The ol' ball park
About 40 minutes away, located in the heart of Wichita, is Lawrence Dumont Stadium. It's home of the Wichita Wranglers, the Double-A farm club of the fairly defunct Kansas City Royals.But for two weeks during the summer, the Wranglers head on a major road trip and in comes the National Baseball Congress. The NBC is a semi-pro baseball league made up of college players, college grads and people who just play the game to play the game. It's a fairly major affair as often times, behind home plate, there are scouts with radar guns, notebooks, pens, jotting down notes here and there. They play with wooden bats, kind of a hats-off throwback to the days of old.
Last night was a perfect night. A bit warm, but the smell of peanuts, grilled food from the concession stands wafted through the air on the warm summer breeze. People chatting idly in the stands, applauding good plays, booing bad calls. Teeny-boppers walking the aisles searching for friends or looking to meet new ones. Kids scrambling for foul balls. Vendors prowling the stands selling their wares. Good friends laughing over a shared joke. Strangers striking up a conversation during the games that lasts for the entire ball game. All punctuated with the crack of the bat.
Even though the players aren't that familiar, it's a great time.
posted by Rusty @ 8:31 AM
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