My first venture into the State of Maryland was the Washington DC Suburb of Bowie and Prince George's Stadium. On what was a very brisk and chilly evening, I saw the Baysox of Bowie play the Richmond Flying Squirrels in a doubleheader.
Bowie is the stereotypical suburb. Located about 30 minutes east of DC, I had to take the Metro out to the New Carrollton stop, then transfer onto a city bus, then walk about a mile to get to the ball park. The whole area is designed wholly for automobile traffic and is not conducive to the public transportation and walking I was doing, and what I normally do, during a baseball roadtrip. It would have been very easy to get turned around and lost in suburbia if one did not pay attention to their surroundings.
While jumping on the city bus, I ran into one of the scorekeepers for the Stadium. I got into a very nice conversation with him about baseball, and I found out that he used to work as a scorekeeper for the Portland Beavers. It is amazing just the fraternity that is created in Minor League Baseball and just how one team can have such an influence on the game. It was nice to talk to him about going to Beavers games and all the ballparks here in the Northwest. Kind of made me a little homesick, in a way.
From the Mall, it took about an hour, via public transportation, to get out to Prince George's Stadium. It is set off a busy main road that is lined with strip malls and fast food joints. From the main road, you have to follow a windy two-lane egress road that goes behind a Home Depot to the main parking lot. There were no sidewalks, so it kind of made walking a little awkward and dicey, certainly after the game. Luckily, I was with the scorekeeper gentleman I met on the bus, so I pretty much followed his lead and where he went.
The stadium itself is pretty nice. It seats about 8-9,000 people, which I think is perfect for a Double-A team. It is a perfectly symmetrical stadium that has identical seating and concession stands on either grandstand which stretches down the baseline. It didn't have a roof and was subject to some very chilly breezes that came off of the Chesapeake Bay. There were times during the game when I was shivering so much that I could barely hold my pencil and scorecard. Granted, of course, I was in a tropical country for seven weeks beforehand, but it was still cold!
Down the rightfield line, next to the kid's play area and in the lawn seating, a fifteen-foot tall lighthouse was constructed. Colored in a cylindrical striped red and white, the lighthouse towered over the field. I was told that the lighthouse represented the nearby Chesapeake Bay and the moniker for the Baysox. It would light up every time the Baysox would win. It was a neat little quirk to the ballpark.
In what seemed to becoming a very disturbing trend, there was literally nobody at the game. The Baysox barely drew a 1,000 people for the game. Sure, it was a slightly cool evening, but considering the large population base that Bowie is in, you would think that they would draw a better crowd. Considering the stadium holds 8-9,000, the place really looked empty.
As in Washington, it is kind of sad to see this happening. The Baysox really tried hard to make a fun atmosphere, and I can see where they would be successful in doing that, but where are all the fans? It is really disappointing to see these teams and these parks struggle to draw a modest crowd. Even with the sparse crowd, the patrons were incredibly nice and very eager to hear my stories of traveling the country seeing games. The staff at the park, from the front office to the concessions crew, were incredibly friendly and helpful.
The Baysox and Flying Squirrels split the doubleheader with Bowie winning the first game, the completion of a rain-shortened game the night before in a four-and-a-half inning contest, 6-4, and the Flying Squirrels winning the second game 2-0 in a seven inning contest.
After the game, I traversed the windy road back out to the main highway to find some sort of transportation back to the New Carrollton Metro Station. In yet another example of how downtown ballparks are so much more convenient, I had to duck into the adjacent Applebee's restaurant and call a cab to take me back to the Metro station. By the time the game got over, all the transit buses had stopped running. It was a hassle and the cab ride cost almost fifty bucks. In the end, it was after midnight by the time I got back to my hotel in Arlington.
I come away from Bowie with mixed feelings. I like the ballpark, and I like the attempt at making a fun minor league atmosphere. It also validated my point that Minor League Baseball is better than Major League Baseball. But I'm uneasy to rank it high in my book. There are parks that are worse, but there are some that are better. These ballparks isolated in the suburbs away from the downtown are just so inconvenient and really do create headaches for people using alternative modes of transportation. Because of this aspect, I have to knock Prince George's Stadium down a few notches.
The next day, I went up to Baltimore to see the parent club of the Baysox, the Orioles, play at Camden Yards. I will post an entry for that trip after this one.
Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)
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