Baseball In the Time of Coronavirus

At the end of July, into early-August, I took a trip that included a couple of baseball games and destinations in-between. It was a weak substitute for the four or five trips Melvin and I once planned for the 2020 season.

dinosaurs everywhere, not just in Florida

For one, Melvin wasn't there. And this wasn't professional baseball but a collegiate summer league. Finally, almost every stop I made that weekend was by necessity outdoors and isolated from other people.

I've taken solo trips in the past but those were in addition to my travel with Melvin. On the other hand, he bequeathed me his antique iPod, so with Mr. Fine Wine coming out of the speakers of the even more antique Mustang, it was almost like Melvin was there.

Friday

The Elephant Hotel is now the town hall.

memorial to Old Bet (above); Somers, New York
Bobo's Cafe, for a friend with a cat by that name, Somers
remnants of Hearthstone Castle (Ernest G. W. Dietrich, 1895); Danbury, Connecticut

sunroom at the former state psychiatric hospital

former Fairfield Hills State Hospital, Newtown
Shade Swamp Sanctuary, an abandoned WPA "zoo;" Farmington
grave of Foone, one of the 53 enslaved Mende who revolted on the Amistad, Farmington
Noah Webster statue (Korczak Ziolkowski, 1942), West Hartford
former Archer Home for Elderly People and Chronic Invalids, inspiration for Arsenic and Old Lace, Windsor

Alex Price, who was 5-2 at Middlebury College before the 2020 season was shut down due to the Coronavirus, delivers the pitch

Westfield Starfires 5, New Britain Bees 7

supper was two hot dogs with the mucilaginous consistency of Vienna sausage and a couple of cans of Starfire IPA, brewed for the team by Amherst Brewing

Saturday

In lieu of the classic continental breakfast -- a COVID-19 no-no -- I was handed at check-out a "grab and go" bag with "happy!" written on it.

The Old Button Ball Tree; Sunderland, Massachusetts
Deerfield Massacre mass grave
Rock and Fossil and Dinosaur Shop (top), Deerfield

The 1834 marker, which can be found in the woods nearby, states, “The cruel and bloodthirsty savage who took her slew her with his hatchet at one stroke." Semantics aside, the outcome could have been worse.

Eunice Williams Covered Bridge, Greenfield
Bridge of Flowers, Shelburne Falls

not formed by glacial action, despite the common attribution

potholes at the foot of the Shelburne Falls Dam
It Shall Not Be Again (Joseph Pollia, 1934), the Massachusetts Peace Memorial, Orange

Who goes there, in the night,
Across the storm-swept plain?
We are the ghosts of a valiant war —
A million murdered men! 

Who goes there, at the dawn,
Across the sun-swept plain?
We are the hosts of those who swear:
It shall not be again! (Thomas Curtis Clark, 1931) 

Woman's Christian Temprance Union fountain, Orange
bicentennial big chair, Gardner aka "Chair City" and the "Furniture Capital of New England"
grave of the Kneeland Maids, Gardner

Mary White Rowlandson fared better than Eunice Williams.

Redemption Rock, Princeton

More interesting to me than the inscription itself -- "Upon this rock May 2, 1676 was made the agreement for the ransom of Mrs Mary Rowlandson of Lancaster between the Indians and John Hoar of Concord. King Philip was with the Indians but refused his consent." -- is the fact that it is carved into the side of the rock.

postcard of the 110-ton boulder on Rollstone Hill, before it was blown up and reassembled on a traffic island

Rollstone Boulder, Fitchburg

Harvard sophomore Ben Rounds at the plate, seconds before hitting his third home run of the season; note the fans are all outside the fence in lawn chairs from home 

Worcester Bravehearts 8, Nashua Silver Knights 5

The Bravehearts batted around in the fifth, scoring five, the dramatic highlight of the game. Not wanting to repeat Friday evening's ballpark supper, I used a coupon to try the Impossible Whopper at Burger King. 

Unconcerned about whether it might be meat-tainted, mine was not overcooked, juicier even than a traditional Whopper. My ballpark intake was limited to Wormtown Brewery's Be Hoppy, so I started my day happy and ended it hoppy.

Sunday

Sweetheart Memorial, Devens

although the graves date from 1792 to 1929, the lollipop markers were installed beginning in 1879

Harvard Shakers' burial ground
90 minutes for a lobster roll and fries but no books at Traveler Food and Books; Union, Connecticut

After a 1:09 rain delay, the August 2, 2020 game between the New Britain Bees and the Worcester Bravehearts was postponed, the first half of an August 16 double-header. No matter, I saw the Eastern League New Britain Rock Cats at the same stadium on Labor Day, 2006.

The drive home in an often heavy rain was miserable. I can say, however, that I saw live baseball in 2020, when there was otherwise little of it to be seen.