Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church - Hot Springs Village, AR
Arkansas Travelers fans from Sacred Heart enjoy the game at Dickey-Stephens ballpark.
Arkansas Travelers fans from Sacred Heart enjoy the game at Dickey-Stephens ballpark.
On Monday June 4, 2012 some 110 church members and friends met at the Sacred Heart Church parking lot where they were picked up by 2 buses to take them to North Little Rock’s Dickey-Stephens Ballpark.  Buddy & Martha Dixon handled the reservations for the event and even with a number of last minute cancellations, they were able to fill both buses, which have a capacity of 55 people each.  The buses drove thru some rain on the way to the ballpark but the skies cleared by the time we got there.  During the trip, original “Crackerjacks” boxes were given to each participant after they sang the song “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”, which naturally talks about “Crackerjacks”.

Upon arrival at the ballpark the buses stopped just outside the park next to the pavilion where everyone was served all the hamburgers, hotdogs, and baked beans they could eat.  By game time at 7:10 PM everyone was seated in their reserved seats.  The Arkansas Travelers were behind for much of the game but came back and won it by a score of 5 to 4 with 2 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. 

During the game Linda Good won a pizza presented by the Traveler’s mascot, one of our group won an Arkansas Traveler shirt (they actually caught it when it was shot from an air gun toward our group), and someone in our group caught a foul ball to take home as a souvenir.  The game ended shortly after 10:00 PM and the group returned to the buses for the return trip to the Village, arriving there about 11:30 PM, tired, but all seemed to have a great time.

On the trip over to Little Rock, the participants were asked to guess the number of paid admissions to the game, with a prize of a $20 gift certificate for the closest estimate on each bus.  On the trip back to the Village, Dorothy Weber won on Bus #1 and Scott Krantz’s grandson won on bus #2.

Fr. Bill was able to attend the dinner, leading us in grace before the meal, but due to a death of a friend’s relative in Conway, had to leave before the game to attend the rosary.  Many thanks to Buddy and Martha Dixon for all their work and especially to Buddy for all the details he worked out and the great idea for the Crackerjacks. 

Check the Men's Club Photos for more pictures of this event.  Let’s do this again next year!