Story and photos by Kristin Shawd. Looking for a hassle-free, spontaneous, and fun evening with your family or some friends? Consider heading to Akron to take in a RubberDucks home game at Canal Park. We just did and were quite surprised how easy and entertaining it turned out to be!
This past Monday (July 3rd) around 5 pm I asked my husband and 19-year-old daughter if they’d be interested in doing something for the evening. Each replied with a “Sure, what?”
The search was on…could I find something that would interest both of them but not cause “inconvenience consternation”? You see, none of us are real big on crowds, long lines, and parking hassles. As this Monday was a pseudo holiday, flanking the 4th of July, this was of particular concern.
After Google searches on “things to do in Cleveland/Akron” turned up nothing overly intriguing, the RubberDucks popped into my head. Well actually, I thought about the Cleveland Indians first but they weren’t playing. But the RubberDucks were a quick second choice; we’d talked about going in the past but had never gotten around to it.
I quickly ran through the logistics, “game time 7:05; and yes, tickets are still available. It’s now 5:20…time to propose the idea.” They were game! (Yes, pun intended.)
Tickets can be purchased online and the website showed some available. Unfortunately, the section and row we wanted showed four seats together and the website wouldn’t allow us to buy only three, leaving a loner. Ugh…hassle. Who has time for this? Let’s just buy tickets at the gate and hope we don’t regret it.
We didn’t!
Turns out that was the only inconvenience of the night, sitting in front of our computer! The rest of the evening was smooth sailing. Here are a few details that, if you’re anything like us, may be of interest.
We left home with no definite plans of where to park. Thankfully, it was easy to find a space at the Lock 3 parking garage. This is particularly impressive as there was a free Lock 3 Live concert going on as well as Akron’s Rib White and Blue Festival (Ohio’s largest July 4th rib festival that draws vendors/competitors from five states plus Toronto – pictured below).
We walked the block to the stadium entrance and strode right up to the ticket booth. That’s correct, there was essentially no line, only one three-some in the middle of their transaction.
We waited just long enough for another generous fan to offer us two free tickets, as two of their party of eight couldn’t make the game that night. Needing three, we declined and purchased the same three seats we’d looked at online ($13 each). Thankfully, the ticket seller at the gate had no problem leaving a “loner seat” next to us.
We joined the very short security/entrance line and were inside the stadium within 4 minutes from start to finish–ticket purchase to security check. It could not have been simpler.
Once inside we located our seats, which were great – eight rows back along the third base line (home side), very close to home plate. In fact, we were in line with the RubberDucks’ on deck circle, about twenty feet away. I told my husband, “I feel like we’re in the stands watching Brian play tee-ball, we’re so close,” with the obvious difference being the caliber of play.
The stadium is so small; intimate you might even say, that it draws you into the game. You can truly sense the speed of the pitch. Yes, these Double-A pitchers are throwing 90+ mph. You can hear the thump of the ball in the catcher’s glove, and you can certainly hear the exciting crack of the bat. You feel much more a part of the game because it’s being played out right there in front of you, rather than “down there” on the distantly removed field.
Baseball engages a range of our senses, sight and sound as just noted but also our senses of smell and taste. Ball park grub is an integral part of the overall experience and Canal Park has a few offerings. The food was on par with what you’d expect in both selection and quality, and prices were in line with similar venues. We spent $39.50 for a chicken Caesar wrap, a brat, bottled water, a Powerade, plus one medium and one large import beer. The lines were a tad longer than ideal but perhaps our expectations were tainted after absolutely no line at the front gate. The smell of popcorn finally got its way with me, leading me back to concessions around the 7th inning stretch to satisfy that salty craving.
Unlike many MLB matchups, this game moved along swiftly. The pitchers are under a 30-second pitch clock plus a 2 ½ minute warm-up clock for relief change-overs. We had never seen such time rules implemented but loved the way it kept the game moving.
As with MLB games, the fans were engaged between innings by various diversions. Most of them were “staged” on the roof-top of the home-side dugout, which you may want to consider when purchasing your tickets if you’d rather watch them live than on the big screen. Because of the clear time focus, these sideshows were as brief as they were entertaining. There were “who’s the loudest” contests between stadium sections, a pie eating contest, singing happy birthday to one lucky boy from the crowd (image below), a couple of quiz shows with selected fan-contestants, and a race, among other skits.
The game ended with a “Kenny Chesney Themed” fireworks show, which was a pleasant surprise as we hadn’t checked to see if fireworks were scheduled, and we happen to like Kenny Chesney. Fortunately for others, and despite the fact that attendance hit an all-time high the night we were there (8,391 fans), no one was sitting close enough to hear us belting out the lyrics.
The turn around time between game end fireworks beginning merits mention. It was less than ten minutes, and no dead time. An obvious fan-favorite game was begun almost immediately at the conclusion of the ball game (RubberDucks beat the Bowie Baysox 8 to 6) where fans threw marked tennis balls onto the field trying to get them to come to rest inside various hoopla hoops that were placed on the field. Each hoopla hoop had a corresponding prize that could be won. Tennis balls were flying left and right and some even hit their mark.
All this and, yes, a baseball game too – strike outs, base hits, stolen bases, RBI’s, four home runs, and one outstanding fielding play between the Ducks’ 3rd and 1st basemen that I’ll spare you the details on as I’m not a sports writer! I’ll just share that the 1st basemen ended up in the splits, with the runner out.
A lot happened Monday night a relatively short period of time. We marveled at the fact that we were back in our car, winding our way out of the parking garage at 10:15 pm. And that’s when we got our final, happy surprise…absolutely no traffic tie up!
Why have I shared this story? To encourage you to consider thinking outside the box. Don’t have any pro teams close to you? Don’t want to spend on the higher ticket price? Find a minor league team or other second tier sports team near you and go enjoy an outing with your family or some friends. If you happen to live in Northeast Ohio, plan to check out a RubberDucks game at some point. I believe they live up to their motto, “Affordable. Family. Fun.” But I’d love to know what you think…leave me a comment. If we go next year, we’ll be sure to arrive early to try the BBQ at the 42nd annual Rib White and Blue Festival.