An Ode to the Night Game

Over 90 years ago tonight, the MLB hosted their first-ever night game, courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. They beat the Phillies 2-1. In honor of this first night game, we invited some good friends of ours to come downstairs, to talk about why the night game is so special.

Molly M: Night games are the best. Ending a hot summer day outside as it cools down is the best part of the season. My grandparents lived on Cape Cod when I was a kid and my favorite memories of night games was walking to the high school near their house to watch Cape Cod college league games. We sat on a grassy hill with our family, Dad would bring a score book along, and we would watch the sun set over the field while cheering on our favorite teams.

Adam T: Playing in night games is the best because there’s a different energy to them that day games don’t possess. Every game under the lights always had a “Big Game” feel to it that made it as if something surreal was going to happen; that you were in store for one of the greatest, most dramatic games of your life. Without the sun bearing down on you during the dog days of summer, night games always carried a bit more focus and a bit more intensity. From little league to beer league, night games make you feel like a big leaguer, even if just for a moment.

Evan D: One of the best feelings on earth is a summer night under the lights where it’s warm enough that you’re not chilly, but cool enough that you’re comfortable, eating a hot dog with your friends, watching the game. In those moments it almost feels like the outside world doesn’t exist, and we need that.

Colton A: It’s cooler out, you aren’t tired from the sun, and sitting under the lights with a breeze coming in makes the usually slower, quieter sport all the more exciting. It feels more like an event than going during the day time. Especially as a kid, even playing on the playground at a local field at night felt almost magical.

Harper F: In my very short youth softball career, the game I remember most is the one and only time we had a night game. There’s something special about being surrounded by the deep blue evening that slowly creeps into the dark night, and yet you are completely illuminated by the bright lights. It seems that time stops and that this moment is the most important moment in the world. It was even more special of an evening since we weren’t at our usual field and this field had a PA system with a volunteer running it. So every batter was introduced at the plate, making you feel like a big leaguer.

Sam M: I love baseball so much, I really do, it is one of the biggest parts of my life currently and there’s no better feeling than going to the ballpark for a game. Even better, is going to a game with the sun out, and over the long length of a baseball game, the emotion of the ups and the downs, and the sun’s going down; it’s just truly a fantastic feeling, and no feeling makes me happier than fireworks after a hot summer ballgame. I often think of one of my favorite movies ever, The Sandlot. There’s a scene where it’s the Fourth of July and the kids all go out, late at night, and they play baseball under the fireworks. As a kid, it always stuck out to me, and as an adult it still resonates with me.

Evan W: I like when they have the fireworks.

Kate P: The fireworks, of course. They make me cry every time.

Nick S: Night games are great but beyond the iridescent glow of the lights, juxtaposed with the dark sky, would have to be the hot dogs. A night hot dog hits differently with friends, walking out the stadium into the warm, cold summer air sounds great.

Zoe A: As a new Chicago transplant, I had a choice: Cubs or Sox. I went to a Cubs night game first and was immediately thrown up on by a drunk Cubs fan. He was ready to go out to bars after the game. Then I went to a Sox night game where I was welcomed as if I was one of their own. I was given the best experience and was offered multiple beverages at a tailgate. At the game, I not only had the best time, but I got whacked in the head with a baseball and thought I was concussed. I was not but I did leave with a giant welt to remember the night by. The wonder of night games.

Greg L: Baseball; I got nothing. Went to a bunch of games in Seattle, been to Fenway, been to Wrigley, but no great stories other than just how it feels to watch baseball at night. Would have loved to be able to be romantic about it, but it was always just a small part of an itinerary and way too drunk to take it all in.

