As promised over a week ago, I am FINALLY going to talk about our trip to Wilmington Delaware to see the Wilmington Blue Rocks take on the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.
The plan of traveling to Wilmington came up in a last minute kind of deal,One of our friends had went to Myrtle Beach on vacation,And brought Shawn a Pelicans team set back.So Shawn decided(After looking at the schedule)We should take the drive to Delaware.The one thing about this trip,Traffic,And lots of it!This is a downside of having only 1 or 2 major roads out of the DC/Baltimore region.We were smart when planning this out,If you don't live in this region,You try and plan travel around the rush hour times,Otherwise you will be sitting for awhile.
Getting to Wilmington really wasn't bad,We had to pay 9 dollars in tolls on the way in(Cost of Delaware being tax free?)We were told it was pretty easy to get to the stadium,And if you look at the picture above, You can see interstate 95 to the right of the park.
Here's one very huge downside,If you plan on going to see a Blue Rocks game,You may want to stop somewhere in Wilmington to grab a bite to eat.Most stadiums have a good choice of places to eat nearby,Not so in Wilmington,As there were 2(yes 2)places within a mile of the stadium!
The 2 choices we had,Joe's Crab Shack,And some brew pub kind of deal.We chose Joe's,I'm not a big seafood fan,But Shawn had ordered crab nachos,And those were some of the best nachos i've had in awhile!
Also good to note if you plan on shopping while you're there,The same thing applies to shopping as food,Nothing nearby that would make most people stop!I learned later from 1 of the ushers at the park that when the Stadium was built in 1993,They also built a water front shopping center,Which in 2008 sits empty.I lied, There may have been 3 or 4 places,But it's the same thing you can find in ANY little plaza in any town.
As we pulled up to Daniel S. Frawley Stadium,You can't help but see this HUGE building on the stadiums right side,It had Chase Center on the side.I'm not sure about you,But when i see a building this big,And has a name like The Chase Center,I would think it's some kind of arena.Not in Wilmington,This huge facility is actually a ballroom/banquet hall. The picture shown at the top of the page shows you the entire area,Stadium is on the left, The Chase Center is in the middle,And the "River front" shop(s)Is on the right.
As for the Ballpark,And the actual game.Frawley Stadium is a odd ballpark,It's squeezed in between I-95 and The Chase Center.It almost seems odd, The field is kind of turned sideways,Which Shawn an myself both talked about most of the night.We walked in to get ready to get some cards signed,And decided to get as close to where Myrtle Beach would be coming out.All I know is I would never watch a game in the seats we waited in to get autographs,Sit in these seats at your own risk!
As for signing,We didn't do too bad,Considering this park has a walkway the players enter the field on.If you don't have help getting the numbers/names of players ,You will miss them.
Before I get to the downside of the park,Let me say a few things about the overall baseball experience.The ushers were very helpful,And very polite,Instead of blaring the same music over the PA system as Some clubs do,The Blue Rocks were showing Ghostbusters on the video screen(I guess because it was a ghostbuster themed night?)
The bad,They have a announcer who i swear to god sounds like Rod Roddy(Price is Right)I kept waiting for him to say...A NEW CARRRR.And how could i forget the fans,Or should i say spectators.I have no problem with someone needing to get up in the middle of an inning,But we had maybe 10 or 12 people who could not sit the hell down!If you're going to stand up and watch the game,Please do so in the concourse area.
The game was never really a game,The Blue Rocks took a 1-0 lead in the first inning,And never looked back in a 7-3 decision.Not alot to write about there.
If i rated this Ballpark,I would have to give these grades,And I'll use the scale i have learned from seeing the parks I have the last 2 years.
Ease to find-Williamport being the worst.Frederick being the best,I would say it's as easy,If not easier then Frederick
Pre game food/entertainment-Hagerstown being the worst,Harrisburg being the best,I would have to say just a step above Hagerstown
Ticket prices,And Concessions-Again,Hagerstown worst,Allentown best-I would give them below Allentown,Maybe Harrisburg
Sorry for such a long post,But I wanted to give a in depth view of the entire area.Wilmington is very nice town,And if I was going there for something other then baseball,I would probably have enjoyed Riverfront Wilmington .
