Mapping the path

EASTERN MIDWEST BASEBALL

Lansing Lugnuts

Dad and I drive to Lansing, Michigan, where we have a hearty lunch at Meat BBQ, stop by the Michigan State Capitol, visit the Michigan History Museum, and finish our day at the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum before our night game with the Lansing Lugnuts, the High-A affiliate of the Athletics, playing as the Lansing Locos.

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I tried the Chin-Gorilla Sandwich, with pulled pork, pimento cheese, grilled pineapple, bacon, and fried onions. I liked it, although I didn’t think the pimento cheese helped it much. Dad had an elaborate turkey sandwich with meaty chunks of avocado.

Architect Elijah E. Myers’ design echoes the United States Capitol, topped with an attractive cast-iron domed roof. Myers later employed a similar aesthetic for the design of capitol buildings in Texas and Colorado.

The History Center recalls the state’s great events, culture, and people — beginning with the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, and other Native American tribes living in the area before European colonization. French explorer Étienne Brûlé, looking for a route through Michigan to China, arrived via Lake Ontario and Lake Erie in 1620, and the region was declared part of French Canada beginning in 1668. The first settlement, Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, was established in 1701.

When Britain defeated France in the French and Indian War in 1763, the territory became part of Britain’s claims in the New World. After the American Revolution, it was part of the vast Northwest Territory that more or less defined the boundaries of our road trip: the future states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. That land began to be divided up into states in the early 1800s, and in 1805, Michigan became the 26th state in the union.

The museum of course provided a look at the state’s famed auto industry — home of Ford, General Motors, Oldsmobile, Chrysler, Cadillac, and more — from well before the introduction of the Ford Model T in 1908 to the industry’s height in 1978, when automakers employed more than 470,000 Michiganders.

The museum’s nostalgic exhibits end with a car that is nearly 40 years old but looks futuristic even today. The 1987 Oldsmobile Aerotech was a research vehicle built to demonstrate the power of the company’s new 16-valve, 4-cyclinder Quad 4 engine. Fitted with a sleek carbon-fiber body and driven by Indianapolis 500 champion A.J. Foyt, the car set a closed-course speed record of just over 257 miles per hour.

Just outside the museum, we got a good view of the world’s largest lug nut. Weighing in at about 5,000 pounds, the Lansing landmark is perched atop a smokestack overlooking our final destination for the day: Jackson Field, home of the Lansing Lugnuts.

Professional baseball in Lansing goes back to 1889 and the six-team Michigan State League. In 1895, the first of several Senators teams played in Lansing, featuring the first professional African American baseball player — Bud Fowler, who made his International Association debut in 1878. The last Senators team appeared in 1941, and Lansing was left without professional baseball until the arrival of the Lugnuts in 1996.

The family lineage of the Lugnuts franchise can be traced to the Lafayette Red Sox, who spent 1956 and 1957 in Indiana before relocating to Waterloo, Iowa, where they played 36 seasons as the Waterloo Hawks. In 1994, that team moved to Springfield, Illinois, appearing as the Sultans for two seasons before taking up residence in their new ballpark in Lansing.

The Lugnuts have been the High-A affiliate of the Oakland A’s since 2021. They were previously the Low-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals (1996-1998), Chicago Cubs (1999-2004), and Toronto Blue Jays (2005-2020). The team has won two Midwest League titles during their time in Michigan, in 1997 and 2003. Well-known alumni include Bo Bichette, Mark Prior, Noah Syndergaard, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Carlos Beltrán, Rich Hill, and Carlos Zambrano.

Jackson Field has seats for 7,527 fans, and 2,000 more than can be accommodated via lawn seating, patios, and standing room. The Lugnuts averaged 4,036 per game in 2024, good for fifth place in the Midwest League. The skyline at Jackson Field is brightened by the colorful Outfield Ball Park Lofts, an apartment complex perfect for baseball fans with commanding views from center field.

Just to the left of the front gate is Nuts and Bolts, the team store — always our first stop at a ballpark. The store’s name is a nod to the fact that the Lansing Lugnuts logo does not depict a nut at all: It’s a bolt!

The shop had an excellent array of headwear, from variations on the main theme, to an homage to the parent Athletics organization, to the Copa de la Diversión identity that was the theme of the night: the Lansing Locos.

