Lehigh Valley wasn’t a part of the itinerary.  The last ballpark that we were going to visit was going to be in Auburn, New York, but since 2013 has been the rainiest year in the history of mankind, much like everything else has been at some point, Auburn was rained out.

But instead of tucking our tail between our legs and accepting an unexpected baseball-less evening, quick thinking on Huzzard’s part opened the gates for us and immediately after finding out the cancellation in Auburn was official, we were already on the road, headed south into Pennsylvania, since we needed to be going in that direction anyway.

Apparently the Lehigh Valley IronPigs were home on this particular evening, and because of a prior rainout, they had a double-header that needed to be played, because of where they stood in the standings.  Which meant that it was just enough time for us to get down to Allentown, PA to catch an official game, at a new park that neither of us had been to before.

Continue reading “Marching through Triple-A Baseball: Lehigh Valley” →

Syracuse was one of the marquee places on our itinerary because my boy Huzzard is a Nationals fan, and the Syracuse Chiefs are the Nationals’ AAA affiliate.  He had actual incentive to seeing Syracuse, as it put him one step closer to being able to say that he had been to every single Nationals affiliate, and obviously I can relate, because I’ve seen all of the base minor league affiliates of the Braves as well.

I’d actually been to Syracuse a few times in my life, since it’s where my sister went to school back in the day.  Although my memories of the place often involve cold, or really cold weather, but I did remember the gigantic mall there, that used to be called the Carousel Center, based on the fact that they had a carousel in the center of the mall.  Apparently at some point, it was renamed “Destiny USA,” and almost threw me for a loop when looking for it, because I’d never heard of a mall called something like that.

Continue reading “Marching through Triple-A Baseball: Syracuse” →

The first stop on a multi-day minor league baseball trip was Buffalo, New York.  Buffalo’s actually a city that I’d been to a few times in my past, as I used to have family out there, as well as used it as a cheap hub in order to get to and from Toronto.

But anyway, as terms of a place to watch baseball, Buffalo kind of misses the point.  Either they were trying to prove to Major League Baseball that the state of New York actually needs more baseball teams, or they simply don’t really get that minor league baseball is kind of supposed to be small potatoes, in order for the players to grow and develop, but then again the way Triple-A baseball is nowadays, that’s kind of out the window now that I think about it.

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