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Linc Raverty collects donations to benefit the nonprofit Lodi Baseball Club and the Building Blocks program at Sunday night's game at Tony Zupo Field. (Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel)
Fans, volunteers have a grand time watching Lodi Baseball Club
The Lodi Baseball Club, with five games under its belt, is run on a shoestring of volunteers who just love their baseball, and they love Tony Zupo Field.
And if you aren't a hardcore baseball fan, there's plenty to do at the ballgame — eat barbecued tri-tip, socialize with other Lodians, participate in between-innings contests and play with a martial arts panda (believe it or not).
"I told my 15-year-old son, 'This is a picture of Americana, and it's a Norman Rockwell portrait in motion,'" said Frank Brummett, a Lodi Baseball Club board member who also participates in the nonprofit Building Blocks program, which volunteered its services at Sunday's baseball game.
Team president Rick Souza gets his volunteers by asking a different service club or nonprofit organization in Lodi to help for a particular game. The volunteering organization also gets 30 percent of the money donated by spectators, when members of the participating organization pass around an empty KFC bucket.
Century Assembly was well represented at Sunday's game, since the south Lodi church is a big supporter of Building Blocks, a coalition of churches that operates a food bank and provides supplies and activities for needy families in Lodi.
Century Assembly Pastor Dale Edwards, for example, looked considerably different than he does at church on Sunday mornings. He wore shorts and sported a navy blue Lodi Baseball Club baseball cap with a red bill.
"I like the family entertainment, and the price (free admission) is great," Edwards said.
Edwards and Souza enjoyed the excitement two Little League teams showed when 40 young players ran out on the field before the game began; each stood with a player during the national anthem and collected autographs from the players.
"Being on the field was such a treat for them," Edwards said.
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Children also had a good time between innings, when they were sent to the right field corner, where they took off their shoes, put them in a red and brown wagon and ran out into right and centerfield to pick up the shoes from the ground, put them on and cross the finish line.
Souza has a crew of five core volunteers each night, some of them just inside the front gate. There aren't any ticket takers due to the free admission, but he had three people greeting visitors as soon as they walked in. One volunteer, Shelly Lane, handed out a raffle ticket to each person entering the gate. And the raffle ticket was free.
"We love baseball," volunteer Jacque Doane said, explaining why she's out there every night.
You can't see the game from where she, Lane and Deanne Barth sit, but that doesn't stop them.
"We take turns running over (to watch the game)," said Barth, Souza's daughter.
You don't even get to your seat without running into a panda — yes, they have pandas in Lodi.
But this isn't your average panda. He acts like the team mascot, though that the team doesn't have a nickname — it's just the Lodi Baseball Club.
Souza explained that his board of directors didn't want a nickname so that everyone can focus on the team itself. However, if fans say they want the team to have a nickname and its own mascot, Souza said he will have a name-the-team contest.
The nameless panda, who meets and greets the fans, actually comes from Robinson's Taekwondo in Lodi. He — yes, I know it's a "he" because of his male voice — could be seen doing karate moves between grandstands, but he also high-fives children who approach him, and he'll even hold a small board on his left paw and let youngsters punch the board.
In the first base grandstand, Mary Woehrich, of Lodi, enjoyed the game with her two grandsons, Drew and Cameron, both from Lockeford. They went to their first game on Saturday, and Mary Woehrich liked it so much, she came back on Sunday. And she'll be back for more.
"We love baseball," she said. "It's free entertainment.
A player gave Drew Woehrich a baseball and autographed it, Mary Woehrich said.
"And I won a free car wash last night," she added.
There's plenty of food for the Lodi baseball fan. One can find the usual fare of hot dogs, hamburgers and nachos at the main concession stand, but if you head down the right field line, you'll find Tin Roof BBQ, which also cooked grilled chicken, hamburgers, beans and pulled pork last season. But the fan favorites, according to employee Jasauna Vigil, are tri-tip and barbecued beef sandwiches.
Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.
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illegalinLodi wrote on Jun 8, 2009 1:22 PM:
ordinarycitizen wrote on Jun 8, 2009 10:09 AM:
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