TOLEDO, Ohio – The players’ names are less recognizable but the sights, sounds and smells are the same and the setting is even a bit more intimate.

When Tony and I planned this trip we started by picking a couple of main stops (Canton for the NFL inductions and Pittsburgh for the renowned ballpark) then started filling in some blanks.

We decided to make a stop in Toledo because Fifth Third Field was once named the Best Minor League Ballpark in America. Because of traffic, we arrived for the Toledo/Gwinnett game in the middle of the third inning. Before we saw a pitch, we’d made friends with a quartet of seniors in the row behind us, two of whom will be celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary tomorrow. Congratulations, folks.

Located in the middle of downtown Toledo, we found parking about five blocks away for $5 and bought tickets for $9 each. The neighborhood has some vacant buildings, but also has a couple lively restaurants and bars. Then suddenly across the street we saw people milling around a decorative fence and we realized we had arrived at the park.

The game itself was a little less than exciting – a scoreless tie was quickly broken with an eight run inning for the Mud Hens. More impressive to me were the great viewing points – even our seats in deep right field faced the pitcher and batter, though our view of the right fielder was obscured a bit.

We wandered around the park, visiting standing room areas in centerfield and picnic tables between left and center. The concessions weren’t anything incredibly out of the ordinary, but their two souvenir shops – one of which (The Swamp Shop) appeared to be the main store and one of which was smaller, were both staffed by friendly people who appeared to be enjoying their employment at the ballpark.

And we saw Brent Clevlen, a second round pick of the Detroit Tigers in 2002 who has excelled in the minors but just not quite made it yet in the bigs, hit a moon shot homer that first landed on an awning in deep right center field and then kept bouncing until it landed likely in the street outside the park.

It was a nice way to relax after a six-hour drive from the outskirts of Milwaukee. As my brother put it, “if I lived here, I’d have season tickets.”