The River City Rascals, a Frontier League Independent team, play at T.R. Hughes Ballpark, built in 1999. This is a nice ballpark with a mix of seats, bleachers, and grass seating. The suites down the 3rd baseline are tentlike stuctures and there are open-air party boxes down the 1st base line. The Rascals were playing the Southern Illinois Miners and lost 11-6. The box score was Miners R-11, H-11, E-1 and Rascals R-6, H-8, E-1. There was some controversy over 2 Rascals runs. The umpires said a 2 run homer and the Miners said the ball bounced over the fence. It didn't matter in the end. The field lines are RF-299', RC-325', CF-382', LC-354', LF-320'. Attendance was 1,531 with 5,191 attendance possible. Bubble Gum Bob sits in the first row right behine the Rascals dugout. He has been to every game except 1 since the ballpark opened in 1999. He tosses to each of the Rascals players, coaches, and other game personnel, including the umpires, three pieces of bubblegum before each game. Danny Almonte was the starting pitcher for the Miners. He was the Little League player who was found out to be too old for Little League after his team placed 3rd in the Little League World Series in 2001. Tonight was Ruffy the mascot's birthday. They brought him on the field blindfolded and riding in a pick-up truck. There was a large group of other local area mascots there to celebrate his birthday. He is shown holding his daughter. Bailey the dog has been trained to take a basket of baseballs out to the umpire at the middle of the 4th inning. They are training him to go pick up bats by starting with a small one. They had a race of food items with each item running for a specific section in the park. Each person in the winning section received a coupon for that type of food. It was a good night for baseball.
Attractions
Close to St. Charles where there are Lewis & Clark attractions.