Excellent Adventure Day # 60

Baseball Around the Beltway

We said goodbye to our new friends in Alexandria, VA on Friday morning and headed north again, this time through the District of Columbia and on to Frederick, MD.

We have about a minute of nice video of the U.S. Capitol Building and I’m glad we resisted the temptation to ride around the Beltway to get to Frederick. It is kind of crazy, though, that I’m pretty sure that was our only stop in Washington that day – it certainly is the only video. I spent a lot of time in Washington in the years before and after the trip but the Excellent Adventure’s stop was shorter than the 7th inning stretch.

As noted in today’s video, Frederick was on the cutting edge of a new breed of baseball stadiums. Harry Grove Stadium (now known as Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium) was brand new…just into its second year and we were impressed both by the newness of the place – complete with a professional kitchen, skyboxes and air conditioned pressbox and by the big crowd of more than 6,000 people that showed up for a Friday night doubleheader against the Durham Bulls.

The Bulls lost the cow milking contest but swept the doubleheader in a pair of shutouts 1-0 and 2-0. A young catcher named Javy Lopez had hits in both games for the Bulls and by the next year he was in Atlanta.

The Trip

The Video

There was a cow milking contest between games of the doubleheader and we were captivated by the oddity of players in baseball uniforms milking cows – the fact that the Durham Bulls were one of the teams made it even better.

Baseball Today

It is a rarity thus far on the Low Mileage Tour but baseball today is exactly where it was when we visited in 1991. The Frederick Keys are still affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles and they still play at Harry Grove Stadium. Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium has gotten several upgrades over the years but as soon as baseball resumes there will be Carolina League baseball there again.

On Deck

Coming up tomorrow morning on the Low Mileage Tour podcast you can hear a lot more about the Frederick Keys from a the guy who has been running the club for the last 16 years. Dave Ziedelis is my guest and we talk Harry Grove Stadium, a great Oriole history and the business of minor league baseball.

Later in the day it’s a kind of homecoming. We see the Baltimore Orioles, my favorite team since I was six, play in their final season at Memorial Stadium and my mom was there too.