Cincinnati: Great American Ball Park
Are we having fun yet?
A persistent drizzle landed on the car as Erin and I pulled out of the driveway. “Did you bring your raincoat?” she asked. “It’s not going to rain in Cincinnati,” I replied with a confidence backed up by nothing but faith in an ambiguous weather report. As the miles rolled on down I-71, the rain intensified. Through the fierce, rhythmic dance of the windshield wipers, I barely made out the familiar warning to travelers from Columbus to the Queen City: HELL IS REAL.
If there is a hell – at least as far as this journey to all 30 MLB ballparks is concerned –it’s a rainout. I started to get the uneasy feeling that we’d be turning the car around sooner than expected and rescheduling the visit to Great American Ball Park.
Suddenly, about a half hour away from our destination, the rain stopped. The ominous clouds lightened and finally broke by the time we arrived. I’m not going to speculate on the existence of divine intervention, but this was literally a sign from above that things were going to be OK. Hell may be real, but the heavens were clear.
The first order of business upon arrival was breakfast: we decided to meet our friends Amy and Nick at Sugar N’ Spice Diner to kick off our day in Cincy. I was introduced to this place by John Curley of The Afghan Whigs when my band recorded an album with him back in 2010. Their location nestled between the northern enclaves of Norwood and St. Bernard was a go-to whenever I happened to be in town around breakfast time.
I hadn’t ever visited the location in Over-The-Rhine that opened in 2020, and realized only during the writing of this missive that reservations are pretty much required on weekends.1 When we were told that there would be an hour-and-a-half wait for a table, it was time to move on to Plan B. Except, we didn’t really have a Plan B.
As much as I want to explore the cities I visit during this journey, we were four hungry people who needed to eat, stat. So I leaned on my experience and recommended a quick walk over to Alcove, the restaurant branch of MadTree Brewing. Tables were on a wait but there were four open seats at the end of the bar which we happily took to chow down on their creative brunch fare. I opted for one uniquely Cincy food item: goetta, the German-inspired sausage and oat concoction, used here at Alcove as a base for gravy and served over fluffy biscuits.
As we hiked off our breakfast, we couldn’t help but comment on how Cincinnati managed to maintain its older city feel and character. As much of the nation trends toward demolition of existing structures and erection of five-story mixed-use abominations, this neighborhood seems to be at least trying to buck the trend.
Cincy’s history is a fascinating one, and I’m not qualified to get too deeply into it, but few people realize that it was the first Midwestern city to rival the east coast in size and importance. German immigrants fueled its population surge, many of whom settled on the north side of the Miami & Erie Canal that divided the city, colloquially referred to at the time as “the Rhine” and lending the neighborhood the name Over-The-Rhine. By the late 1800s, Cincinnati was a hub of German culture in America and boasted a prolific and thriving crop of breweries that served workers in the city’s various manufacturing and processing industries.
The urban core of Cincinnati is surrounded by hills, which led to a density of residential and industrial development as the city grew in the 19th century. Incline rails and other transportation innovations eventually allowed the more affluent members of the population to sprawl into the higher elevations.
As the monied residents left OTR, interest in developing and modernizing the old city evaporated. The neighborhood became notorious for poverty and crime, one leading to the other as it inevitably does, and many of its historic buildings fell into neglect or were razed. It would take until the early 2000s for the city to address the need for development in the neighborhood.
In the past two decades, OTR has emerged as a popular entertainment and dining destination, with city leaders seeking to find a harmony that honors the past, builds a sustainable future and includes the neighborhood’s economically and racially diverse residents in the newfound success. The jury is definitively out on that last point, but it’s impressive to see the historic preservation and repurposing of 150-year-old buildings intermingled with outstanding public art and culture that celebrates and elevates the people who live and work there.
After a quick pregame drink at Northern Row Brewery – housed in the former icehouse and storage building constructed in 1895 for the Christian Moerlein Brewery, and currently a jumping off point for Brewing Heritage Trail tours – we took the free streetcar from OTR to the riverfront, a short walk away from Great American Ball Park.
I’ve only been to a couple of games here in the past, which is really pathetic considering that it’s the closest MLB stadium to my home and just a hair over an hour-and-a-half away in light traffic. That distance always feels further than it is, maybe because of the interminable flat farmland between Columbus and Cincy, or maybe because the Reds have been something between boring and outright bad for the last decade or so.
That all changed last season as the club fully embraced a youth movement, welcoming in exciting and dynamic players like the electric shortstop Elly De La Cruz and fireballing strikeout artist Hunter Greene. While last year’s squad finished just a couple ticks north of .500, that was considerably higher than most pre-season pundits predicted. The optimism and enthusiasm for this young team was on full display in the stands, filled with 39,674 fans.
We walked around the concourses to take in the sights before the game started, catching the tail end of the visiting Washington Nationals’ batting practice. I will admit to having been a little directionless upon arrival: I’m still not 100% sure how I want to document this whole trip, what’s important to note and what’s not, how to use my time to get the most out of each visit. I’m on a budget, so I can’t eat every wacky ballpark food, or enter every 50/50 drawing, or measure every stadium’s hot dog.2 Being in the position of leading a group through the ballpark while I tried to work this all out allowed my old friend anxiety to creep in.
