Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

We finished up our last show in Tiffin (which went better than the first) and packed up the truck, ready to move on down the road. But before we left northwestern Ohio, I decided to head into Toledo to catch a Mud Hens game, the town's AAA baseball club. What I didn't realize until I got there was that Toledo is the highest attended minor league team in the country, so all that was left ticket-wise was standing room. No problem. The stadium is great and has clear sightlines all the way around the field, so standing is not a problem in that way. I had a ton of fun. I got a Bratwurst and a Hot Fudge Sundae, which was served in a mini baseball helmet, just like they used to do at Dairy Queen when I was little. Although there was about three times as much whipped cream as there was fudge; should have called it a Whipped Cream Sundae. I even bought myself a Mud Hens cap. The game was good too. Plenty of well-turned double plays, a few dramatic calls and arguments with the umpire, and a walk-off home run to seal the win for the home team. And there are great fans in Toledo.

So now, I'm writing this from Tullahoma, TN after a full day of driving through rain and more rain. The drive was pretty though. Once you get near Cincinnati, Ohio suddenly becomes good looking and Kentucky and Tennessee just continue that trend. Very green and forested with rolling hills (thank goodness there are hills again) and heavy air. Hurray for mugginess! Along the way we stopped in Louisville to take in, what else, the Louisville Slugger Factory.

Cool little museum and tour of the factory floor, well worth the visit. The pics here are of the signature wall, which has the signature of every player who has contracted with Louisville Slugger since they first began supplying to the pros. And I was glad to see ol' Frankie Frisch's name there, good name. The tour leads you right on the factory floor, you could reach out and touch all the major parts of making a bat. Unfortunately, it's Sunday and they obviously don't work on the weekend. So if you're ever in Louisville, try to visit during the week so you can see the process in action. It was cool to see the cabinet where works-in-progress for big-leaguers was. They were currently working on bats for Griffey, Manny Ramirez, Jeter, Carlos Delgado, the Giles brothers, and several more. And in the museum they had a few historic specimens to gaze upon, including this bat that Hank Aaron smashed number 700 with. They even have a batting cage there where you can take different models for a spin. I took a few swings with the Ted Williams model.

After some good comfort food at the Cracker Barrel and confusing directions to our hotel, we're ready to start a new week.