend two of the world’s most-recognizable rodeos in an epic 2-week road trip and see some of North America’s most glorious natural scenery along the way.

Then I began costing it out …

… so a single rodeo was in the offing and it needed to be Frontier Days because my wife, Carol, and I would double-up and count it as our state trip for the year (50 Years, 50 States don’t you know).

Our adult daughter, Helena, decided to join in the fun so it became, collectively, our first rodeo.

Take the Tour

Clockwise from upper left, that there is what’s known as a “Cheyenne Souvenir” if you happen to step in it; this tunnel is what’s used to move the animal athletes into and out of the arena; the massive stage is on wheels and is transported out onto the arena floor each evening for concerts; our tour guide told us about the grounds, the history, and provided us a CFD primer; to those in the know, this rodeo is the “Daddy of ’em All” because of its historical significance; Chute 9 is where the roping events enter the arena from.

I can’t speak for other rodeos, but Cheyenne Frontier Days offers visitors a free “Behind the Chutes” tour twice each morning before the competition begins.

It gets visitors out onto the arena grounds, close to some of the pens where the animal athletes are awaiting their moment in the spotlight, an up close look at the chutes, and plenty of historical nuggets about Frontier Days’ history.

Though crowded the Sunday we were there (probably 200 people on the tour with us) it was enjoyable to slip behind the scenes a bit, learn about the history of this rodeo, avoid stepping in some of the “Cheyenne Souvenirs” some of the animals left behind, and get a crazy cool photo of us standing behind a chute gate.

Sitting Higher Up is Cooler (and Drier)

Seats at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo
Yep, that’s us in the last row where we had shade and breezey conditions much of the day.

When I called the box office several months ago to secure tickets, I put my full faith in the ticket agent assisting me.

Her advice, for a first-time attendee, was to sit behind the chutes (as opposed to the opposite side of the arena) not only for a closer view, but to also sit higher up to ensure cover from the elements. For us, the Sunday we attended, the main element to avoid was the searing sun. With high temperatures forecast to touch 90 degrees, I as grateful for that pro tip from the agent.

Though we marched all the way to the final row of our section (which provided for some terrific views of the pens behind us) there was both a breeze and full-time shade for the entirety of the nearly three hours at the venue.

In full transparency, the sections closest to the chutes below us did have the benefit of the cooling misters (water pumped through a fan) for the better part of the afternoon. I never ventured down there to see how it felt, but it certainly had be cooler than roasting in the mid-afternoon sunshine which beat down much of the day.

How many cowboys does it take to lead a bull away?
Where do the bulls go?

Animal Athletes?

For Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, the animal athletes are the bulls (at left), broncos and bulls (upper right), and the steers. During our tour and for most of our stay at the arena, they were all over the place.

If our tour guide used the phrase “animal athletes” once he used it a dozen times during our hour with him prior to the day’s competition.

As a naive rodeo first-timer, I found myself skeptical.

Then I saw the number of veterinarians on site, the number of livestock contractors, and the way the animals and humans worked together (especially in the roping and racing events) and my skepticism waned and I became believer.

But About Those Cowboys … and Cowgirls

Clockwise from top, one of the Barrel Racers makes the turn for home; the a Team Roping duo chase down a steer; the rodeo clowns and barrel man are important to the safety of riders in the bucking events; this Saddle Bronc rider hangs on; as does this Bull Rider.

The stars of the show, though, are the men and women who mount up and ride … and wrestle … and rope.

All totaled, the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo features 11 events and, mercifully, prior to each there was a Rodeo 101 video for the benefit of us first-timers that assisted our understanding – at least a little;-) – for what we were about to witness. Following is the list of the 11 events with a link to the Rodeo 101 video for each. The descriptor is from the CFD website.

  • Bareback Broncos – Bareback riding is one of rodeos most physically demanding events. It grew in popularity in the early 1900s when there were no set rules, so some riders would hold on to the horses mane, or a loose twisted rope around the horse’s girth. A rigging similar to the one used today was introduced in the 1920s by Earl Bascom who invented it.
  • Tiedown Roping – Beginning as a chore that can be traced back to the 1800’s at the old working ranches of the west, derived from roping calfs for medical treatment and branding, tie-down roping started when ranch hands went head-to-head to see who was the fastest roper.
  • Bull Riding – Gaining popularity in the nineteenth century, Bull Riding started as a competition among cowboys to determine who was the toughest rider. Starting on small ranches and moving to wild west shows and finally going on its own, bull riding has become the rodeos most popular event to-date.
  • Women’s Breakaway Roping – Women’s breakaway roping is comparable to men’s tie-down roping, except the cowgirls are not required to dismount and tie the calf.
  • Saddle Bronc – Saddle Bronc riding was the first rodeo event introduced to Cheyenne Frontier Days and is often considered the classic event of rodeo, embodying the sport’s roots. This event demands finesse, balance, and agility from competitors who use a modified western saddle, typically custom-made to their specifications. Unique to Saddle Bronc riding is the buck rein, which is attached to a halter, and the rider must decide precisely where to place and hold it.
  • Ladies Ranch Saddle Bronc – This event was founded in 2016 and the rider must maintain possession of the rein with the original riding hand for the full eight seconds. The rider can use her free hand to hold the saddle horn or night latch/rope.
  • Team Roping – Team Roping started in the old working ranches of the west, when two ropers were needed because the size of the animal was too much for a single man. One cowboy would rope the steer around the horns while the second would rope the legs to allow for branding or vaccination.
  • Rookie Saddle Bronc – Same rules as Saddle Bronc above, but these riders do not yet have their Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA) cards and the horsers are much younger.
  • Steer Wrestling – Steer wrestling or Bulldogging is an event where men try to wrestle a 600 pound steer to the ground. Steer Wrestling has a long history at Cheyenne Frontier Days, first being introduced in 1904. It is said that the event is influenced by working cattle dogs who would grab the cattle when they were unruly. Steer Wrestling has evolved and now has a hazer and the Bulldogger. Cattle dogs are still used on ranches today to help manage the cattle.
  • Barrel Racing – Barrel Racing evolved from the relay races in the old wild west shows. Introduced into rodeo as an exclusive event for women on horseback, our barrel racing is sanctioned by the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association.
  • Wild Horse Race – One of the first rodeo events and as western as the word itself, the wild horse race started in the 1800’s as a competition between ranch teams.  From its roots as a race through town with only wagons as fences, the wild horse race is now a fully grown rodeo event. In today’s wild horse races, true wild horses are no longer used. Instead, cowboys race ranch-raised horses.

While each event was enjoyable (and, at times, head-scratching) in its own way, my personal favorite was Team Roping. I think because it involved two participants working simultaneously (a Header and a Heeler), was an event that both men and women could compete in, and the skill it has to take to not only lasso the horns but also the back hooves, all made it a favorite of mine. Couple that with the fact, that only six of the 11 teams we saw successfully completed the task told me there was a fair amount of skill involved.

My wife and daughter, meanwhile, found themselves often times rooting for the calves or the steers to make a clean getaway from their ropers or wranglers. I’m not saying I could blame them because, to the casual observer, it appears a somewhat barbaric event, leaping off a gallopping horse onto a steer attempting to wrestle it to the ground. In the end, however, whether roped and tied or wrestled to the gorund, the animal always got up to its feet and, somewhat merrily, went on its way back to the stables for whatever feed was being served up.

Without question, though, the most bananas event I witnessed was the Wild Horse Race.

