Minor League Baseball on the Oregon Trail

Casper, Wyoming is surrounded by vast space. Going east to west in the United States I think that is the first thing you notice. The whole concept of geographic and human space changes. I drove for two hours from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Casper in a rental car- on the drive I didn’t see one other town or cluster of homes between cities. Instead I saw vast prairie with drift blockers placed like giant post and rail fences. They stood like sentinels to stop windswept snow from obliterating the road. The intersection of prairie and sky was uninterrupted by trees, homes, or other roads. The isolation is inspiring and intense.

I arrived in Casper, checked into my hotel and was suprised with a complimentary pass to that evening’s Casper Rockies minor league baseball game. I was able to walk over to the Mike Lansing Field, buy a soft pretzel and find a seat in the stands. The game was fantastic! What a way to get to know the community of Casper. Families swarmed the stands and cheered for the mascot: Hobart the Platypus. Kids begged for pictures with the purple creature. Incidentally he is named for the capital of Tasmania, the indigenous home of the animal. The Rockies embrace the Platypus because their field is located on the banks of the North Platte River. Over the course of the game I met a few families eager to share the Rockies record, their favorite players and some of Wyoming’s fun facts with me. Here are the city’s vital statistics that the families shared with me between innings:

Casper is the capital city of Wyoming. It is the second biggest city in the state with about 51,000 people—Cheyenne is the largest city in Wyoming with 53,000 people.
Wyoming is the second most sparsely populated state in the US- only Alaska is more sparsely populated.
Casper is at the intersection of the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails. All of these trails were used by westward land seekers in the mid 1800’s.
So, if you go--stay at the Holiday Inn when there’s a home game. Buy a pretzel, talk to your seatmates, and bring a windbreaker- it gets cold when the sun goes down. Sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” with your new friends and watch the sun set over the game. Enjoy your visit to Casper, Wyoming. I’ll never forget mine.