Residents@JV

EVV Otters 3rd Annual Benefit Baseball Game

‘Take me out to the Ball game, take me out with the Otters, that’s exactly what the Jacob’s Village bunch of Wanda, Debbie, Donna Kay, Mike, Michael, Scott, home coordinators Gloria, and Joe did Friday evening, May 18, 2007. The Jacob’s Village bunch arrived in the parking lot about 6:00pm to see the 7:05pm baseball game between the reigning Frontier League champion Evansville Otters and the Southern Illinois Miners to benefit Jacob’s Village. This was the Otters’ one and only exhibition game of the season at Bosse Field and the Miners are a 1st year, new expansion team with the Frontier League out of Marion, IL. This is the 3rd year the Evansville Otters have sponsored a benefit game for the Jacob’s Village mission which is: Dedicated to Enriching the Lives of Adults with Developmental Disabilities. This year, with a campaign concentrated advertising blitz via TV, Radio, and Newspapers, the attendance was about 3,500 and the amount from the proceeds of ticket sales was just under $12,000. Compared to last year, the attendance for the game was better by 500 or more which resulted in more for the proceeds figure. It was a nice and comfortable evening, weather wise, to spend at the ‘ol Ball Park. The ‘Talk of the Town’ Clown Association had five clowns there for the first four or five innings before having to leave for another appointment, adding smiles, laughter, and their usual hi-jinx to the delight of the crowd. Cletus, one of the clowns, positioned himself by the Jacob’s Village bunch that was sitting right above the visitor’s dugout down the 3rd base line making balloon baseball & bat hats and balloon bracelets to fit around ones’ wrist. Previously selected to throw the first pitch of the game out, Wanda was pumped up, excited, and feeling good. There were many flashes from cameras going off to catch her in the moment, and a good representative of Jacob’s Village she was. With the home town Otters on the field, umpires in position, and the Otter Belle Ball Girls, dressed in retro-40ish style color coordinated tan and maroon accented uniforms; the game was set to begin. In between each inning, the Otter Belles set up an assortment of games and activities in the teams’ bullpen area or props around the bases to run around. Throwing an item at a target or dropping items off at the bases within a certain time are a couple of examples of the types of games played. A fan favorite, individuals wearing Sumo Wrestler costumes, brought many hearty laughs. A good time was being had by all in attendance while roaming vendors were calling out and dealing drinks, peanuts, popcorn, and crackerjack snacks. Door prizes were also given away with a matching ticket number that was called out over the PA speaker system. Although it was a low scoring game, it was an exciting 3 hours of family fun. There were 11 hits and 19 strikeouts by a combined use of 12 pitchers. No home-runs on this night, but 4 doubles, 1 triple, 1 stolen base, 7 double plays per each team, one error, and not one player or manager was ejected or tossed for arguing the ump’s disputed calls. The first runs of the game didn’t cross home plate until the fifth inning and it was tied-up after the sixth. Throughout the remainder of the contest it was all knotted up, until the bottom of the ninth inning when an Otter player had a one out base-hit, run-scoring single to give the hometown Evansville Otters a 3-2 win over the Southern Illinois Miners. Along with all the festivities, this game was an introduction to Frontier League baseball, and a rousing welcome to Bosse Field for the Miners’ team first game. Bosse Field is the third oldest ball park in operation in the U.S. behind Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago. And to top it off, the game was to benefit Jacob’s Village; it was a win-win game for everyone involved. During the 7th inning stretch, Deana Johnson, General Manager of the Otters presented Cheryl Kuchna, Executive Director of Jacob’s Village, a check in the amount of the proceeds from the game; followed by the time honored tradition of singing ‘Take me out to the Ballgame’. Hopefully, this game will continue to draw more and more spectators and become a bigger, better event each and every year. Maybe we can reach a capacity filled Bosse Field crowd and double those numbers for the 4th annual EVV Otters benefit game in 2008…see ya at the ‘ol Ball Park.

posted by J V Resident Blog @ 10:52 AM