Best Outdoor Sports Event

First place:

Richmond Flying Squirrels

301 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd.
359-3866
milb.com/richmond

Second place: Dominion Energy Riverrock

Third place: NASCAR

Richmonders love baseball. And the Richmond Flying Squirrels are our hometown minor league team, the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league team. Playing at the Diamond, the Squirrels got the memorable team name through a Richmond Times-Dispatch contest, with the winning entry submitted by Brad Mead of Prince George County. Last year, the team went 62-76, good for sixth place.

So what makes it a great outdoor sporting event? Well, apart from the fact that watching baseball on a nice day with beer and hot dogs at the ready is already pretty darn awesome, the attention to fan appreciation nights really helps. There are plentiful evenings to enjoy fireworks, mascot appearances, drink specials, pregame concerts, T-shirt giveaways, and of course, all those awesome bobble heads. Here in the Style office we still have an old Shaka Smart bobble head bequeathed by a former news editor, Scott Bass, but we really kind of need the upcoming Patrick Henry bobble head, available May 29 as the team takes on the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. On May 30, David “the Bullet” Smith Jr., better-known as the Human Cannonball, returns to Funnville to launch himself. Grateful Dead fans even get their own night — June 13 against the Harrisburg Senators — with a groove-filled concert by the Hashbury Collective. How can you deny Funnville?

But even bigger still: This summer the Squirrels are playing host to the Eastern League All-Star Game, which means a whole week of activities starting Sunday, July 7, with the mayor’s kickoff concert at Brown’s Island. The game itself is Wednesday, July 10.

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