Handlers brought “wild” (they’re no longer wild but rather ranch-raised) horses across the arena onto the track where teams of three were charged with nabbing a horse, saddling it, and then riding it around the entirety of the track. The names of the three-person teams sound even wilder: Mugger (charged with holding the head), Shanker (holding the rope), and Rider (who must saddle and ride it around the quarter mile).

Honestly, I’m not sure which one of this trio has the toughest job.

Nuts!

The early portion of the Wild Horse Race during the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.

Some Final Looks

Clockwise from upper left, this statue of champion bullrider Lane Frost who died at the CFD Rodeo in 1989 at the age of 25 after being thrown and struck by the bull. The statue, by artist Chris Navarro was dedicated in 1993; Carol is always interested in what’s going on; beyond the big concerts during Frontier Nights, there are also small groups playing in Frontier Town; part of the parade entering the arena prior to the rodeo’s start; a look at Frontier Town.

The Great Ballpark Chase: The Boss’s Place

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Steinbrenner Field
The view from behind homeplate at Steinbrenner Field. (Photo by Tim Russell)

When scheduling ballpark visits in the great chase, there are no set rules. It’s often called “Your chase, your rules.”

That brings us to the Tampa Bay situation.

As many know, Tropicana Field was damaged by Hurricane Milton, a Category 3 storm that hit the Tampa area in October 2024. That forced the Tampa Bay Rays to seek another place to play. There were several options, but it was finally settled that the Rays would use George M. Steinbrenner Field, while Tropicana is repaired.

The repairs are slated to be finished in time for the 2026 season at a cost of $55.7 million.

Tropicana Field
This was about as close as we were able to get to Tropicana Field, damaged by Hurricane Milton. (Photo by Tim Russell)

But that also causes a dilemma for ballpark chasers.

How do you count Steinbrenner Field? Do you wait for Tropicana to reopen before visiting the Tampa area? There is no real answer and a lot depends on how you count stadiums. Do you count just MLB stadiums or all stadiums?

For me, it was included in the Southern Slam tour with Coast 2 Coast Sports Tours, so it was an easy choice. I’ll likely go back for a weekend trip sometime in the next couple of years to knock off Tropicana as well.

I prefer to count any baseball stadiums, including MLB, MiLB, college, and independent league.

Some of the views around Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field which is being utilized by the Rays this season while Tropicana Field is rehabbed following Hurricane Milton. (Photos by Tim Russell)

But for now, it’s just Steinbrenner Field. Although we did visit a couple of minor league/spring training facilities for quick visits. We saw JetBlue Park, also known as Fenway South, home of the Boston Red Sox. We also saw Lee Health Sports Complex and Hammond Stadium, home of the Minnesota Twins. Both are located in Fort Myers.

JetBlue Park
The exterior of JetBlue Park in Fort Meyers. It’s the Grapefruit League home of the Boston Red Sox. (Photo by Tim Russell)

Steinbrenner Field, named for the longtime owner of the New York Yankees, underwent a few changes to get ready for the Rays. The field holds just 11,026 fans, which makes it the smallest MLB field. It also was stripped of many of the Yankee decorations to make the Rays feel more at home.

A life-size statue of Steinbrenner, as well as plaques honoring Yankee greats remain outside the stadium.

The regular tenants of Steinbrenner Field, the Class A Tampa Tarpons, were also displaced by the Rays. The Tarpons play their games on one of the back fields at the spring training facility.

The Tarpons also are the first team to hire a female manager in MLB affiliated baseball. Rachel Balkovec managed the team from 2022 to 2024. She is currently the Director of Player Development for the Miami Marlins.

Steinbrenner Field opened in 1996. The dimensions mimic that of both old and new Yankee Stadium. It has the scalloped grandstand facade (the frieze). It was also the first spring training stadium to include luxury suites.

But enough about the stadium.

Let’s talk about one of the most important people on these bus tours – the bus driver.

Not only are bus drivers entrusted to get you to and from each of the sites. Most of them have local knowledge that will help you find places you might not normally see.

This year, our bus driver was Greeker, who just had his first grandchild about a week before the tour started. Based in Dallas, Greeker had a few adventures getting the bus from Dallas to Miami.

It took him about three days to make the trek. While that isn’t a huge time, you also have to be sure the hotels along the way can handle bus parking.

One of his hotels assured him that they had bus parking, but apparently they didn’t tell him the lot was about a half-mile or so down the road in a deserted lot. He ended up having to catch an Uber to get to and from the hotel.

Naturally, it caused Greeker some concern being that far away from the bus. He even ended up going back to the bus during the night to check on it. The bus was fine, although Greeker did find beer bottles strewn around the bus door.

Greeker wasn’t too worried about any potential damage to the bus, since there are security precautions installed. But, suffice to say, his sleep wasn’t too restful the rest of the night.

  • Game Result: Brooks Baldwin blasted a 2-out, 3-run homerun to deep rightfield in the top of the second inning to give the visiting Chicago White Sox a lead they’d never relinquish. Luis Robert added a 2-run single in the top of the third inning and six total White Sox pitchers made it hold up in an 8-3 victory to open this 3-game series.
Steinbrenner Field
The view from leftfield at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field. (Photo by Tim Russell)

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Conversations with Sports Fans – Argentinian Futbol Reflections

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Doug & Tim at Estadio Mas Monumental in Buenos Aires
No one was leaving the stadium until Messi did. We were no exception.

Event No. 24 of the Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project took me and frequent traveling compadre, Tim Parker, deep into the Southern Hemisphere to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for a pair of soccer, er, futbol matches.

One featured a pair of Argentine Primera Division foes River Plate and San Martin de San Juan and the other was an epic homecoming – and likely farewell – for current beloved soccer son, Lionel Messi, who likely played his final competitive national team match on home soil during Argentina’s 3-0 victory over Venezuela in a World Cup 2026 Qualifying match. Messi scored twice and had a third disallowed for offsides so everyone in the partisan crowd at Estadio Mas Monumental went home happy.

Tim and I discuss what our week was like in Buenos Aires, the two futbol matches in particular, in this bonus episode.

So … This is Gonna Happen

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Sports Ticket
My ticket for Thursday night’s Argentine National Team soccer match.

My buddy Tim and I flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the hope of seeing a pair of Argentinian soccer, er, futbol matches as part of Event No. 24 of my Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project.

We’d secured tickets prior to leaving the U.S. for the River Plate–San Martin match that occurred on Sunday. It was an absolutely fabulous experience and the host River Plate squad, in front of nearly 80,000 home fans at their historic Estadio Mas Monumental, won the match, 2-0, with both markers coming on our end of the pitch.

What we did not have tickets for before leaving, was the final home World Cup Qualifying match for the Argentinian national team. That match is Thursday night against Venezuela, also in Monumental. That match is significant because most folks in the know believe it will be Lionel Messi‘s final competitive home match for the national team before he retires following World Cup 2026.

Tim and I received word we’d have a ticket and the manner in which to pick it up. (On a street corner, cash, and tickets exchanged; the whole thing seemed fairly seedy until the person with the ticket agreed to give us a lift back to where we were staying.)

So, we now wait for another day to witness this historic match. I’m left to wonder how loud the crowd will be for Messi has he’s introduced and, presumably, pulled from the game at some point in the second half.

The Great Ballpark Chase: A Day at the Beach

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loanDepot Park
The view from behind homeplate at Miami’s loanDepot Park. (Photo by Tim Russell)

(Contributing writer Timothy Russell returns with another set of entries in his Chasing Ballparks series. Leading off this year, Miami’s loanDepot Park.)

Some people vacation in tropical locales. Some visit historical places. Some go to northern Michigan.

