Just up highway 12 sixty miles north of Madison, Wisconsin is Wisconsin Rapids. It's a town of 19,288 and used to be the paper mill capital of the midwest. In better times there were four mills in town but now they're down to one. It's the quintessential 'blue collar' community. One of my best friends and his buddy(my buddy, too) live 12 miles south of The Rapids in Nekoosa. Pretty much every town in Wisconsin sounds like an Indian tribe. e.g. Mukwonago, Oconomowoc, Minoqua. Anyway, Wisconsin Rapids used to be the home of minor league baseball to the Twins and White Sox. If you think this piece is about baseball you're right. If you are even mildly disinterested in baseball keep on reading. There's some very good material about to come your way.
There's a baseball league of ten teams in Wisconsin and Minnesota composed of college kids from around the country. They play a 70 game schedule, live in the homes of the local citizens and are a training ground for the pros. It's an amateur league.
Hold onto your hats because what you are about to read will be about more than baseball. It's about a community that bands together to support an event. It's like the early twentieth when Ringling Brothers came to town. Who wouldn't want to come out and see elephants, clowns and tigers parading down main street. For folks in Wisconsin Rapids it's the greatest show on earth: "Come one come all".
My buddy's wife purchased a Christmas present for him of ten game passes for $90. For this price this is what you receive: game ticket, a food buffet of sandwiches including brats, chicken and hamburger, chips and drink for five innings. Did you read this correctly? I took advantage of this Roman Bacchanalia. You could've put a fork in me and I would have been Thanksgiving dinner with out the drumsticks. That's how much I consumed.
Now, if you want to go big time go you could shell out $23. For this you get a seat directly behind the batting screen, unlimited food for nine innings plus ALL THE BEER YOU WISH TO CONSUME! Beer, Wisconsin, who da thunk it? OH yeah, Thursday at the ballpark is referred to as "thirsty Thursday". On these days beers will run you a buck and a quarter.
I also indulged in some artery cloggers. Badger people love their fried cheese. One thing I didn't have was a buger topped with bacon and cheese sandwiched between a sliced glazed donut. This seems to be a popular item "Up North". Not many over the age of 40 were takers. Ah, to be young again.
The game itself was like any other major league game. There was singing and games for the kids between innings. Oh, I forgot. In this mid sized town about 2,000 people attended the game. That's 10% of the population. If we could get that many people to church there wouldn't be any sinners.
If you think I'm finished I'm not. At the start of the game a guy came out in catcher's gear to catch the first pitch. The management 'supposedly' drew a name from the crowd for a fan to go to the mound and do the honors. The 'fan' was a rather comely looking woman and after she tossed the ball the catcher took off his mask, he got down on one knee and proposed. Of course, she said yes and the crowd shouted with glee. For the rest of the evening the woman paraded around the grandstand. That made me happy. I'd say her biggest asset(s) were what one would call Mae Wests.
Think I'm done yet? Nope. Management brought in a special guest to sign autographed pictures. It was none other than Ken Osmond, aka, Eddie Haskell. The line to offer a $3 donation to Eddie for a shot of his mug wrapped around the third base line for five innings. He suckered me for $9. Hey! It's not every day a guy can chat(I did) with a guy who knew Wally, Beaver, Ward and June.
So, that's it. Great fun in Middle America. it doesn't get any better than that.
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