Opening Day 2014 at Joe W. Davis Municipal Stadium

Yesterday Dad and I attended Opening Day for the Huntsville Stars at Joe W. Davis Municipal Stadium.  We had been meaning to go to a game ever since we moved to Huntsville last year, but never got around to it last season.  Now this year is the team's last season here, so we were more seriously planning to get to a game this season.  I had given up on planning in advance a few weeks ago because I could not figure out how to buy tickets (turns out they gave up on selling tickets online because of glitches in previous years and the whole stadium is now general admission other than some season ticket seats).  Yesterday we just decided to go when Dad read about it being Opening Day in the paper.

We arrived at the park a little more than an hour before the game and located the ticket office just by guessing the little windows under the stadium name must be it. We then joined the small line to get into the park, which was shortly let in.

After stopping at the gift shop for a mini bat and souvenir baseball, we walked the small concourse area to scope out the food options.  Pretty much just standard ballpark fare, but they do have tater tots are the stand on the first base side.  I got the regular and Dad got the ones loaded with chili and cheese on top.

We decided to sit in the upper section about in line with third base.  It ended up being a good view of the whole field as well as the highest row where you could sit in the front row to avoid having someone tall block you.

Overall an enjoyable game even though we only stayed until the end of the fifth inning because I did not want to stay out late having a lot to do this week and Dad getting cold.  Mostly a rather plan and boring ballpark, although they have some murals in the hallways between the concourse and the seating sections.

Mik's Food Scrapbook: Nats Ice and Boardwalk Fries

Since the only thing Mik has had at Nationals Park is a pretzel dog and food at the Diamond Club, he was not sure what to try this time.  I told him that I used to enjoy getting Boardwalk fries when I came to games during the park's inaugural season.  He decided to go with the fries and ended up enjoying them.  He also spotted Dippin' Dots and even though the weather was not that warm he also enjoyed some Nats Ice (similar to rainbow ice flavor, but has red, white, and blue dots).  Afterwards he was full and said he has to come to another game because he still has not had just a hot dog at Nationals Park.  Plus, there are plenty of other appealing food options here.

Mik's Mini Ballplayer Collection: Screech

Since it was Opening Day the team shop was very crowded and I did not have a chance to really look around for the mini figs, so I do not know if they had any specific player ones available or not.  What I did easily spot was the generic Washington Nationals one and Screech.  The generic one is rather boring just representing the team in general with the uniform and the number 00 on it.  The Screech one is actually kind of cool, though, as it is at least the team mascot.

Accessibility Review: Nationals Park Section 141

For Opening Day 2014 we ended up with tickets in section 141.  I would have preferred to be up a level, but certainly better than when Mom and I had seats one row from the top for the Opening Day six years ago when they opened Nationals Park.  Also, good seats considering we only finally decided to go to Opening Day versus another game while in DC this weekend and this game ended up being a sellout with the second highest Opening Day attendance for this park.

The main downsides to this section are you cannot see the scoreboard because you are under it and you cannot see plays that happen deep in the outfield in front of you.  However, they do have TV screens showing the game, which are nicely placed sideways instead of straight in front of you. Thus, they are not obstructing the view, but are still easy to look over at.

Mik was of course happy with the section because there were cup holders.  The section had a standing view are behind it, but it was nicely separated and you did not feel crowded even though the concourse was very busy and we were on the end of the row.

Overall section 141 was good, but I still like the view of the park best from the right field terrace level (sections even numbers between 222 and 236) and in particular 224. Maybe, I'm biased just from having sat there so many times when I had partial season tickets during the park's inaugural season, but I have sat in 236 and in left field mezzanine level (203 I think) and 224 remains my favorite.

Mik also said he preferred the view from 224 at least based on his remembering it from the brief few minutes we sat in 224 before getting to go to the Diamond Club on the ballpark trip.  Also, Mik found the speakers in 141 to be too loud and they really bothered him before the game when they are constantly on. I remember him having that issue a few years back at Chase Field.  Both times those were seats on the main level covered concourse area and I don't think he would have a problem with the open area upper levels like 224 is.

Mik's Mini Ballplayer Collection: Louisville Slugger

Dad and I had a hard time choosing just one mini figure for Mik's collection when we were at the Louisville Slugger Museum to see the Big Leagues, Little Bricks Exhibit.  They had several that were from the National Baseball Hall of Fame series and it was tempting to get those, but in the end we decided not to since we were not at the Hall of Fame and none of them were among the players Mik particularly favored.  The figure with a Louisville Slugger uniform made sense, though.

Big Leagues, Little Bricks LEGO exhibit at Louisville Slugger Museum

 Earlier this month Dad and I were driving through Louisville and noticed a billboard for a LEGO exhibit at the Louisville Slugger Museum.  The Big Leagues, Little Bricks exhibit requires admission to the Lousiville Slugger Museum, which also includes the factory tour, but since we have done that twice before and did not want to add to much more time to our travel day we just saw the exhibit and the shop (had to get a new figure for Mik's mini ballplayer collection!).

The exhibit features models of several ballparks at different scales.  The largest model is of Wrigley Field.  The other ballpark models include Miller Park and PNC Park.

The exhibit also featured some LEGO murals.  My favorite was the one called Take Me Out to the Ball Game.  This features the lyrics raised as part of an image of a player at bat.  There were also murals of ballplayers.

One of the more interesting parts of the exhibit was a display of bats made out of different materials including cardboard, glass, and, of course, LEGOs.

The exhibit also features LEGO models of figures doing different baseball moves such as sliding, pitching, catching, and hitting.  There is also an area to build your own LEGO creations.

Kj's Baseball Collection: 1993-2012 Chipper Jones

I did not even think of getting a baseball when we were at the Chipper Jones Number Retirement game because I remember them having nothing special back in 2009 when we went to Maddux's number retirement.  However, I guess because Chipper Jones was a much more major player for the team they did have merchandise (or they have learned from people wanting to buy stuff and there being nothing) including a baseball with an image of Chipper Jones and the years he was active/a Brave.