Lookouts Open House

It has been a heck of a winter in my neck of the woods, and I am READY for some baseball!

Luckily, many of the minor league teams have their annual open house events in late March.  This year, we decided to travel to Chattanooga to see what the Lookouts are up to!

This is such a great community and a great park.  You can park downtown and walk to AT&T Field, and many other great downtown attractions.

We got to the park pretty early.  We were in luck, as Alex, the teams marketing and promotions manager, was giving tours!

Alex let us know that its looking like the Lookouts will be getting some exciting prospects from the new parent club this year.  Everyone we talked to seemed very excited about The Lookouts new relationship with the Twins.

And that excitement showed.  We noticed many references to the Twins, while a few mentions of the former MLB team, the Dodgers, were still noticeable but scarce.


I really enjoy these pre-season opportunities to check out the entire park.  We were given the rare chance to see suites, dugouts, the locker room, and some more of the behind the scenes areas.

We were allowed to see where the team's radio announcer Larry Ward calls the games!  More importantly, Larry was hanging around to tell us a little about the team, and his TWENTY SIX YEARS of calling the games!

I was so excited about meeting Larry.  That's another great reason to show up at events like this.  You never know who you might be able to chat with!

The Lookouts were having an AMAZING sale of GAME USED items in the locker room.  You know I did some shopping!

The team's mascots were all over the place too.  This was a great chance to get a photo of yourself ON the field, WITH both mascots!

It has been a LONG, cold winter, and it felt so nice getting to Chattanooga and being able to hang out at AT&T Park!


Thanks to Alex, Larry, Looie and the rest of the Lookouts!

Fandemonium at Smokies Stadium

This past weekend we made our way down to Kodak Tennessee, one of my favorite spots for baseball!

Its kind of funny, I am sometimes not exactly sure of how to refer to this area.  When someone says they are going to Kodak, Sevierville, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Knoxville, or the Great Smoky Mountains, I know they are going to this general area.  And I know that they will be having a lot of fun.

I like visiting this area during the baseball season because of the Smokies baseball team, and I like coming down any other time I can because this is just a great area.

There were several other baseball events going on this weekend, but the Smokies were hosting their "Fandemonium" event which sounded like the thing to go to in my books.

In fact, we came down for the weekend, and we had plenty of time to drive around the Smoky Mountains, and to walk the strip in Gatlinburg.  Any weekend during the baseball season we can come down, catch a game, and have a lot of fun in the surrounding area.

So we got to the Fandemonium event a little after it opened at 10am.  The team had shirts, hats and game used jerseys on sale and the prices were right.  I can never pass on a game used jersey for under $50.  The Smokies have a well stocked and very diverse team shop anyway.  These guys know about marketing their merchandise.

After making a few purchases, we took the self guided tour of the park.  This is another reason that I love these preseason minor league baseball events.  You get to take a thorough tour of the facilities!  Its actually pretty rare for the public to get a behind the scenes look at the smaller parks.  Most of the MLB parks give tours all the time, but not in the minors.

This was the first time that I saw a team offer a self guided tour like this.  There were signs with arrows, pointing fans in the right direction.  Also, staff were everywhere answering questions, and helping people who did not notice the signs.

Its always fun seeing the clubhouse, the batting cages, and inside of the dugout.  I can't say why exactly, but its just cool.

Mascots were on hand for photo ops, and the inflatables were open for the kids.  AND, the team was giving away hot dogs, beverages, and popcorn!  My first park hot dog of the season tasted great!  AND it was free!

Smokies Stadium is becoming one of my favorite venues for a game.  You have those fun cities nearby I mentioned before that are exciting and lively, but they still have a very rural vibe.

And that might be why I like this park so much.  This is a AA team playing in a solid AA park- but it doesn't feel like it is in a city area.  It feels like it is in a small town.

Plus the mountainous scenery around the park is amazing.  As you watch the game, right over the outfield wall you see those green curves.  You are in the beautiful south, dealing with friendly southerners.  The Smokies and Smokies Stadium get an A+.

Chattanooga Lookouts

I really enjoy getting down to Chattanooga because Chattanooga is a great town.  I especially love getting to the area when the Lookouts are playing!

I was able to make it to AT & T Field at the end of the season this year and I was able to catch a game that could only occur in Tennessee as the Lookouts played the Smokies (another favorite team of mine).

Chattanooga is the perfect town for catching a minor league game.  You are in a major city, with a lot to do, but you know that you are still in Tennessee.  The town is hopin' but I never feel overwhelmed here.  You get all of the big city sites but none of the big city attitude.  Its almost like Chattanooga doesn't realize how big it is!

The park is an easy walk from any of the downtown attractions.

If you live within a 6 hour drive from this area, take a 3 or 4 day weekend and make it down, especially when the Lookouts are playing at home.

OR, take a few days and drive to the area when the Smokies are also playing at home!  Catch the Smokies one night, and the Lookouts the next, AND you can spend time in Chattanooga, Gatlinburg, AND enjoy some time in the National Park!

