BaseBlog: Game 3- I love College

To all of you that don’t go to school with me, welcome to ISU.

I stressed at the beginning of the season that I wanted to expand my baseball horizons, and see as much as I could. I knew there was a Redbird baseball team, so I decided to check it out. It’s not a major league game, but I’m counting it towards the season total. I feel like it’s organized and official enough to put it on the list. Plus, 20 major league games would start to get really expensive.

I wasn’t as interested in the team or outcome as much at the stadium. I had heard Duffy Bass Field was top notch after recent renovations, and really put the baseball program on top of the rest of the Missouri Valley Conference.

So, who is Duffy Bass?

Bass is the reason ISU baseball is so respected today. He managed the Redbirds for 24 seasons (he finished with over 700 wins and a .600 winning percentage) , and won the program’s only NCAA national title in 1969. The stadium was named and dedicated in 1988.

I actually attended two games over the course of a week; I forgot the chip in my camera and wasn’t happy with what I got with my iPhone, so you may see pictures from both games mixed in with each other.

The first game was on a Tuesday, and started at 4:30. Me and my friend Nick were a little late, so we started to go right in when we got there. But something made me stop and take a closer look:

This was…unexpected. I planned to just take a few pictures, but I already found a ball. It was really scuffed up and dirty, so I couldn’t find a stamp or logo. I picked it up and nobody said anything, so it went right into my pocket. There is absolutely no way I’m going to count this in my collection. I couldn’t even tell if it was actually from the game I was attending, and I got it in a pretty lame fashion. A foul ball or home run would be different, but for this one, no way.

Anyway, we got inside right away, took a seat, and had a pretty sweet view.

We watched a couple innings, then started to move around. I first wanted to see the home plate gate and main entrance. I expected something a little cooler than this:

But it did have a nice plaque commemorating the remodeling that was done during the summer of 2008.

We then kept wandering over to the third base side. This game, ISU was taking on Purdue. I took this one to show their uniforms:

The seats and bleachers were very nice and seemed brand new. The press box was pretty sweet too.

It was basically all glass with windows, you could even see some of the field while standing behind it.

Here’s me and Nick right behind the visiting dugout:

We stayed for the rest of the game, and the ‘Birds lost 3-2.

On our way out I saw this hidden gem:

AGAIN?! Whatever, I’ll take it, but it still won’t count. Here’s the two balls I picked up:

The one on the left is really interesting. First of all, who actually uses a ball made by Wilson? Rawlings is ALWAYS the way to go. Second, it’s the official ball of the Frontier League. I looked it up when I got home, and that’s the SAME league the Normal Cornbelters play in (the local minor league team down there), as well as the newly established Schaumburg Boomers, the new team back at home. Talk about a weird coincidence. I was convinced at this point that neither of the balls was from the actual game, and just ones that got lost from kids playing catch in the open field next to the seats.

On to game number two. It was the day before finals started, and I considered the game a study break. Some students were still multitasking:

It started at 1:05, and was hotter than hell.

I sat behind the plate, similar to last game.

And was able to get some pretty cool action shots.

This was the finale of a 3 game set versus Southern Illinois.

I really liked the scoreboard they had. It’s small, yet looked good, fit in well, and still was visible from pretty far away.

The name was clear, displayed on the center field wall.

The dimensions from left to right were 330, 375, 400, 375, 330. Nice and symmetrical, and just a little bit smaller than an average major league field.

This is my favorite shot from both games; Tri-Towers looming over right field. Every time I looked up at them, I remembered I really was at school still, something that felt weird and unexpected.

Both dugouts were decked out in red and Redbird logos.

I did another panoramic, featuring the rest of the ISU “skyline”:

(My camera did a pretty crappy job of stitching the first two together).

I got another skyline shot right behind the plate before I started to head back to the library.

The coolest thing about the whole place is that Watterson is back there. It's the most iconic and recognizable building for students at ISU, and it made for a great picture. (At time time, I lived in Manchester, one of the white ones just to the right of the water tower).

I checked the website, and the ‘Birds came out on top 8-1. In the end, it was an interesting little park to see, right in my backyard. These guys were basically my age, and at the last step before being drafted into farm systems of MLB teams. It’s not too often I get such a close, intimate view of a game. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a non-professional game that’s not little league; this was a different style of play I'd never seen before. It turned out to be a nice study break, and a good way to end the year.

If you haven't seen enough pictures yet, here's one more set; I took shots during each phase of the Redbird starter for the Sunday game: