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A Day At The Ballpark
Pregame
By Will Lingo
Every night from April to September, across North America, minor league ballparks open their gates to thousands of fans. What the fans see in the stadium and on the field is only a small part of the story on any given night, however. Baseball America gives you an inside look at all that goes on during a night at the ballpark (April 30, in this case), courtesy of the International League's Durham Bulls, one of the iconic franchises of the minors. PREGAME It's 5:30 p.m., and the programs are nowhere to be found. The gates at Durham Bulls Athletic Park open in a half-hour, and fans are going to want their programs. It's especially important for the Bulls, who give away their program for free and change the content for each new opponent. This is the first night of a series with the Richmond Braves, and the team is expecting big crowds all weekend. General manager Mike Birling calls the printer on his omnipresent cellular telephone, and the printer assures him that the programs are on a truck and on their way. They arrive a few minutes later. The close call with the programs is notable not because it was so close, but because seemingly everything that happens at a minor league park is a close call. The name of the participant in a contest is radioed on the team's walkie-talkie network seconds before it's to be announced. The gravel road providing temporary access to a parking lot was ready an hour before fans started arriving on Opening Day. There's a huge construction project going on adjacent to the DBAP, involving the renovation of old tobacco warehouses for commercial and retail space. It will be a boon for Durham and the Bulls when it opens, but for now it's a headache. Just a few days ago, workers were pulling cable for the project when they accidentally pulled out a power line to the air-conditioning units for the entire ballpark. Oops. The Norfolk Tides weren't too happy to find their clubhouse transformed into a sauna when they arrived, but everyone muddled through the first day. After that, the city has provided a generator to run the AC. Meanwhile, workers have dug an enormous hole in the road next to the ballpark, trying to find where the power line is broken. It's four days later, and they're still looking. That's why it's hard for Birling to recall great stories about ballpark snafus from throughout his career in minor league baseball, which began in Wisconsin in 1994. "What's happened this week?" he says. "That kind of stuff happens all the time." Five minutes before the gates open, longtime Bulls public-address announcer Bill Law gives staff members a pep talk over the stadium's private PA network, something he does before every game. A few minutes later, the song "Centerfield" plays over the loudspeakers, signaling the ticket-takers to open the gates. On a slow weekday night, the music can sound like it's blaring, but tonight it plays over the din of hundreds of fans who are already anxious to get in. They stream in as the gates open, grabbing those free programs and bags full of office-supply samples, courtesy of the sponsor for the game, getitquick.com. The gates are open for about 30 seconds when a fan walks up to Birling and asks him about photographs that were taken at an unspecified game last year. Birling has an answer for him and every other fan who approaches him. He expects to be busy in the hour before game time every night, and tonight in particular because it's a beautiful spring Friday night and the team presold 7,500 tickets. "From six to seven, my biggest thing is getting people in the door," Birling said.
It's about a half-hour before first pitch when Kevin Odom and his wife Caroline settle into their familiar seats in section 200. Like every game he attends, Odom is prepared to score tonight's Braves-Bulls contest. He sets down his backpack containing his scorebook, several statistical reports and a collection of pens and pencils. On his left knee rests his Speed Watch, to keep accurate pitch counts and track pitch speeds. Odom doesn't fool around with the standard ballpark-issue scorecard. "They don't give you enough room to track pitching stats," he says. "And most go only to the 10th inning." He produces his own scorecards in Microsoft Excel and prints them on 11-by-17-inch paper. Each sheet bears a "Created by Kevin B. Odom" mark in the lower left corner. A building contractor from Durham, Odom has visited nine minor league parks already this season, and he and his wife plan to watch a game in every park in North and South Carolina this summer, with potential stops in Danville, Va., and Rome, Ga., for good measure. They celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary at—where else?—Durham Bulls Athletic Park, but the game was rained out. Noticing the Odoms were among the last people to leave the park that night, a police officer asked them, "Don't you have lives?" To which Odom responded: "What better place to be on our anniversary than at the ballpark?" Odom has fond memories of Bulls players dating back to their days as a Braves affiliate in the Carolina League, with a particular affinity for first baseman Ryan Jackson, a former Bull who also attended Duke and was supposed to be in town with Richmond. The Bulls had planned to present him with his 2003 International League championship ring before tonight's game, but the Braves sold his contract to a team in Korea and he has already left, disappointing Odom and members of the Bulls front office. What distinguishes DBAP from other minor league parks is the emphasis on family-friendly entertainment and fan-friendly promotions, Odom says. "At Richmond, they don't do much to entertain fans between innings," he says. "All they seem to have is Termites in the Trousers." But Odom said the Bulls truly separate themselves from the crowd with their employees. Once before a game, Odom spotted Bulls assistant general manager Jon Bishop wiping off seats after a rainfall. "Where else would you see that?" Odom says.
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