Slammed!

We were excited to be putting in our final day of work for spring training yesterday. I took the camera, expecting many opportunities to take some photos during our anticipated easy ballgame. The projected attendance for the game was only 2300 fans for the final game between the Cleveland Indians and the KC Royals. I arrived at the stadium at our prescribed time (9 AM) for the final game. There was a truck loading vehicles from some of the ballplayers to be shipped to wherever they were headed following the game:

This was the second day in a row where these trucks were located with many of the vehicles sitting there to be loaded and transported. This area is where we enter the ballpark to work and is also where the ballplayers enter their clubhouses.

The walk to our check-in station is a short one, and Joanne Raines was sitting in her usual seat checking in all the workers for the day:

This is where we pick up our shirts and clock in for the day. Jo is also one of the cashiers that works in our stand.

As I am always the first one to the stand for the day's setup procedure, I had lots of time to snap a couple shots of our stand. The first is of the kitchen area where all of our food is prepared:

followed by the front, sales area:

It's pretty obvious that the stand is a huge one and is the largest in the stadium, located right behind home plate.

It takes quite a bit of preparation each day to get ready for the game. We usually have about an hour between the time we are ready for the game until it actually starts. There were some special procedures to follow yesterday for the final game so that the management could come into the stand and take a final inventory following the game.

The game started and we were ready for the final day. Here's one last shot of the stand as the fans began lining up for the food:

Then it happened. We got slammed! The light crowd of 2300 that was expected turned out to be almost 7,000 fans, and we were not prepared for the long lines that developed and remained throughout the game. It turns out that following the third inning, fans were admitted free, and the crowd swelled to the unexpected total. We ran out of several items - peanuts, pretzels, water - and some other small items and we were working non-stop the entire game. The casual and fun day that we expected turned out to be our toughest test of the season. We were happy to see it end, and fortunately, it only took 2 1/2 hours for the Royals to beat the Indians, 5-1.

It's on to the next chapter for us. There are some chores to complete before we leave on Monday morning and we are looking forward to heading out for Laughlin and a little relaxation. It's hard to believe that our 5 months in AZ is coming to a close...