A Expedition Trip

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Hi everyone hope all is well your way. One of the best things about KICentral is it's members and getting to know them threw the years. Some members we meet on a casual meet up at the parks but some we take more interest in their life and get opportunities to meet up outside amusement park settings. I had not planned to do this trip report for a couple reasons one I did not think there would be enough to write about and two because I worried it would interfere with a fellow KICentral members work. Well after the expedition I was invited too I realized there was far to much information and interesting situations that I could not keep it to myself and I should share it. So being careful to try to write about the event and the people I shared this expedition with and not focus too much on the subject will be a tab bit tricky but I think a story you may enjoy. The Expedition Subject will be covered by a true talent of Ronny Salerno in his own words at some point and place of his choosing.

Back last winter probably in January I had a discussion with Ronny in which he expressed interest in coming to Indianapolis to do a photo shot for his site Queencitydiscovery.com of historic Bush Stadium. As the months went by Ronny continued to express his desires to make his Bush Stadium photo shot a reality and shared his progress of all the necessary steps he had taken so far. Well with his persistence he got permission and a scheduled date to do his shoot. This is were we will start this this story.

June 8, 2009

Expedition Bush Stadium

I met Ronny Salerno his father Ron and cousin Jeff outside Bush Stadium Indianapolis, Indiana at around 11AM

Ronny had called his contact who was in charge of Bush Stadium to let him know that we had arrived and were ready to be let in.

The contact person (name & job title left out on purpose) talked with Ronny and to the rest of us about the condition and safety concerns they had. The gentleman was very nice, had a mild voice and listened with interest of Ronny's project and shared some stories of past entrants. I got the impression that the gentleman only had basic knowledge of the park prior to him being in charge of holding the keys to Bush Stadium. He seemed eager to hear what information and facts that we may have had about the park and then shared some information others have shared with him. I was glad he shared those facts as I truly would have walked right by some interesting points of interest and missed some bygone history. So as we entered the contact gentleman stressed safety then started to point out how to access areas of the stadium, he parted with us by telling us we had full unrestricted access and that we could stay as long as we would like and call him when we were ready to leave.

So just like that there we were in the outfield of a old ball park and the thought of were do we begin raced across my mind.

It was at this point Ronny really showed his expertise in taking the lead of the expedition. He lead us straight to the bleacher structure and went into the grand stands to get a birds eye view of the area. I could see Ronny's natural instinct of a serious photographer kicking in as he scoured the area looking for the perfect angle and interesting subjects to shot..

After a while as we were standing in the grand stands I started to look around and remember the area's of were I had sat at during many of games I attended there as a young boy and through Junior High. I even got so caught up in my memories that I shared a few endearing moments of how my dad (now deceased) knew a catcher one year and and when we went to a game the catcher came over signed a few autographs for some lower seated fans then looked up to us and said "Hello Jim good to see you, thanks for coming out" then throwing a baseball to my dad and said "give that to your boy will ya" I remember feeling frozen in my seat and thinking Wow how great is my dad knowing the catcher like that. The baseball was signed and it sat in a special baseball cradle on a shelf in my room until I moved from home. See I had forgotten most of the stories that was now flooding my mind until then. I must admit they were wonderful memories but at the same time distracting me on the mission at hand. At this point Ronny suggested we should push forward and upwards to start exploring areas closed to the general public during normal operations.

Ronny expressed several times that we should not disturb or damage the property and that a successful expedition is one that the photo subject is in the same condition as it was when we started. Even though it would have made it easier to pull a rotting door open we respected the structure and integrity of it's present condition. I have viewed Ronny's site Queencitydiscovery.com and admired his photo shots but I did not realize how dirty and at times work he went through to bring his viewers great pictures.

We worked our way through the front office and the press boxes high above the stadium. I thought at one point I was experiencing another flash back as I kept hearing a very fast Click, click, click, click as Ronny was taking advantage of his professional camera and a rare opportunity of the view from the press boxes.

As we worked our way down and turned the handle to every door to see if there was anything of interest most of the time just a picture or two would do but at other times it would take a while to set up the lighting condition, get the right angle or to take many shots to capture the whole area. I was very thankful that Ronny's dad Ron remembered to bring a flash light as some places were as dark as caves. In the photo below Ronny's cousin Jeff and father kneed below Ronny's camera and held flashlights in the baseball teams field tunnels to help put lighting in places so the right picture could be taken.

At this point we had made our way through the ball park structure and out to the right field and decided we should take a group picture of us inside the park.

Ron, Ronny, Jeff, Jesse

We wondered across the baseball field for a bit then separated to explore on our own for a while. Like I said I will let Ronny tell about the Stadium through his pictures but I will share one that tugged at my heart at seeing how this place was becoming very over grown by vegetation.

We grouped up and explored some more as we worked ourselves back out the way we cam in and on our way Ronny's dad Ron asked me "how does it make you feel seeing Bush Stadium like this versus just maybe seeing it torn down with maybe a nice plague in the area" Wow I have never thought about it that way. I toke a few seconds to try to think about it, I answered in this way "it really pains me to see this place like this but coming here has brought back a lot of memories, even though it looks rough now I still can get perspective of how it was and I enjoy looking at all the places I sat at and remember almost vividly how the game looked in my memory from those spots. I think I would rather see it like this than standing looking at a plague in the area. So this here today is bitter-sweet ".

We departed the ball park at 3:20PM and I was amazed at all I had seen and learned about the park or never knew existed before. I thought it would only take us about a hour and a half to get through Bush Stadium and was amazed that we kept busy for the whole 4 hours and 20 minutes, it was never boring or dual. It was at that moment that I realized that I can see with more clarity of what drives Ronny in his photography and a bit more about him and now hopefully you do as well.

I would like to thank Ronny for sharing his passion of exploring and photography with me first hand, Ronny this expedition to Bush Stadium meant a lot to me in a way that I had no way of knowing before hand. I assure you Ronny that I will never forget this or the old memories that are now fresh in my mind again. From the bottom of my heart Thank-You my friend and I know my dad thanks you too.

Avatar/Jesse

[StalkerChick]

Thats amazing!! Can't wait to see Ronny's. I've also said the same thing to myself sometimes too seeing his pics (being the art major that i am ) how cool it would be to go see a place with him totally jealous and totally happy you guys had a great time!

[Gabe]

Growing up and now living here in Indy, I attended a great many games at the old Bush as a kid..while Victory Field is great (home of the Indians since 97), nothing can ever replicate the feel of an old ballpark. The City has had many discussions on what to do with the park, but the fact that it lies in an economically distressed area doesn't spur many redevelopment efforts. Most of Indy's downtown revitalization is now centered on the areas surrounding Lucas Oil Stadium (much like Conseco Fieldhouse did for the east side of downtown back when it opened in 99), so I very much doubt that the City will do anything with Bush for the forseeable future except to keep the homeless out and let nature slowly reclaim it.

[Gordon Bombay]

I hardly get the time to post here anymore, but I am grateful for the friends I've made through this site over the years. With them I've gotten to see and do some pretty awesome things. Jesse, thanks so much for your help on the Bush Stadium project! I loved the memory you shared at the end of your report. My photos and article are now up on Queen City Discovery:

Bush Stadium Update