BananaBall – Coconuts vs Party Animals Milwaukee

Travel

After staying at the hotel at the airport, I made my way down the elevator and popped out right at TSA Pre-Check. I quickly made my way through and then had to walk all the way to the other side of the airport to the furthest gate away from where I started, of course. We boarded at 5:30, made it to MSP, I got a wheelchair and then on a cart, boarded the flight to Milwaukee, landed a bit earlier than I had expected, and got a wheelchair to the car rental line that had 1 person working and was taking forever. I used the app and was able to pick my car and head right to the spot. I “complimentary upgraded” myself to a Kia Sportage that smelled like weed and had 2 dents in the windshield and hoped they were noted beforehand and wouldn’t be counted against me. I went to the hotel but figured I’d have been far too early to get my room and ended up heading over to the Bobble Head Hall of Fame first instead.

National Bobblehead Hall of Fame

The Bobblehead Hall of Fame had a parking lot, but it was quite small. When I arrived, it was full, but it was also lunch time and there’s a restaurant right next door. I circled the block a handful of times and finally a spot opened up. Admission to the hall of fame is $5 + tax and if you want, they will give you a scavenger hunt to do while you browse. Since I was visiting solo I opted to not do any of the hunts but it seemed like each group had a different one they were working on and there also is a hidden Where’s Waldo bobblehead that I also managed to not find. There are over 10,000 bobbleheads in the museum, a gift shop and a penny machine! There are sports bobbleheads, pop culture bobbleheads and everything in between. They also are a part of The Baseball Attractions Pass-Port which is why I had stopped by.

Burghardt Sporting Goods

After making it to the hotel, waiting a bit to get an accessible room and then ordering lunch/dinner I made my way to the next town over to Burghardt Sporting Good where they would be hosting a signing with 2 Coconuts and 2 Party Animals. I was hoping they’d have something to get signed and was happy to see they were selling baseballs with the stores logo on it (that also seemed to be stamped with my initials, oddly enough) as well as some squishy Party Animals and Banana Balls which I also purchased. I got there about an hour before the players were set to show up and there were maybe 50 people in front of me. There was a young boy behind me and I helped him figure out which players were in attendance – Jordan Brewer and Ben Parker for the Coconuts and Bryson Bloomer and Riyan Rodriquez for the Party Animals. It took about 45 minutes to get through the line and Jordan said “Long time no see!” and I said “It’s been about a week!” and he laughed and asked how I had been. Jordan and Bryson were doing photos together and Ben and Riyan were. They took time to chat and sign and didn’t rush anyone. I headed back to the hotel after and debated if I would be awake in time to make it to Dunkin.

Game 1

I didn’t end up making it to Dunkin and instead just got to the ballpark when the parking lots opened to see the players before BBB. Of course when I got there I realized I forgot my forms I had been having them fill out in the hotel room and could have easily got almost everyone I needed if I had remembered them. Before the game I ended up seeing Brady, Andy – who showed me their championship rings and telling me they’d be doing something with them during the game, Bret, Drew, Ashby and then I just hung out and waited for BBB. They took us down the elevator and out from the outfield and I ended up I think talking to more players than any other BBB before (maybe because I didn’t have the forms?) but I couldn’t find Telly anywhere. After they took us back up the elevator, I needed to get to section 116 to see about getting my ticket moved to ADA – except where I was walking was going to become a wall and the stairs had all the players coming up to head out to open up the gates – I ended up finding Telly and he told me he was in the corner for BBB and gave me a hug. The other side of the wall was barricaded off with all the people wanting to come in for the game so I was stuck. I ended up going to concessions and getting myself 2 drinks because they had a souvenir cup for each team and I drank one of them almost immediately. Then once gates opened I waited about 10 minutes for the majority of the people to disperse and made my way to get my ticket changed and they were able to move me to ADA one section over and then I made my way to my seat and never left until the game ended.

