Looking like something from the set of “The Road Warrior”, the cold metal of trucks that haven’t run on their own since well into the last century sit quietly outside the fence at Dudy Noble Field, biding their time. Not only do these old-timers carry hundreds of custom made bleacher seats on their rusty backs, they also carry on a tradition that began over four decades ago.
The Left Field Lounge is the name of the barbecues and bleachers that line the boardwalk around the outfield wall at Dudy Noble, and embodies so much fan passion that it earned a No. 15 spot in Sports Illustrated’s list, “The 100 Things You’ve Gotta Do Before You Graduate (Whatever the Cost).” Also putting the Lounge in a high spot on a list – number one in fact – is ESPN Magazine, who last year named the spot “the country’s best tailgating experience” in all sports.
Could two heavyweights of sports journalism be wrong? What is it about the Lounge that makes it the best place to enjoy college baseball in the whole country?
Senior civil engineering student Nelson McGough said he thinks he knows.
“It’s got character,” he says. “That’s what it’s all about.”
McGough and his fellow Phi Delta Theta fraternity brothers were hard at work trying to get their custom-built four-level deck on a trailer positioned in their reserved spot in right field on Saturday. But the near-freezing temperatures and wet ground worked against them, and the guys spent all afternoon trying to wrestle it into place.
“We’ve been manhandling it all day and it didn’t seem to help a whole lot,” he said. “We even had 4x4s running through the bottom and we tried doing it Egyptian-slave style.”
McGough said the tall structure was the first the fraternity had built from scratch in several years.
“It’s not even completely done,” he said. “We’ve got to put a railing across the top. We were going to build a staircase today, but it doesn’t look like we’ll have enough daylight. Hopefully it will last long enough to where it can get some stories and decorations and stuff. This one, since it’s wood, if we take care of it, we can probably get 10 years out of it.”
With 25 minutes left to go before the 5 p.m. deadline to get moved in, the guys decided to unhook the trailer from their truck and gingerly muscle it into place by hand.
Junior communication major Garrett Guynes surveyed the situation, and knowing time was running low, said he was braced for the worst.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said with a nervous smile. “But this is probably the best possible time for you to be here because something really, really bad is about to happen.”
The 5 p.m. deadline is part of the university’s way of dealing with the nearly 75 prized spots around the outfield which are rented out every season. MSU sets aside a couple of days before the season starts for reservation holders to move their trailers and vehicles into place. Many of the vehicles are actually old non-working trucks that have found a new lease on life as a rolling delivery system for the tailgating terraces. When the season starts, the Lounge becomes one continuous tailgate, where visitors share food, fun and a mutual love for baseball.
Famed author and MSU alumnus John Grisham wrote the introduction for the book Inside Dudy Noble: A Celebration of Mississippi State Baseball about his time as a student at MSU and Dudy Noble, and said that the draw for him was that he could step into the Left Field Lounge and out of all the day-to-day hassles, and just enjoy a good baseball game.
“It’s a wonderful place to unwind,” he said in the introduction. “Regardless of wins and losses, I always feel better when I leave Dudy Noble than when I arrive. There are few places of which this can be said.”
Junior catcher Cody Freeman said the fans are what make the Lounge so special.
“Those guys are our true fans, and they’re there whether it’s warm or cold, winning or losing,” he said. “I didn’t really understand all of it when I was younger, but I’ve really grown to appreciate each of them. After games they will invite us out to just hang out and eat the food they cooked during the game. They treat us like family. They make baseball at Mississippi State special.”
As inviting as the Lounge is for Mississippi State players, it can be intimidating to opposing teams. McGough said one of the most exciting features of the right field side is its proximity to the other teams.
“We’re over here right next to the other teams’ bullpen,” he said. “So we can heckle them, but it’s just for fun. They’re usually pretty good sports about it.”
The Phi Delta guys finally got their trailer in place, just in time to beat the deadline, and with almost no trouble. The only drama happened when someone came out and yelled at them because an e-mail had been sent out saying not to move in to right field until the ground dried. The surprised fraternity brothers said they never got the message.
But, they got their trailer in anyway, and just as McGough had hoped, it looks like it already collected its first Left Field Lounge story.