When you think of baseball you typically think of warm nights out at the ballpark enjoying a hot dog and soda while watching the game. This is generally the case at Fightins games in early June, sometimes mid-May.

Beautiful, warm evenings are not always a guarantee at the beginning of the season. Sometimes, you might even have snow on opening night.

That’s right, I said snow.

I can clearly remember one opening night game at the beginning of April when it was freezing cold. By the time the first pitch was thrown, it was snowing. I was wearing at least three shirts under my uniform shirt including a hooded sweatshirt and I had gloves on. Winter gloves, that is, not gloves for serving food. Most of my night was spent huddled by the fryers hoping they would give off enough heat to keep me warm. That may be the only night anyone actually wanted the job of making funnel cakes because that was the warmest spot in the stand.

I also don’t think I have ever consumed as much hot chocolate as I did that night.

Needless to say, we were not busy that night and did not stay open very long. I’m pretty sure that if we hadn’t been selling coffee and hot chocolate, we wouldn’t have had any business at all.

In the years that I have been working at the ballpark, that is the only night I can remember that had snow. Even the year they held a Christmas event it only snowed one evening during the month. Don’t get me wrong, we still have nights that are insanely cold and let me tell you, cold weather is always great for ice cream sales. On the super cold nights, employees and fans alike remind each other that they will be wishing for cooler weather come mid-July and August. That’s when we will be wishing we had cold weather just so the ice cream will stay frozen long enough to put it in the dishes.

With the 2019 home opener only six days away, I am crossing my fingers that we will have a nice evening. I’m not asking for sunny and 70 degrees, but it would be nice to not have to wear four layers of clothing. The weather forecast can change drastically in a week, so I guess we will just have to wait and see what Mother Nature has planned.

Confessional: Are you a fan of warm weather or cold weather? Would you enjoy watching a baseball game in the snow?