The plan of traveling to Wilmington came up in a last minute kind of deal,One of our friends had went to Myrtle Beach on vacation,And brought Shawn a Pelicans team set back.So Shawn decided(After looking at the schedule)We should take the drive to Delaware.The one thing about this trip,Traffic,And lots of it!This is a downside of having only 1 or 2 major roads out of the DC/Baltimore region.We were smart when planning this out,If you don't live in this region,You try and plan travel around the rush hour times,Otherwise you will be sitting for awhile.
Getting to Wilmington really wasn't bad,We had to pay 9 dollars in tolls on the way in(Cost of Delaware being tax free?)We were told it was pretty easy to get to the stadium,And if you look at the picture above, You can see interstate 95 to the right of the park.
Here's one very huge downside,If you plan on going to see a Blue Rocks game,You may want to stop somewhere in Wilmington to grab a bite to eat.Most stadiums have a good choice of places to eat nearby,Not so in Wilmington,As there were 2(yes 2)places within a mile of the stadium!
The 2 choices we had,Joe's Crab Shack,And some brew pub kind of deal.We chose Joe's,I'm not a big seafood fan,But Shawn had ordered crab nachos,And those were some of the best nachos i've had in awhile!
Also good to note if you plan on shopping while you're there,The same thing applies to shopping as food,Nothing nearby that would make most people stop!I learned later from 1 of the ushers at the park that when the Stadium was built in 1993,They also built a water front shopping center,Which in 2008 sits empty.I lied, There may have been 3 or 4 places,But it's the same thing you can find in ANY little plaza in any town.
As we pulled up to Daniel S. Frawley Stadium,You can't help but see this HUGE building on the stadiums right side,It had Chase Center on the side.I'm not sure about you,But when i see a building this big,And has a name like The Chase Center,I would think it's some kind of arena.Not in Wilmington,This huge facility is actually a ballroom/banquet hall. The picture shown at the top of the page shows you the entire area,Stadium is on the left, The Chase Center is in the middle,And the "River front" shop(s)Is on the right.
As for the Ballpark,And the actual game.Frawley Stadium is a odd ballpark,It's squeezed in between I-95 and The Chase Center.It almost seems odd, The field is kind of turned sideways,Which Shawn an myself both talked about most of the night.We walked in to get ready to get some cards signed,And decided to get as close to where Myrtle Beach would be coming out.All I know is I would never watch a game in the seats we waited in to get autographs,Sit in these seats at your own risk!
As for signing,We didn't do too bad,Considering this park has a walkway the players enter the field on.If you don't have help getting the numbers/names of players ,You will miss them.
Before I get to the downside of the park,Let me say a few things about the overall baseball experience.The ushers were very helpful,And very polite,Instead of blaring the same music over the PA system as Some clubs do,The Blue Rocks were showing Ghostbusters on the video screen(I guess because it was a ghostbuster themed night?)
The bad,They have a announcer who i swear to god sounds like Rod Roddy(Price is Right)I kept waiting for him to say...A NEW CARRRR.And how could i forget the fans,Or should i say spectators.I have no problem with someone needing to get up in the middle of an inning,But we had maybe 10 or 12 people who could not sit the hell down!If you're going to stand up and watch the game,Please do so in the concourse area.
The game was never really a game,The Blue Rocks took a 1-0 lead in the first inning,And never looked back in a 7-3 decision.Not alot to write about there.
If i rated this Ballpark,I would have to give these grades,And I'll use the scale i have learned from seeing the parks I have the last 2 years.
Ease to find-Williamport being the worst.Frederick being the best,I would say it's as easy,If not easier then Frederick
Pre game food/entertainment-Hagerstown being the worst,Harrisburg being the best,I would have to say just a step above Hagerstown
Ticket prices,And Concessions-Again,Hagerstown worst,Allentown best-I would give them below Allentown,Maybe Harrisburg
Sorry for such a long post,But I wanted to give a in depth view of the entire area.Wilmington is very nice town,And if I was going there for something other then baseball,I would probably have enjoyed Riverfront Wilmington .
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