Take me out...

We had a very nice time at the ballpark tonight, catching the next-to-last regular season home game of the beloved Fargo-Moorhead Red Hawks. Newman Outdoor Field is just south of the airport, on the North Dakota State University campus, and adjacent to the Fargodome where, sadly, the Dixie Chicks did not play tonight.

I'd been hoping to make a Red Hawks game ever since we received their schedule tucked into the welcome packet of information the courthouse library sent to all new clerks just before we moved to town.

We were given a ride from the parking lot by a kindly usher in his GEM electric car (right). GEM is a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler, and it turns out they build their vehicles right here in Fargo.

The game was sold out, with standing-room-only seats available for $3.00. We actually ended up sitting on a very comfortable and immaculate stretch of concrete on the concourse down the first-base line, with a terrific view and a good, if unrealized, possibility of catching a foul ball.

One of the cool features of the park is its hand-operated scoreboard, complete with hand-updated scores from other games. The Miller Lite scoreboard girl introduced herself to the crowd while I was buying hot dogs, and then took up her perch in left field:


Meanwhile, I was having a very good time buying dinner. I was very pleased to see how inexpensive the hot dogs were ($1.50) until I noticed the price of the full kids' meal – dog, chips, and small drink ($2.00). Two dollars! Two footlong dogs for Jen and me were $2.50 (plain) and $3.50 (with chili and cheese). Giant beers were $4.50 apiece. Not a lot has been cheap in Fargo, but this evening was.

Jen was aghast later that I brought her what she ordered – a hot dog – instead of knowing instinctively that she would want the Wisconsin cheese soup ($3.00) they also had on the menu.


Newman Outdoor Field is about 10 years old, and looks like it opened yesterday, a feat of maintenance I'm beginning to take for granted around here. Though it felt a lot smaller than our hometown Frederick Keys' Harry Grove Stadium, Newman's capacity, at 4,500, is only 900 less (and actually scored a better grade than Frederick from BallParkReviews.com...).

Oh, yes, we dropped the game 4-3 to the hated Edmonton Cracker-Cats, a team we whipped soundly as recently as last night (5-0). We'll get 'em tomorrow.