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Annual Baseball Tour Includes Packers, NCAA Sites

The recent 47th Uniglobe Ohio Valley Baseball Travel tour covered more than just the “bases” in Indianapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee, as Bill Bryson arranged visits to the Green Bay Packers facility, and the NCAA Hall of Champions.

The first stop was to Indianapolis, where the Pittsburgh Pirates triple A affiliate hosted the Louisville Bats. It just so happened that Pirates’ ace Gerritt Cole was making his first rehab assignment there on the night we were there. In addition, several others who had spent time with the Pirates earlier in year were in the starting lineup. They included Pedro Florimon, Alan Hanson and Jason Rogers, while current Pirate first baseman Josh Bell was also among the starting nine.

As to Cole, he pitched three scoreless innings, with his Indian teammates giving him a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Indianapolis won the contest 6-0.

While getting ready to leave Indianapolis for Chicago the following morning, weather forecasters were calling for 100 percent rain in the Windy City. Well, would you believe we never encountered a rain drop, and thus were able to see two games in the Windy City.

The first game, an afternoon contest, had the Cubs hosting the Cincinnati Reds, while in the night game the New York Yankees were in town for a game against the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

This year marks the 100th year of the opening of Weeghman Park, which four years later became Wrigley Field. That initial game of 100 years ago  involved the Cubs and Reds. The more recent game had players wearing throwback uniforms from 1916, while  the fans received jerseys to commemorate the occasion.

In addition to seeing a game, which by way was won by the Reds, 5-2, it was an opportunity to see some of the upgrading of Wrigley Field, a project which was started after the 2014 season and will continue through 2018.

Among the completed upgrades is a video board in left field which, thanks to a West Virginia firm,  was ready for use on the first game of this season.

It turns out the company that had the original contract to supply wiring for the video board wasn’t able to provide it, and four days before the deadline the general contractor doing the wiring began seeking a firm which might be able to supply the proper wiring. Some phone calls were made and it turned out that Service Wire in Culloden, W.Va., had just manufactured the cable in the right colors, and had not yet put it in inventory. The West Virginia company was able to ship the wiring to the contractor in time to meet the deadline.

How do I know this? Well, my daughter happens to be employed by Service Wire.

Following the Cubs-Reds game, it was off to Chicago’s Southside, home to the White Sox, and although it is just eight miles from Wrigley Field, it took us 90 minutes to reach that facility.  When you count a 15-minute walk from Wrigley Field to the bus, it turns out to almost two hours.

We made it with time to spare, and the first places our group visited were the concession stands. Since the last trip to U.S. Cellular,  a number of improvements have occurred, including concession stands which are now plentiful and offer a variety of items, something that wasn’t available at Wrigley.

The White Sox came away with a 5-0 victory, even after the  Yankees asked for and received from the umpires a review of a play which would have been the last out of the game. The out call was overturned, giving the Yankees another at bat, which was to no avail as the batter struck out.

We didn’t have a game scheduled for next day, but we did go Milwaukee where we had lunch on a riverboat cruise with narration. It was pointed out river traffic played a big part in the early days of the city, and also, the present time although not as much as Chicago. The river on which we navigated runs into Lake Michigan.

That same day we had another tour to what is called “Best Palace.” It was a building where the original Pabst Blue Ribbon beer was made. We learned about the several Milwaukee breweries that are no longer in business.

A third stop that day took us to a Safe House for a meal. The buffet luncheon was in a room called “Newsroom.”

It was another bus trip the next day, this time to Green Bay, Wis. It was a very interesting few hours  and we learned a lot about the operation of this team, which is the third oldest in the National Football League.

Lambeau Field, home of the Packers,  is touted as the most legendary stadium in the National Football League.

We took the Classic Tour which began in the atrium, and included a visit to one of the private suites, and then to field level which included a walk through the same tunnel that the players take on game day.

We learned about the history of the Packers, and had photo opportunities throughout the tour. The tour was approximately an hour in duration and a half-mile of walking.

Would you believe that tours are held every day with the exception of Easter and Christmas? There are four tours an hour. Of course, there are some  exceptions such as on game days.

The Packers are owned by stockholders, thus many of the city’s 104,000 residents “own” the team, along with Packer fans  worldwide.

The majority of the season ticket holders reside in Green Bay and Milwaukee.

There are 125,000 people  on the waiting list for season tickets.

If you want to see the largest  team-owned store in the NFL, Green Bay is the place to go as they have items for all ages.

Thursday night the final game of the tour with the hometown Brewers defeating the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4. The Brewers scored in the last of the ninth, and like the White Sox-Yankees game, the call was challenged. This time the call stood.

We left Milwaukee on Saturday and on our way home made a stop in Indianapolis to view the NCAA Hall of Fame facility. It is a branch of the NCAA. The vision and mission of the Indianapolis facility is  to prove a greater understanding of the NCAA, including its membership of more than 1,000 colleges and universities and more than 400,000 student-athletes. The Hall of Champions supports NCAA values as it educates, entertains and creates an emotional connection with intercollegiate athletes.

On the first level of the building, all 24 NCAA sports are represented and include a trivia challenge, current team ranks, video highlights and artifacts donated from colleges around the nation. On the second level is a hands-on sports simulator, a 1930s retro gymnasium, ski simulator and more.

There will be a meeting at 2 p.m. Friday in Moundsville City Council chambers, pertaining to the Four Seasons Pool, with the public invited to attend. Two architectural firms will be in attendance, one dealing with the current building and the other a proposal for a possible new indoor pool.

Mayor Eugene Saunders has appointed Councilman David Wood to head up a committee to become involved in future pool plans. The committee will be responsible for keeping the citizens of Moundsville informed of any plans.

The ninth annual Boys of Summer event took place last Sunday, with the highlight being the awarding of six $1,000 scholarships. This is the sixth year for awarding of scholarships. This year’s recipients are 2016 graduates of John Marshall, Bishop Donahue and Cameron High Schools.

Don Mason, chairman of the Grand Vue Park Foundation, spoke to the group about new attractions at the facility, and about the Foundation, which is a fund-raiser for Grand Vue.

Boys of Summer founder Jim Heath was unable to attend with  Don Yost and Pete Prettyman being in charge due to Heath’s absence.

Tickets will be on sale this week at the Strand Theatre Box Office in Moundsville for the 2016 Summer Musical “Grease,” to be held July 29-31. The hours for purchasing advance tickets are noon to 1 p.m., and 4-6 p.m., on Monday and Friday.

According to Strand chairman Dave Knuth, the sale of advanced tickets has been very good. Four hundred tickets will be sold for each of three performances.

Anyone who was involved in the movie, “Fools Parade,” which was filmed in Moundsville 45 years ago, is asked to call the Marshall County Chamber of Commerce at 304-845-2773.

On Aug. 20 there will be a special showing of “Fools Parade” and “Night of the Hunter,” also a movie filmed in Moundsville.

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