Wednesday Night Northwest Arkansas Baseball Featuring Naturals vs Sod Poodles

Last week, on my business trip to the corporate offices of ABF Freight (Fort Smith, Arkansas), I had an opportunity to revisit an Arkansas baseball stadium. My first visit to Springdale’s Arvest Ballpark, which is in the northwest section of Arkansas, resulted in a lot of perimeter photos and a fast moving setting sun. Not the best photos I have in my resume, to be honest. I “struck out” on the interior photos of the field, stands, game action – mostly because I went in February. Still, it was a cool experience just checking out the exterior and some of the signage around the front gate area. Here is a recap of that visit – Arvest Ballpark. Fast forward to last Wednesday…

Ahhhh, there we go. Spring has sprung and minor league baseball is up and running in Northwest Arkansas again. A few team members and I chatted about going to a game after work commitments, we picked the Wednesday night game, weather permitting, and by 5pm on Wednesday hopped in a rental car and headed north from Fort Smith to Springdale. It was about an hour drive, no traffic, beautiful landscape, mountains, greenery, the time went by like it was five minutes, very smooth ride up to Arvest Ballpark to see the hometown Naturals face the Amarillo Sod Poodles. Side note, don’t you wish every team had a cool name like the Sod Poodles???

Parking was simple, $6 and there is the lot, park anywhere. Awesome. Tickets ranged from $9 to about $20 based on seating close to the field. We grabbed best available and had seats right behind the home team Naturals dugout, on the first base side. The weather was a bit iffy, lots of storms were headed our way at some point in the next few days. However, for the time we spent at the game, no rain, a little breezy at times, but no rain. My team members found our seats, grabbed some food and beverages and I set off to walk the perimeter of the park, the opportunity I did not have the previous February.

I stopped to chat with this friendly fellow and ask for directions and where I could find some cool stuff around Arvest. He just kept grinning at me and giving me the thumbs up. Then, he moved on and took photos with other fans. Friendly chap overall and I was glad to make his acquaintance.

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the AA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. On the Sam’s Furniture Naturals Hall of Fame wall, I spotted several players who went on to star with not only the Royals, but other Major League baseball teams. And I couldn’t miss the poster/sign of Bobby Witt, Jr. who is making a huge name for himself as a today star for the Kansas City Royals club, one that has made a giant resurgence in the standings after many years of last or next to last place play in the American League Central. Great to see the Royals doing well again, they are a classic American League team.

I love baseball stadiums that allow fans to walk the entire park. Meaning, no restrictions in center field or behind home plate to block fans from viewing other parts of the ballpark. In my experience, most minor league stadiums allow access for fans to travel all the way around the stadium. I’m not talking about access to suites or the press box area, just the main fan seating sections. My theory is that most minor league teams offer general admission tickets, which allow families to move their kids to another part of the park if one part is not working out. I love the general admission concept and have never had an issue sitting in someone’s “general admission” seat. With all that said, Arvest Ballpark does have 100% access to all parts of the fan’s seating areas. So, before sitting down with my team members, I walked the inside perimeter of Arvest Ballpark.

After grabbing 2 of the $1 hot dogs specials and taking my seat, I spotted something very interesting while the Sod Poodles were at bat. For the past several years, women have been making important strides in professional baseball. Hitting instructors, bench coaches, managers, even general manager positions dominated by men for decades are now being filled by women. Women who have paid their dues in the colleges, summer collegiate baseball leagues, instructional leagues, Spring Training, and more – just to get an opportunity to do what they do best and help a ball club get better. Qualified candidates who bring experience, expertise, and are doing great work throughout MLB and MILB network of teams. One of them being Sod Poodles Bench Coach and sometimes First Base Coach, Ronnie Gajownik. Awesome to see progress right in front of you!!! I found this link to a recent interview about Coach Gajownik – Arizona Diamondbacks female coach moving up through minor leagues.

It was a fast moving game, as most are these days with the emphasis on the pitch clock. Innings move quickly, so fast that if you get up to get an ice cream at the concession stand, you might miss an inning or two depending on the crowds at your game. A few team members and I got lucky and found/caught foul balls. Ah the baseball souvenir, a memory to last a lifetime, or until you hand it to a deserving kid in the stands. It is still an absolute riot to watch a throng of kids battle royal it out for a baseball that is worth about $1.88 to produce. It is the story behind the ball, who hit it, what coach threw it to you, how was it procured in the battle royal scrum for it. The scars, the bruises, the scrapes – all worth it for a baseball treasure. Gotta love the small nuances of baseball.

I was so psyched to revisit Arvest Ballpark, home of the Northwest Arkansas Natural baseball team. May is a much more attainable month for exploring a minor league baseball field than February, duly noted. Arvest is an amazing stadium, great seats throughout the ballpark, affordable family fun, hop on a train for a tour of the ballpark if you are a kid, easy to find, easy to park, super affordable ticket prices, great baseball on the field. I loved running into the Naturals mascot, that was fun. And seeing progress made on the field with Amarillo Bench Coach Ronnie Gajownik coaching first base, making a difference and being a role model for other girls/women who want a spot in professional baseball someday. It was great to catch a game with friends I work with with, that was pretty awesome on a whole other level. Overall, it was an absolutely great night for baseball and an truly awesome Northwest Arkansas baseball experience.