For a baseball fanatic like me, there’s nothing better than chasing ballparks.

Planning starts the day the next season’s schedule is released, which is usually around the All-Star Break. It was delayed this year, drawing the angst of baseball fans around the country. The 2026 MLB Schedule dropped August 26th.

I registered for the Southern Slam tour with Coast 2 Coast Sports Tours in fall of 2024. We had to overcome a possible cancellation due to lack of participants and then a personal medical issue, but it ended up going off without a hitch.

So, we flew into Miami and the fun began at one of six stops along the way.

loanDepot Park is the home of the Miami Marlins. While I have always said, baseball should be played outdoors, it was nice having a respite from the oppressive Florida heat and humidity.

Clockwise from upper left, when they talk about playing in South Beach they aren’t lying; some palm trees adorn the exterior; like most sponsors loanDepot has its name on just about everything; a view of the massive glass panels in the outfield; a perfect selfie spot; and Marlins’ pitcher Jason Junk in mid-delivery. (Photos by Tim Russell)

loanDepot Park is located on the former site of the Miami Orange Bowl in the city’s Little Havana neighborhood, about two miles west of downtown Miami. Construction was completed in March 2012 as the sixth stadium to have a retractable roof, which is rarely open during most of the season.

A nice design feature is the six glass panels (240-feet long by 60-feet high) in the outfield, allowing one to look into downtown Miami.

There is also, what some call, the Monstrosity. It used to be the Marlins’ home run sculpture in center field. Some called it tacky and ugly while others said it captured the “essence of Miami.” It was later moved outside the stadium plaza, which is being redeveloped into a Miami Live! plaza for indoor and outdoor dining, as well as entertainment places. It should open in 2026.

The home run statue will activate every afternoon at 3:05 p.m., in honor of Miami’s area code.

The artwork some call “The Monstrosity” and some images of the Bobblehead Museum inside loanDepot Park. (Photos by Tim Russell)

And if you are into bobbleheads like I am, you’ll love the Bobblehead Museum out in center field. There are lots of bobbleheads from all teams, including past players, mascots, and special edition themed ones.

Field dimensions are fairly standard, compared to other stadiums. Down the left field line is 344 feet, in left center it’s 386 feet. The deepest part of the park is center field at 400 feet. It’s 387 feet to right center and 335 feet down the right field line.

The upper deck is frequently closed off, due to the Marlins’ low attendance problems. They will open the upper deck for high profile teams like the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox e.g. teams that will draw bigger crowds.

Food-wise, one of the popular items would be the Cuban sandwich, although there are probably better ones at several places outside the stadium in Little Havana. The team also has a value section, called Familia Faves, where you can buy ballpark items like nachos, hot dogs, ice cream, or popcorn for $3 or $5, again in honor of the 305 area code.

As a Michigander, I was bummed to have just missed seeing the MLB debut of Michigan native Jakob Marsee. He’s from Allen Park, MI, went to college at Central Michigan University and I work with his grandmother.

Marsee ended up debuting with the Marlins just after the trade deadline. Originally drafted by the San Diego Padres in the sixth round in 2022. He was traded to Florida in the Luis Arraez deal in 2024.

Currently, Marsee is hitting .338 with four home runs and 23 RBIs.

As part of the tour, we do a score contest, trying to predict the correct outcome at each game. Closest to the correct score wins a prize, usually a mini bat or a logo ball.

Going into the ninth inning, the Kansas City Royals had a 7-0 lead. I had picked a 6-2 KC win, while Tara had picked a 7-4 KC victory. I was looking good for the win until Miami scored four unearned runs in the bottom of the ninth and I went back to the bus empty handed☹

I cursed Florida for scoring four meaningless runs all the way to the hotel. (OK, I didn’t, but it makes the story better:-)

The video board hangs high above loanDepot Park and the Marlins’ TV studio team of Craig Minervini, Jeremy Tache, and Rod Allen. (Photos by Tim Russell)

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North to Alaska, I Go North, the Game is On

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Josh, me, and Tim prior to the Midnight Sun Game
Sorry Jim Nantz, the Midnight Sun Game is really a tradition unlike any other.

With respect to Johnny Horton‘s 1960 hit song “North to Alaska,” my trip to the Last Frontier as part of the Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project was in search of friends, Midnight Sun Baseball, and – as it turned out – a statue of Dave Winfield, which was harder to find than that gold Horton sang of.

In some respect, this trip to Fairbanks for Event No. 21 of the project – watching the 120th Midnight Sun Game – was a return home for me.

As a young sports writer, I spent 13 months working at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner from 1993-94. My primary beat was the University of Alaska Nanook hockey team, but with a staff of just four, we pretty much did it all.

Some nights I’d be out covering high school sports others I’d be on the desk editing copy and building pages for the next morning’s paper and on those odd nights off you’d likely find me in my 1049 Blair Road garden level unit working on my NBA Jam video game skills in anticipation of future late-night showdowns with my fellow sports staffers, Dan or Josh.

It was a glorious year spent amid some of the most beautiful wilderness (outside the city limits, of course) one could ever imagine and I thank Carol, my wife of 30 years now, for telling me then there would be no “what ifs” and that if our relationship was meant to be well, then, several thousand miles between us wouldn’t matter.

So I had a great deal of anticipation leading up to this event, especially since the aforementioned Josh was planning on traveling up from Anchorage to take in the game with Tim, a Fairbanksan and another News-Miner alum, and I.

My Flight’s What!?!

The view out my seatmate’s window of the snowcapped mountains and glaciers Wrangell-Elias National Park and Preserve (AK) and Kluane National Park and Preserve (Yukon Territory). Fairbanks certainly embraces its athletes as evidenced by this greeting at its airport.

Thanks to some rain of Biblical proportions all the way from Chicago to Ann Arbor, my dad and I didn’t walk through my door in Macomb, MI, until shortly before 9 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18, having completed Events No. 19 and 20 in Omaha, NE, and Dyersville, IA, respectively. My flight to Fairbanks was scheduled to leave the next afternoon around 5 o’clock so this was already going to be a tight turnaround.

With that you can no doubt appreciate the way I felt when Delta Airlines texted early Thursday afternoon with a flight delay notification. We’d be an hour tardy pulling out of Detroit. A quick check of my connection in Salt Lake City informed me that I’d not be able to make boarding for the continuing flight to Fairbanks. No other Salt Lake to Fairbanks flights existed that night.

Ugh:-(

Less-than-eager to spend a night in the Salt Lake airport, I began frantically punching keys on my phone in a chat with a Delta agent. Was I able to get rebooked on the Friday, 6 a.m. flight to Seattle and then on to Fairbanks. After more back-and-forth than it probably should have taken, I was rebooked and scheduled to touchdown in Fairbanks in the noon hour local time.

The Midnight Sun Game’s first pitch would be but a mere 10 hours later.

Fortunately, it was smooth sailing between Detroit and Seattle and again from Seattle to Fairbanks. I even managed to score a 15-minute catnap in Tim’s spare room before we loaded up and headed out for the game. Those 15 minutes were, beyond another 10-15 minute eye close during my flights, the only sleep I’d enjoy for 26-plus hours.

You can read a more detailed and real-time report of this experience here.

What Exactly is the Midnight Sun Game?

Fairbanks Sweet Adelines
The Fairbanks Sweet Adelines sing the “Alaska Flag” song near midnight.

It’s a fair question and one I’ll try to provide the shortest summary possible.

While Fairbanks is not far enough north to never see sunset during the summer months, it is far enough north where it never gets fully dark.

