This Minors park offers heavenly pretzels, Cubs prospects and very clever fans
This is an excerpt from the latest edition of the Ben's Biz Beat Newsletter, bringing Minor League Baseball business and culture news to your inbox each and every Thursday. Check out the full newsletter HERE.
The following ballpark road trip recap is presented by Wyndham, proud sponsor of Minor League Ballpark Guides. Start planning your 2025 road trips today!
Last week’s installment of the newsletter covered my final ballpark visit of the season: Four Winds Field, home of the South Bend Cubs. Thing is, I spent so much time writing about the ballpark’s surrounding area, history, architecture, recent additions and upcoming renovations that I cut myself off before the evening’s game had begun.
Welcome, then, to South Bend the sequel. Travel back in time with me once again to Aug. 28, 2024 -- Deadpool & Wolverine was the top-grossing movie at the box office, a gallon of gas cost $3.36 and I was in Indiana’s fifth-largest city to see the South Bend Cubs take on the Great Lakes Loons.
Before the game began I spoke with South Bend Cubs head usher Larry Flickinger, a (figurative) giant among the team’s gameday employees.
Larry coached high school baseball for 25 years and, upon retirement, began working at Four Winds Field. He’s in charge of a group of 24 ushers, and he's passionate about creating a hospitable environment.
“We want [fans] to have a nine-inning vacation. We want them to have a great time,” he said. “I want the fans to know my staff by name. I want them to just be family.”
On this evening the South Bend fan family received a bobblehead featuring Chicago Cubs pitcher Adbert Alzolay, a member of the South Bend Cubs in 2016.
If you enter through the home-plate entrance and hang a left, you’ll soon find Minor League Baseball’s only (?) pressed penny machine. (I wanted to get one but didn’t have a penny on me. I suggest that the Cubs affix a “take a penny, leave a penny” jar to the top of the machine.)
My media credential identified me as a mascot trainee which, fair enough, is the sort of thing I’ve done in the past. My boss evaded me, however, as Stu the Cub and I did not cross paths.
But speaking of mascots, my visit came just three days after one of the biggest nights in South Bend baseball history. Swoop the Silver Hawk, who stuck around after the 2015 name change from Silver Hawks to Cubs, flew into the sunset on Aug. 25. This was a big deal; people started lining up for the Swoop bobblehead at 9 a.m., and at the ballpark the line to say goodbye was hundreds deep.
In the remarkably detailed press release announcing Swoop’s retirement, the elderly avian remarked, through an interpreter, “At my old age I don’t want to be a bird-en, but I have no egrets.”
Once the game began I met with my Designated Eater, Leann Cook. She was accompanied by her friend, Woody.
Leann lives in South Bend, but her favorite team is the Lansing Lugnuts (it’s a long story, originating with a Midwest League player she dated “many moons ago”). At a grill cart on the first-base side of the concourse, we procured two items. The first was that homestand’s “Opponent Dog,” in honor of the Great Lakes Loons. The Loons play in Michigan and Michigan is known for its cherries, so what else could you expect? This is a hot dog topped with dried cherries and cherry sauce.
Woody and Leann agreed that the Cherry Dog was, unexpectedly, a winner.
“It doesn’t seem like cherries on a hot dog would fit, but it adds to the flavor,” said Woody.
“I agree!” replied Leann. “I would get this again.”
The cherry hot dog was served up quickly, but the grill cart was overburdened when it came to its burgers. After a long wait the Pub Burger emerged. It consists of two “smashburger” patties topped with beer cheese, served on a pretzel bun.
Leann said that standing in line “lowered her expectations quite a bit,” but nonetheless: She declared it to be a tasty burger despite (and maybe because of) the overwhelming flavor of the beer cheese.
The most popular concession item at Four Winds Field are Ben’s Pretzels, a nationwide chain with a strong presence in the Midwest. There is a standalone Ben’s Pretzels stand located down the right-field line, and it always does good business. Why? Because these pretzels are uniformly phenomenal.
“I’m in heaven now,” said Leann after her first bite. “This is it. Good flavor. Soft.”
“You never get a bad one,” added Woody. “Great quality control. You know exactly what you’re gonna get.”
What we also got on this evening was a beautiful baseball tableau.
Later in the evening I spent some time in the front row behind home plate, watching the game with Matthew and Rebecca Snyder. They are two of the South Bend Cubs’ biggest fans. From April through September, rain or shine, you’ll find them at the ballpark. Rebecca takes photos, and they both enjoy getting to know the players’ family members who often sit near them. (In a truly advanced fan move, they had also sprinkled cinnamon around their seats to deter ants.)
Matt Landry, pastor of a Methodist Church in Indianapolis, was sitting several rows behind the Snyders. His “30 days of catch” initiative took place in September, during which he had a catch with a different person each day as part of a fundraising effort for those facing food insecurity. You can still donate HERE.
When I’m at a Minor League ballpark, I almost never just sit and watch the game. I’m there for work, after all, and only in town for one night. Shouldn’t there be something new to see? Someone new to talk to?
I deviated from my “always be wandering” policy in South Bend, however, as it was my final game of the season. It seemed fitting to just sit in the stands and be a fan, like a normal person. In doing so, I quickly discerned that Cam Smith (the Cubs’ first-round Draft pick this year and now MLB's No. 73 prospect, pictured standing on first base) is an intimidating presence at the plate.
In the eighth inning, Smith hit an RBI double to tie the game at 2-2. The game went into extra innings, with both the Cubs and Loons pushing across a run in the 10th. The wheels fell off for South Bend in the 11th, though, as reliever Tyler Santana lost his command entirely and gave up three runs. The Loons won, 6-3.
This 205-minute contest was followed by Launch-A-Ball, which was followed by kids running the bases. Twelve hardy children circled the diamond, officially bringing an end to my 2024 road trip season.
Now, more than two months later, my 2024 ballpark road trip recaps have officially come to an end. There’ll be much more where those came from, however -- tender nuggets and tasty morsels designed to satiate Minor League Baseball cravings throughout the entirety of the offseason.
Good night from South Bend. Thanks for reading and, as always, get in touch anytime.