SI.com's "Things We Miss in Baseball."

It was a minor-league park, but I had (and have) the same feelings for the old Triple-A park in Indianapolis, which went by various names (most recently Bush Stadium). It had deteriorated to dump level by its last few years, and like most old stadiums wasn't exactly in the city's best or most easily accessible neighborhoods. But it was built in 1931, had a manual scoreboard embedded in the LF wall (that was really cool during my growing-up years but had gone to hell by the late 1980s), ivy-covered brick outfield wall, nice setting, was somewhat homey, was the inspiration for William Veeck to do the same when the new bleachers were built at Wrigley Field. It was my home-away-from-home during summer vacation throughout my growing-up years, and I knew every square inch of that place.

The new park -- which is now 15 years old -- is great. They once billed it as the "best minor-league ballpark in America." But the park is absolutely not a draw to me. It's just another nice modern park with a really great view of a construction site.

 

A friend from high school and his dad stole the "St. Louis" sign from Bush Stadium when the Indians won one of their AAA championships in the late 80s. Still have it in their living room so far as I know.

It's a shame to drive past Bush these days. I'm sure it's dilapidated beyond belief inside.

 

Yeah, and Earl Weaver disdained the sac bunt and the intentional walk, the prized tactics of the "old school baseball" crowd -- pretty much agreed by almost all saber types to be almost always sheer idiocy.

 

That stuff is awesome. I picked up four bottles last summer when I was in Cleveland. I think I'm down to about a bottle and a half (I use it only on hot dogs).

 

Shoot me an addy in PM if you want, I'll send you some. Not having my stadium mustard would be like a crack addict not having a rock (or I would assume).

 

HAs anyone seen the Eminem video shot in a dalipidated Tiger Stadium? Made me sad (not just because I had to listen to Eminem).

 

Tiger Stadium hot dog vendors slapping the mustard onto the dog with a popsicle stick.

Tiger Stadium groundskeeper Herbie Redmond's "cakewalk" during the 5th-inning infield drag.

The Tiger on the old logo roaring at the end of the WDIV telecast after a win, and weakly meowing (with a rubber water bottle on his head) at the end of the telecast after a loss.

Organs instead of the piped-in rap and nu-metal (been discussed at length, but the sound of the organ when I watch old games really invokes the nostalgic feel of going to the ballpark as a kid like nothing else I can think of).

Souvenir team glasses from fast-food restaurants.

Another ditto on Strat-o-Matic. I remember when we got our first set, it only came with 2 teams -- the '77 Cardinals and Giants. Could never figure out why. Even though they sucked in real life, I remember Eric Rasmussen and Pete Falcone being unhittable.

AL umps in their red sportcoats.

"And now let's open the notebook for some TWIB notes from around the American League..."

 

Which, of course, was itself a speedway in its most recent incarnation.

 

Bubs, that plastic wrap was not to keep the soda cold but to keep it from spilling. That was when vendors were carrying trays of cups filled with soda (and those fountain-filled cups were the best-tasting soda ever, no?) and for some reason they didn't have plastic covers for these cups. I remember they had crushed ice in the cups, too, but if the vendor had been walking around with the tray very long the ice was mostly melted and the cups were soft and squishy.

 

You're right. Those cups would get a bit soggy.

 

Seems like there's a debate over which is the authentic Cleveland stadium mustard:

http://allthingsclevelandohio.blogspot.com/2008/06/clevelands-great-mustard-debate.html