Memphis, home of the Redbirds, and more notably—Elvis Presley. And wouldn’t you know it, tonight was Elvis Presley Night at the ballpark tonight, to help kickoff Elvis week in Memphis. Being the biggest night for the Redbirds, we didn’t do anything tonight except for hang out in the press box. Over 15,000 fans packed into Autozone Park, which is really one of the nicest stadiums we’ve been to so far on this trip. Being a Triple-A ballpark, it reminds you of a smaller version of an MLB stadium, complete with two tier seating, club seats, and general admission seating. It is also by far the most expensive minor league stadium ever built, costing an approximate $80 million to develop.

While I was there, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Rick Ankiel, the former Cardinal pitcher turned power-hitter who played for the Redbirds. Unfortunately a few days before the Tour got to Memphis, Ankiel was called up to the Cardinals. Before he was called up, the former pitcher had hit 32 homers and knocked in 89 runs for Memphis. Sure enough, in his first game back in the Majors, Ankiel hit a homerun and added two more a few days later for the St. Louis Cardinals. You can read more about his story here.

Some interesting facts about AutoZone Park: It features the largest video board in minor league baseball, a 23-by-30 foot screen. The video board can produce 16.2 million different colors and is 127 feet (or 13 stories) above the playing field. Also, some 350 tons of clay and 5,000 tons of sand were used to build the playing field. 100,000 square feet of sod cover the outfield. Whoa! No wonder this place cost $80 million to build.