Fargo, North Dakota.

It’s mid-May as this is being written, scheduled for publication on 7 June 2020.  By now, we would be looking forward to opening the season at a Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks game as they begin their 25th season. Our 13-game flex pack of tickets sits on the shelf above my desk proclaiming the opening game will be May 26 against the Lincoln Saltdogs. At this point, however, it’s not entirely sure that there will even be games this year. The league (American Association) in late April announced that the regular season has been postponed until the beginning of July, but that will depend upon the pandemic and whether or not it will be safe to have games where a large gathering of people will be allowed.

About the photo: This image was captured on July 6, 2019, in the early evening with the sun low on the western sky behind the stands at the left. The Saturday game started at 6 PM as usual, and this image was captured at the bottom of the 3rd inning, the Redhawks behind 2-1 to the Milwaukee Milkmen. Ultimately, the Redhawks came from behind with three runs in the bottom of the eighth to win 7-6. (The Internet is a wonderful thing, taking me only a few moments to find out the game results.) But I digress, the image was captured on a Samsung S7 cellphone at f/1.7, 1/2000 sec, ISO-50. Processed with Lightroom and Luminar 4, the image is augmented reality. In truth, the day was quite dreary with a thick layer of clouds. The only reason I knew where the sun was in the sky is the image timestamp. That dreary sky was replaced with one of my collection of skies. I might as well remember the day as a partly cloudy day.

John Steiner