- Hey, Travs fans!

Welcome to Dickey Stephens Ballpark, home of the Arkansas Travelers.

Today, we're going to show you around Dickey Stephens Ballpark, tell you what it takes to host a professional baseball game and teach you a little bit about the Arkansas Travelers.

So come on, let's go check it out!

(upbeat music) Hey Travs fans, we're here in the ticket office and this is where every ticket is sold for the baseball game.

If you want to get in the gates, you got to have a ticket.

And we sell thousands of tickets for every game!

But this isn't where all the action happens, let's head down to the field.

Come on, let's go!

(upbeat music) Hey Travelers fans, we're here down on the field, mowing the grass and getting everything ready for you to show up as a fan, but there's still a lot of work to do.

So why don't we talk to our superintendent for over 40 years, Greg Johnston, and find out what it takes to make a baseball game happen.

- [Lance] We're here with Greg, our superintendent, and Dizzy, our ballpark dog, to find out what it takes to make a baseball game work.

So Greg, what all do you need to do to get ready for a game day?

- Well, we have all kinds of stuff we have to do.

We need to mow the grass every day.

We get to play out here in the dirt and get the dirt ready everyday and get good and dusty and muddy.

We get to take care of light towers, and scoreboards and take care of all the stands where people have been the night before and they've thrown their paper down and all the trash.

We have to clean all that up and get it ready so it's a nice clean ballpark when people come in.

We need to clean the dugouts out and get them ready.

And when it gets real hot, we get to go play in a splash pad out here that nobody else is here to play in and Dizzy gets to go out there and run through the splash pads or else he can chase this baseball.

- Well, there he goes.

Great job Dizzy!

Now while Dizzy chases that ball, why don't we go check out the dugouts?

Come on!

(upbeat music) Hey Travelers fans, welcome to the dugout.

This is where the players hang out during the baseball game.

It's called the dugout because as you can see, it's dug out below the field.

This is where they wait until they go on the field to play baseball or to bat.

You want to know an interesting fact about the floor in the dugout?

It's made of rubber!

Why would it be made of rubber?

Because the baseball players wear cleats and their cleats would clank and make a lot of noise and hurt their ankles.

So now, you know a secret about the dugout.

Next time you come to the ballpark, you can share it with your friends.

Pretty cool, huh?

All right.

Let's head on to the museum.

(upbeat music) The Arkansas Travelers were founded in 1901 as The Travelers.

We've been playing baseball in Little Rock for over 120 years, but it wasn't until 1957 that the Arkansas Travelers became the first professional team in history to take the name of a state and be called the Arkansas Travelers.

(upbeat music) If you want to find out more about the rich history of the Arkansas Travelers, visit the museum here at Dickey Stephens Ballpark.

(upbeat music) (crowd cheering) Hey friends, it's game day and the ballpark is open!

The grass is mowed and looks beautiful.

The white lines are striped.

The cotton candy and popcorn is ready and the fans are cheering.

(crowd cheering) (clapping and cheering) - Yeah.

- That's one of my favorite parts about the ballpark is the sounds!

Come on, let's go check out some ballpark sounds.

The fans in the stands.

- Hey batta batta, hey batta batta, swing batta batta!

- [Lance] The concession stands.

- Cotton candy!

- [Lance] The sound of the organ.

(organ playing) (clap, clap) The crack of the bat.

(crowd cheering) The roar of the crowd.

Sounds of laughter (laughing) and disappointment (crowd boos and groans) And my favorite thing, Arkansas Travelers fans having a great time.

- Go, Travs!

- Hey friends, it was a great day here at the ballpark.

We hope that you learned a lot about what makes a baseball park happen and had fun doing it.

I hope to see you and your friends out here at the ballpark soon at a Travelers game.

But now, I've got to get back to work!

See you later.

Go Travs!