Banana Ball – Rickwood Field – Clowns vs Coconuts

This weekend was one I had been looking forward to all season. Rickwood Field is the oldest ball park in America, built in 1910 and so many greats have played there over the years.

Friday I had set my alarm for 2:00am and 2:30am so I could head out to the airport by 3am. I don’t know what happened, but when I woke up it was 4:11am, my flight was boarding at 5:20am and I live an hour from the airport. I raced out of the house and made my way up to the airport – of course the last mile or so had a ridiculous amount of construction going on. When I got on the shuttle to the airport my app said it was 30 minutes until boarding – we weren’t boarding until 5:50am. By the time I got through security and got my walker checked in, it was TWO MINUTES until boarding. PHEW. The rest of the trip to Birmingham went well – other than my credit card being decline at the hotel. But that was an easy fix.

Saturday morning I was woken before 8am with the sounds of vomiting coming from what we thought was the hallway. It was not stopping and we thought people were just horsing around in the hallway and being ridiculous. However, upon further inspection, it was actually whoever was in the room across the hall from us violently vomiting for a good 20-30 minutes. At this point we became concerned and called the front desk who sent someone up to ask if paramedics needed to be called. Whoever it was said no and things calmed down shortly after that. We were staying in the same hotel as the players and staff so we weren’t sure if it was one of them who was ill, but we asked around and it seemed like it was just another random hotel guest.

The Saturday game time had been pushed back from 1pm to 3pm so we ended up going to the Negro Southern League Museum before heading to the game. The museum was very well done, they had a wall of baseballs signed by players – including the newest addition, Fisher Polydoroff of the Indianapolis Clowns. We also realized that September 19 – the day we were visiting the museum – was the 76th anniversary of Birmingham passing a law that whites and blacks could NOT play baseball (or any other games, really) together. And here we would be later going to a game of whites and blacks playing together. Also, 76 years is NOT that long ago. We’ve come so far, but still have so far to go.

We then had one of the worst uber drivers ever and made our way to the field. The line to get in was absolutely ridiculous and we made it through with just enough time to spare before check in for BBB. I was pleasantly surprised that getting on to the field was easy and we were already on field level and didn’t need to navigate 100+ year old stairs. The goal was to get my Clowns and Coconuts cards signed and this time we focused on mostly Clowns. After we made our way across the field nearest to our seats only to be told that we couldn’t go through that way because it was access to the locker rooms. We assured them we were not going to try and go into the locker rooms and just wanted the easiest path to get to our seats. There was a ridiculously pitched ramp that we had to make our way up and then a couple of gigantic stairs. Once I was in my spot, I was not leaving.

We got through the pre-game and were about to introduce the Clowns line up when we got notified there was lightning in the area and that we were in a lightning delay. Every time there is a lightning strike within I think 5 miles of the stadium, the game is delayed 20-30 minutes. This lightning delay turned into a rain delay as well and the game that was supposed to start at 3 ended up starting at 5pm. It became a battle against the sun because Rickwood Field does not have functioning lights in the stadium. By the time we were approaching the end of the game, the sun was setting. The Coconuts came to an early 1-0 lead, the Clowns tied it up in the 6th, went ahead 3-1 in the 7th but the Coconuts scored in the 8th and 9th making it 3-3 heading into the Bottom of the 9th. The Clowns came out victorious in the bottom of the 9th and honestly I am not sure we could have gone to showdowns and had the players still able to see the ball. Both teams also had the combined trick play record for a game. The two newest teams getting the record? That’s amazing! We did not stay very long at the post plaza party, just stopping to chat with Jordan Brewer, as we weren’t sure what kind of street lights we were going to have making our way back to the uber pick up area.

When we got back to the hotel we were ready to order Chicken Salad Chick – only to realize it was 7:55pm and it closed at 8pm. Womp.

Sunday we had to be up earlier as the game start time was 1pm and we needed to be at the stadium by 10:45am for BBB. This BBB we prioritized the Coconuts signatures over the Clowns. I think we ended up with something like 40+ signed cards by the end of the weekend and there’s only a handful for each team we still need to track down. After seeing the stairs the day before, we got our seats moved to ADA and Matt S hooked us up and got us right behind home plate.

The Clowns got off to a hot start with their first batter, Joe Gray, hitting a walk off home run to win the inning. After scoring 5 runs in the 3rd, the Coconuts tied it up 1-1. The Coconuts then scored 3 in the 6th taking the lead and scored 1 in the top of the 7th… and then… lightning delay! Again! We had another almost 2 hour delay waiting for the lightning and rain to pass and picked up in the bottom of the 7th where the Clowns were scoreless giving the Coconuts a 3-1 lead. But in the 8th and 9th the Clowns got points back tying it up 3-3 and taking us to SHOWDOWNS. Ben Parker scored in the top of the showdowns – although there was some drama and delay debating whether or not he had touched 3rd on his way home. CJ Williams then struck out Joe Lytle giving the Coconuts the win and securing their playoff spot.

On the way home I had a flight out at 1pm. As I was heading down the jet bridge I heard thunder cracking and then… we had a lightning delay. We ended up taking off about an hour late but fortunately I had a ridiculously long layover in Baltimore so it wasn’t an issue. I ended up making it into my bed just before midnight.

It’s nuts that the league has been SO competitive that the last slot in the playoffs is coming down to the last weekend of the season and all 3 teams left have a path that can get them to clinch that 4th seed. Of course I am hoping that it is going to be the Party Animals but they need to step up and win both of their games against the Clowns this weekend and not rely on other teams losing. They have to want it as badly as the PA4L fan base does.