Marketplace of Ideas Blog

My sons and I were at the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers' Boy and Cub Scout overnight sleepover Friday night after the Rattlers–Dayton Dragons game, one of the 3,467 promotions the Timber Rattlers had last night.

(So how is the Timber Rattlers–Brewers arrangement working out? Friday's crowd was the T-Rats' fifth crowd of 5,000 or more of this season, equaling all of 2008. The T-Rats point out that their 5,000-plus crowds of 2008 all occurred after July 24, which leads one to think more 5,000-plus crowds are on the horizon for the last month and week of the season. So far, attendance is 13 percent more than after 49 games in 2008.)

The Scouts got a chance to parade on the field between the mascots all-star game and the actual game, so they got to see the finely manicured grass, infield and warning track, plus the visitor and home dugouts and even the players in person. At 14 years old (a fact that blows my mind since I wrote a pre-construction story for Marketplace back in the spring of 1995, when the stadium consisted of mud and construction materials), Fox Cities Stadium is certainly wearing well, which is probably why the state high school spring baseball and NCAA Division III baseball tournaments seem comfortably ensconced there.

The game itself ran long; the Rattlers watched their 4–1 fourth-inning lead evaporate completely by the ninth inning. As extra innings approached, the public address announcer made the announcement that if the game went beyond 10:30 p.m., the regularly scheduled Friday night fireworks could not take place because of Town of Grand Chute ordinances.

As a succession of Rattlers swung for the fences and failed to connect as the digital clock on the scoreboard inched toward 10:30, this ordinance struck me as a one-size-fits-too-much approach. Fox Cities Stadium is not in a residential area (the area's homes are north of U.S. 41 and east of the Wisconsin 15 exit). Fox Cities Stadium is undoubtedly an asset for Grand Chute in particular; I doubt there was any other gathering in the town Friday night with 5,240 people, most of whom had wallets with them. Perhaps the town doesn't want fireworks going off in Plamann Park after 10:30, but complaining about postgame fireworks at Fox Cities Stadium seems to me like complaining about Fox River Mall traffic in the town, or complaining about Lambeau Field's presence.

The clock raced to 10:30 as my deep local government thoughts vanished in a couple of strange baseball sights. First, Dragons left fielder Kevin Feiner singled to lead off the 11th (his fourth hit in five at-bats), but tried to stretch the single into a double and was thrown out at second base. Feiner then argued the call with base umpire Brett Terry, and after the two appeared (from my vantage point in the right-field grass area) to bump, Terry excused Feiner from further play.

Then, in the bottom of the 11th, precious minutes away from the 10:30 no-fireworks-for-you deadline, Rattlers left fielder Derrick McPhearson, whose batting average was hovering near the Mendoza Line (a baseball term used for someone whose batting average is less than his weight), hit a dribbler that the Dragons' third baseman couldn't field, putting the tying run at first with one out. (That was McPhearson's second hit in five trips to the plate.)

The next batter, shortstop Juan Sanchez, then executed a perfect bunt that Dragons pitcher Mark James had to field. James did field it, but fired the ball past first base and down the right field line, where the ball avoided both Dragons players and going out of play, thus allowing McPhearson to score the winning run from first base as the clock hit 10:27.

A minute later ...

... came the fireworks, followed by hundreds of children running the bases, followed by ...

... the campout, made challenging by trying to put up tents (1) without stakes (bad for the grass) and in the (2) rain and (3) wind. (Having put the tent up before such occasion as this would have helped too, I discovered.) Our tent didn't get up until midnight, but the boys were at least able to watch the movie on the scoreboard, "Bolt," while I wondered if, in the heat and rain and packed-to-capacity tent, I would get any sleep. My sons report that I was asleep before the end of "Bolt"; I would report that while the aforementioned factors and trying to sleep next to U.S. 41 didn't wake me up, the sunrise in your face is an excellent alarm clock.

The campout is the second annual for the Timber Rattlers. I would say the T-Rats made at least a few hundred more fans Friday night.