Mud Hens

Before air conditioning, Europeans mostly migrated to places with reasonable summer temperatures. Mostly. In Toledo this week I experienced 40 degree temperatures in the mornings and comfortable afternoons that by the end of the dry week were in the low 80's. Last night I took my newest team member at PopResearch out to experience a game played by the historic Toledo Mud Hens. Established in 1896 (before air conditioning), they are a team from an era of waxing growth in the Great Lakes region of America long before the slow decline of the Rust Belt.

We dined before the game at Tony Packo's - a Hungarian restaurant founded in the 30's and now know for the M.O.A.D., the mother of all dogs. This is a fully loaded wurst as long as my forearm and nearly as thick. Okay, that's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but it's fricken' huge! At Packo's they'll wish you "Egeszsedre!" as you down your beer. I'll have to remember that if I ever visit Hungry.

The Mud Hens were playing the Braves, who apparently now have a triple A team in Gwinnett County rather than Richmond, VA. Who knew? It's a bit too obvious that I haven't followed baseball much since the 90's. Fortunately Ridley, who accompanied me that evening, was just as unknowledgeable or played it off well. One never knows.

The game was a throwback to earlier years, with a home run bouncing off a brick wall and being ruled a ground rule double, plenty of scoring by both teams, and plenty of errors as well. In the end, the Braves I rooted for were much like the Atlanta Braves of the 80's - playing marginally better ball, but abandoning men on pace in the face of double play after double play by the Mud Hens. They ended up losing with 5 runs to the Mud Hens 12.

Still, an enjoyable evening! Taking a pokewalk afterward we passed gutted skyscraper after gutted skyscraper marveling at this empty skeleton of a once great city at the heart of the Rust Belt. What is it about this place that makes people leave Toledo while they are flocking in droves to places like Nashville and Seattle?