Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining
bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are
light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck
out.
"Casey at
the Bat" by Earnest Lawrence Thayer
Americans have a love affair with our national pastime. Our kids
start learning tee-ball as soon as they are old enough to walk. We
name our teams after professional teams, groom the fields before
games, hold championship tournaments and play-off games, and in
some cases even pay for off-season professional pitching and
hitting coaching - and that's for the kids! Churches and businesses
put together softball leagues and small local companies pay to
sponsor the local teams, while newspapers are filled with talk
about trades and line-ups. In Chicago we console ourselves after a
bad year with the perpetual chant, "maybe next year!"
This cache sits in the midst of this favorite summertime
activity, with a grand view of the fields around it. The immediate
surrounding area can be extremely busy during baseball season,
especially in the evenings and on Saturdays, and it is inadvisable
to attempt to hunt this cache while games or practices are in
session at any of the fields in this park. When not in use for
baseball, however, this park is seldom used, and cautious
geocachers could go almost completely unnoticed. Be advised that
there is a public pool nearby, a middle school, and a park district
building known as the Iowa Center. All are heavily used, so stealth
is still advised.