The Party Animals took the lead in the 3rd with a Walk Off from Andy Cosgrove. In the 4th, the Coconuts tied it despite one of the outs being a Fan Out. In the 5th the Coconuts scored 4 runs earning them another point – again even though one of their outs was a fan out. There were no home runs despite everyone saying once the roof was closed the ball would fly. In the 5th guest batter, former Brewer Geoff Jenkins got struck out by break dancing pitcher Blake Benson. Coconuts scored another point in the 6th and 8th, Party Animals scored another in the 7th but fell to the Coconuts 4-2.

Game 2

Game 2 was a day game after a night game and I wasn’t sure I’d wake up early for it but I was in line for parking about 10 minutes before the lots even opened. This time I brought my forms and I got my last Coconuts player and just have 1 coach left and a handful of Party Animals left. (I have 3 games with them this coming weekend at minor league stadiums where they will be out before and after the games so I expect I should be able to finish both teams up unless someone isn’t around). I also won a KClub raffle to have lunch in the Barrel Yard which is the restaurant that overlooks left field. We got a free app of funnel cake fries and I had a pepperoni flat bread. Then we headed to our seats and it was just about time for the game to start!

The Coconuts took off to a 1-0 start quickly in the 1st inning. In the 3rd there was a fan out against the Party Animals when one of Bryson Bloomer’s foul balls was caught. In the 5th, former Brewer Corey Hart was out on a trick play 2nd baseman to 1st baseman. There was no more scoring until the 7th when the Party Animals tied it up after Nate Tellier ended up getting a fan out. I was teasing him that he should get 3 since last week he had 2 back to back – but I guess the universe didn’t quite understand as there WAS three – Dylan Porter got 2 back to back fan outs in the 8th and then the Party Animals scored again in the bottom of the 8th to take the lead making it 2-1. Drew Gillespie was dominate in the 9th, after giving up a single getting a double play and then an out to get the save and the win for the Party Animals.

I ended up going back to the room to relax and have an early night watching P!nk host the Tonys.

Bronze Fonz

Sunday morning I wasn’t sure if it was going to be raining or not so I packed my things and headed out. If it wasn’t raining I was going to make my way to Bronze Fonz and it was not raining. I managed to find a close metered parking spot, but it took me longer to figure out how to pay the meter than it did for me to walk to Fonz, take a few photos and walk back to the car.

The Automobile Gallery

I then ended up driving about 2 hours to Green Bay. Part of this ride it POURED rain. My side quest was to see the Vista Cruiser from That 70s Show – which is my favorite TV Show. I figured 2 hours away was probably the closest I would ever be, so I swapped my flight home from Milwaukee to through Green Bay (and it ended up being the same flight from Detroit to Hartford either way) and stopped at The Automobile Gallery in Green Bay. When I arrived, I was asked for my zip code and then asked where that was from and when I said Connecticut I was asked what the heck I was doing in Green Bay. I explained that I had been in Milwaukee for Banana Ball and wanted to see the cars. Turns out the receptionist had watched the game on TV and had a bunch of questions about it that I happily answered before being the only one in the gallery on a self guided tour. There are a lot of cool and pretty colored cars in the gallery and in addition to the Vista Cruiser there is also a room of cars from James Bond movies. Kurtwood Smith (Red Foreman) helped them debut the car at the museum so there are a lot of items signed for him in the display that is made to look like the garage from the show set.

Travel

After my car tour I dropped off my rental car and decided to eat at the restaurant at the airport and I was pretty early for my flight. I was brought up with the flight taking off before mine and once that flight took off I was the only one in the whole terminal which was kind of creepy. Fortunately I had a library book on Toni Stone of the Indianapolis Clowns to keep me occupied. The flight to Detroit was fine. Once I got to Detroit wheelchair assistance was absolute chaos and they had no one to help me get on the flight and I darn near missed my time to get on because I had to gather all my things – fortunately someone saw me struggling and offered to help me out. (There ARE still nice people out there, even though most days it doesn’t seem it!) And everything was good in Hartford except that I thought my pusher was going to get sick and leave me in the middle of baggage claim at one point… never a dull moment.

But I did manage to get myself a new state, a new ballpark and 2 new stamps – one for my baseball pass-port and one for my attractions pass-port!

And now I get 3 more games between the Coconuts and Party Animals this weekend, which I think is their last matchups of the season!