Mapping the path

EASTERN MIDWEST BASEBALL

Fort Wayne TinCaps

A huge day in Fort Wayne! We visit the Johnny Appleseed Gravesite and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, have lunch at Cindy’s Diner, and stop by the Foellinger-Freimann Conservatory before our game with the Fort Wayne TinCaps, where we appear on the local news, get a tour of the broadcast center, and see 17 innings of doubleheader baseball!

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Dad and I had driven to Fort Wayne after our rained-out game in Toledo, so we had the luxury of waking up in our destination city, with no big drive in front of us. After an easy morning at the hotel, we set out to have a look at Indiana’s second-most populous city.

Fort Wayne sits at the confluence of the St. Joseph, St. Marys, and Maumee rivers. Originally a trading post called Fort Miami, the city was built in 1794 by the U.S. Army under the direction of General Anthony Wayne and named in his honor.

The museum was hosting a large exhibition of the work of Gabriela Gonzalez Dellosso. A native New Yorker of Cuban and Ecuadorian heritage, Dellosso specializes in narrative realism using self-portraits in fantastical circumstances, each dedicated to female artists in history, such as Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, English painter Evelyn De Morgan, and 18th-century portraitist Adélaïde Labille-Guiard.

The museum also contained an outstanding collection of glass art, including Dale Chihuly’s beautiful and ubiquitous work and an impressive range of captivating, colorful pieces in two spectacular glass galleries.

We snapped our photos and wound our way through downtown Fort Wayne to Cindy’s Diner, a tiny throwback amidst much taller buildings.

Cindy’s was bustling on this late Thursday morning. Most customers were still ordering breakfasts, and we were ready for something a little more special than our usual hotel fare.

Dad talked about how much he enjoys these tight-quartered diners, because he likes to watch the food being made. He seemed to be just as interested in watching the lady making the food.

As for me, I ate garbage.

That is, I ate Garbage — an actual menu item blending eggs, potatoes, cheese, onions, and bits of ham. Oh, yes.

One highlight was getting introduced to the Jaboticaba, also known as Brazilian grapetree. Its purplish-black, white-pulped fruit grows directly on the tree’s trunk and larger branches.

Amateur baseball in Fort Wayne goes back to 1862 with the formation of the Summit City Club, with games being played at 2:00 p.m. each Monday. The player who scored the most runs on Opening Day received “a beautiful silver cup worth $10,” according to the local Dawson's Daily Times and Union.

Fort Wayne has achieved a wide range of baseball milestones. The first professional league game was played there in 1871, and it was the spot for the first night game with lights involving a professional team, when 17 huge, 4,000-candle-power arc lights were assembled around Legends Park in 1883. The Negro league Fort Wayne Colored Giants represented the city from 1907 to 1949, and the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League played there from 1945 until the league folded in 1954.

The TinCaps franchise traces its ancestry back to 1947 and the Illinois State League, which would become the Midwest League. The club began in Mattoon, Illinois, and moved to Keokuk, Iowa, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, before making Fort Wayne home in 1993. The team was first called the Fort Wayne Wizards, who played at Memorial Stadium near the Johnny Appleseed Gravesite.

When Parkview Field was built for the 2009 season, it was an opportunity for a fresh start and an all-new brand. The newly minted TinCaps won their only Midwest League title in their first season in the new ballpark. The club has remained popular with the locals, drawing about 5,200 fans per night, third-best in the 12-team Midwest League. Fort Wayne was affiliated with the Minnesota Twins through 1998 and has been with the San Diego Padres — our San Diego Padres — ever since. Twins stars Torii Hunter, LaTroy Hawkins, and A.J. Pierzynski; and Padres Jake Peavy, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Jackson Merrill are but a few of the famous names that have played in Fort Wayne.

Dad and I made a beeline for The Orchard, one of the better team stores in Minor League Baseball. The orchard not only has jerseys, it has mannequins wearing full uniforms, with signs to indicate which look is on display — the home jersey, the away jersey, the Hometown “FORT” jersey, or the Copa de la Diversión "Manzanas Luchadoras" jersey. Merchandise managers, I implore you: Every team shop should do this. Your teams have evolved a ton of wacky, diverse identities, and it’s hard for the average baseball consumer to keep track. Put up a sign. Tell a story.

As a lifelog Padres fan, I felt compelled to get the TinCaps Sunday hat, with the team logo on a brown background.

Before the game, I took a quick lap around the ballpark — something anyone can do between 7:00 a.m. and sunset, when Parkview Field is open as a public park that allows access to the concourse as a walking path.

We would be getting two seven-inning games (and more, as it turned out) on Lucky Day 13 of our 23-ballpark road trip. The TinCaps were looking to get the second half of the season off to a good start with a sweep. Fort Wayne had finished the first half in last place in the Midwest League’s East division, with a 28-38 record. But at this level of baseball, team records matter less than player development, and Dad and I were excited to see the Padres top prospect and #4 prospect in all of baseball, 18-year-old TinCaps catcher Ethan Salas. Unfortunately, Salas only appeared as a designated hitter in the second game, going 0-for-2.