I don’t want to say that we wasted an hour before first pitch, but I definitely felt like I could’ve been a better guide. We did take a minute to admire The Gap, a missing section in the upper deck that I assume only exists so people in the Great American Insurance tower across the freeway have a clearer view of their naming rights investment. We strolled through the Fan Zone which was teeming with families partaking in activities on Kids Opening Day. We saw the old timey Red Stockings reenactors in their spiffy white 1860s uniforms. But would the interests of the group have been better served just grabbing a beer and posting up on a rail to shoot the shit for an hour? Maybe.
Our seats were in section 422, just to the right of The Gap and four rows from the railing. Upper level tickets at Great American Ball Park are relatively affordable3 and offer pretty impressive views of the game action and the riverscape beyond the outfield walls. Conveniently,4 our seats were right above the United Dairy Farmers stall, which is essentially three walls of coolers full of beer, water, soda and snacks, plus a checkout. That’s where I scored the one and only beer I drank at the ballpark, a $10.99 16 ounce can of Hudy Delight, a reimagined version of a Cincy staple light beer that my parents used to drink in the ‘70s out of frosted fishbowls. I guess you had to be there.
This was the Reds’ second game of the season after administering a decisive thumping to the Nationals on Opening Day. As such, the batting average and other percentage stats displayed on the scoreboard were pretty wild compared to what you’d see after players get more games under their belts. The two guys behind us kept commenting on those numbers as if they indicated anything at all. I was tempted to give them a quick education in the meaninglessness of small sample statistics, but I was afraid they’d extrapolate that I am an asshole all the time from our one interaction.
The sun was on us for the first hour or so of the game, so I put some sunblock on my arms, neck and face. By the 4th inning, I had managed to get some in my left eye and the irritation made me miss the Reds’ first run, a homer by their new third baseman Jeimer Candelario. I toughed it out for another frame and then got up to go wash my eye out in the men’s room.
Uneven pitching performances from Nats starter Patrick Corbin and Reds starter Hunter Greene kept the score seesawing back and forth for the first five innings, a trend that continued as both teams got into their bullpens. In the bottom of the 8th of with runners on first and second and two outs, pinch hitter Nick Martini laced a double to the right field corner to give the Reds a 6-4 lead.
The mom of the family sitting next to us must’ve figured this was a good time to gather up the kids and beat the traffic home, offering two hot dogs to Nick from their “all-you-can-eat” package.5 Even though the frank was the same temperature as the ambient air, nothing tastes quite as good as a free hot dog at a ballgame. Thanks lady hero!
She also spared her kids from having to watch Reds closer Alexis Diaz melt down in epic fashion in the 9th, giving up three runs including one that scored on a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded (a rare and painful way to tally an RBI.) The bottom of the Reds order did not respond, and the Nationals took the game 7-6.
I’ve given a fair amount of thought to what trinket or souvenir I should bring back from each of these ballpark visits, but the enormity of that decision didn’t really hit me until after the game in the crowded team store when I actually had to make it or go home empty handed. I thought about beer koozies, but I have so many of those already. I thought about making a wall of pennants, but they’re surprisingly expensive for just being a triangle of fabric. As I was nervously making my way through the shop, I found the lapel pin display and this one just jumped out at me.
Listen, I’ve got opinions about Cincinnati chili – everyone does – but every time I look at this pin from now until the day I die, I’m going to reminisce on the very first step of this season-long adventure. Even if the only thing I remember about the game is that I ate free hot dogs with my wife and my friends on a gorgeous day in Cincy, I think that’s more than enough.6
NEXT GAME: Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers, Saturday, April 13, 1:10 p.m. EDT, Comerica Park
Soundtrack:
Lengthy wait times are expected at the cozy original location, but they do not take reservations at that one. I was unprepared.
An online gambling platform is offering to pay someone to visit all 30 ballparks to find the biggest hot dog in Major League Baseball. I know I said I’d consider some side hustles to supplement my own trip, but making crass wiener jokes to publicize a company that profits from dangerous addictions doesn’t sound that fun to me.
Let me take a moment to thank Amy and Nick for the tickets. It’s always fun to catch a game with you, even when I’m feeling anxious and agitated and weird (but more so when I’m not, obvs.) Looking forward to many more.
See what I did there? High fiving myself for being soooooooo clever.
This ticket add-on gives you five (5) hot dogs, which to me, is pretty far from “all-you-can-eat.”
This is the note that I want to end this post on, but for the complete record… After the game we walked back to our car in OTR, drove out to Urban Artifact for a beer (I got the House IPA which is a heavily hopped, East African-inspired, gluten-free banana beer that was excellent), went to Northside Yacht Club for late dinner (I’m usually not impressed by burgers but theirs was awesome), and then hightailed it back to Columbus.
Side hustle or not, I suspect your readers will be much better informed by recording beer prices and evaluating other patrons' attitudes (offering free hotdogs is a gold star for Reds fans) than measuring weiners for a gambling site. Enjoyed this, look forward to future installments.
At least you didn't subject your body to the Slaughterhouse Five this time. Excited for the next outing!