Baseball Trip Day Four

Day Four was the Charlotte Knights and the Toledo Mud Hens, but first it was barbecue to die for. We had lunch at Little Pigs Barbecue. This was buffet with several types of pulled pork, wet and dry ribs, baked and barbecued chicken and a vast array of vegetables and salads. Not to mention the banana pudding for dessert. A lovely way to spend an hour or two. Check their times before going, they are open odd hours.



The Knights and Mud Hens are both AAA teams which is significantly better than any of the teams we had seen up till now. Interestingly, while the quality of the play went up with the talent and experience of the players, the quality of the games did not necessarily go up as well. The lower level teams still produced good games because the talent was equally divided. For you baseball fans, go see your local minor league team, even if they are part of a hated major league system, after all most of the players on an A team will never make it to the majors and if they do it will probably be for some other team anyway.

The Knights have a dragon as their mascot for some reason and it was a pretty good mascot. One of the promotions we saw at every stadium was a race around the bases between the mascot and some young person. In Columbia, the players were clearly uncomfortable with this intrusion into their space. In Charlotte, each of the infielders impeded the mascot in some with the first baseman actually tripping him helping the child with his or her inevitable win. (The mascot always loses)



The Knights had a better mascot than team. The Mud Hens won 5-4 and the game was really not close till the very end when the Knights scored 3 in the ninth to make it interesting. They were 11 games out in their division at the time.