Austin Senators, Part 2

About half of the guys arrived on Thursday. We had a press conference at Threadgill's in Austin - a restaurant with a lot of history that was near their old ballpark location (which is now a dog park) - so a perfect location. The press came out with amazing coverage- so exciting....all four networks aired a story on the weekend. We were also able to have the Mayor of Austin do a proclamation declaring July 17-19 "Austin Senators Weekend." It was a great kickoff.

Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell presenting his proclamation.

Austin Senators Pitcher Charlie Gorin, both past and present:

The rest of the guys and their families arrived that afternoon and Friday night we had a brief pre-game introduction on the field.

Oh! I forgot to mention our promotions surrounding this: our team, the Round Rock Express, wore retro throwback Austin Senators jerseys and caps the whole weekend. Our videoboard was in black and white. We had an old-timey baseball organist. We played 50's music. On Saturday, we gave out their old team photos to all fans, and a post-game video and fireworks show themed for the '59 team. On Saturday, we gave away replica Senators caps to fans, and Sunday, Senators' t-shirts to kids.

giveaway cap:

We had drivers for them all weekend with our ballpark ushers - great, friendly guys so that worked out great....driving rental vans (wedding guests may remember I stole this move- our sweet ushers and vans - from my wedding!). Saturday morning most of the group met us at the ballpark for a tour. Now, our ballpark really is spectacular, and a long, long, long way from the old ballparks of the 50's! They were amazed at the cleanliness (we pride ourselves on that!), the little touches, etc. The best part came when we showed them the batting cages. One of the guys asked for a bat and they took an improptu batting practice. What a moment....they were suddenly 20-year-old kids again!

After the ballpark tour, we had a great lunch at Salt Lick Barbecue in Round Rock and drove down to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum - a must if you visit Austin - it is such a wonderful museum!

More coming soon!