Take Me Out to the Ballgame

My dad and I went to a Southern Illinois Miners game on Saturday night. A group of men from my dad's church arranged the trip while their wives were at a women's conference in St. Louis. My first impressions of the minor league franchise in Marion was positive. We were able to see a lot of runs scored, the Miners won, and Tim Dorn crushed two home runs over the 400' mark.
The enthusiasm of the crowd was good to see, and I hope they can maintain that level of excitement in future seasons. Tickets and concessions were a little higher than those at Pringles Park here in Jackson, but not as much as a major league park would charge. Traffic going in and coming out was managed effectively, something that truly surprised me.
Another surprise was the number of people I know that were at the game. A friend of mine from high school, a couple we used to go to church with and fellow blogger and friend Chase Abner. I was glad to see the game draw fans from all over southern Illinois.
Seating in Rent-One Park was a little tight, but they do have a "blanket area" down the left-field side that seemed worth checking out. I walked around the concourse to check the view from other seats and found few, if any BAD seats. As we were leaving dad voiced satisfaction by saying he and mom would probably watch another game.

To sum things up in small-town newspaper language, a good time was had by all.