A field of dreams for Royals AA team
SPRINGDALE, Ark. | For some baseball fans, a bonus of any vacation is to have a minor league team in the vicinity. Some of us even go a bit out of our way to take in a game.
A great place to do that is here in Springdale, home to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the AA affiliate team of the Royals. The Naturals are in their first year, succeeding the Wichita Wranglers as the Royals’ AA team.
There are two things to like about the Naturals right off the bat: Their name and their ballpark. OK, so the name is based on Arkansas being “The Natural State” and is not a play on the Robert Redford film “The Natural.” It still has a great ring to it and when one of the Naturals hits a home run they play music from the film.
The Naturals play at the new Arvest Ballpark, a gem in the countryside. Approaching the park is like going to the Field of Dreams in the cornfields near Dyersville, Iowa. Two-lane roads through pastureland lead to the city-built park a couple of miles out of town.
From inside the park, you look out on a long ridge of large trees beyond left field and grazing cattle past the right field wall. It would be hard to find a more relaxed setting.
The $50 million city-owned park was designed by HOK Sport, which is also doing the Kauffman Stadium renovations. It’s got everything the new Kauffman is supposed to have — wide concourses, playgrounds and picnic areas in center field and a walkway around the entire outer perimeter of the park.
Minor league games always appeal to me for their charm and laid-back nature. There are some things you would never see at a big league game.
At Arvest Ballpark on Monday nights, a bingo game is in constant progress. After each out, the public address announcer calls out “0-65” or some such number and at the end of the night winners can take home a prize.
Early in the game, a kid about 3 years old races the team mascot, Strike, around the bases. During another break, three adults have a tricycle race on the field. When the grounds crew drags the infield dirt in the middle of the game, the groundskeepers’ black lab goes with them, and then strolls into the dugout.
The Naturals play in the eight-team Texas League, which includes the Cardinals’ affiliate in Springfield, Mo. The Naturals won 8-1 Monday night but are not having a great year. They are 35-41 overall and 2-4 in the second half of the season.
Reaching the majors is a struggle for most AA players, of course. Three of the top 10 Royals prospects, according to Baseball America’s report earlier this year, are with the Naturals: Daniel Cortes (2), Blake Wood (4) and Julio Pimentel (7). Starter Cortes won Monday and has 3.48 ERA but the other two have ERAs well over 5.
The most colorful name on the team is starting pitcher Rowdy Hardy, whose season isn’t quite living up to his surname. Hardy is 3-6 with and ERA of 4.73.
Springdale is about a 3 and one-half hour drive from Kansas City. There are plenty of hotels five minutes away and I’m told rates are best on weekends. Certainly, seeing the Naturals is reason for a side trip when down this way, if not to come here in the first place.
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The Royals will try to stay hot, just when I am out of town, as they play the Rockies tonight and Wednesday. Tickets are two-for-one, or half price, both games if ordered on-line. Go to Royals.com and look for E-savers link. Tonight is also T-shirt Tuesday.
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