Timing is everything. I love that phrase because it applies to so many things in my life – music, work/family balance, hitting a changeup after a blazing fastball just zipped by you, throwing a curveball after a hitter just mashed your fastball. When you can time personal appointments in sync with work commitments, that is a beautiful thing. And on my recent trips out on the road for ABF Freight, that is exactly my goal – balance my love of baseball and finding local baseball treasures with my commitments to working towards the goals of the various campaigns I am on. Sometimes it clicks, sometimes it misses.

Prior to a recent campaign in Baltimore, MD I took a look around where I would be staying to see if there were any baseball treasures I could explore before or after my work assignment. Located about 30 minutes from my hotel was the Bowie Baysox, the AA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The Baysox play their home games at Prince George’s Stadium there in Bowie and were scheduled to finish up their home schedule on Sunday, September 10th. Coincidentally, I was scheduled to fly into Baltimore on Sunday, September 10th and I tentatively scheduled a trip to see their final game after landing in nearby BWI (Baltimore Washington International) Airport in the afternoon. Again, I will mention the phrase “timing is everything.”

Sunday, September 10th came. Weather was iffy heading up to the airport and I began to develop a bout of skepticism as to whether I was going to make the connection, get in the rental car, and get to the game before it was over. As I suspected, after checking in and going through security, the departure board to Baltimore showed a nearly 2 hour delay for my flight south. That delay unfortunately pushed my arrival to Baltimore out of sync timing wise with hopping in the rental car and getting to Bowie to see any of the game and most likely any post game activities. Definitely a bummer, but certainly not the end of the world. I finally landed in Baltimore, had a nice meal locally, and watched the tail end of the Patriots-Eagles game.

Having been given a work assignment for 2pm on Monday, I decided to get up early and head to Bowie to take a tour of a most likely closed stadium and facility there at Prince George’s Stadium. Easy trip south and I arrived just about 30 minutes after leaving the hotel. There was a sign just outside the stadium parking lot that greeted me that put a huge smile on my face – “Bowie Baysox, Minor League Baseball.” Short and to the point, this is where they play before they head to the Bigs.

The parking lot was pretty much what I imagined after a final home game of the season – mostly empty. A few cars parked closer to the stadium, perhaps staffers having a final meeting or clean up crews or organizational meetings for fall/winter programs. I parked and made it up to the ticket booth, then walked down along the sidewalk to the left field area. The stadium was closed, front gates were locked, so as always I was respectful of that. As I was walking down towards left field, I noticed a driveway with an open gate and followed it down to the left field foul pole. I was able to get a few photos from an elevated spot and a video of the stadium from the corner of the outfield.

Here is the video, let’s just say it pays sometimes to be tall:

https://videopress.com/v/NlghOIli?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

Seeing that Prince George’s Stadium was closed to the public and I had the good fortune of at least some photos and a video, I headed back up to the ticket office area to get some final photos before heading back to my hotel. At the ticket office, I noticed a man walking towards the stadium with a briefcase and introduced myself. I mentioned that I had traveled from Rhode Island, was hoping to catch their final home game, I threw out the “timing is everything” phrase and finished with my love of minor league baseball. He politely let me finish my introduction and then proudly said, “well we may be playing more games here, we shall see after today’s game and this week.” He extended his hand and introduced himself as Adam Pohl, then invited me into the office and then into the stadium. I was thrilled to accept, knowing I still had time to possible take a tour and still get back north to work on time. Pretty cool how things work out sometimes.

Adam was great. He was a fantastic representative of the Bowie Baysox (I didn’t know his role until later in the day) and he proudly pointed out the stadium’s features, seating for fans of all ages, the right field carousel, and spoke briefly about the future of the stadium and what that might look like. He invited me to walk the concourse, take photos, and see the entire stadium – to which I was extremely grateful and accepted, of course. Adam pointed to his office door and told me to come see him before I left. Here are a few photos of the stadium I took.

Adam mentioned the carousel, which is located in the right field area of the stadium concourse. Not often do I see a functioning carousel in a baseball field, but it fit nicely there in the corner and I walked around it and took these photos:

The wide ranging operational challenges at most minor league ballparks could fill up 100 articles a day from now until Spring Training. I would guestimate that attendance and keeping the turnstiles moving game after game has to be one of the top challenges minor league organizations face each and every season. You need a long, long laundry list of things to go your way year after year. It starts (in no particular order) with a fan friendly stadium, then a quality product on the field, a committed organizational chart of workers all striving to provide the best possible experience for the local baseball fan and their families. As for Prince George’s Stadium, I absolutely loved the layout, the bleacher sections, the BBQ tent in left field, the lighthouse, the carousel, the amazing views of the field every section I walked into. So, for me you can check that box!

And if you follow professional baseball even casually, you will know that the Baltimore Orioles organization is absolutely loaded talent wise top to bottom (the big club is in 1st Place in the American League East), and that definitely goes for their AA Bowie Baysox. The names that have played for Baysox recently, well just check out a box score for the Baltimore Orioles and you will see a ton of names that very recently were suiting up for Bowie. And for this Red Sox fan, that is not good news because sooner than later, another wave of Baysox talent is set to crash land in Baltimore and ruin my existence as a Sox fan. Holliday, Henderson, Rodriguez, Hall, the names and talent go on and on. All played for Bowie! Again, check that box.

Having spent the morning talking with Adam, then touring the stadium, and taking in a small sample of the Bowie Baysox experience, I was so glad I took the drive down to Bowie on Monday morning. Adam Pohl, come to find out, is the Bowie BaySox Director of Marketing and he was an awesome host. I was getting ready to leave, we chatted about New England players, specifically from Rhode Island. I really appreciated the welcome gesture that Adam gave me in allowing me to view the stadium and take in the Bowie Baysox experience. If the staff is anything like Adam and the few office people who friendly engaged me, check that box as well.

I would highly recommend going to a Bowie Baysox game or two or the entire season if you live in and around the Baltimore area. The talent on the field is special and the stadium is just perfect for minor league baseball. Fan friendly, plenty of parking, outgoing and friendly staff, all positive vibes coming from the organization. I will definitely back next season and hopefully my timing is a little better to catch at Bowie Baysox game at Prince George’s Stadium.