A piece of college baseball history, as well as my life back home in Louisiana, is now officially history. Last night LSU beat UC-Irvine 21-7 in the final game of the Super Regional baseball tournament at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. With the win LSU advances to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Sadly though, this game was the last game to be held in Alex Box Stadium, which next year will be replaced by an updated Alex Box Stadium on a different site.
Alex Box Stadium has been the home of LSU Baseball since the 1938, and in the 70 years since it opened it has seen a great deal of drama and excitement. The old ballpark hosted 17 NCAA Regional tournaments, 4 Super Regional tournaments, and 4 SEC tournaments. There were plenty of amazing wins, along with a few disappointing defeats. It was the home for the “Program of the Decade” for the 1990s, when LSU teams won national championships in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, and 2000. For a long time, LSU was the premier baseball program in the nation.
The Box, as it was affectionately called, was the perfect setting for this great program. Although it may have lacked many of the modern ammenities some expect from the modern ballparks, the ballpark had a great deal of character. It was simply a great place to watch a baseball game.
I was 13 years old when we got season tickets to LSU baseball in 1992. In the nine seasons between then and my graduation from LSU, many of my days were spent communing with my fellow LSU baseball fans, who are among the most knowledgeable and rabid fans anywhere. Over the years we grew to be close friends with many of the folks with seats around ours. They were like family.
This feeling was evidenced throughout the ballpark over the years as fans organized themselves into groups, usually complete with banners announcing their presence. Our little group was first named “Cooley’s Corner”, after LSU left fielder Chad Cooley. After he graduated, we had to change names and came to be known as “LSU’s Home Run Hecklers”, a tribute to the Gorilla Ball style of LSU Baseball in the 1999s. On our banner we would hang inflatable baseballs, one for each home run during the game. We also had a home run counter, which would be updated after each ball flew over the wall. I remember one game where we ended up with eight inflatable baseballs hanging from our banner! Those baseballs and the counter even made their way into Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha for the College World Series, although we had to sneak back to the gate to steal back the balls after the ticket takers confiscated them upon entry. Back in the day the counter ended one season at 188, which I believe is still an NCAA record.
Of course we weren’t the only fan group. The Bullpen Bullies started the trend, followed by the Left Field Lunatics, then us, and later Coon’s Corner. Other groups would come and go through the years. There was just a certain amount of brotherhood that almost all season ticket holders felt for those seated around them, grounded in our great love for baseball and the Tigers.
The time together wasn’t limited to the nine innings in the stands. We also tailgated for baseball. For each weekend series there would be something cooking before each game. We would hang out before the game enjoying our meal, during the game cheering, and often after the game lounging around discussing the action we just witnessed and the matchup in the upcoming series.
I was lucky enough to get to go to two of the Regional tournament games a couple of weeks ago for one last time in The Box. It has been several years since our last championship, but the program seems to have rebounded and it felt a lot like old times. Many of my old friends still had their same seats. The stadium had changed a little but was still mostly the same. The players were of course different, but the atmosphere was still the same. Almost like old times.
Alex Box was a great place to watch baseball. I feel like a chapter of my life is being closed with the gates to this old ballpark. Things have changed a great deal since I first set foot in that park. I now live in a different state. I’m a college graduate. I’m married with twins. I guess everything changes over time, and this is no different.
So it is an odd feeling I have this morning. I am thrilled that LSU has won and is headed back to the College World Series, but at the same time I am sad that a place where I spent so much time and that was such a big part of my life is officially gone.
Oh well, I guess that is enough of our trip down memory lane. GEAUX TIGERS!