A SUMMER OF SEA DOGS BASEBALL

During the summer we have been to five Portland Sea Dogs baseball games. The Sea Dogs are in their 20th season, 12th season as the AA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Sea Dog home games are played at Hadlock Field in Portland. 

Hadlock Field resembles Fenway Park in several ways. The Maine Monster was built to resemble the famous Green Monster.  Other features are reminiscent of Fenway - a Citco sign and a Coke bottle on top.

In Boston, there is a huge Citco sign beyond the Green Monster and several Coke bottles attached to a light pole above the wall.



The pavilion in right field is supposed to resemble the Green Monster seats at Fenway. The Coca Cola pavilion is a large picnic area with seating for several hundred fans. These areas were empty when the photos were taken, about an hour before first pitch. The crowd was later announced as a sellout.
   

Slugger, the Sea Dog mascot, enters the field on an ATV during the first inning.

A bit of baseball action caught on film.  If you look closely, you can see the batter's bat shattered when he hit the ball in the photo below. A piece of the bat can be seen in the center of the photo. 

To keep the crowd entertained between innings, many minor league teams do various contests involving fans selected from the stands. One such contest is unique to Hadlock Field. Four Sea Dog promotions staff are dressed in yellow lobstermen rain gear. The object for the fans holding the lobster trap is to catch at least 5 rubber lobsters as they are tossed by the lobstermen using lacrosse sticks. If you look closely, you can see at least one red lobster in the trap but many more lying on the grass. Hint: The trap is heavy and difficult to move quickly to catch the flying lobsters.

Later in the game, Slugger gets on top of the 3rd base dugout to lead the crowd in the song YMCA. Slugger is wearing his "Handyman Rental" vest, the sponsor of this event. Notice the tools on Slugger's belt.

The Milwaukee Brewers are famous for their sausage race, where different types of sausages race from left field to the front of the 3rd base dugout. The Sea Dogs do a similar race where potato, pine tree, blueberry, and lobster mascots race from right field to a finish line in front of the 1st base dugout. Did you know Maine is second to Idaho in potato harvesting, famous for blueberries, is known as the Pine Tree State? Who do you think will win the race?   

Below, Lucy Lobster dives across the finish line for the win.

When a Sea Dog player hits a home run, a lighthouse emerges from behind the center field wall with sparklers shooting out its sides. We only saw two Sea Dog home runs in the 5 games we attended.

We went to two of the games with Mike and Lorraine. Here are Paul, Mike and Lorraine viewing the game from our seats.

What would a baseball game be without food and drink!  Hadlock Field excels most, however, in its selection of micro brews. If you have been following this blog, you know that microbreweries are common and very popular throughout Maine. What would a baseball game be without a cold beer, especially a chilled micro brew.

However, the Sea Dog signature item at the concession stands is the Sea Dog Biscuit. Vanilla ice cream is stuffed between two large chocolate chip cookies. Mike says having a Sea Dog Biscuit is a Maine tradition. Paul skipped this tradition in favor of a cold brew.

It has been great to watch baseball games in a friendly relaxed atmosphere at a ballpark that is only a 15 minute drive from the RV. And of course, with a cold beer in hand.