A Cold Night for Baseball

There were three things that I noticed quickly when walking into FirstEnergy Park Thursday for the Lakewood BlueClaws season and home opener. 

I was hit immediately by various smells from food being cooked on the grill which seemed to follow me on the concourse.  There was the site of green grass which was nice to see when you consider it’s still very much brown around most of the shore. 

Finally there was the newest addition to the stadium and that’s the sparkling video scoreboard in centerfield which you can see clearly from anywhere and drew rave reviews from fans who I spoke with.

There was actually one other thing that was noticeable. As is usually the case with BlueClaws home openers the weather was more appropriate for a football game in December than a baseball game in April.  It was a raw and cold night and to make matters worse the wind was blowing straight in from centerfield in the faces of the few thousand fans who braved the elements. For many it didn’t matter because opening day is a sign that things will be okay and warm, sunny days are right around the corner.

I was standing on the concourse talking with Jim DeAngelis, the Community Relations Director and Executive Director of BlueClaws Charities who is the lone member of the front office staff dating back to the first season in 2001.  It was amazing to see how many fans came up to Jim simply to say hello as opening night finds a renewal of many friendships. 

There were plenty of familiar faces including original game-day staffers Mauro and Rudy who welcomed returning spectators and new ones with the same wide smile. Actually it might have been frozen on them.

The last couple of years have not been great on the field for the single-A affiliate of the Phillies but it’s a new season and there’s reason to be optimistic.  For only the third time in their 15-year history the BlueClaws won their home opener by a 2-1 score. 19-year old Carlos Tocchi, who spent the last two seasons in Lakewood, drove in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the 9^th, his third hit of the night.  I was long gone as I’m sure were most of the fans but we’ll be back.