I Keep My Eye on the Sparrow

Talk about perfect timing. School's just about out for the summer for everybody and the sport that says summer like no other, Abner Doubleday's gift to the American people, baseball, is just getting started up the hill at Dodd Stadium.

Today, says the calendar, is the official start of summer, but if you’ve been following the goings-on at Dodd since early April’s high school games through the Northeast Conference Championships this time almost a month ago, then (of course) you know our Boys of Summer, the Connecticut Tigers opened their 2017 season at Dodd Stadium earlier this week. Weather permitting, the homestand continues tonight with the first of three games against the Aberdeen Ironbirds.

As a fan whose favorite team is the New York Yankees, and whose second favorite is whoever is beating the Red Sox, the CT Tigers are my home team and I'm as happy when they play well and win as any homer should be, mindful that what counts most of all is that the minor league farm teams grow tomorrow’s Major League Stars. Mighty oaks from tiny acorns, indeed.

The Connecticut Tigers have been a fixture at Dodd Stadium since their inaugural 2010 season and the appeal of live professional baseball across the region seems to grow with every new June through September season.

The CT Tigers play NY-Penn League Single-A Short Season baseball (a little less than half a Major League schedule), which in light of New England weather conditions at Dodd to include the occasional April snowstorm and brisk temperatures in early spring makes a June start the perfect introduction of professional players, just beginning the travail and travel they hope will lead to The Show, the Major Leagues, for fans in the stands who, after a hard day, want to sit in the cool of the evening, perhaps with the family and doubly perhaps with an adult sparkling beverage, and watch the joyful boys of summer play a game that's so easy to play but so hard to play well.

There's value for your dollar with reasonably priced admission for games in a facility with almost perfect sight-lines (= not a bad place to watch a game), terrific fan giveaways all season long, attractive home game ticket packages, great prices and variety of food and refreshments, and between innings entertainment that's good fun in its own right all in a ballpark that's in our backyard.

By comparison, for the price of four to make a day of it at Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium, I am told you can put one or more children through college (and complete their doctoral studies). Since I just made that up it’s hard to know how true it could be. Yet.

What is true is there are a plethora of ticket options best explained on their website, or by calling 860-887-7692, or stopping in at the box office to talk them any morning starting at ten. See you at the game? Make sure to bring your glove.

-bill kenny