Date Night #3 - Indianapolis Indians Baseball Game

"Take me out to the ball game. Take me out to the crowd!..."

For Date Night #3, I swapped weeks with Troy so that we could attend an Indianapolis Indians home game at Victory Field. Ever since we started dating (about 3 1/2 years ago), we have been saying we needed to go to a game. Well, there's no time like the present. Especially when it works so well as a date night!

After a lovely dinner, we headed downtown to Victory Field. It was a gorgeous evening and the weather was simply perfect for a baseball game. It wasn't too hot nor too cold and the skies were clear and blue as the sun started to set.

The game started at 7 PM and was over by around 10 PM. The ticket prices are reasonably priced from $9 - $13 for adults and $8 for children under 14. That's cheaper than a movie and way more fun. There were tons of activities to keep the kids busy from a basketball hoop to plenty of space to play a game of catch. The space beyond the back wall of the diamond is all grass and makes for a great place for families to bring a blanket and a picnic. The kids can run around and don't bother anyone. And you can't beat the view. The whole diamond spread out in front of you. Perhaps if we go again we will sit in the "cheap" seats on the grassy hill.

While the ticket prices were reasonable, unfortunately the same can't be said for the snack prices. Perhaps that's why the coolers and grassy cheap seats are so popular. Troy and I had already had dinner before the game, but we decided a bottle of water and a lemon chill (frozen lemonade, essentially) might be a nice little dessert choice. The total bill for those two items: $6.75. While that's not a huge sum on it's face, if we would have been buying for a family of four, the total bill could have been close to $30 if we had thrown in some nachos, a hot dog or two and a couple of sodas. Ouch!

The game was quite exciting with The Tribe leading for most of the time. In between innings there was entertainment like a jumbo inflated lottery ball presented by Hoosier Lottery. The ball was thrown up into the crowd and people were supposed to toss it around while the music was playing. When the music stopped whoever was holding it would win a prize. There was also the kissing cam. The camera would scan the crowd for couples whose picture would be shown on the jumbo screen. They would then kiss. It was very sweet and simply hilarious how people would react when the camera was on them. The obligatory 7th inning stretch was done, of course. (Around the 7th inning, if I remember right. ;-) )


Although the Tribe eventually lost to the team from Ottawa, it was quite an exciting game with several really great hits and the bases were loaded more than once!

Although we hadn't planned it, our visit fell on a night when a fireworks display was presented after the game. It was simply lovely. There was just enough breeze to blow away the smoke from the explosions and the view of downtown Indianapolis really made a spectacular backdrop to the show.

As we strolled through the streets after the game, it was great to simply soak in the evening air and thoughts of an exciting ball game. Perhaps it won't take us another 3 1/2 years to make it to the park again.