The temperature is rising, spring is in full swing, and that brings thoughts of gloves and bats and warm nights at the ballpark to mind. Being back in Seymour, I imagined myself spending the season in severe baseball withdrawal without the close confines of Camden Yards and daily checks on the Orioles. Instead, I’ve rediscovered how good the game is without crowds in the tens of thousands, $30 tickets and the $10 parking that funds those million dollar salaries.
Seymour is blessed with a good high school park at Don Doyle Field. Admission is under $5, the parking is free, and the burgers and dogs are grilled where you can see and smell how good they are. The Eagles have a good team and it’s the opportunity to see a game that doesn’t stretch to four hours due to televising. Watching the occasional stray foul ball startle track walkers is extra entertainment you can’t replicate in big stadiums.
Maybe the pace of softball is more your speed. Not a problem, right behind the Primary School is the SHS softball field. The girls are improving on a solid start and believe me this isn’t the non-defensive 40 home run games you might see in a city park. This is hard-nosed, serious action that keeps your attention on the field. Unfortunately the girl’s field isn’t yet as refined as the boy’s, but there is a benefit to bringing your own folding chair and rooting for the hometown team. The hike to the restrooms at the middle school is a unique feature to the still growing venue.
Both the high school teams have plenty of season left, and their schedules for the week are in the Herald. There’s no telling who you’ll run into at the games, neighbors, friends, possibly somebody you remember from your own school days that you’ve lost track of.
Some folks just want a little more comfort and a bigger venue. Convenient to Seymour at UTK are both, a top-20 college baseball team, and a softball team that is coming into its own. It’s twenty minutes to campus, weekend series have ample parking close by and again the price of admission is very good. Delmonico’s Vols are leading the SEC East after a weekend sweep of South Carolina. The Weekly’s have the softball team in form judging by this weekend’s 16-2 thrashing of Mississippi State.
April will start up the minor leagues. So while the school teams’ seasons will end with the school year, the Smokies are just down the road. The ballpark is still new and fresh, the crowds are active and the team should be fun to watch judging by their spring training performance. Again the price is right and getting home afterwards is quick and painless.
America’s favorite past time is still alive and swinging. Find a night or two to load up the car and go to one of the local ballparks, root for the home team, enjoy the night and watch players that still genuinely have fun playing a sport. The family-minded will find it affordable including feeding the tribe.
Baseball isn’t back, it never went anywhere, but maybe my attention did for a little while. Glad I’ve found it, right where I left it. See you around the ball parks.

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