Ahhh, the sounds of the ballpark. ”Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back.”Baseball games may come and go, year after year, but the cry of the vendors hawking their peanuts and Cracker Jack will live on in my memories and continue until the game is gone forever from our lives.
When I was a kid in Hilo, there used to be a guy who looked like Jerry Lewis (I swear to God) walking around in the stands and crying out, “Peanuts! Potato Chips! Ten Cents!” For one thin dime, for one-tenth of a dollar, you could get a small brown paper bag stuffed with your choice of roasted or boiled peanuts.
Can you imagine a baseball game without peanuts? The Birmingham Barons minor league baseball organization did. They voluntarily made their home field – Rogers Park Stadium – peanut free for one night, to accommodate an estimated 1% of kids who are allergic to peanuts.
It’s the same ballpark where NBA megastar Michael Jordan played when he tried out for professional baseball.
For several consecutive days before the game, they conscientiously scrubbed down the stadium to remove any traces of peanut residue, and during the game, banned all peanuts and peanut-related products from vendors.
A peanut allergy is serious stuff. Exposure could cause a child’s immune system to over-react, leading to anaphylactic reactions such as life-threatening airway constriction. A child could choke to death.
Making an entire ballpark peanut free may seem a bit extreme just to accommodate such a small minority of kids with problems, but I’d forego my peanuts if it means just one more kid can enjoy a day at the ballpark for the first time in his/her life.
A tip of the baseball cap to the Barons!
1 comment:
A relative of Kurt's has a peanut allergy. Very scary stuff. It's cool of them to go to that effort so even allergic kids can enjoy a ballgame. Hurrah for Birmingham!
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