Louisville Bats / Slugger Field

Our Friday evening was spent at Slugger Field watching the Triple-A Louisville Bats battle the Gwinnett Braves.

The Bats have been playing baseball in Louisville for a long time (many of those years as the Louisville Redbirds) and moved into the downtown ballpark in 2000. As a regular at Indianapolis' Victory Field, I have to give the nod to my hometown ballpark, but Slugger Field is still a great place to watch a ballgame.

Parking is fairly convenient. There are a couple of large lots within a couple blocks of the stadium and a lot of on-street parking. I've always had good luck finding an open parking meter (free after 6 p.m.) when going to games at Slugger Field.

Ticket prices are low, ranging from $7-$11 for adults. Kids get a $1 discount.

The food offerings are good. Louisville is Papa John's country, so my kids dragged me to the Papa John's stand for some personal pizzas. Glad I had some cash on hand - those stands don't take credit cards, although the "fixed" concession stands do.

Some of the more interesting food offerings - roasted corn on the cob and double-stacked bologna.

Like most minor league parks, it's a very intimate setting in Louisville. The lower seating bowl consists of 20 or so rows, and then there is a small upper deck.

Louisville is definitely family friendly. The right field corner features a playground and a carousel ($1).

After the third inning, ushers came through and passed out free kids activity books - a good way to keep the younger fans entertained.

Our game happened to be a quick one. Before the kids could finish their giant sno-cones, the game was in the eighth inning.

Actuallly, the game we saw will go down in the record books. Gwinnett's pitcher tossed a no-hitter - the first in stadium history.