Near the Summer Solstice (the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere) sunset in Fairbanks is at 12:47 a.m. Sunrise is at 2:57 a.m. Factoring in dusk and dawn there is enough daylight to do just about anything including – it turns out – play a baseball game.

What began as a bar bet (but of course it did!) near the turn of the 20th Century when the Gold Rush was a very real thing has became an annual event.

Since 1960, the Alaska Goldpanners (Fairbanks’ collegiate summer team) have hosted the game on or around the Summer Solstice. The game begins at 10 p.m. local time, there is a pause around midnight for a ceremony that features the singing of “Alaska Flag” – the state song – and, most importantly, no artificial lights are used.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Artificial lighting is strictly prohibited for the Midnight Sun Game. The other 25 or more home games each season – no matter the start time – turning on the light towers isn’t even a second thought. For this annual event – that was begun under the premise of no extra lighting – it sounds as though anyone going near the power switch risks losing an appendage.

Bucket List Item for Many

Fans wait in line in hopes of getting a ticket to the Midnight Sun Game
The walk up crowd at the 120th Midnight Sun Game in at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks.

I wasn’t the only crazy person to travel thousands of miles to see the Panners host the Anchorage Glacier Pilots.

As I waited in the merchandise line, I chatted up a fella who’d just gotten in that morning from the Tampa area and was heading back the next day! Staff from the New York Times was in attendance, ESPN was in the house as well and planned a feature on the game, and I saw more than a few Baseball Bucket List t-shirts walking about the stadium.

I recall it being a big to-do when I lived there during the summer of 1994, but I’m not sure I recall it being nearly as popular as it seems to be these days. Companies who organize baseball stadium tours frequently include this game on their annual schedules.

Shoot, I secured my four reserved seats behind Growden Memorial Park‘s homeplate on December 2, 2024 (the day tickets went on sale), when the daytime high temperature in Fairbanks was 1-degree above zero. And, yes, you need to distinguish above or below zero, because the overnight low was 28-degrees below zero. That’s not a windchill or a feels like, that’s just your standard 28-below.

And, judging by the walk up crowd who hoped to score tickets the evening of (see photo above), the popularity of this event among the locals and those omnipresent summer vacationers has not waned in the least.

About Growden Memorial Park

Clockwise from upper left, a view of the field from behind firstbase; the view from my seat as the game concludes at 12:40 a.m.; action from the top of the eighth inning; the view from the temporary bleachers down the rightfield line postgame; the Goldpanners’ bullpen; the plaque honoring the Growden Family for whom the facility is named.

I remembered Growden being rather downtrodden when I was there a few times in 1994. The years – as they say – have not been kind. To be fair, the current management of the Goldpanners – led by John Lohrke have invested quite a bit in improving the playing surface and the clubhouse. The venue also was placed on the National Register of Historic Places earlier this year.

That said, when a facility gets used only about two months a year, sits dormant for much of the rest of the time, including months on end in sub-freezing – and even plenty of sub-zero – weather, it’s going to show some wear.

The infield is an artificial surface while the outfield is natural grass and the dugouts are snug, to say the least.

There’s seating for 3,500 for most games, but for the annual Midnight Sun shindig additional bleachers are set up to bring capacity to closer to 5,200.

Where’s Dave Winfield!?!

Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield played two seasons for the Goldpanners in the early 1970s.

Then a Minnesota Golden Gophers’ pitcher, future Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield played a couple of seasons in Fairbanks in 1971 and 1972. While up north and out of the watchful eyes of his college coaches, the story goes, Winfield worked on his hitting that second season and was more of a 2-way player than he’d been in the Twin Cities or even as a Goldpanner in 1971.

The story goes that in his first at bat against visiting Grand Junction, CO, Winfield belted a mammoth grand slam home run that either (depending upon the storyteller and how many adult beverages they’ve consumed) landed on the Fairbanks Curling Club’s roof across Second Avenue, hit the Curling Club’s outer wall on the fly and bounced back into Second Avenue, or landed in the Curling Club parking lot and bounced onto the roof. No matter the storyteller or where fact and fiction intersect it was one of the mightiest blasts in the history of Growden.

In 2024, the Panners commemorated the moment by inviting Winfield back for a ceremony that unveiled a statue of the slugger to be known as the “Midnight Sun Moonshot.”

Dave Winfield and his statue at the 2024 unveiling outside the Fairbanks Curling Club. (Photo by Karisse Ackerman)

But where is this statue?

It became our quest – well, actually, Josh’s – to locate the “Midnight Sun Moonshot.”

We’d heard it was outside the Curling Club? No.

We’d heard it was outside Growden? No.

There was even some rumor circulating that it was inside the Curling Club? No.

Finally, we had Tim check with a friend of his in local government and we learned there was – allegedly – a dispute between the sculptor, the city, and Fairbanks Northstar Borough and the statue of Dave was in a garage somewhere.

Anyhow, we searched high and low for Dave Winfield – real or bronzed – and he did not exist at this year’s Midnight Sun Game.

Then, a few weeks later, Tim texted our group. The statue was out of storage and receiving a more permanent home where fans could see it and birds could do what, well, birds do … do;-)

The “Midnight Sun Moonshot” statue of Dave Winfield is moved into place in early July.

This only further perturbed Josh when he saw that the permanent home was not on the Growden Memorial Park grounds but across the street at the Fairbanks Curling Club.

And then Josh passed along this nugget a week later from Winfield himself’s Facebook feed. The man returned to Fairbanks for a second consecutive year … this time for the dedication of the statue. To both Tim and Josh’s frustration, neither was in town when it occurred.

Dave Winfield Facebook Post
From Dave Winfield’s Facebook page July 18, 2025.

The Midnight Sun Game

Midnight Sun Game "Star-Spangled Banner"
Fans and players rise for the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner” prior to the 2025 Midnight Sun Game.

After our big-game hunting ended without bagging any form of Dave Winfield, there was in fact a game to watch.

It wound up not being the Goldpanners’ night, losing to the Glacier Pilots, 7-2, in a game that was, meh.

Perhaps it was because the air was thick with wildfire smoke or that it was the first baseball game I’ve ever attended where ash was actually falling from the sky or maybe because the previous game I’d witnessed in its entirety was Gage Wood’s 19-strikeout, no-hitter for the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Men’s College World Series.

Whatever the reason, there was just never that leap out of your seat moment you hope to experience when over 5,000 fans gather to celebrate the Summer Solstice at 10 o’clock at night at the most unique baseball game played annually.

One thing’s for sure. It was a memorable experience, in oh so many ways, and an event that’s worthy of being on any sports fans list of must-attends.

And, good news, you shouldn’t have any issues finding Dave Winfield:-)

A few final sights, clockwise from upper left, two of the three generations of Boones to play in MLB donned a Goldpanners’ uniform; Tom Seaver is another Hall of Famer who played here; the view from our seats shortly after midnight (note no artificial lights); the three of us in the stands; the view of Growden Memorial Park from the Fairbanks Curling Club where Winfield’s homer allegedly landed; the Curling Club and a very hazy late-night sun.

The Greatest Show in Sports

Mike O'Connell2 Comments
The Savannah Bananas
Savannah Bananas players entertain the Baltimore crowd at Camden Yards Saturday evening. (Photo from the @thesavbananas Instagram)

(Editors Note: Attending a Savannah Bananas game is on my list of the 80-ish events I aim to attend during my Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project. That said, I’m beginning to realize winning the recent lottery for those Masters tickets might have been easier than winning one for the Bananas. Like The Masters, millions enter but few win. The secondary market to see them has prices in the stratosphere as well. Mike O’Connell, friend of The Sports Fan Project, sold a kidney or something and managed to attend with his son this past Saturday at Baltimore’s Camden Yards. He posted the following dispatch on his website (mikeoconnelljr.com) earlier and told us we’re able to share it with our audience. If you’re interested in learning a bit more about the Savannah Bananas remember that co-founder Emily Cole joined us on Conversations with Sports Fans late last season [S:3, E:70].)

