Originally written May 25th, 2009

Throughout the short amount of years that I've fervently pursued my hobby of enjoying baseball, I've grown a lot as a fan. At first, I didn't really care about statistics and the minor leagues, and simply chose to just accept the product that was out on the field of the major league level, and be done with that. But then all the time I've spent on the intertubes interacting with other baseball fans from around the country, and my thoughts and perspectives have changed quite a good bit. I wouldn't go as far to say that I'm some stat-geek now, because I certainly know and understand that there are often times things that just cannot be measured in numbers or trends. Inversely, I understand the importance that numbers bring to analyzing and watching baseball, and am not nearly as closed-minded about them in general as I used to be. But one of the biggest changes was opening the door to the minor leagues, the all-important lifeblood of Major League Baseball. Because without the minors, there would be no more future majors, and without the majors, I might as well just go kill myself or something.

Now before it gets too long, what it boils down to is the fact that aside from my ultimate goal of going to see every single ballpark on the major league level, I will certainly not scoff at the opportunity to visit the minor league affiliates of anyone else. Especially those that of my hometown Atlanta Braves.

So, for Memorial Day 2009, the Atlanta Braves were out of town, out west in San Francisco. And I had the day off from my job, and I was still pining for some baseball. I really did not want to make the 65-mile drive out to Gwinnett again, so I thought about going to Rome instead, since I had never been there before, and it would provide a great opportunity to add to my collection of ballparks visited here, as well as check out the Low-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves in person. And hype of young pitcher Zeke Spruill taking the mound made it sound that much more tantalizing. And getting to see one of the candidates for Jeff Francoeur's future vacancy in Atlanta's right field in Luis Sumoza sounded like a good idea too. Sounds like an awesome plan!

But wait, how far is Rome, from Atlanta?

90 miles. Each way. 25 miles on top of the distance to go to Gwinnett to watch lesser-caliber ballplayers play ball. Talk about a lack of forsight on my part. Especially with my car's condition worsening throughout its high mileage life, I was reluctant. But the seed was already planted. Two days prior, I had called and pre-purchased my ticket. It was time to go to Rome.

So I woke up early, and made the long, but relaxing drive from Atlanta to Rome. State Mutual Stadium is thankfully a very easy ballpark to get to, and they have the "luxury" of having been around for a while, so the nightmarish-novelty of the opening of Gwinnett Stadium didn't lead to me having to deal with any murderous parking conditions. The weather this particular day was in the midst of an awful rash of rainy days, but for the troops, celebrating Memorial Day, the skies opened up a little bit, and brought forth some warm sunshine and good playing conditions, at least in the town of Rome, Georgia.

Twice this season now, I have hit up minor league ballparks, and twice now I have been very pleased. The greatest thing about minor league parks is the simple thriftiness in comparison to their major league big brothers and sisters. For eight dollars, I got a seat that had me putting my feet up on the Rome Braves' home dugout, where I got the best view of the action with no foul ball net obstructing my perspective, and despite not getting one, a great opportunity to catch an errant foul ball.

State Mutual Stadium is cozy and comfortable, and there was no discomfort in the seats. Walking around the park taking in the angles and sights, I realized that I could've paid even less to get comparably good seats elsewhere, but I'm not complaining. As I complimented in Gwinnett, the beauty of minor league ballparks is the open airy-ness of them, and the ability to see and enjoy the clouds and the sights.

Not being that big of a fan of ballpark food, I didn't give any chance to any of the vendors in-house. But as advised by an online acquaintance of mine, there is cheap and quality food available at the Coca-Cola concession stand out in the right-field side of the park, where you can get stuff off of a dollar menu. If I were hungry, I might've tried it.

Major League Baseball gets some praise for not having cheerleaders (despite the fact that the Marlins, Braves, Angels, Padres, Blue Jays, off the top of my head have "spirit squad"-like "teams" that comprise of mostly attractive young females), but out in Rome, they make no qualms about having them. I don't think it necessarily hurts the integrity of baseball, and I for one certainly do not mind the eye candy.

Now having gone to a few Class-AAA games, I can see the even more relaxed atmosphere of Low-A ball. The people in the stands are mostly regulars who pay little to no attention to the major league counterparts, but still enjoy the game in the same way that I do. The best part is how attached they are to their young players, and since they are young and not yet famous, the young players reciprocate so much of this accessible fandom back to them. And many of the regular local fans I spoke to all have some pretty interesting stories to tell about former players, that may or may not have made it to the major league level.

Despite the end result, I was quite pleased with my trip to Rome. I'm more inspired to go visit more minor league parks than ever now, and there is still the matter of needing to eventually make my way out to The Beach, to catch the Braves' High-A minor leaguers, as well as the famous Class-AA Mississippi Braves, where so many future stars catapult into the big squad.