The Locos identity stems from the team’s double-entendre battle cry, “Let’s Go Nuts,” which translates perfectly to “Vamos Locos.” Its mascot is a wacky Potoo, a nocturnal bird related to nightjars and frogmouths (words that I could have just made up but did not), which are common in Central and South America. When it’s time for the Locos to take the stage, the Lugnuts go all in, with Latin music, Locos scoreboard graphics, and of course the bright turquoise jerseys worn by players and Big Lug, Lansing’s main mascot.

The Locos had just finished the first half of the season with a 32-33 record, 8 1/2 games behind the runaway division champs, the Lake County Captains.

The home team would face the West Michigan Whitecaps — a squad we had seen at their home ballpark just three nights earlier. The Detroit Tigers High-A affiliate had completed the first half of the season a game and a half behind the Locos.

The Chicago Cubs and their Minor League affiliates have a tradition of waving a big “W” flag after each win. The Lugnuts kick off their games with someone running a big “L” flag around the field, which doesn’t seem to set the right tone for victory.

Right on cue, West Michigan jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, capped by a two-run homer to right field by second baseman Max Anderson. The former University of Nebraska star had been drafted by the Tigers in the second round just a year earlier and would finish his season with the Whitecaps hitting .270 before getting a late-season call-up to the Double-A Erie SeaWolves.

The Locos put together a triple and a single in the bottom half to make it 2-1, getting the crowd into the game early.

But those hopes and that energy were decisively extinguished in the second inning. Locos right-hander Blaze Pontes had pitched as a reliever in 38 of his 39 appearances a year earlier with the Single-A Stockton Ports, posting a nice 3.23 ERA in 61 1/3 innings. But he was seeing some work as a starter in West Michigan, and the experiment was not working out.

The Whitecaps sent 10 men to the plate in the top of the second, and seven of the first eight collected hits, culminating in a three-run bomb by West Michigan first baseman Luke Gold to right-center field, where the fence reaches its maximum of 412 feet. Just like that, the Locos were down 9-1.

Incredibly, Pontes stayed in the game through the third inning, despite giving up nine earned runs in the first two. He would finish the season with 10 starts in 26 appearances and a 7.36 ERA at the High-A level.

I consoled myself with some ballpark food, which typically does the trick — especially when there are unique, creative, and tasty items on offer. We were not disappointed at Jackson Field. I had to try a Michigan favorite: the Big Lug Double Olive Burger, with diced olives, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and all kinds of mayo. It was a lot, but I liked it. Dad had the Big Lug BBQ Dog, which he also enjoyed.

I met up with Lansing fan Junior Zamarron, who is Baseball, Bobbleheads & Brews on Instagram — a name that accurately describes his content. A recent transplant to Lansing who was in his second season as a Lugnuts fan, Zamarron wore a “SELL THE TEAM” shirt popular amongst A’s fans urging owner John Fisher to sell the club and abandon plans to move the franchise to Las Vegas. (See the full interview in the episode!)

Lansing scored two in the bottom of the third, but Max Anderson answered with his second two-run shot of the game in the top of the fourth. The Lugnuts clawed two more back in the bottom of the fifth, but they had a lot more work to do with the score 11-5 West Michigan.

I took a clockwise stroll around the 360-degree concourse, past the Pepsi Porch down the left-field line, through the kids play area, and underneath the Outfield Ball Park Lofts.

Plaques above the outfield wall honor Michigan baseball stars of all stripes, from local talent who played in the state’s high schools to the heroes of the Detroit Tigers.

In the late moments of sunset, the shifting, stormy sky revealed ever-changing patterns of pink and purple-gray — an appropriate backdrop for a momentous battle of the gods scored by Wagner and not a one-sided, mid-season, Tuesday night game between two middle-of-the-pack Minor League teams. Baseball skies come in all forms, and this was one of the most dramatic I had ever experienced.

West Michigan tacked on a run in the eighth, and Whitecaps left fielder Patrick Lee delivered a three-run homer in the top of the ninth for good measure, extending the visitors’ lead to 15-5.

The Locos did not go down easily. Four straight singles plated two runs, and a passed ball and a base hit brought home two more. But it was too much to ask. Lansing fell to the Whitecaps 15-9.

We didn’t manage a win for the home team, but we had dodged stormy weather once again without a rainout. That streak would be put to a test the next day in Toledo.