When the Saints Go Marching In

A photo  of the "too perfect" outfield and scoreboard

Yesterday closed out the regular season for the St. Paul Saints, the independent professional baseball team here in the Twin Cities, at their new stadium, CHS Field. It was a record setting year: highest attendance (404,528), best record (74-26), and numerous individual records broken throughout the year. You couldn’t ask for a better season.

It was an incredible year in an amazing new ballpark. One that I will admit I was a little hesitant about. And after our first time in the stadium on “test drive your seat” day, I was even more worried. Let me explain.

Mudonna taking in a few pitches from our section on
opening night.

At the end of last season, we were talking with one of the Usher-tainers, Brain Kelly, about the move to the new stadium. He asked how we felt about leaving Midway and heading to the yet-to-be-named new stadium. I admitted that I was worried. Midway had a hominess about it; it was comfortable. It was run down for sure; falling apart, leaking, not able to keep up. It needed to be replaced. 

But a brand-new, never been used stadium…. what would that be like? Would the team still have fun? Would the antics exist just the same? Brian said that making sure people understood that the team would still be the same, goofy group they always were was going to be one of the hardest and most important jobs for the usher-tainers moving forward. He was right.

When we were at the new stadium for the first time, the building was perfect. The “new” smell was on everything, the walls all perfect and smooth, no rolling hills in the outfield, no chips in the cement, not even banged into drywall in the press box. It was immaculate. And absolutely not the Saints. I walked out of there still buying our 9 game mini pack and still excited for baseball, but it seemed thing things would be different.

Wow was I wrong.

Brian and the rest of the usher-tainers showed from day one that Fun was still meant to be had at the ball park. They did an amazing job of runn

ing around, keeping people excited, engaging kids, bringing old promos from Midway and inventing to new ones for CHS Field. It was everything that baseball should be and so much more. And in the middle of all the craziness, the team just kept on winning.

A panorama from above 3rd base, June 7 2015.
Our dog was at this game. Because this team is awesome.

One of the best things about CHS Field this year though was the people in the stands. In the 12 regular season games we went to, we were always surrounded by wonderful people. Jeff and EJ that had the seats to our right always had great stories to tell and EJ was always up for photobombing the high schoolers around us. The Senior Master Sergeant (USAF, ret.), whose name I never got, always had a different member of his family with him. His grandkids were great and loved taking in their first ball games.

Lounging in Center Field wait for fireworks to start
on Fan Appreciation Night

Now, I’m looking forward to the playoffs. For those few more days of summer. For that last chance to ignore what the calendar says and enjoy time outdoors, with my friends, at a baseball game. A championship, if the Saints win one, would be the perfect cap for an amazing year. But the season already was a massive success. Not just because of what the team did on the field though, but because of what they did off of it.

Because they kept their word.

Because Fun is, and always will be, Good.