MiLB: Peoria Chiefs at Kane County Cougars

For the second time (three times if you count the postponed game) this season, I went to see the Kane County Cougars play. Today they hosted the Peoria Chiefs.

One great thing about Minor League Baseball is being able to see Major League players in a small ballpark when they are rehabilitating an injury. For example, three years ago, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I were attending a Lancaster JetHawks (of the California League) game and saw Craig Counsell in a rehab assignment. Today, I was hoping Aramis Ramirez would make a rehab start since he is scheduled to return to the Chicago Cubs shortly. No such luck though (however, he is scheduled to appear on Friday at Kane County).

Obtaining Tickets
As opposed to the game I attended in April, the Cougars had their lawn seats on sale for $8. They also sell $10 and $12 tickets. I bought a lawn seat knowing I would be able to sit in the $12 seats anyway.

The Game
Once again, it was kid’s day at Elfstrom Stadium. This is probably a sign I should not be attending these games, but it is a good way to spend an afternoon. This time there were a few more paying adults than there were in April. The Cougars took a 3-0 lead after the 3rd inning and held onto the 3-2 win.

Game 1 of Doubleheader Day: KC Cougars Rained Out

My plan today was to attend both the Kane County Cougars minor league baseball game which started at noon and the Chicago Bulls playoff Game 6 at the United Center this evening.

However, it rained heavily all morning and the Cougars postponed their afternoon game. Their website stated – “Thursday's 12:00 Game Rained Out. The Cougars' April 30 game has been postponed due to rain. It will be made up as a doubleheader on Friday, 5/1, with game 1 beginning at 4:00.” Thus, instead of eating lunch at the ballpark I ate lunch in the office.

MiLB: Burlington Bees at Kane County Cougars

Last year at this time I was unstaffed at my new consulting company which is located in Oak Brook, IL. Usually, while unstaffed, I look to see what MLB weekday afternoon games are taking place. Everybody knows the Chicago Cubs play the most weekday afternoon games throughout the season in Major League Baseball and to a much lesser extent the Chicago White Sox play some weekday afternoon games as well.

However, what I believe is a little known fact is that the Kane County Cougars (the Class A minor league affiliate for the Oakland Athletics) play a handful of weekday afternoon games during the month of April because the weather is usually too cold to play at night. For example, this season the Cougars are playing six weekday afternoon games during April and two for the rest of the season.

Tuesday afternoon I decided to attend the Kane County Cougars game over my lunch break (a longer lunch break than normal). The drive to Elfstrom Stadium is about 25 minutes from the office.

Obtaining Tickets
Tickets for the game were either $10 or $12. Since there is no bad seat, I chose the $10 ticket.

The Game
It was obviously school field trip day when I got into the stadium. Kids were running around everywhere and the stadium was full of school groups. Without the kids, there were probably only a few dozen fans in attendance. The Burlington Bees defeated the Cougars 3-2 in a game that lasted 2:41.

Completion of Suspended Games

Even though I did not attend a sporting event last night, the minor league game from Tuesday night ended with the Peoria Chiefs defeating the Kane County Cougars 9-8 in 12 innings. The final 3.5 innings were played in Peoria in front of a crowd of 4,232. Although it was the first suspended baseball game I have attended, it was not the first suspended sporting event.

On December 12, 2004, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I were at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium watching Real Madrid host Real Sociedad. With 3 minutes left in the match, the referees waived for all the players to leave the pitch. Since Nicole and I were taking pictures in the aisle we had a head start as everyone else started to evacuate the section (the picture shows how high we were sitting).

The stadium was evacuated in about 10 minutes as ETA (a violent separatist organization in Spain) had phoned in a bomb threat on the stadium. Nicole and I walked 5 miles back to our hotel as we did not want to take the subway because of an attack that might occur there. The match resumed on January 5, 2005.

Minor League Baseball at Wrigley Field

Last night was a night of firsts at Wrigley Field.

First, the Peoria Chiefs hosted the Kane County Cougars, which was considered the first minor league baseball game ever played at Wrigley Field.

Second, it was Ryne Sandberg’s (manager of the Peoria Chiefs) first time in uniform at Wrigley Field since September 21, 1997 – a game I also attended.

Third, the game drew 32,103 fans – shattering the previous record for a Midwest League game. The previous record was 14,492 at Kane County last year. Just 10 days ago, I attended a game at the Kane County's Elfstrom Stadium in which almost 12,000 people attended.