Dave H: Few words carry as much weight for a young athlete as “night game” does. I recall playing in both my first and last night games growing up in sports, and you can’t quite describe the feeling of stepping onto the field beneath the glow of those high school lights that have probably been there since the 80’s. Humming and buzzing 50 feet above the stands. It was typically the same crowd as a game right after school, parents and friends, but the whole world might as well have been watching. That’s how it felt anyway. Night games have become commonplace in Major League Baseball, to the point where catching a midweek day game is the new rarity. But the Chicago Cubs do it right, still playing around 70% of the games at Wrigley during the day, making the remaining night games a special occasion, a baseball spectacle. It’s hard to beat the view from the stands as you step into the park before sunset and watch the shadows slowly creep across the diamond until they overtake the ballpark entirely, leaving us basking in the glow of the lights above.

Brian S: I quit t-ball or rather forced out because I was digging holes in the in field because I was bored. But my older brother was incredible at every sport he did but baseball was his favorite. So growing up we went to a lot of his games and my dad would take us to games in the area. Growing up in Virgina, we did not have any professional teams so we had to travel to the DC/Baltimore area. So the Orioles became my brother’s de facto team. The one I can recall was the game where Cal Ripken was positioning himself to break the all time home run record. We were there when he broke the record set by Ty Cobb. But that’s not my memory. What I do remember is that after every game we attended, regardless of where we were or who played, my dad would make us wait until the stadium was 99% clear and then we had to walk the stands and start collecting the souvenir cups that were left behind. So while ushers are trying to get us to leave, I’m holding a stack of beer soaked souvenir plastic cups, so my dad could take them home to wash them and do God knows what with.

Zach P: I think it’s important that these night games are outside to really experience the full mystique. This applies to any night game. It’s always special to me because when you go to these games, it’s a declaration of how you want to end your day. For some, that’s watching tv on the couch. For others, it’s buying a hot dog and tossing peanuts into your beer and experiencing the calm yet tense ambience of a baseball game. Better yet, you meet up after a long work day for a pregame beer or tailgate and then tackle the evening in front of you together. It’s an event. There’s a special feeling to knowing that you are there. The lights can be seen from far away and you, like the players, are underneath them.

Greg M: I'm not a big baseball guy but I find that going to the game still feels weirdly nostalgic, especially night games. A bunch of years ago when I first moved to Buffalo, it was a Friday night in the summertime and I remember not really feeling comfortable in the city and just kinda figuring out where I was with everything. So I'm biking around downtown and I had stopped and met some friends for a drink and on the way back, the Friday night baseball game had just let out and we could hear the explosion of the crowd so it must've been a big game. So we’re biking back and everyone was just pouring out of the stadium and then the fireworks started going off and I just remember the sick moment of being on my bike downtown, pretty empty of cars, and the people were everywhere walking and laughing and screaming and hollering and the fireworks were going off and just being electric and I thought whatever this is, it’s incredible.

Ryan S: They’re almost mythical, because what other sporting event has a sunset falling behind the skyline of the city while the 8th inning hits and dads in every section are holding their sleeping kids with one hand and a Miller Lite with the other so they have to ask the guy in the seat next to them to help turn their hat inside out to make sure they can activate the rally cap and get a come from behind victory going? Day games will always have their place, but even Wrigley Field got wise and realized that night games are something special.

Drew B: So I grew up outside of Austin and in high school, I went to a pool party. That same weekend, my grandpa was in town visiting, which wasn’t often. When I got back to my house, I found my dad and grandpa sitting in the garage and they were listening to a baseball game on the radio. It’s probably midnight and it’s the Texas Longhorns versus Army, a playoff game maybe, and come to find out it’s the 20th inning of this game. I think it went 25 innings and it was just really beautiful just sitting in the garage with the game on the radio, three generations of people just embracing the commentators’ words. But after all of that, they had to play again the next day, so we decided to go down to Austin. The Longhorns were losing the whole game but then they got the bases loaded in the ninth inning and they almost hit a grand slam. It bounced off the wall so they scored one or two runs. They’re still down by a point and then they load the bases again and smack a grand slam. It was the greatest two days of baseball and it was even better because I shared it with my dad and grandpa.