Sorry for the off-topic post that's not about someone dying.

I got to take a preview look at the Columbus Clippers' new stadium today and just want to pass along that I think it would be worth taking in a game if you're in the central Ohio area. Huntington Park is located in downtown columbus, right across the street from Nationwide Arena (home of the Blue Jackets). They did a really nice job of incorporating the history of the Clippers with a lot of displays of old memorabilia (or reproductions of vintage stuff) throughout the park. They also thought outside the box with a few seat locations, and the downtown setting is really cool.

Oh, and while you're in town, please buy a copy of The Dispatch. We can use the help.

That's a good looking ballpark. Just the right size for a minor league team. Omaha (Royals AAA) is trying to get a new park that will be about a third the seating capacity of Rosenblatt Stadium. Omaha could have a crowd of 8,000 and the park looks empty.

Gee Rob, I'm really out of the loop. Only 1 1/2 hours away from Columbus and I didn't even know the Clippers were in a new stadium. I go through Columbus fairly regularly and go right past the "now old" stadium.

Went to a game there a number of years ago and Deion Sanders (before he was famous) either scored or knocked in the winning run.

I'll have to check the new stadium out, fairly easy to get to if it's similar to a Blue Jackets game.

RC

Tell the truth. Won't you miss the "Coop", just a little?


(In fairness, I won't. It was a pit the first time I went there in 1995. It was worse by 2005.)

Actually, Jim, I will miss it some. I have good memories of covering a couple Ohio Cup games there between the Indians and Reds (before the devil implemented interleague play). And then there were the times my daughter and I went to games together at the Coop (I don't kid myself, however, by not acknowledging that her favorite part of those trips was the food and not necessarily the baseball).

One of the coolest things today was walking through an area in which there were a number of packing boxes. Sitting right there in the middle of them was the Ohio Cup trophy, which is a couple inches taller than my 8-year-old daughter. I dragged it out in the open and snapped a picture. Thank goodness for cellphone cameras.

My first trip there my son was 6. My daughter was 2. They were more interested in Lou Seal and how many Hot Dogs the guy next to us could eat during "Dime-a-Dog" night.

Most crowded I ever saw that place was the double-header in 1997(?) when the next Cy Young winner was moving through the Yankee system... Hideki Irabu!

I think he ended his career under .500.

Anyone who ever has said "I need more cowbell" never has been to a Columbus Clippers game.

After reading all of this I'm going to make it a point to catch a game or two at the new stadium.