Night at the Ballpark: Salem

The final night of our two game , two city Oregon baseball tour rolled into Keizer, OR as the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes hosted the Boise Hawks. Now, I have been to probably 15 different minor league stadiums in my life and seen upward of 30 games. I can say with confidence that tonight's game may rank in the top three. It was an overall amazing night - here are the highlights

• Thursday nights at Volcanoes Stadium are $1 beer nights. No kidding. $1 beers. Luckily I was with my family, so I was able to hold back, but had I been with Jay, I probably would have spent the night in the car. I heard a guy who just graduated from college talk about how slow the service was and it made me laugh. To him, $1 beer is a right, not a privilege. It happens. But when you're 30 with a kid, $1 beer night is like the holy grail.
• I'm not sure I have ever been to a stadium closer to the freeway than I was tonight. I-5 I think was no more than 50 yards from the right field wall. The stadium was in stark contrast to PK Park - no frills at all. really felt like a minor league ballpark.
• $18.25. Thanks to the $1 beer night, I bought 4 beers, 3 hot dogs, kettle korn and a baseball for $18.25. The hot dogs were $2.75 and made me forget the decision to not buy the bacon wrapped hot dog last night. It was amazing.
• At about the 3rd inning, I got word of the Sounders win. The wife and I were the only ones excited in the stadium. Love ya Roger
• My daughter didn't know what to make of Crater, the volcanoes mascot. She couldn't even muster a wave, which for her is hard to do.
• When the Volcanoes hit a home run, smoke came out of the scoreboard
• Volcanoes Stadium had an amazing selection of food - Kielbasa, Rice Bowls, Wraps, Nachos, Salad...enough to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters
• Once again, we bought bleacher seats and got to sit behind home plate. Credit the small crowds and the baby stroller.
• The Volcanoes played Super Mario Bros. music after several at bats
• I am really old. Now I know that 21 is a lot younger than 30, but I was shocked at how young kids looked when standing on the beer line. Seriously, it was amazing. I later found out that one kid sitting in front of me was using a fake, but still..it was ridic.
  

Overall, it was an amazing night. I think the ball game was good too - 4-2 Salem-Keizer when I left, but it was hard to determine with the amount of time I spent on the beer line. I have no report on any prospects, but will leave you with this bit of knowledge: my boy D-Lib used to be an intern for the Volcanoes. I was interested in finding out whether he was a good employee or not, but no one had heard of him. Way to make an impression, D.