[todeen]

I own a 1996 Billings Mustangs (Short Season A, Pioneer League, Cincinnati Reds affiliate) team signed baseball. It's pretty much worthless. But as a kid, I loved going to their baseball games. They played ball in this horrible, old wood stadium. The Marlboro Man was beyond the outfield fence. The concessions, gift shop, and sno-cone/cotton candy stand were underneath the bleachers. Whenever a major play happened it became deafening loud with people stomping their feet. There was a parking lot that led to the entrance of the stadium, and cars parked there "at their own risk." Every foul ball was accompanied by the announcer playing the sound of breaking glass, but the irony was that it was actually possible to lose your windshield or window even though it was running joke of the ballpark. It was an atmosphere that can't be replaced with concrete and rebar. The stadium was torn down and replaced nearly a decade ago, and so looking at the ball is just a nice memory of great summer nights in a league that MLB is now considering to be non-essential.