Ultimate Baseball Road Trip (61 page)
Read Ultimate Baseball Road Trip Online
Authors: Josh Pahigian,Kevin O’Connell
350 W. Fourth St.
Tina’s caters more to football and racing fans than seamheads, likely because it’s closer to the Bengals’ Paul Brown Stadium than to Great American. But it’s a decent little joint.
537 East Pete Rose Way
This good sized club often features live bands after games and the local sports radio shows broadcast on-location too.
Boathouse, 925 Riverside Dr.
www.montgomeryinn.com/index.php
If the barbecue pork and chicken sandwiches at Great American have you hankering for some ribs, why not head for the source? With three locations in the area, this longstanding Cincinnati institution has been Q-ing it up since the 1950s. Though it’s on the pricey side, the lunch menu is reasonable, and all entrées are sure to tingle the taste buds. Upstairs, the Boathouse showcases a room full of Cincinnati sports memorabilia.
For a better selection of bars and restaurants, we recommend taking the short walk across the bridge into Covington Landing, Kentucky, or parking there and then crossing the bridge to get to the game. Either way, this is the hot spot in the area. It may look a tad seedy with check-cashing places, pawn shops, liquor stores, tattoo parlors, and strip clubs, but we managed just fine.
401 Crescent Ave., Covington, KY
Not only do they have a top-notch Stadium Nacho plate and $12 buckets of domestic beer, but there’s a Golden Tee for hackers like Josh and free Wi-Fi for hackers like Kevin.
313 Greenup St., Covington, KY
With its craft beers, small-batch bourbon, and delicious burgers, Keystone is a solid choice. There’s a jukebox and outdoor patio too. Kevin recommends the Fuller’s London Pride, which he described as “malty” before ordering another. Josh recommends the homemade nacho chips.
100 West Sixth St., Covington, KY
This popular local hangout inhabits a fire station that was built in the late 1800s. It is comfortable and homey inside. After games it offers a nice laid back atmosphere, though we hear it can get pretty packed on fall Sundays when the Bengals are playing. The Shoe String Catch fry plate is a solid appetizer choice, while the Sinker (ham, pepperoni, Mozzarella) is one heck of a hoagie. We love places that name foods after baseball slang.
50 East Rivercenter Blvd.
If you’re looking for a more upscale meal at prices that still won’t break your bank, Behle Street is an excellent option. But we recommend going after the game for Martinis and dessert. Just kidding, but if we were into that sort of refined postgame scene, this would be our pick for it.
We’re both suckers for parks that offer city skyline views or views of water-bodies. For some reason, they just get our juices flowing. And Great American offers both. Beyond the outfield fence, the Ohio River drifts lazily past, with its riverboats and bridges in full view. Looming over the infield, meanwhile, the Gap showcases the city skyline to those inside the park.
ANALOG AND LOVIN’ IT
Though not the original Longines clock that sat upon the scoreboard at Crosley, the rectangular clock at Great American is a good re-creation. In this digital age, there is something very fitting about having an old-time analog clock looming above a baseball park, keeping our minds set to all the history and richness of the National Pastime. Well done, Cincinnati.
The batter’s eye at Great American is also a nice nod to Crosley Field. The lower section is comprised of sloped grass, recalling the Crosley Terrace. Above the grass rises the black hull of the faux riverboat that serves as a private party venue in dead-center. The hull is attractive, but there’s more than meets the eye. It’s made of tinted glass and behind it sits a party room that can accommodate more than one hundred and fifty people, who enjoy a window-view of the game.
To the right of the riverboat, two sixty-four-foot-high smokestacks rise into the air, accompanied by a riverboat paddlewheel, and misting machine. The power stacks go off whenever something good happens for the Reds, shooting fireworks, making noise, and spewing mist all over the place. Sounds a little bit like how Kevin “goes off” after he’s had a few too many beers. While we are rarely fans of these attractions, the “Big Red Party Machine” (as we have dubbed it) definitely makes the game more fun for the kids. Plus it doubles as a misting station, cooling down folks on hot days. So, we give it our stamp of approval.
Modern ballparks need wide concourses because, to be blunt, we Americans keep getting wider. And there are a lot more of us these days than there used to be. At Great American Ball Park most concourses are forty feet across, as compared to the concourses that measured twenty feet wide at Riverfront. In addition to their width these concourses provide excellent opportunities to keep an eye on the game
to those walking around the park. To top it all off, the upper deck has its own concourse that offers views of the field. This feature makes the upper deck feel more open and should be copied at ballparks everywhere.
Just inside the main entrance two tiled murals honor the two most significant moments in Reds history. The first, titled “The First Nine,” represents the 1869 Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team. The second, titled “The Great Eight,” honors the 1975 Reds. The Big Red Machine, who won 108 games that year, fielded an assortment of players widely regarded the best starting eight of all time.
Kevin:
The ninth guy on the team must feel “not so great.”
Josh:
The ninth guy was a different pitcher every night.
Kevin:
Right. I knew that.
Encircling the concourse’s interior are photographs rendered in glass of great Reds moments, year by year. The second-level concourse features a quote band with entries from players from across the league. One of our favorites was from former Dodger Roy Campanella, who said, “You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you too.”
The Reds retired numbers hang below the press box. In addition to Jackie Robinson’s universally retired No. 42, fans will find No. 1, which belonged to Fred Hutchinson, the manager who led the Reds to ninety-plus wins three times during his career, which was cut short, as his life was, by cancer. Hutchinson’s number was the first ever to be retired by the Reds. See the Seattle chapter for more information on “Hutch.”
