Ballpark fun
Kids enjoy food, baseball in a midday outing to Isotopes Park
Their reward was four hours in a yellow school bus and a few hours sitting in the sun.
And the 140 kids from Jefferson Elementary School in Gallup, they of perfect attendance for recent statewide testing days at their school, couldn’t have been happier about it Tuesday at Isotopes Park.
“We like sports anyway,” said fifthgrader Brenna Becenti. “So this is pretty fun.”
Added classmate Rebekah Adcock, “This is way better than being at school right now.”
The pair, who play softball in Gallup, were enjoying snacks and taking in a baseball game along with an estimated 8,000 other school-age children from around the state, and an impressive announced gate of 11,999 for the 11:05 a.m. start as part of Tuesday’s School Day Matinee promotion at Isotopes Park.
The fact that the home team ’Topes lost the series finale to the visiting Las Vegas 51s, 12-9, didn’t seem to matter.
“I like watching the Taco race the best,” said 11-year-old fifth-grader Sean Spolar, proudly sporting a gray Isotopes baseball cap while sitting next to 10-year-old Anthony Karpinski. Both were eating some melting version of what started out as a frozen treat served in a plastic baseball helmet.
“And I’m definitely going for Taco every time,” Spolar added.
Taco, for the record, won again (it was, after all, Taco Tuesday), easily crossing the finish line near the leftfield line ahead of the red and green chile mascots running several yards behind. Thousands of kids cheered as it happened and the youthful buzz from their reaction didn’t slow until several pitches into the next inning had been thrown.
And make no mistake, the shouts of “Charge!” at the end of the organist’s in-game jingle were louder than normal Tuesday. And there seemed to be a stadium full of far more giggling than cheering each time the usual “kiss cam” promotion showed adults around the park kissing their loved ones when shown on the video board beyond the left-field wall.
No, the game itself wasn’t the main attraction so much as was the experi-
ence of a day at the ballpark.
“For us, this was sort of a reward for the attendance during the testing — an incentive,” said Jefferson principal Jessica Guillen, smiling as she noted the plan apparently worked. Her school had perfect attendance at the testing.
It’s a win-win scenario for both the kids and the organization in what otherwise would have likely been a sparsely populated stadium for a daytime game in the middle of a work and school week.
Isotopes general manager John Traub said the organization has for tried for 15 years to incorporate a pair of early season/late school year student promotions for day games.
In minor league baseball, the fourth and final day of a series is often referred to as a “getaway game,” meaning one or both teams often have an evening flight to catch to get to their next city and next game. And the day games don’t often draw big crowds.
Two weeks ago, the Isotopes’ first School Day Matinee promotion was rained out. Some of those students came back Tuesday, others were given rain checks for future ’Topes games.
The tickets aren’t free, but special deals for schools are available through the team’s ticket office that include reserved seating and a sack lunch for kids and chaperones.