I'll tell you what....I'm not a huge baseball fan, but you don't have any choice but to enjoy a baseball game at West End Field in G-Vegas. The stadium is awesome. It's a replica of Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox. Now, if you want to see good baseball....well, you might have to go somewhere else. The Charleston Riverdogs put a hurtin' on the Drive last night, and they're not having a great season overall. Still, the stands are pretty full, and I think that's in part because of the stadium itself, the location, and the general atmosphere. We started out in the County Square parking lot, which is about two blocks or so away from the stadium. My wife's company was sponsoring a cookout, and the burgers were fantastic! As we ate, an ice cream truck from Bloom's grocery store pulled up, and the ladies inside started handing out free ice cream sandwiches. It's just a short walk to the stadium from there, or you can take the trolley. The kids love that stuff. On the way, you pass by Shoeless Joe Jackson's house. Jackson was a Greenville native, and his house was moved to the site during construction of the stadium.
Last night was $1 draft night (they are usually $3-$4) at the tap below the Upper Deck. The Upper Deck is a great feature of the park. You pay a little extra to get up there, but it's a big patio with tables and it's own bar, flat panel televisions, and live music. I couldn't make it past the velvet rope, but I did catch a few bars of some Jimmy Buffet over the sound of the game. I think things like that help out with attendance when a team is in a slump, and attract people who otherwise wouldn't come to the games. This year they also have the Coca Cola dugout, which you can rent out and be right at field level. I've never heard of anything like that before.
We were sitting in right field. It's a small park, so there really aren't any bad seats. Over in right field there is a nice grassy area for people to sit on and for the kids to run around on, and a great playground.
Location is another thing the ballpark has in its favor. It's so close to downtown that you can easily hit a good restaurant and a couple of bars either before or after the game. I would think that would make it a lot more popular with the G-Vegas socialites that might not otherwise want to dedicate their whole night to a ball game.
Being my usual hard partying self, I topped out about 9:30, after the Riverdogs popped two homeruns in a row over the Green Monster, a 30 ft high wall in left field. On the way out of the stadium, we were handed a free loaf of bread, provide by the fine people from Sara Lee. Yeah, I know...sounds weird....but I thought about it on the trolley and the more I thought the better it sounded. I mean, I'll get more use out of that loaf of bread than I would out of a miniature baseball bat, right?
So, overall, a good night out with the family in G-Vegas. It also gave me a chance to meet up with Axe and his family. Axe and the kids stayed for the whole game, and Axe Jr. snagged three baseballs before the night was over.
That's almost better than a free loaf of bread.