They call it the greatest show in sports.

The question for me, before seeing the Savannah Bananas in person for the first time, was whether I was watching a show or whether I was watching sports.

Turns out I was.

It was the greatest show I’d ever seen.

And the greatest sporting event.

In case you’ve been hiding in a cave on Mars or some such thing the past few years you have no doubt heard of the Savannah Bananas, the barnstorming baseball team known for its in-game antics and flouting of all traditional baseball rules. In fact, they don’t even advertise their performances as baseball. This is Banana Ball, and judging from the reaction of 45,000 fans at Camden Yards in Baltimore this past Saturday night, baseball as we know it may be over. Blockbuster Video, cable TV, the horse and buggy, quill pens, and baseball.

The brainchild of Jesse Cole, a former pro prospect himself, the Savannah Bananas were once a traditional baseball team. (It’s a little like noting that Hugh Hefner was a copy editor for Esquire.) From 2016 to 2022 they played in the Coastal Plain League, a wood-bat collegiate league in the Carolinas and Georgia similar to what happens every summer in Cape Cod. The team had success under Cole, winning the CPL championship in its first year of existence, but it was the show that got people’s attention. Sure, goofy on-field promotions between innings happen at every minor league and summer league stadium, but the Bananas had the players involved, the fans involved, and even the umpires involved in what was slowly developing into something beyond baseball. It’s beyond Dylan going electric. It’s beyond Marty McFly at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. It’s more like the first time some hillbilly in about 1935 hooked his guitar up to an amplifier, cranked it to 10, and a bunch of slack-jawed yokels stood around the swamp like what the hell is that?

And it kind of changed music – and baseball – forever.

After the 2022 season the Bananas left the CPL (after winning back-to-back titles), finally giving up all pretense of playing traditional baseball. (They’d been playing regular games on the regular schedule and doing the barnstorming thing on the side.) Turns out this was a pretty good move, as for the last three seasons the Bananas have been not only selling out Major League parks, but moving concessions and merchandise every night like Major League teams only dream about. (People were literally tripping over one another to shell out for souvenirs as Eutaw Street became Shakedown Street.) Actually, that notion occurred to me quite often, that MLB teams look at what the Bananas do and think, Damn, why didn’t we think of that!?

A few modest examples for the uninitiated.

The famous (and sometimes infamous) “Kiss cam” at stadia around the country? No Kiss cam here. They’ve got actual couples who take the field and engage in, well, they engage as couples do, and the audience votes by cheer who should win.

Of course it’s a gag and it’s all staged, and of course I didn’t realize this at first.

  • Couple #1, who said they’d been married a year and a half, began with an attractive but mild kiss.
  • Couple #2? They’d been married 20 years and went a little more PG. It was then I realized it was a setup.
  • Bring on Couple #3 (a.k.a. someone’s grandparents), who said they’d been married 49 years. Their smooch, lasting the first dozen bars or so of Etta James’s “At Last” over the PA, got the most deafening applause I have ever heard. Teams have their cheering sections, but everyone roots for Grandma and Grandpa.

That’s the genius of the Savannah Bananas. They get the crowd involved. The couples in the kissing contest probably really were just plucked from the crowd (and coached on how the game would go), as were the dozen or so other attendees who made it onto the field for the various other gags and promotions. Most of the selectees were under six years old, and who isn’t going to go nuts for a little kid out there? (One of them was literally a three-year-old girl peeling a banana–you’d have thought it was Mick Jagger out there.) My favorite? A kid and his dad in a little exhibition called “Hose My Dad.” You can imagine how this goes …


Announcer: So kid, would you like this cheap prize? Or would you like to spray your dad with a firehouse we’ve brought out onto the field?

Kid: Hose my dad.

(Kid sprays hose. Wild roar from the crowd.)

Announcer: Okay, kid, how about this nicer prize?

Kid: Hose my dad.

(Kid sprays hose. Crowd erupts like it’s the seventh game of the World Series.)

Announcer: Okay, kid, last try… this awesome prize, or hose my dad?

Kid: Hose my dad.

(Crowd doesn’t even wait for the water, just starts going insane. Kid walks away all three prizes anyway. And a very wet dad.)

Oh, there was baseball too. And sometimes one forgets that these guys (and girl–we saw former Cal State softball star and sort of a Jackie Robinson of women in pro baseball Kelsie Whitmore come in to pitch) really are great players. Most of them I imagine are just a few years out of college, and though they might have been pretty good in the NCAA they maybe didn’t get quite the draft position or signing bonus they were expecting. If they’ve got a talent (like, gee, I don’t know, the guy who plays while walking on stilts), there may be a spot for them in Banana Ball. One guy wears a cape, one guy wears a motorcycle helmet, one guy plays without a shirt … you get the idea. You’ve got to have a little style out there. Like, catching a flyball while doing a backflip. Yup. And infielders tend to catch balls behind their backs. They count on the scoreboard as “trick plays,” though it was never really explained how those factor into anything. (I guess “real” baseball keeps dozens of ultimately worthless stats too. Runs are the thing that determine the winner, not any of that other jazz.) The standard comparison for the Bananas is to the Harlem Globetrotters, and yeah, the comparison has a kernel of validity. But I’m sorry to say the Harlem Globetrotters these days look like baseball compared to what the Savannah Bananas put on the field. You know the old saying about going to the ballpark and seeing something you’ve never seen before? Saturday night I saw about fifty.

I should say that in general Banana Ball does resemble traditional baseball. There’s a pitcher and a batter and fielders and all; the pitcher and fielders try to get the batter out and into the field so they get a turn at bat. That part’s the same. The official rules of Banana Ball, eleven of which are announced at the beginning of the game, are little tweaks that, admittedly, do make the game more interesting, or at least more fan friendly. Common fan friendly. More on how the aficionado reacts in a moment. Number one on the list is the “every inning counts” approach. Similar to match play in golf, you win the inning you get a point. Points are what counts in determining the winner. This tends to keep the game from getting out of hand. Rule number two? Two-hour time limit. That keeps the time from getting out of hand. As someone traveling to baseball games with a young child for a decade I can say that we have seen the final out of very few games. Saturday night? We and 45,000 other fans were there until the final pitch. No one left early. And my electronics-addicted child? Never asked for the iPad once. To give you an idea of how much he cared about seeing the action on the field, at one point we were literally running from the men’s room back to our seats so we wouldn’t miss another second.

On the subject of missing things, the trouble with Banana Ball is that you will. There are sometimes three or four things going on simultaneously, and you’re not sure whether you should be watching the pitcher and batter, the dancing first base coach, the brass band, the guy throwing Mardi Gras beads into the crowd, or dugout-top performance of the Man-nanas.

Man-nanas? Glad you asked.

Similar to pretty much everything the Bananas do, they’ve taken convention and placed it on its head. Instead of hot 20-year-old female cheerleaders, why not have a bunch of sweaty, out-of-shape 50-year-old guys be your cheerleaders? Have them really ham it up, remove some of their clothing, and have the crowd go nuts at every weak attempt at actual rhythm. Absolutely brilliant.

(Not in attendance Saturday night but at times part of the show are the Banana Nanas, and yes, that’s exactly what you think it is.)

