The Lincoln Saltdogs hosted the Gary Southshore RailCats on August 21 in front of nearly 7,000 fans at Haymarket Park. The Saltdogs plated eight runs on eight hits and a walk in the fifth inning to secure the win, but the highlight of the day came during the 26-minute eclipse delay.
The Saltdogs wore special black and white eclipse jerseys and stopped the game after the completion of the top of the third inning, just before 1 p.m., to watch the eclipse darken the sky. Spectators erupted in applause at 1:02 p.m. as the moon crawled in front of the sun until the whole sky looked like a late-evening sunset. The air turned chilly and went still.
Tickets were sold to fans as far away as California, Florida, New York and even as far as the United Kingdom and Germany. The first 3,500 fans through the gates received free eclipse viewing glasses courtesy of Kuglar Vision.
Saltdogs pitcher, J.R. Bunda whipped out his phone during the middle of the third inning and went live on Instagram so his family in Hawaii and friends around the world could experience the same thing as the 6,956 fans at Haymarket Park experienced. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all of us,” Bunda said. “To be one of the six professional baseball teams to be playing during this time and in a historic event where people all over the world are coming to this area. We all just tried to soak it in.”
Just outside of Haymarket Park several science departments from the University of Nebraska hosted a fair. Students and professors set up 3D models, telescopes, sunspotters and maps.