Tuesday Afternoon Baseball Visit To Frawley Stadium, Wilmington Blue Rocks Part I - The Riverwalk

Late Tuesday afternoon, after a successful day of training for ArcBest in PA, I decided to take the roughly 15 mile trek south to Wilmington, Delaware. I had been to Wilmington in years passed to check out Frawley Stadium, home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks but only captured the exterior of the ballpark. The Blue Rocks were on the road at my time of arrival, so I merely took photos of the front gate area which included several statues and plaques. The Blue Rocks play on Judy Johnson Drive, honoring the highly acclaimed Judy Johnson of the Negro Baseball League’s Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords. Judy Johnson was elected into Cooperstown’s National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975. His statue and plaque were a huge thrill of mine to observe during my first visit to Frawley nearly 2 years ago.

Fast forwarding to Tuesday, I had checked the schedule ahead of driving to Wilmington and the Blue Rocks were in town, and would be playing the Bowling Green Hot Rods. The Blue Rocks are the High-A Affiliate of the Washington Nationals. The Hot Rods are the High-A Affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Hot Rods have a player from Rhode Island, Ryan Andrade, who pitches for them. So, I was eager to perhaps catch Andrade pitching. The last time I saw Andrade pitch was for Middletown High School, so this would potentially be a really cool moment for me as a huge Rhode Island baseball supporter and fan. And so with all of this excitement leading up to the game, I snagged a general admission ticket at the front gate ticket booth, and was all set for game time. Except…

I arrived roughly 2 hours before the gates opened, with game time about an hour after that. No worries, I had already changed for the game and had my walking shoes on. And noticed a walking path on Google Maps that looked interesting, so I parked my car in the Frawley Stadium lot and headed out to the bike path area, which turns out was called “The Riverwalk” on the Riverfront of Wilmington.

Tuesday afternoon was hot, but the Riverwalk was plenty shaded. It was a boardwalk style walking path that included scenic views of bridges, the downtown Wilmington area, rowing vessels, and tons of bikes, strollers, joggers, and walkers like me. I walked from the nearest entrance around Frawley Stadium all the way down to the Riverfront Market, stopping along the way to read historical markers and plaques about the history of Wilmington, DE.

The Riverwalk has something for everyone. There are restaurants with outdoor seating. There are small shops. There is a riverboat that gives tours of the Christina River area. There is a mini-golf course. There are bars and picnic spots and park benches and tons of shade trees. You can ride your bike, you can jog, you can walk, you can sit and relax. I had time and took the time to just take in all that the Riverwalk had to offer, including all of the interesting historical plaques and markers. Plus, the walk and the views and the weather were just so incredible I didn’t want to rush a minute of it. After a delicious fruit salad and a refreshing bottle of water, I looked at my watch and it was nearly 5:15pm. So, I made my way back down the Riverwalk the way I came in, walked across the Frawley Stadium parking lot, and waited in line with the other Wilmington and Bowling Green fans at the front gate for the gates to open. And at or around 5:30pm, they did just that.