The Fur Circus

The Fur Circus is one of the newer minor league acts around this season.  I saw them earlier at a Smokies game and I had a great time.

You KNOW I love big, muppetty mascots and these guys were just that.

Seriously, I know a lot of baseball fans don't care for costumed acts but I (and the kids) love them.

Check out the Fur Circus' site:

http://www.furcircus.com/

Tennessee Smokies in Kodak

I know....  I have mentioned Smokies Park before, but it is such a great one to go to.  This is one of those parks to go to because it is a nice park, and because the park is in a great area.

We try to get to a game or two here each year and I hate to use an over used concept- but this park almost feels like an old friend now.  I want to give it a hug as soon as I get there.  There is something very comforting once you get to this park and walk through the gate.  You can relax and know that everything will be good in the world for the next several hours.

I like how they do things at this park too.  There are deals (and variety) in the team shop.  The on field promotions are fun yet not excessive.  There is something VERY cool about seeing a bunch of kids chasing a guy in a chicken costume across the field.  That never gets old.

There are nice restaurants near by, and good shopping (the Bass Pro Shop near by is always part of our road trip to the area).  Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Knoxville are all areas that you can visit as park of your day or weekend trip to see the Smokies.

Oh, and we love the hotel next to the park, the Hampton Inn and Suites.  You can get a room there and you are about a 5 minute walk from your room to Smokies Park's main entrance.  VERY convenient.  We have had a ton of good experiences at that hotel over the last few years.

It seems like I have spent a lot of time here, and this park almost feels like another home park for me.  Fireworks and Steve Goodman at the end of an evening in Tennessee sound perfect!

You can't beat this park for a perfect night- the game day atmosphere is the best.  People are friendly and the air is the same air that passes over the Great Smoky Mountains.

Baseball in Chattanooga by David Jenkins

At first, I was a little iffy on the Arcadia books in general.  They are everywhere!  I love small, local books produced by locals independently.

 

In many ways Arcadia makes that kind of a local book, but they make it on a larger level.  I admire that.  I like the fact that it is easy to find and get my hands on a book about a specific local area.

 

The books pack a wallop.  You can read them in an hour or two, even if you take your time, but they cram a lot of information into a small volume.  Plus, the books have a lot of great photos.

 

Baseball in Chattanooga, for example, is just a great read covering this baseball history rich area of Tennessee.

 

Author David Jenkins does a great job of giving a very easy to understand history of Chattanooga baseball, covering the legendary team owners, managers, and other personalities.  I personally love the stories about the scouting and setting up of Engel Stadium and the newer BellSouth Park (now known as AT & T Field).

 

I also really enjoy the photos of Joe Charboneau, Ron Oester, Trevor Hoffman and others in their Lookouts uniforms!

 

Frontier League president Bill Lee appears in this book too, which is very cool in my opinion!

 

Chattanooga is one of those towns I MUST get to at least once a year.  I love the natural beauty, the history, and the well established minor league baseball team there.

 

A tip of my yellow 21 cap goes to David Jenkins and Arcadia Publishing for this one!

Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, TN.

The Chattanooga Lookouts played their home games at Engel Stadium from 1930-1999!

I stopped by briefly a couple of weeks ago to snap some photos.

Engel was recently used for filming in the movie "42" about Jackie Robinson.

While I was there, workers were taking down HUGE green screen walls that were used for the movie.

I do love the fact that the venue is being used in some form.  I am not a fan of green screen though.  There is something obviously fake about it.

There is a little part of me that feels excited about a great, historic park getting some screen time BUT is seems they are masking a lot of it.

Still, I am glad they are making the film.  I am sure I will watch it, and I am sure I will love it.

I have to admit that there was something cool about watching them take down the green screen.  They spent a lot of time putting that up and all.  The screen looked several stories high.

Please excuse the dust appearance on some of the photos.  Chattanooga was very hot and very rainy while were were in town, and it affected my camera some.

Tennessee Smokies

Tennessee is a state that just keeps growing on me.  I love getting down there whenever I can.

Even when it is not baseball season, this is just a fun neck of the woods. 

Not far from Smokies Park is the very nice and friendly Smoky Mountain Visitor Center.  They have a nice selection of postcards and lots of brochures about things to do in the area.  I love the friendly staff there- they always seem to know whats going on in the area.  They have helped me a lot with suggestions about other places to see near by.  Without prompting, they have drawn out maps for me more than once.

There is a great Bass Pro Shop close by too!  Then again, all Bass Pro Shops are great.  I get my shoes there.

Smokies Park is a very short drive from Gatlinburg and Knoxville.  Enjoying all of the fun things in Gatlinburg or hiking through the parks during the day and then going to a ballgame in the evening is a great way to spend a weekend.

I mentioned on my other blog that we visited the Bush Brother's Visitor Center not far from hear recently too.

We stay at the Hampton next to the park and I love that place.  I am more of a Hyatt fan in general, but this place is great.  They are walking distance from Smokies Park too!

Visiting the area, catching a game, and just enjoying the casual feel of the area is a treat.