Scrappers games — more than just baseball
There’s always something going on before, during and after games.
NILES — Attending a Scrappers game is an experience that involves a lot more than just watching baseball.
There’s so much going on between innings and around Eastwood Field that it would be easy to have a grand time without knowing the outcome of the game.
Take, for instance, Saturday’s game. On the field, the Scrappers will play the Batavia Muckdogs. Unless you’re a real student of the game and make a habit of following major-league prospects from their first season in professional baseball until they reach “the show,” you’re probably not going to recognize a lot of the names in either lineup.
But who hasn’t watched American Idol? Recent contestant Sarah Burgess, a native of East Palestine, will perform the National Anthem and participate in promotions throughout the game.
After the game, she will judge a karaoke contest that fans can sign up to participate in. Top prize is $100.
Busy night
Between innings something is going on all the time, from contests down on the sidelines, to question and answer games right up on top of the dugouts.
Youngsters get involved as they get to race “Max and Erma” around the bases between innings, while there are several other contests for the adults, including the famous “bat race” where contestants have to circle a bat 10 times and then try to run in a straight line to the finish, which is something to watch.
Also between innings the Scrappers’ girls and guys from the front office throw out Frisbees and shoot T-shirts out of a special gun into the stands. Then, of course, there is the “rubber chicken” that is thrown into the stands where fans can turn it in for chicken at a local restaurant.
There will also be a group of young fans who will be on hand ontop of the dugout to sing “Take me out to the Ball Game” during the Scrappers’ seventh inning stretch.
Then after the game, if it isn’t a fireworks night, fans can purchase tennis balls to throw at big hoops out in the infield, where they can win prizes if they get one to land inside a hoop.