And speaking of dance moves, the music is a constant at these things, and it’s always at a 10. The soundtrack is basically a playlist of the 200 most catchy pop hooks of all time, played in eight-second increments on a continuous loop. There are no ballads, there’s certainly no organ, there’s not even walk-up music for batters. No need. Same reason there’s apparently no pitch clock: no need. The game zips along. You know why there’s no instant replay on the Jumbotron? Because by the time you’d show the replay they’ve already moved onto the next thing.

And it’s all about getting the fans involved. This isn’t school, or church, or the opera. It’s a party. And Jesse Cole throws a good party. Fondly likened to P.T. Barnum, he does what Barnum would probably do if he had 21st-century tools in his circus. Clad in his signature yellow tuxedo, Cole is at times on the field making announcements and at times in the stands taking selfies. Imagine George Steinbrenner taking selfies with fans. Actually don’t think about that; it might get ugly. And sometimes the fans really have input. It happened only once Saturday night, but when a fan catches a foul ball on the fly it counts as an out. Can you imagine Barry Bonds being called out because some yahoo in Row 74 caught his foul pop?

Actually don’t think about that either. Same reason.

As goes the usual procedure at these gatherings we were treated to a few Baltimore-friendly cameos. Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes (she’s actually from closer to D.C. but Maryland is Maryland) tumbled onto the field like it was 1996, and former Orioles Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis actually pinch hit for the Bananas. (Both of their hits ended up meaningful in the final tally.) You wonder whether they started with Ripken and Palmer and worked their way down, or just said … Wieters. He fits the common man theme we’ve got going on here.

Former Orioles Nick Markakis, left, and Matt Wieters got in on the Bananas’ act Saturday night. (Photo from the @thesavbananas Instagram)

The common man. Or perhaps the common fan. This was fanfare for the common fan. My son said it best: “This is my kind of baseball.”

Was I actually witnessing the death of my favorite sport? I’m a little bit of a purist and this was pure heresy. In many ways TikTok come to life under the pretense of baseball, and in other settings I do consider this sort of the death knell of society.

But when you’re having a party? How could I not love it?

I’ve seen drunken hockey fans at an NHL playoff game not nearly as loud as Banana fans were last week.

I’ve seen thirty thousand hippies screaming and dancing at a Phish festival and they weren’t nearly as into it as the Bananas faithful.

I’ve seen Jerry Seinfeld perform at Caesar’s Palace in Vegas and it wasn’t nearly as funny as certain spots were in Camden Yards.

Maybe it’s time for me to admit defeat.

The best metaphor I could come up with watching the game was that if your entire life experience so far was watching monks in prayer …

… and then you went to Woodstock.

If it’s not the end of baseball itself, MLB will no doubt pick up some Banana Ball features. They already have to an extent. The pitch clock, limits on mound visits … these things move the game along. Letting the players have a little personality out there? That helps too. And just having a couple games a week? There may be a day. Every Bananas game is like the Super Bowl (including about a six-hour pregame show). You can’t have 162 Super Bowls in a season, though I suppose Broadway plays bring a party every night.

But they’re scripted. Unlike comedy acts and movies and plays, with sports you never know how these things will end, and it is that element that makes the whole thing interesting or perhaps a dud.

Last Saturday night?

Hollywood couldn’t have scripted a better ending.

After winning points in the seventh and eighth innings (with the clock running down!), the Bananas somehow found themselves in a position to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, fan favorite (they’re all fan favorites) Robert Anthony Cruz comes to the plate. After a first pitch way outside, the lefty Cruz extended to reach one a little more in… and deposited it into the seats in front of the famous warehouse in right field for a walk-off home run.

It was. The greatest. Thing. I’d ever seen.

Not the greatest thing I’d ever seen in sports. The greatest thing I’d ever seen.

Because you can’t script a home run.

And you won’t see a Major Leaguer doing backflips all the way from third base to home.

But you will when you’re witnessing the greatest show in sports.

Is this Heaven?

DouglasTHillLeave a comment
"Field of Dreams" Farmhouse
The farmhouse at the Field of Dreams Movie Site in Dyersville, IA.

I know what you might be thinking: 

Doug, this is supposed to be Around the World in 80 Sporting Events. How does the location of a film rise to the level of an event. Or even an iconic venue?

It’s a fair question and one that I wrestled with more than a little bit when building out the 80-ish events/venues. But, in the end it’s my project, my list, right?

That said, my decision seemed vindicated after recently visiting the Dyersville, IA, farm that served as a primary filming location for the 1989 baseball movie, “Field of Dreams.” While spending about an hour on site, my dad and I encountered folks from all corners of the United States, including a couple from southern California that had a family wedding in the Kansas City area and the husband was insistent that this diversion north must occur.

Um, that’s a 6-hour detour, my friend!

He was resolute, however and neither he nor his wife seemed the least bit put out by driving hours through rural America to wander around a baseball field for an hour or so.

But that seems to be the draw of this place. Karin Kinsella and Terence Mann were both spot on with their assessments of Ray Kinsella‘s absurd decision to plow under half his crop and build a baseball field in the middle of nowhere.

Karin and Terence tell Ray why he shouldn’t sell the farm. (Bonus: Archie “Doc” Graham saves Karin.)

People will – and do– come. (Seriously, check out the “Field of Dreams” live web cam here. If sun’s up in Iowa and there’s no rain, you’re bound to see folks on the field.)

There is no charge to visit the site. It’s all a freewill donation and, yes, I handed over $20 without giving it a thought, for it’s money I had and moments I sought.

Those moments were to spend time with my father at one of the more special places for fathers and sons in filmography history and if the weather permitted and we could sneak in a catch, well, all the better.

Without spoiling too much, Ray’s character (played by Kevin Costner) begins hearing a voice and having a vision of building a baseball field on his family farm. Ultimately, the voice’s messages of “if you build it, he will come,” “ease his pain,” and “go the distance” are all designed to reconnect Ray with his long-deceased father whom he had a fractured relationship.

When the inevitable occurs as the sun sets over the Iowa cornfields and Ray asks his dad if he wants to have a catch, well, pass the tissues for most fellas I know who’ve watched the film … or read the book “Shoeless Joe” by W.P. Kinsella.

Admittedly, my dad is not as fluent in “Field of Dreams” as I am, but he had a pair of homework assignments prior to this stop on the Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project: Refamiliarize himself with the movie and get his arm in good enough shape to toss the horsehide around for a few minutes.

To me, this is one of those films that, if I see its airing on the on-screen guide, I’m stopping by and staying for a while (probably for the duration).

Clockwise from upper left, the author visited with his family (son Jake, wife Carol, and daughter Helena) in 2018; the view of the field from the farmhouse; behind the backstop; Terence Mann’s monologue about baseball; the author and his father, Jerry, enjoying a catch in rightfield; the view from the pitcher’s mound; the view from homeplate; the corn was still working on its height during our visit; the welcome sign; construction is ongoing for a more permanent professional field.

It was a steamy mid-June Tuesday on the day of our visit and while my family and I had stopped by seven years earlier, I was excited to return and see what’s changed and, more importantly perhaps, what’s stayed the same from 1988 when principle shooting occurred. And, yes, I had the same feeling turning off the road onto the long gravel driveway leading to the farm that most viewers probably have when they see the twinkling lights on that aerial shot at the films end.

My son’s friend, when they were younger, used to call that feeling “getting the goosies.”

  • The house with the white picket fence … check!
  • The red barns … check!
  • The ballfield with its ramshackle bleachers and light posts … check!
  • The corn field … check!

