Tonight’s game was the first of two Nolan Ryan owned teams in Texas. The Corpus Christi Hooks play their games at the recently built Whataburger Field, which is definitely one of the nicest ballparks we’ve been to on the Tour to date. Whataburger, headquartered in Corpus Christi, is a delicious fast food restaurant that specializes in serving genuinely real hamburgers, unlike those of other typical fast food burger joints. It has quickly become a favorite of mine in the short time we have been here in Texas.

The ballpark is located right on the waterfront and has a great view of the Harbor Bridge from almost anywhere. Inside the park, there is something for everyone. Kids can play on basketball courts, climb a rock wall, go behind right field, and so much more. The coolest feature of the stadium is the fact that it has a little league field built in behind center field. When I got there two local teams were finishing up their game, and got to watch the Hooks game afterwards. Did you know—Whataburger Field was built on the site of old cotton warehouses (source).

Back to Nolan Ryan—the fans go crazy for anything Nolan Ryan related. Tonight they were giving away a special edition Nolan Ryan Hall of Fame Angels figurine to the first 2,500 fans. By the time we got to the park at 6:15, all the figurines had been given away, almost an hour before the game!

During tonight’s game we weren’t able to do any fundraising but I was given the opportunity to go on the Hooks radio and talk about the Tour for an inning. Special thanks to Matt for giving me a tour of the ballpark and also for a sweet fitted Hooks hat, which has now become my official driving hat. So if you are ever in the Corpus Christi area, I definitely recommend checking out a game at Whataburger Field—it’s definitely one of the nicest ballparks in the Minors.