Tin Caps Baseball for High Summer Fun

As a starter team for the San Diego Padres, the Fort Wayne Tin Caps have to hedge for their lack of celebrity players with a lot of fun and a great ball field experience. And with their new and beautifully designed Parkview Field, they do not disappoint. This is baseball play at it's best.

Tired, old buildings in downtown Fort Wayne were razed to make way for this low-profile, very modern and friendly ball park. We began our family evening, in which we joined friends from the workplace, with a buffet line that had no waiting. Hot dogs, burgers, potato salad and cooked apples were served to us (help-yourself style). Fresh food, vegetable condiments, serve-yourself fountain drinks - the planners and cooks did a nice job.

The Tin Caps (the name is a nod to Johnny Appleseed, a.k.a. John Chapman, who is buried here) were the 2009 Midwest League champions, beating teams from places such as Beloit, WI and Cedar Rapids, IA (393 miles away). To play the Lansing, MI team, for example, the travel is only 130 miles. The playing field in Fort Wayne is great, but I guess sometimes I'm more excited about the atmosphere than the actual ball playing here - there is so much to see. For example, all the replays on the Jumbotron, break dancing bat boys - you name it.

There are so many different venues and seating options at this park - we ate with our friends at this table section and then watched the game from there. There is also a plush suite-level lounge and boxes for the upscale parties.

There is a different seating section that has bar-height tables for folks that prefer those - probably fewer kids are in that section. It's as if the architects and designers were playing with different ideas - there are even two types of lawn seating - one gradual, grassy slope for families and their blankets, and one grass bank with tiered concrete steps.

And after all that and more, there are the regular stadium seats with backs - so many choices! So much great food and ice cream! It's fun for all.

Between plays, there all lots of games for the fans such as musical chairs, dancing groundskeepers, Jumbotron marriage proposals, etc. The summer games usually end with big fireworks. This July night The Tin Caps beat The South Bend Silver Hawks respectably, and there were some exciting plays - no home runs that night but scoring into the double digits and several great grounders and triple plays. It's a happy, satiated atmosphere, with less tension and crowd issues than some of the bigger, big urban, major league parks. If you're in Fort Wayne, I think this is a best bet for evening summer fun. Please, take me out to the ol' ball game.