Summer has reemerged here in Hampton Roads the past few days. In summer, I mean 90 plus degree temperatures and what most would consider summer-like weather conditions. With the weather being so cooperative, I thought it would be a good night to head over to Norfolk’s Harbor Park for one last home game for 2025. I have some personal and work travel plans for the next several weeks, plus the Norfolk Tides being out of the 2025 playoff picture. So, last night was pretty much the only game night option for me in 2025.

On busy Norfolk event nights, buying tickets online and paying for parking ahead of Norfolk Tides games is definitely the way to go. With a home football game night at both Norfolk’s Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University, traffic and parking in that section of Norfolk was predictably very busy. But, with a pre-paid parking pass in Lot C, Rachel and I just dealt with a little bit of traffic approaching the stadium, flashed the parking pass at Lot C, then parked and headed over to the game before first pitch. On slower nights, weeknights perhaps, you can probably grab tickets at the ticket office and find parking around the stadium or at a nearby lot close to Harbor Park. But on busy Norfolk nights, pre-paying is the smart choice.

Fun fact to start off…The home team Norfolk Tides and their visiting opponents, the Nashville Sounds, have nearly opposite win-loss records. The Tides, after last night, sit at 58-75. The Sounds sit at 75-60. Records don’t always tell the true story in the minor leagues because of call ups of top prospects throughout the season. I just thought it was an interesting note of the game that one team was nearly a polar opposite record wise of the other. Another interesting note, the Tides are the Baltimore Orioles AAA affiliate and Baltimore currently sits last in the American League East. The Sounds are the Milwaukee Brewers AAA Affiliate and Milwaukee sits atop the National League Central. Hmmmm, maybe there is more to the Tides and Sounds records than I initially thought.

After finding out seats in our familiar 200 section of Harbor Park, Rachel and I settled in for a nice evening of baseball. With Harbor Park being so close to our home in VA Beach, game night has become a 5 to 10 time event each season. We typically start in the Spring, right after Spring Training ends and the MLB season starts. And finish going to games as late as the middle of September. It has been so awesome being so close to a minor league park these past several years.

Last night’s pitching matchup was a Hampton Roads treat. The Norfolk Tides called on Grafton High School (Yorktown, VA) and Newport News born Trey Gibson to start Saturday’s game. Gibson played college baseball at Liberty University before signing with the Baltimore Orioles as an undrafted free agent in 2023. His rise through the minor leagues and up to the AAA level is just tremendous and downright inspiring for undrafted players. Gibson proves it is not just the bonus babies who make it big time in professional baseball. Opposing Gibson on the mound for the Nashville Sounds was…

Grassfield High School (Chesapeake, VA) and University of Tennessee star pitcher Garrett Stallings. Stallings was a 5th round draft pick (LA Angels) in 2019. After a few years in the Angels organization, Stallings was traded to the Baltimore Orioles in 2020, pitched for several years in the Orioles minor leagues, even pitching for the Norfolk Tides in 2023, 2024 before being traded again, this time to the Milwaukee Brewers. I don’t recall the name from games I went to last year, but perhaps I saw Stallings pitch in a game for the Tides last year. Last night, he was wearing the uniform of the opponent, the Nashville Sounds. Proving once again, how much athletic talent there is here in Southeastern Virginia in not only football and basketball, but baseball as well.

The weather was absolutely perfect for night baseball. Little or no wind most of the night. Clear skies. No humidity left over from the day. Temps still comfortably in the high 70s, low 80s. Just great weather to catch a baseball game. The stadium was about 1/2 to 2/3 full, nowhere near some of the sellouts I have attended in recent years. A lot of kids enjoying the game with parents and grandparents, some military, tons of loyal season ticket holders (I see them at every game in the same sections), and for the most part a pretty energetic crowd for a sub .500 team in September. And unfortunately, I have to report, the worst display of foul ball vultures I have ever encountered at a professional baseball game.

Every single inning of last night’s game got progressively worse for the term I call “foul ball vulturing.” Kids, most under teenage years of age, sprinting up and down the aisles of the stadium after foul balls hit into the stands, hoping to catch or snag one for themselves – this is not a new concept. And I get it, the foul ball pursuit – it’s a fun exercise, I did it when I was a kid, my kids did it at McCoy Stadium when they were younger. What has changed is the after pursuit attitude, the vulturing attitude. These kids last night, the unsuccessful ones who did not get a foul ball or a ball tossed into the stands by a player on the field, literally would go into panic mode and harass the person in the stands who caught the foul ball or ball tossed into the stands. Meaning, they would stand in front of the foul ball fan, scream things like “this is my first game, give the ball, give it, give it,” at the top of their undeveloped vocal chords, until the fan would tell them no or the fan would give in and throw them the foul ball. Not a good look for Harbor Park, not a good look for baseball having fans like this harassing other fans for a baseball. Fans, I might add, that paid good money to attend a baseball game and not be harassed.

And how do I know about the harassment, take a look at the baseball again. It was from last night. Rachel retrieved a baseball around the 7th inning, it fell behind her seat. Only to turn around to about 12 to 15 kids who had sprinted to where we were sitting and the began screaming at us. We told them all to go away and did not give the ball away. My question is where are the parents of these kids and why are they allowing their kids to act like this? Teams and leagues and stadiums don’t want to have to over-policy the foul ball situation because it is such a thrilling memory for the most part. But if stadiums allow this kind of behavior and paying customers complain at greater and greater rates, or simply don’t go to games because of this type of harassment, something will be done and it won’t be pretty and foul balls will have to be returned to ushers and players will no longer be allowed to throw baseballs into the stands at half innings. In the end, minor league baseball is a business that relies on fans and asses in the seats. If the business is threatened monetarily, policies will be created and enforced and we don’t want that, do we true baseball fans???

It was a competitive game with the Nashville Sounds up early, Tides came within a few runs late, but in the end the Sounds had enough to beat the Tides, 7 to 6. Garrett Stallings (Chesapeake, VA) got the win for the visiting Nashville Sounds. Trey Gibson (Newport News, VA) took the loss for the hometown Tides. The weather held out all night and it was a very comfortable night to sit and watch 9 innings of quality minor league baseball. An amazing fireworks show capped off the night, which featured some rockin’ music accompanying the fireworks. Rachel and I, baseball securely tucked away in her bag, headed for the exits a little disappointed in the night but were overall pretty satisfied with our last Tides home game for the 2025 season. We will be back in 2026 for sure, these young foul ball vultures won’t deter us from attending games going forward. Parents, teach your kids how to act in public places like baseball stadiums, please!!! Overall, it was a mostly awesome Norfolk baseball experience at Harbor Park for the last time in 2025, featuring Norfolk Tides vs. Nashville Sounds.