Prince William (Woodbridge, VA)

Park # 65

What I Remember

I have two primary recollections of this night in the suburbs of Washington, DC. The stadium was not a thing of beauty – it seemed mostly constructed of aluminum bleachers and I recall thinking it would be a bad place to be in a lightning storm, which oddly enough I was 12 years later.

The other thing I remember was new friends from USA Today Baseball Weekly. The paper’s offices were nearby and the late Bill Koenig came out to follow up on the interview he had done several weeks earlier when we were in Texas. Tom Sakell, who also worked for the paper came too and later, let us stay with him that night in Alexandria – one of the many kindnesses I recall in the pages of In League with America.

The Game

Prince William Cannons 3 Durham Bulls 2

This was another well pitched and well played game and the Carolina League looked like the best of the Class-A leagues we had seen to that point. Before the game I had chatted with Brad Ausmus, another of the Dartmouth College alums I had been asked to interview for the local paper in New Hampshire. Ausmus went on to a 17-year career in the major leagues and won three gold gloves as a catcher. More recently, he was the manager of the Tigers and Angels.

The Box: (Click the arrows to see more images)

You will note that the scorecard in this gallery is empty, apparently I spent too much time chatting that evening to bother keeping score.

The Video: