Last night I attended my first Florence Freedom game. The Freedom are a professional baseball team that competes in the Frontier League, which is independent of both major and minor league baseball. According to Wikipedia, “its level of play is considered comparable to low A-level” of the minor leagues. Tickets start at only $7 for the lawn (or $10 for seats) and only go up to $12 for the VIP sections.

Champion Window Field

The stadium, Champion Window Field, holds 4,500 people but it feels even smaller than that. I would have guessed the capacity to be only a couple of thousand. The field itself is entirely made of FieldTurf, including the infield, pitcher’s mound and batting area. I was told before the game about the FieldTurf, but I didn’t expect it to be the entire field, including the areas that are traditionally dirt. The concourse offers three or four concession stands with a variety of food and drinks. A pulled pork sandwich with fresh thick cut potato chips was $8 and large pours of Killians were $5.

Concourse View

The game itself was fun to watch, especially being so close to the field. The Southern Illinois Miners took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning and never looked back. They ended up beating the Freedom 9-1 but that didn’t stop the crowd from staying through the end of the game. With no traffic to worry about after the game it is nice to relax and enjoy the entire game. Plus they allowed children to run the bases after the game and the players stuck around to sign autographs as well.

In-Laws Enjoying The Game

More photos can be found on haisfamily.com