On the final day of my business trip to Buffalo (for ABF Freight), I decided to take a leisurely drive from my hotel in Amherst (NY) out to Batavia (NY). Batavia is like a Hollywood movie set filming “Main Street USA.” The tree lined town roads, the ice cream shoppes, the car mechanic shops, the restaurants – they all scream Americana and I just loved the relaxing drive in the country out to Batavia’s Dwyer Stadium. When I pulled up to the baseball park, once again, it looked like they were filming a baseball movie, it looked that genuine. School aged kids from the band getting their gear into the stadium, local cheerleaders greeting visitors, local vendors setting up for “No Farm, No Food” night, friendly staff, painted signs showcasing fireworks events, easy to park, easy to find, yeah this is going to be awesome. What a great first impression for a summer collegiate baseball league enthusiast like myself.

Quick aside here…Some of you may be on the fence about paying for summer collegiate baseball league games. After all, they are not professionals (yet) and the parks are typically high school or local college baseball fields, not huge stadium museum type cathedrals. Most tickets prices I have seen are at or around $10, which is what I paid for the Batavia Muckdogs vs Newark Pilots game. Very reasonable price, in my opinion, and for what I got, well worth the $10. I don’t want to go into a giant tangent about how much baseballs or uniforms cost or the price of travel expenses or field upkeep – so I will leave it at this. Paying something to get into a summer collegiate baseball league game benefits the players, the towns, the teams, and ultimately the fans’ experience. Okay, back to the Muckdogs game.

The Batavia Muckdogs play in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League. The PGCBL is a very competitive summer baseball league and provides local fans with top collegiate baseball talent every summer. On this particular night, the Muckdogs were facing the Newark Pilots. Game time was about 6:30pm, so I didn’t have a ton of time to stay and watch the entire game. It would just be a few innings and then off to finish my work assignment in Buffalo. I got to the game early enough to walk around the outside of the field, then go inside and check out the view from left field to right field and just about every spot in between. Again, great baseball feel in a classic baseball stadium, Dwyer Stadium.

On the wall next to the souvenir shop and concession stand area, there were some Batavia and New York Penn League outstanding figures. Edward Dwyer, who owned a shoe store in Batavia, had a nice plaque detailing his involvement with baseball, including his time as President of the Batavia Clippers of the New York-Pennsylvania League, more commonly known as the NY Penn League. According to the plaque, the stadium took on the name Dwyer Stadium in 1973 to honor Mr. Dwyer’s commitment to baseball in Batavia. Here are some of the players who have started their baseball careers (at one point or another) in Batavia who ended up playing in the Major Leagues.

One plaque on the wall caught my eye and led me to a very interesting encounter in the ballpark. The photo below entitled “Local Boys Made Good,” features a paragraph or two on local baseball talent Jerry Maley. A Batavia kid, bat boy at the stadium for Batavia Clipper games, Maley would go on to play baseball at Batavia High School. One of his claims to fame, according to the plaque, was he was the first high school player to hit a home run out of Dwyer Stadium (formerly MacArthur). Maley signed with the Batavia Clippers and had a hit in his first professional at bat. Jerry Maley would then have a prodigious career as a board member on the Genesee County Baseball Club Board of Directors. The plaque then states that he still attends summer league games and sits on the third base side of the field. So, that’s where I headed next.

When I get into the stadium and looked over at the third base side of the field, I saw a man sitting down. He was alone in his seat, no one else around him. I thought, holy cow, that has got to be Jerry Maley, what a cool story. And figuring I was going to be the smart guy at the field, I walked over and introduced myself to whom I thought was Jerry Maley. Except it wasn’t. It was a friend of his who informed me that Jerry did attend games in recent years. His friend pointed to where Jerry would sit for Batavia Muckdog games. “Right there, that was Jerry’s spot to watch the baseball games.” Sadly, he had passed away about a year or so ago. His friend did speak highly of him, so it turned out to be a cool story despite the mixup.

With the sun setting on my time in Batavia, I took in one last inning behind home plate, then headed out to my rental car and my last night of work in Buffalo. Along the way back to my car, I remembered a foul ball being hit out of the stadium at or around the home plate area. And sure enough, as I drove out of the stadium, I looked to the left of the road and there it was. A game used PGCBL baseball for my collection. I pulled over and snatched it from its resting place and plopped it into the cup holder of my rental car.

Batavia, NY was a joy to visit. I loved the scenic route down Route 33 from Amherst through farmlands galore and small business stores. Dwyer Stadium was better than I anticipated. A great baseball stadium needs a great crowd cheering for the local baseball team and that is exactly what Batavia has in Dwyer and the Muckdogs and its loyal fans. Dwyer Stadium was easy to find, easy to park at, provided that valuable and affordable family friendly entertainment that everyone loves. There was great baseball on the field and great fans in the stands. Just an incredible Batavia Muckdogs experience there at Dwyer Stadium.

For more information on the Batavia Muckdogs, visit their official website – Batavia Muckdogs.