No. 5 was on Johnny Bench’s back when he won his ten Gold Gloves, made fourteen All-Star appearances and collected two NL MVP awards. Bench is perhaps the most recognizable name of a catcher even to this day, as he led the Big Red Machine to consecutive World Series titles in 1975 and 1976. And he was a regular on Josh’s second-favorite TV show of all time—
The Baseball Bunch
—to boot. Josh still hums, “We have a hunch you’ll love the baseball bunch,” every Saturday morning as he pours over the previous night’s West Coast box scores.
No. 8 was second baseman Joe Morgan’s number. Morgan, who won the NL MVP in both 1975 and 1976, collected 689 stolen bases, 1,133 RBI, and 268 homers during his twenty-two-year career.
No. 10 belonged to manager Sparky Anderson, who piloted the Big Red Machine and won three Manager of the Year awards while at the Reds helm.
No. 13 belonged to David Concepcion, who was the starting shortstop on the Big Red Machine. He ranks second to only Rose with his 8,723 at bats as a Red and 2,488 games, and he ranks third in team history with his 2,326 hits. For the record, Barry Larkin ranks second in team history in hits with his 2,340 lifetime safeties.
Reds fans recognize No. 18 Ted Kluszewski as their greatest left-handed first baseman. On defense Big Klu led the NL in fielding percentage for five straight seasons, 1951–55. Surely he would have won the Gold Glove Award those years had it existed. He hit 1,028 RBI and 279 home runs, including a whopping 49 in 1954. He finished with a batting average of .298.
No. 20 belonged to Frank Robinson, a twelve-time All-Star. Robinson hit 586 home runs in his career. He hit 38 bombs during his rookie season to easily win the ROY award. In 1961 he won the NL MVP Award hitting for a .323 average, 37 HR, and 124 RBI.
No. 24 belonged to the heart and soul of the Big Red Machine, Tony Perez. Playing for an amazing twenty-three seasons, Perez was a seven-time All-Star and MVP of the 1967 Midsummer Classic.
The Reds got into the retiring-of-numbers game a bit late, putting up the display for the first time in 1996. Perhaps this explains why most of the players retired are from the more recent era, despite the team’s long history. We wonder why Johnny Vander Meer’s jersey hasn’t been hung up. After all, he threw back-to-back no-hitters for the Reds on June 11 and June 15, 1938.
Kevin:
Back-to-back no hitters: what does a guy have to do?
Josh:
Well, it seems like a .500 record should be a prerequisite for having one’s number retired. Even with his two no-no’s the “Dutch Master” was only 119–121 in his career.
Kevin:
You looked that up on your smartphone, didn’t you?
In addition to its robust selection of foods at the concession stands, Great American offers three different restaurants. We found plenty of folks in The Machine Room Grill and Microbrewery before the game. Located on the 200 Level in the left-field corner, the Machine Room is a better sports bar
than you’ll find in the area surrounding the ballpark and it’s air-conditioned. It offers plenty of memorabilia honoring Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine, and is open before, during, and after the game to fans with tickets. In the right-field corner, meanwhile, the Riverfront Club is more upscale, with tiered seating and white tablecloths. Not our scene. Another area for club members only is Club 4192, located on the first-base side. All they have to say is “club” and we want no part of it even if the joint is named after Rose’s record breaking hit.
Barbecue pork and pulled chicken sandwiches can be found at the
Montgomery Inn
stand behind Section 127 run by this longtime Cincinnati institution. This was some of the best barbecue we had on the entire trip. Tangy, with just a hint of spiciness, these sandwiches are served with a fork so you can eat the meat piling over the bun without making too big of a mess. Josh got a cup of extra sauce on the side, and drizzled it over his french fries.
Mr. Red’s Smokehouse,
at the end of the first base concourse, overlooking the Ohio River, is also a must-visit for barbecue lovers. It is an actual wooden shack with a smoker inside. Serving beef ribs, turkey legs, chicken wings and pulled pork sandwiches along with baked beans, corn on the cob, mac and cheese and coleslaw, it “brings a little bit of Louisiana” as one fan told us, “to Reds games.” They were also serving “Smoked Cardinal” when we visited. Josh wasn’t brave enough to try it, but Kevin said it tasted a lot like chicken.
So, which ballpark Q is superior? A traditionalist, Josh favored Monty’s, while Kevin, who is generally more open to new experiences, gave the nod to Mr. Red’s. You’ll have to conduct a ballpark taste-test of your own to break the tie.
While we’re not big fans of the standard Kahn’s dog, there are plenty of other dog choices at Great American that are more than respectable. Kevin sampled a very tasty all-beef grilled kosher dog. The Skyline Cheese Coney Dogs are popular too, piled with chili and shredded cheddar. Josh could hardly control himself while waiting in line at one of their several stands.
Another processed meat wonder that could very well have been our pick for Cincinnati’s trademark ballpark treat is the
Big Red Smokey.
Made by Kahn’s and sold in supermarkets throughout Ohio, this skinless sausage, true to its name, is big, red and plenty smokey enough. We split one, then went back and got another. The
Queen City Bratwurst, Cheddarwurst
and
Brat Burger
served at the several Frank’s Franks stands are also worth more than just a sniff.