Fort Wayne’s opponent, the Dayton Dragons — the High-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds — finished the first half second-best in the East but would win the division in the second half and earn a ticket to the Midwest League playoffs.

The game got off to a great start for the TinCaps, with a walk, two singles, and an error leading to an early 2-0 lead. The Dragons got one on the board in the second when light-hitting infielder Carter Graham knocked a two-out homer to left to make it 2-1.

Dad and I walked out to the left-field corner right about then and found Johnny, the TinCaps mascot, trying his hand at the inflatable batting cage.

We were headed to our appointment with Zach Groth, Sports Director at 21Alive News in Fort Wayne, who was covering the story of our road trip with a live segment on the local newscast. It’s one thing to be interviewed on camera; it’s quite another to know your words are being carried live in thousands of living rooms throughout the region. (See the story!)

The middle innings passed quietly on the field, and the score remained 2-1 TinCaps through the fifth inning.

As I took photos of the game from the concourse, a foul ball whizzed past me and bounced off the back wall. I turned and slid sideways to block the ball on its return, like I had done 40 years earlier as a catcher in high school. Only this hurt a lot more. Still, I got my reward.

The Dragons tied it up in the sixth when center fielder Jay Allen II — the Reds first-round pick in 2021 — reached base on a throwing error, then advanced on a failed pickoff attempt by TinCaps starter Jagger Haynes and was singled home by designated hitter Carlos Jorge.

Both teams went down easily in the seventh inning. Suddenly, in our second doubleheader of a 23-ballpark road trip, we had extra innings.

This was no ordinary bonus baseball. The Dragons scored in the eighth, singling home the runner who started at second base. The TinCaps matched them on a bases-loaded wild pitch in the bottom half but couldn’t push the winning run across. Onward we went.

Dayton seemed to take control in the ninth. Two singles, a double, and a walk put three runs on the board, making it 6-3 Dragons. But with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Fort Wayne answered with two singles and a walk, tying the score 6-6 and sending the game into the 10th inning. Dad and I shared a look: "Can you believe this? We have a whole other game after this, and 10 more in 10 days beyond that!”

The Dragons turned up the heat in the 10th, getting back-to-back home runs from left fielder Hector Rodriguez and third baseman Cam Collier — the Reds first-round pick in 2022 — to make it 10-6 Dayton. Fort Wayne kept it interesting, scoring once and loading the bases, but ultimately succumbed 10-7.

Between games, I met up with TinCaps play-by-play announcer John Nolan, who gave me a quick tour of the broadcast center before getting back to his duties for Game 2. A native of Edison, New Jersey, Nolan also handles the broadcasts for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA G-League and the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons college baseball team.

Nolan encouraged me to have a look around and enjoy the view from the second level, which I did just as the second game got underway.

Our advanced concessions scouting had pointed us to the BBQ pulled pork sandwich for dinner, or perhaps the brisket sandwich. The TinCaps once again demonstrated an understanding of ballpark usability by displaying and labeling good-looking items from their menu.

These all looked a lot better than what we ultimately selected: a simple brat with mustard and relish for Dad; and for me, an Italian sausage with peppers and onions, plus some cheesesteak cheese for good (?) measure.

Aesthetics aside, we enjoyed our bites.

Fort Wayne opened the scoring in the third inning of Game 2, going up 1-0 on a fielder’s choice. TinCaps right-handed starter Sam Whiting — would would put up a 2.28 ERA in 10 games in Fort Wayne — held the Dragons hitless through three, notching seven strikeouts and giving up just one walk.

Dayton strung together four hits in the top of the sixth against TinCaps reliever Fernando Sanchez and took a 3-0 lead as I walked the concourse toward the outfield seating.

I found a big crowd of 20-somethings mingling near the Beer Garden. It was Friday night, and many seemed more engaged socializing than game-watching.

The bulk of the between-inning fan games happened during the nightcap, including a burrito shot far into the sky out of a t-shirt cannon and caught by a fan using one hand; a very good version of the grounds crew dance by the “Bad Apple Dancers”; a race (more like a slow trot) between packets of mustard, ketchup, and relish; and a tricycle race between Mario characters won decisively by Toad. (Watch the episode!)

On the way back to our seats, I picked up apple tarts a la mode, because having an apple-based dessert at a TinCaps game is nearly a requirement.

Fort Wayne went down without much of a fight in the second game, going hitless in the final four innings. Dayton took the sweep with a 3-1 win in the nightcap.

After 17 innings of doubleheader baseball, it was now past 11:30 p.m., and we weren’t done yet. Johnny vamped for a few minutes as the field was readied for a fireworks display.

Most fireworks shows begin simply, with solid segments of rockets and sparkles, plus a few creative flourishes to elicit oohs and aahs. Gradually, it builds to a crescendo, with an increasing number of bangs and booms until the grand finale, full of noise and color and light.

But it was late, and Fort Wayne didn’t have time for all that.

The show began with an intense rate of fireworks and never let up. What must have been a 12-minute display was packed into about two minutes — a constant cacophony of everything going off at once. It was wild finish to an enormous day on the road.

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