Does Everyone Miss The Shreveport Captains as Much as Me?

The Major League Baseball 2016 opening day is only a couple weeks off.  It's scheduled for Sunday, April 3, 2016, and being the baseball freak I am, thinking of its coming stirred my longing for the days of old.  The days the Shreveport Captains were the kings of the Texas League.

A former Double A minor league team in the San Francisco Giants system, the Captains had their share of stars in the likes of Jeff Brantley, Chili Davis, Rich Aurilia, Mike Aldrete and Mike Remlinger, just to name a few.

Course, the great baseball games were only a small part of what made the Captains games such an attraction.

It was "The Beer Garden", watching the kids play wall ball in the little area between the beer garden and the stands, the free "bat nights", "ball nights" and "cap nights" when the lines extended from the turnstyles all the way to the parking lot, filled with kids just waiting to get their hands on whatever was being given away that night.

There were rain delays when people danced in the stands.  We had announcers who always tried to sound "major league" and the "Captain" was always ready to pose for another picture with a kid who was scared to death of him.

The peanuts were off the chart, the chili dogs guaranteed you heart burn and every now and then, to avoid the heat, you'd spring for "luxury box" tickets, where you could suck in the air conditioning and watch from directly behind home plate.

To see Fairgrounds Field now breaks my heart.  It's become an eyesore for the City of Shreveport and they've got it up for sale.  Wish I had the money to buy it.  Wouldn't it be awesome to bring back those memories?