Aside from the corn approaching just knee high and not the fully grown stalks the ghost players disappear into on film, it was as most would remember it.

There were differences from when I first visited: The smaller of the two barns is now a merchandise shop filled with the Baseballism product line; there is now a restaurant (The Dugout) in part of the larger barn, a seasonal ice cream stand between the two barns, and a concession stand counter (The Stretch) and pavilion with picnic tables down the leftfield line. There is still the opportunity to tour the farmhouse ($20 per adult, of course;-) but we opted against it as I’d completed it during my previous visit. New, however, is the ability to spend the night in the house. For a mere $600 (weeknights) you’re able to rent a room for the night (find the details here).

In the distance, well beyond the lights in left field, construction continued on what is to become a more permanent field where Major League Baseball hosted a pair of games during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The goal, per Dyersville Events Inc. President and CEO Keith Rahe which purchased the land from Go the Distance Baseball in September 2024 for $27 million, “is that professional baseball is back there. Honestly because we know how important and how significant those games were.”

That aside it was, as Ray Kinsella says during film, “perfect.”

My father and I did enjoy a catch and our newfound friends from southern California even recorded our poor form for posterity. This means I’ve now had a catch with my father and my son (2018) at the “Field of Dreams” diamond. (I’m not saying I want to be viewed rather than seen anytime soon, but this gives me comfort in having accomplished this.)

Doug and Jerry brought their gloves and took time to have a catch.

After our time doing what fathers and sons have done for generations in this country, we did something else that fathers and sons do. We visited the ice cream stand, purchased a couple dishes, and made our way to the shaded comfort of the picnic tables where we enjoyed a treat on a hot summer day while the voices of others playing catch and soaking in the sights of this slice of Americana echoed in the distance.

Field of Dreams farmhouse
Truer words may have never been uttered.

No Hitter? No Way! The Men’s College World Series, Vol. II

DouglasTHill1 Comment
2025 Men's College World Series - Arkansas vs. Murray State
Our view for Monday afternoon’s action thanks to the benevolence of Kevin Thompson.

During our first day at the Men’s College World Series, my father and I had a chance meeting with Kevin Thompson and his father, Jim. Kevin was attending his 48th MCWS, while his father has been in the stands for each Championship since 1955 (that’s 70 years for the non-math majors like me out there!).

Kevin had asked where my father and I would be sitting for our Monday doubleheader (Arkansas-Murray State elimination game in the afternoon and UCLA-LSU winner’s brack in the evening). I let him know we had seats in the outfield for both games and he said he’d “see what he could do.” We exchanged numbers and proceeded to watch Louisville beat Arizona. He and his father from the air-conditioned comfort of their suite; my father and I from the breezy sweat box that was Section 323.

I honestly didn’t give our exchange much thought until about the time I was in my hotel room witnessing J. J. Spaun sink an improbable 72nd hold birdie putt from 64 feet to clinch the U.S. Open Championship and I received a text message from the 402 area code. It read:

Hi - here are your tickets for Game 7 - Arkansas vs Murray State. ... Kevin Thompson from this morning. These seats are much better than the outfield tomorrow afternoon. Enjoy and have fun in Omaha!

As I cross-referenced the section and row, I realized this upgrade would put us behind home plate about nine rows back to witness the Cinderella Story of the tournament: the Murray State Racers.

Little did I know …

Witnessing History

Clockwise from upper right, the Arkansas dugout is ready pre-game; Murray Head Coach Dan Skirka and Arkansas Head Coach Dave Van Horn meet with the umpires; Racers’ lead-off hitter Jonathan Hogart preps for his first at bat; who was this LSU rooting for; Racers players sign autgraphs pre-game.

Unless you were wearing a red ballcap with a white A atop the bill, if you happened to be at Charles Schwab Field Monday afternoon there was a pretty good chance you were rooting for the Racers.

I mean, come on, the Murray State Racers from Murray, KY!?! Enrollment of about 10,000 (undergraduate and graduate students), playing out of the Missouri Valley Conference, needed to win four-straight MVC Tournament Games just to make the field of 64, won of three of four against Ole Miss and Georgia Tech during the Regionals to advance, then beat Duke in two straight elimination games to qualify for Omaha.

Yeah, pretty much anyone who was anyone from Murray, KY, was in their seats well in advance of this win-or-go-home showdown with the third-ranked Razorbacks.

All I can say is that Arkansas starting pitcher Gage Wood was unphased.

Following the first inning when Wood disposed of Dustin Mercer and Carson Garner on strikeouts featuring filthy mid-90s heat, I turned to the fella next to me and said, “I don’t think Murray’s sees that sort of stuff on the regular in The Valley.”

He concurred

And Wood just kept dealing … and dealing … and dealing.

After he’d set down the first 15 Racers’ batters in order, my antennae was fully raised.

And by the time Wood finished the seventh inning still perfect with 13 strikeouts, I think everyone in the park was fully aware of what was occurring.

A two balls, two strikes pitch got away from Wood against eighth inning lead-off batter, Dom Decker. That hit-by-pitch only seemed to steel the Razorback’s will as he went on to fan the final six Racers and complete a 119-pitch, 19 strikeout, no-hitter.

A compilation of all of Gage Wood’s pitches to the final two Murray State batters.

The 19 whiffs were the most in a 9-inning game in MCWS history (the previous mark of 17 was shared by LSU’s Ty Bane [2023] and Arizona State’s Ed Bane [1972]. Ohio State’s Steve Arlin struck out 20 during a 15-inning outing in 1965.

And the no-hitter?

Well, it hadn’t occurred in Omaha since 1960 when Oklahoma State’s Jim Wixson no-hit North Carolina en route to a 7-0 Cowboys’ victory. Before that, it had occurred only one other time, back in 1950 when the MCWS first arrived in Omaha from Kalamazoo, MI, and Wichita, KS. Texas Longhorn Jim Ehler no-hit Tufts, also in a 7-0 victory. (Read about both here.)

Aside from some high school baseball and softball no-hitters I’d covered during my time as a sports writer, this was the first no-hitter of consequence I’d witnessed in person. My dad, interestingly enough, was in Wrigley Field on August 19, 1969, with his younger brother (Uncle Paul’s first-ever MLB game!) for Ken Holtzman‘s 3-0 no-no against the Atlanta Braves. Holtzman struck out none!

  • Postscript – About a month after this gem, the Philadelphia Phillies made Wood the 26th pick of the first round and signed him to a $3 million bonus on July 22. He’s off to Clearwater to begin his professional career.
Arkansas Razorbacks Mob Scence
The Arkansas Razorbacks mob starting pitcher Gage Wood following his MCWS no hitter.

Mother Knows Best (or Something Like That)

Our hotel in neighboring Council Bluff, IA, was crazy busy with youth baseball players, their families, and coaches participating in greater Omaha’s annual Slumpbuster Tournament that attracts over 8,400 players annually.

Because of this, it came as no surprise that the Best Western Crossroads of the Bluffs-provided breakfast was, shall we say, teeming with activity when I arrived on Monday morning. Rather than take what meager offerings I could scrounge together back to my room, I sat on some soft seating directly in front of the front desk. My father wandered by after refilling his coffee and we were chatting when a woman sat in another seat.

As one does, we began engaging in small talk and shared what we were up to. She offered that she was also in town for the MCWS and was, in fact, the mother of Oregon State Beaver centerfielder, Canon Reeder. Sadly, Danielle noted, Canon had made the final out in OSU’s game the night before (a 6-2 Coastal Carolina win). With teammates on first and second and two out, Reeder struck out on five pitches. She was hopeful for a more positive experience for Canon and his teammates the next day against Louisville in an elimination game. OSU scored three in the top of the ninth to tie the game only to lose, 7-6, it in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly to – you guessed it – centerfielder Canon Reeder.

