That Day
We (my son, older daughter,son's friend and I) arrived in Bowie via Gettysburg on April 12, 2001. That was to be the fourth game out of 5 on our trip, but the 2 games we were to attend on April 11, one in Harrisburg, PA at noon and a night game in Frederick, MD, were both postponed due to rain, so we had a bit more time to see Gettysburg. My longtime friend, who now lives in Northern Virginia, and his family met us there.
Anyway, we got to Bowie about an hour or so before the gates opened. It was the home opener, and I was expecting it to be crowded. The kids played catch outside and took turns in a batting cage while we waited. There was a clown milling about, who in my opinion was the least entertaining clown I have ever seen. He tried to say things to get the kids to laugh, but even my daughter, who will laugh at just about anything, was laughing solely in response to the boys' comments to the clown. (It started with them giving him false names.) The best he had was repeating someone else's stupid catch phrase.
When the gates opened, the players were there to greet the fans. Right as we walked in, a Baysox employee stopped the kids and asked them if they wanted to go on the field to participate in the opening ceremony, which delighted them. We walked around for a while, until the time came for them to report to the Baysox office.
While they were there, the ceremonies began. To commemorate the 100th year of minor league baseball, they had some former players who had some connection to minor league history. The kids, along with 10-15 other kids, came out in the middle of the old-timers' introductions, each holding a bunch of balloons. They went down onto the field, and after the old-timers left, lined up on the basepaths between 1st and 3rd. After the players on Bowie and the Harrisburg Senators (the Montreal Expos' affiliate) were introduced and we sang the national anthem, the kids all released the ballooons into the air.
As for the game, Bowie scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 3rd, 2 on a triple by RF Larry Bigbie. That proved to be enough. Harrisburg plated 2 in the top of the 7th, and the final was 3-2. |
