Arkansas Travelers General Manager Paul Allen was ready for opening day Thursday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
"Opening day should be a national holiday," Allen said. "We'd love for it to be an Arkansas state holiday. But we'll work on that."
There was plenty of excitement to be found for the Travelers' season opener against the Corpus Christi Hooks.
Becca Schwab was attending her first opening day, and she beamed as she stood next to her father, Shane Schwab.
"It's amazing," Becca Schwab, 9, said as she raised her arms.
Ron Phaup of Russellville and his friends, Dwayne Tinkle of Maumelle and Scott Bona of North Little Rock, were waiting for autographs from players by the Travs' clubhouse before the game.
Phaup was excited to be at his 11th consecutive opening day at Dickey-Stephens Park, which opened in 2007.
"Lord, it's been too long," Phaup said.
Baseball was back with the crack of the bat from Travs and Hooks players taking batting practice.
"There are two seasons: baseball and offseason," Tinkle said.
This is a season of change at Dickey-Stephens Park.
The Travs are the Seattle Mariners' Class AA affiliate after spending 16 years with the Los Angeles Angels. Seattle and the Travs signed a two-year player development contract in September, switching the American League franchise's Class AA affiliate from Jackson, Tenn., to Arkansas.
Fan safety was a priority for Allen in the offseason.
The Travs spent $34,000 to extend the netting from home plate to the end of the dugouts along the first- and third-base lines. Allen said technology was a factor in the change.
"We all have a problem of staring at our phones all the time," Allen said. "You can even be engaged with the game, whether you're keeping score or checking stats or watching another game at the same time. It makes it really easy for us to look down. With that comes the accidental foul ball or the stray bat. It was a big investment for us to invest in fan safety. We felt like extending the nets was very important for the safety of our fans."
There were a handful of fans wearing Mariners jerseys and hats, including Bona.
"My wife bought it for Christmas," said Bona, who was wearing a Mariners batting practice jersey.
Outside the park's home plate gate, a black banner with the Mariners' logo and the Travs' logo was whipping in the wind.
In the team store, there were Mariners items for sale, including hats and shirts. One gray shirt said "Arkansas Travelers: Class AA affiliate of the Seattle Mariners," with the Travs' and Mariners' logos on it.
Shane Schwab said the affiliate switch was a breath of fresh air.
"It's very exciting," Schwab said. "They're into it. They have more items in the gift shop. There's the banner out front."
Last season, all seven Mariners' minor league affiliates played in the postseason. Allen said he's all for the Mariners' success in the minor leagues and hopes it extends to the Travs this season.
"Winning helps in the sense that it adds a few more butts in the seats, and it put a little bit of electricity that you can't describe other than it gives you the chill bumps," Allen said.
Sports on 04/07/2017