So, what is a Mud Hen? The historical definition is a duck-like bird that has a blackish head, likes to live in the swamp, and can be found nesting in areas from Canada to Argentina (http://www.answers.com/topic/mud-hen). Of course these aren’t the Mud Hens I am referring to, nor am I talking about the racially negative term used in some southern parts of the United States (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mud%20hen). Nope, I am talking about the Toledo Mud Hens: a triple AAA minor league fast ball team that happens to be affiliated with the Detroit Tigers.
The name Mud Hens has a long tradition dating back to 1896 when the team was owned by Charles Strobel, and the baseball park was located across the street from a swamp. Now the fact that the baseball park was located next to a swamp isn’t all that surprising. For thousands of years the Toledo area was known as the “Great Black Swamp” and even the First Nations (Aboriginals in the US) avoided it.
Animals, flora, and fauna flourished, but it wasn’t so good for people. In 1825 a wooden road from Perrsyburg (where I now reside) and Fremont was built and few brave individuals settled there. However, it wasn’t the healthiest place to live and people who passed through or tried to reside there often ended up with a condition known as the shakes (http://www.hicksville-ohio.com/History/blackswamp.htm).
By 1837, the US settlers were already busily at work draining the swamp, an effort that lasted well into the 20th century, which brings us back to the Mud Hens and the All American Past Time. Obviously the team has a long history and has been part of the national league since 1965, along with other great teams such as the New York Yankees. The Mud Hens have also been associated with some other great teams you might have heard of such as the Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians, and Minnesota Twins, just to name a few. Back in the day it wasn’t unheard of for minor league teams to play exhibition games with the big leaguers; however, most of that stopped when the Chicago White Stockings refused to play the Mud Hens in an exhibition game in the late 1940s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_Mud_Hens).
But all of that history aside, it was a wonderful experience to be out in the sunshine with all of the excitement and adieu that goes along with a typical American ball game. They played the Charlotte Knights and gave them a good thrashing (four runs to two.) I imagine the game experience of the 21st century is not at all what it was around this time in the 20th century. Today they have big television screens that tell you when to make noise. There are applause volume calculating machines and voice enhanced announcers that sound just like every other announcer. I guarantee you that the hotdogs aren’t as good as they used to be with all those artificial colorings and flavors, and the popcorn is probably genetically modified. Nobody seemed to be too dressed up like they would have in the old days; although this was a weekday and not after church, which is when the games used to be played. The fireworks are probably just as cool as they used to be, and the intermission games are probably just a corny today as they were a hundred years ago. The rules are still the same (most of the rules that baseball abides by today have been in place since 1893.) And of course there were no swamp smells, insects, or hens other than those on the field.
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