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| Little Rock B&B sun room, before the blackout. |
by the Editor
Last
April we journeyed, for the first time ever, from California to
Arkansas, for a family wedding. The blessed event was in northern
Arkansas, but we had to fly in to Little Rock and then road trip the
rest of the way. It turned out that a storm was following us as we
drove up north, but we always seemed to stay a few miles ahead of it.
In any case, I found out that Little Rock had a double A team called
the Arkansas Travelers, that was affiliated with the Angels. So I
figured it would be great to take in a game. If you haven't, ya
gotta go to minor league games. My first experience with them was
the Stockton Ports, a High A affiliate of Oakland. It was a while
ago, in their previous ball park, but it was a hoot going there.
While I don't necessarily like all the constant falderol in between
half innings, it's great to be in a small park with enthusiastic fans
and hungry ball players. The Arkansas Travelers were founded in 1901
and, according to the team site, are named after a guy who had a
minstrel show that roamed the Ozark Mountains. Why the Little Rock
team still retains this name is a mystery for a northern man like me,
but I guess it speaks to southern ways.
Unfortunately,
the team was out of town while we were in Little Rock. On our last
night in the city, we went out to dinner, but on the way back, it
started raining pretty hard and seemed a lot darker than most cities
we have been in before, and sure enough, the storm had finally caught
up with us and we ended up in a four hour blackout. We were staying
in a great old two story house that was converted to a bed and
breakfast (recommendation available upon request). When we got back,
the owners told us that a large part of Little Rock, including where
we were, had no electricity and would not for awhile. So they gave
us some flashlights and we retired to a completely windowed “sun
room” on the second story. For the next couple of hours we drank
wine and enjoyed one of the most breathtaking displays of lightning
and thunder you can imagine. We began to think we saw the Travelers
up in the night sky, playing a game, batting and pitching with such
power as to make the heavens shake. The rain became more ferocious
and the night more fragmented; perhaps this was typical of the kind
of storms that regularly ravage Arkansas, but to us it was magic –
huge blasts of light zig zagging across each other followed by ear
splitting, roaring, grumbling thunder. I never felt fearful, but I
can't say the same for my companions. In any case, right around the
time we decided to go to bed, the lights came back on, the rain
continued, and we fell into a serene slumber.
A few
weeks ago, I went to an Oakland triple A affiliate game with the Sacramento
River Cats. Now if you know Sacramento, you know that August is
usually unbearably hot and very dry; rain is a distant memory and
something to look forward to down the road. But on this particular
evening, towards the end of the game, clouds began to form and the
weather man's possibility of thunder storms became a reality. The
River Cats were behind at the time, but not by much. As the rain started, a lot
of the crowd got up to find a dryer spot to watch; I guess they
hadn't bothered to check the weather before they came, and why should
they, there is not usually much difference one day to the next in
August. We, on the other hand, had come prepared, so we stayed in
our seats. The rain wasn't hard enough to stop the game, but shortly
after it started, the thunder and lightning began, another night sky
show that was amazing to behold, especially with the game continuing
on the field. As I watched the jagged light ripping through the
stars, something was happening on the field – the River Cats
started catching up! With one inning to go, a monumental light show
exploded above us, and as the thunder followed it up, I swore I could
see a couple of Arkansas Travelers looking down on our beloved Cats.
Whether or not this actually occurred, Sacramento made its rally
complete and took the game in the final inning. The night sky calmed
down shortly thereafter.
And you
know what happened next? Well, it was fireworks night. But I gotta
say that the show we saw during the game trumped the one after it.
TO BE
CONTINUED: THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES
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