My dad and I listened to that back-and-forth game on the radio as we made our way across Iowa the next afternoon, wondering how Danielle, her husband Craig, and Canon’s brother, Carson (both of whom we also briefly met) were holding up.

  • Postscript – We must’ve visited with Danielle for over thirty minutes and she wasn’t sure what was going to happen once the Beavers’ season ended. Canon had another year of eligibility but was also eligible for the MLB Entry Draft. He wound up being selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 18th Round and, like Gage Wood, signed recently. Reeder is off to Bradenton and the Pirates’ Florida Complex League entry.

The Rosenblatt Stadium Tribute

Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium Arch
The archway above the old scoreboard of Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium has been preserved.

One of the reasons the Men’s College World Series made the Around the World in 80 Sporting Events list is because of my memories of players such as Pete Incaviglia, Will Clark, Robin Ventura, and Mike Mussina playing in Omaha each June.

When those fellas played it was not at Charles Schwab Field, but rather at historic Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium. Named for former the former Omaha Mayor – himself a semi-pro player who played against Satchel Paige and Babe Ruth – who was instrumental in bringing both minor league affiliates (Cardinals, Dodgers, and Royals) and the MCWS to what was once known as Omaha Municipal Stadium, Rosenblatt Stadium hosted the Series for 60 years (1950-2010) before the current venue was open for business.

City leaders have done an admirable job preserving part of that half century plus history by maintaining what amounts to a memorial of Rosenblatt at its former site which is now part of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and its parking lot known as “Johnny Rosenblatt’s Infield at the Zoo.”

Dad and I paid it a visit Monday morning before heading off to the day’s games. It’s effectively a Wiffle Ball field in the outer reaches of the Zoo’s parking lot. They’ve kept markers to note where the actual 90-foot bases would be, have honored the past champions who played there, and have even kept the foul poles out in the parking lot.

Clockwise from upper left, a list of MCWS champions is displayed; the view from behind home plate; a list of professional winners who played at Rosenblatt; the signage notes where you’re at; this Rosenblatt informational sign is displayed at Charles Schwab Field; the original foul poles still stand in the parking lot; markers indicate where the bases would have been.

A Nightcap

Doug & Jerry at Charles Schwab Field
Dad and I hanging in the shade prior to the LSU-UCLA start.

Have I mentioned it was hot while we were in Omaha?

The afternoon feels like temperatures that Monday again reached the mid-90s and, as nice those seats that Kevin Thompson provided us with were, they did not come with the steady breeze of the third deck from Sunday or any hope of midday shade.

That said, after finding some shelter from the swelter at Hook & Lime around the block between games, we returned to check out Louisiana State University and UCLA in the Bracket 2 winner’s finale.

We bided our time under the shade of the upper grandstand down the right field line until the rightful occupants of our seats arrived and then moved to our ticketed spot in the left center bleachers.

If there’s a bad seat at Schwab, I’m not sure where it is. It’s big enough to provide the electric atmosphere one seeks from an event such as the MCWS, but small enough to provide good sightlines and enough of an up-close feel no matter where you’re at.

That was true in the outfield as well. Yes, the seats were benches, but they were benches with backs and that was good news for the two of us. Sadly, however, we didn’t have those same seats from the afternoon for this evening’s game. If we had, we’d have only been eight rows behind LSU baseball legend Paul Skenes and his girlfriend, Livvy Dunne.

I’d looked forward to seeing these two juggernauts face off and, early on, it lived up to the hype. The Bruins plated three in the top of the first but LSU countered with four of its own – including a 3-run homer by Jared Jones.

The Tigers added another in the third and two more in the fourth and then I saw what was looming in the sky over the backstop and decided it might be best to get a head start on our trip to the parking garage.

Good thing too, because as we drove by Schwab 15 minutes later many fans were doing the same as the game had officially been suspended due to lightning in the area. It wound up not resuming until the next morning. We listened to the finish on our way to Dyersville, IA, and not even a good night’s sleep did UCLA any good. It lost to the eventual champions, 9-5.

Our view from the outfield at Charles Schwab Field as the game began and again as storm clouds began to build.

Embracing its History

This sculpture of celebrating MCWS players in front of Charles Schwab Field
originally stood at Rosenblatt Stadium before making the move.

I’ll say this about Charles Schwab Field, though not the original Omaha home of the Men’s College World Series (see note about Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium above), the folks who operate the Schwab fully embrace the history of the MCWS in Omaha.

Outside the stadium, plaque after plaque commemorate past champions and inside the concourse features banners of past stars along with past champions.

Granted this facility is used almost exclusively for college baseball (the Creighton Blue Jays call it home during the season), but it still seems as much shrine as stadium.

Clockwise from upper left, a series of plaques hang outside Charles Schwab Field listing the MCWS winners by decade; similarly, in the concourse hang banners with images of notable past players along with the logos of the winning teams; and in the concourse behind homeplate is a plaque that features the name of the John D. Diesing Sr. Most Outstanding Players.

The Email Says What!?!

DouglasTHill4 Comments
This pretty much sums it up for millions of would-be Masters attendees.

Monday was the day I’ve grown to dread these past dozen years.

It’s the day the millions of us who submit our names to The Masters to be entered into the drawing to receive one of the coveted grounds passes to the “tradition unlike any other” learn our fate.

Invariably it is rejection.

In fact, I’ve now been rejected more by the folks at Augusta National Golf Club than I was by all the girls combined I asked out during my awkward high school years. (To be fair, you could probably fit the total number of would-be high school dates on one hand so it’s not really even a fair comparison;-)

I knew it was getting close to my annual Rejection Day, but I didn’t know it was Monday until I saw the terrific Facebook meme that Golf Digest posted (see above) featuring the image of 2025 Champion Rory McIlroy in jubilatory anguish after finally completing the career grand slam.

So, with more than a little bit of trepidation and whole lot of resignation, I opened my Gmail amid the scenic splendor of Roosevelt National Forest on our journey down from Estes Park, CO.

“Congratulations, your ticket application was selected.”

I audibly gasped. I took a deep breath and looked at the message again. Yep, that says “Congratulations, your ticket applications was selected.”

I handed the phone to my daughter, Helena, in the backseat for verification.

“Yes, that says ‘selected,'” she confirmed. “How exciting, dad! You’re going to The Masters! I wonder if I received an email?”

(Spoiler: She, like millions of others, did not.)

Thirteen years in the making, I finally received good news from The Masters.

Excited … stunned … gobsmacked … you name it, I probably felt it at that moment.

When I set out on the Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project, I figured the most difficult – and/or the most expensive! – tickets to secure would be The Masters, Wimbledon, and the Super Bowl, likely in that order. That I was able to nab one of that trio through the luck of the draw process is heartening – and budget preserving! – to be sure.

After a few celebratory moments (and a couple of calming breaths), I followed the links provided to find out exactly what day I’d been drawn for.

  • Wednesday, April 8, 2026

It’s the final practice day for the golfers prior to the competition beginning and it’s also the day of the annual Par 3 Contest which has developed into a bit of an event unto itself. While, sadly, not a competition day, Wednesday does afford me and three of my guests to be on the grounds of one of golf’s cathedrals and, because it’s a practice day, personal cameras are permitted (just no cell phones) so I should be able to capture some moments and images from the day.

With that, who’s coming with?