Fourth, I saw my first suspended game (and what I believe is the first suspended game at Wrigley Field). As the game sat tied at 6-6 in the 9th inning, I wondered if the game would be played out until one team won. Then the rains came and the umpires were all too eager to suspend the game. The game will be completed tonight in Peoria before the regularly scheduled contest between the Cougars and Chiefs.

Fifth, Steve Bartman came running out of his 2003 NLCS Game 6 seat and was eaten by Clammy Sosa (a character from ZOOperstars! that the Peoria Chiefs use as entertainment during their games). Other ZOOperstars in attendance included Alex Frogriguez, Harry Canary, Mia Hammster, Nolan Ryno and Nomar Garciaparrot.

Sixth, Dutchie Caray, the late wife of Harry Caray, sang the “Take me out to the ballgame” with Harry Canary from the field rather than the press box.

Seventh, in the 322 Cubs games I have attended, I never sat as close to the field as I did yesterday. I bought my ticket early Tuesday afternoon from the box office. The best single they had was in section 27, row 7 – seven rows directly behind the on deck circle for the Kane County Cougars. Granted it was not a Cubs game, but it was a much better deal at $15 (rather than the $80 face value for the same seat at a Cubs game).

After the game, I met up with Nicole at the Kit Kat Lounge and Supper Club at 3700 N. Halsted St. The Kit Kat Lounge won the best martini award from CitySearch.com in 2001 and has been nominated for other awards several times in the last few years. Tuesday night is half price martini night (regularly priced $10) – if you don’t mind the drag show that comes with those half priced martinis.

Kane County Cougars and a day with the family in Aurora, IL

The day began with driving to my corporate summer picnic out in Aurora, IL – a 60 mile drive from Wrigley Field. In order to make the drive more worthwhile, we planned to spend the day in Aurora by visiting my wife’s aunt and uncle who live there and attending the Kane County Cougars game Saturday night against the Lansing Lugnuts.

The day had all the makings of a fun family day as we were attending events that were kid friendly (minus the kid part for us). First up was Blackberry Farms and Splash Country (a small water park). Blackberry Farms with its old historical buildings from the 1800’s, a carousel and a train to ride and an assortment of animals to pet, your kids will be in heaven running around the park. In addition, Splash Country (which is across the street from Blackberry Farm) has two larger water slides, a lazy river and a giant pool for the whole family to enjoy.

After the corporate picnic, we visited the wife’s Aunt and Uncle where we relaxed and ate dinner. Their house was 12 miles from the farm and water park but still in Aurora.

Nicole’s uncle and I went to the Kane County Cougars game which started at 6:00 pm (7 miles from their house). I had looked online Friday and saw that all of the reserved seats were sold out. Only lawn seats were left. We arrived at the park and bought two lawn seats for $8 each. Two reserved seats were available at the box office, but we had already carried our lawn chairs to the stadium.

We did not stick around for the world’s largest pillow fight post game – 3,872 fans took part in the 90 second event (surpassing the record of 3,648 people). The Cougars were planning to give away 4,000 pillows to any fan who wanted to participate in the pillow fight. We were 2 of about 8,000 fans who opted out of the event. The attendance of 11,810 was the largest crowd for a minor league game I have attended.

The Kane County Cougars are a bargain if you want to bring the entire family. A family of 4 can attend the game for $32 (plus food and drink). Parking was free and the lawn seats are perfect for the kids. Kids are able to run around and play with all of the other kids all in the site lines of their parents – the perfect babysitter.

The Cougars lost the game 8-2 after going down early giving up a couple of first inning home runs to the Lugnuts. While we did not have kids for our day in Aurora, we will keep the city in mind for the future.

Minor League Baseball at Wrigley Field

While searching for Minor League Baseball in South Texas, I read a headline that reported the Cubs’ Midwest League Class A affiliate Peoria Chiefs will be hosting Chicago’s only affiliated minor league team Kane County Cougars at Wrigley Field on Tue, July 29. It is believed to be the first minor league game in Wrigley Field’s 94 year history.

If the Cubs’ sell more than 10,000 tickets, the game will count as one of their 30 night games, so that could have impact on the scheduling of a future Cubs’ game.

Many teams may include this ticket in a season ticket package as a “bonus” game. However, I called the Cubs this morning and they stated season ticket holders will need to purchase tickets to this game if they wish to attend.