Florence, Y'all

Baseball remains awesome.

I am not a Y’all person. I am, however, an immediate fan of the Florence Y’alls baseball team in Florence, Kentucky.

This professional team is not really part of Major League Baseball. It’s not a college summer league team. In fact, the team got its start in Erie, Pennsylvania, as part of the “Frontier League.” It is a “partner” league, which seems like a nice way of saying they follow generally the same rules and aren’t jerks about players getting to “the show.”

Having moved here from the DMV, I was familiar with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, which are part of the separate “Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.” I figured perhaps the two were related, and it appears not. Sort of like various minor league hockey leagues that do not play each other.

The Frontier League has 18 teams, 3 in Canada. The league was dreamed up to bring professional baseball to places it would not likely come. Though the franchise started in Erie, PA—whose current team, as you may have seen, recently underwent a John Oliver rebrand—it eventually ended up here. Despite us having the Reds. (You do want some teams like the Y’alls, to soak up the cash of big city baseball lovers, putting every team in the middle of nowhere wouldn’t make any sense.)

As we celebrated our first year in the Queen City, what better way to mark the occasion than by checking off some bucket list items and doing classic Cincinnati things?

For a mere $16 a person, we got tickets four rows behind home plate. The stadium is newish, and the team was renamed after its longtime owner passed, and his widow sold the team to some investors. It was previously the Florence Freedom.

You may be wondering: Why Y’alls? Is this the beginning of Y’all country? Maybe. I think experts would quibble with that.

It all has to do with the now-dying Florence Mall. Florence, in a deal with the mall’s developer, was gifted land for a water tower. In exchange, the mall wanted the water tower to advertise for it. It was built before the mall, advertising a mall that did not exist. That the mall didn’t exist wasn’t really the issue, rather, a state law prohibiting advertisements on public lands. So, the mayor, rather than repaint the whole thing, changed “MALL” to “Y’ALL.”

It became a thing. Of course, since this region loves festivals, there is a festival, but the team went with the name and made the water tower, which they call “Y’all Star”, its mascot. It’s great.

But the rebranding fits. And they’ve done a phenomenal job of it. Their merch is well done and fairly priced.

The whole branding package? Perfection:

The stadium is in excellent shape, and it reminded me of Classic Park in Eastlake, home of the Lake County Captains, a former employer. The baseball was excellent, and the promotions nonstop.

I kid you not: you have to watch out, lest you get hit with a t-shirt. I did. After a run is scored for the Y’alls, they chuck them out of the press box, which they call the “PRESS BUCKET” and is painted like the water tower and a bucket of fried chicken.

As the twins were in right field, in the ample kids area, waiting to run across the outfield to the first base side, the bases were loaded and Brendan Bobo was at bat. A long at bat with a bunch of foul balls, one of which came right to me.

I beat a kid to the ball, which bounced a few times on its way to me. Of course, I gave the ball to the kid. I am not a jerk. It would have looked weird if I jumped out of the way to let it go past me.

So, a t-shirt and a foul ball. The food lines were a little slow, but this operation has to make money and that’s going to be one of the ways they’ll do it. The good news? You can not only see the game, but catch foul balls while watching.

Not a bad seat in the house!

The bullpens are accessible for autographs, and the mid-inning promotions are quite entertaining.

A strange co-branding from a Louisiana cajun spice company. (As readers know, I am forever a Tony Chachere loyalist, but open to and appreciate all cajun seasonings.) If a ball hits one of these, everyone gets a jar.

An arcade? Yes!

Here are some selected pictures from our visit, but if you like baseball and live in town or are visiting, check out the Florence Y’alls!

Third base view of the mezzanine and the Florence Y’alls General Store.

A chalkboard lineup!

Y’all Star with his water tower head hyping up the crowd.

The view for $16.

Y’alls win!