For as long as I can remember having memories of anything at all, I remember baseball. I remember watching my brother play down at the fields next to what would one day be my elementary school. I remember running to the concession stands for Bottlecaps and red ropes, Otter Pops and nachos. I remember little league, and I remember the Major Leagues...long weekend summer afternoons spent in the bleachers at the Dodgers games, cracking open peanut shells and waiting for The Wave to come our way.
I've been waiting for today for some time now. It's not that it couldn't have happened at any time, it's just that I wanted my son to be able to enjoy it at least in some sense. And since he can now hit a ball off a tee (this isn't something I've been grooming him for, btw. I'm not one of those crazy parents. I just saw the little t-ball set at Target and thought he may like it, my Dad showed him how to stand and to swing, and he took it from there. Whacking those brightly colored whiffle balls is one of his favorite things to do), knows the tune and some of the words to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," and can properly distinguish baseballs from footballs and soccer balls, it was time for
Today's New Activity: Introducing Monkey to Major League Baseball
Although I will forever be a Dodgers fan, I like having a local team to root for, and since supporting the Giants is out of the question, I've adopted the Oakland A's. It's great because the Coliseum is just 3 BART stops north of where I live, and since the A's are still a blue collar (er, green collar) team with reasonable ticket prices, I can afford to make it to games here and there. Even better, though, is when free tickets magically appear, as they did for today's game. My Dad was able to get tickets through a woman who works for the A's and was trying to sell my Dad's company season tickets. It turns out that when selling season tickets is your goal, you make sure those freebies are good ones:
We were 8 rows behind home plate. Best seats I've ever had!
This was the scene before the game started:
It was Breast Cancer Awareness day at the game, and they'd invited woman who'd faced and beaten breast cancer to celebrate on the field. Another survivor sang the Star Spangled Banner, and for the first time ever in my life, hearing that song brought tears to my eyes. It was the combination of the woman's beautiful voice, the strength and courage of all the women on the field, the idea "survivor," and the fact that I was sharing this beautiful day with my parents and my son. He was held rapt by the song too, listening intently and watching with curiosity when the song ended and the women released hundreds of balloons into the air (I'm sure he was wondering why on earth, if you had a balloon, you would ever let it go!)
When the Seattle Mariners came up to bat at the top of the first inning, Monkey was seated in his own seat between my Mom and me. She said, "Monkey look! Batter up!" (that's a phrase he's learned by now), and with that he saw his very first pitch. First ever. I was so happy to be there for it. I was so happy it was a strike :) And the whole game was great. There were lots of strikeouts but also lots of hits. He saw a homerun, some flubbed catches, wild pitches, tons of foul balls heading our way into the bleachers, and some great fan catches.
He also saw something I've never even seen in all the hundreds of baseball games I've watched: A batter had to end his at-bat prematurely because he was injured, but he hadn't been hit by a pitch. He'd simply overextended when swinging and missing, and it must have been really bad because he was writhing in pain as if he'd just been beamed in the elbow (another thing Monkey did see with an earlier batter). The whole stadium sat there wondering what happens in that case. It didn't seem fair to let a DH in for him, since that would kind of encourage fake injuries for that very purpose toward the end of the game when the starters are getting tired. But that's exactly what they did. And then, after the 10 minute delay of game, that guy struck out. Good thing: he was a Mariner :)
I'd been excited all day for the 7th Inning Stretch and a chance for my son to hear a whole stadium full of people singing the song we learned. When the moment came, he was like a deer in the headlights. My Mom joked that it was like he thought we'd talked all these people into singing just for him, and he was so thrilled he didn't know what to do. Rather than singing along, he just swayed with me with a frozen smile on his face, trying to understand what had happened.
He was, of course, introduced to ball park food in the form of a pretzel, nachos, peanuts, and Minute Maid frozen lemonade. No complaints in that area.
We got to see a few good rallies. That's always exciting...the chance to feel the stadium come alive.
Over all it was a wonderful day. And witnessing a rare A's win was the icing on the cake. Or was the icing this scarf giveaway in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness?
Maybe there was just a lot of icing to go around. Next year I'm going to enroll Monkey in the A's Kids Club, which will get him a hat, a bunch of coupons, and the assurance that we'll be spending a lot more time watching baseball and eating...omygosh, that reminds me! We never got him Crackerjack! There's always next season...
Posts from November 2013-November 2014 are part of The Manzanita Project, a joint effort of Kevin Wiseman and me. Each week, I write a post and he draws a sketch (unrelated). We're trying our hand at co-creation.
Showing posts with label A's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A's. Show all posts
9.05.2011
7.15.2011
The GGA Project -- Day # 216 "Not-So-Blue-Collar Beverage"
Just after the MLB All-Star break, I'd yet to go to a baseball game this season! It's not like I've been a regular attendee these past few years, up here and so far from my beloved (bankrupted) Dodgers, but I now live SO close to my 2nd favorite team--the Oakland A's--that it's ridiculous I hadn't traveled the 4 stops up Bart to see them yet.
A few weeks ago my friend Brian and I started planning to get to a game, and tonight's game against the (so-called) Los Angeles Angels was the chosen one. A short drive to his house and we're then only a 3-minute walk and only two Bart stops away from the Coliseum. I LOVE being able to take public transportation to sporting events! I got there and we chilled for a little while, then headed out the door and were walking through the stadium gates within 20 minutes. Perfect!
It was Bring Your Dog to the Game day, so there were tons of adorable mutts trotting around with various types of A's gear on. So cute!
One thing that I love about the A's is that they are still a blue-collar team. Ticket prices are still affordable (made even more so by a 2-for-1 voucher), as is food. And while I'm all for keeping to ballpark food at the ballpark, my vegetarian diet limits that to the choice of nachos or other snacks, but I hadn't had dinner. So I went for a pretty decent veggie dog, which is--I suppose--as close as I'll ever get again to a true ballpark meal.
A few innings later I lost a bet on racing dots on the big screen to Brian with a round of beers at stake. Here is where the sticking-to-ballpark-fare takes a turn and wherein comes
Today's New Activity: Plastic Cup o Widmer
Our tickets were pretty close to a loungy, enclosed restaurant area that featured a full bar. Not only was the wait much shorter than that for the regular concessions, there were more beers on tap to choose from. A true purest would have gone for Bud at the ballpark, but I prefer to drink decent beer whenever possible. I'd never tried Widmer (which has the option of being served with a lemon, though I skipped that), but Brian described it as light and wheaty, so I went for it.
It was just that: light and wheaty, and tasty. The only problem was that I woke up feeling sick Friday morning, which only got worse throughout the day. I fought through it because I really wanted to get to the game, but I'm not sure I tasted the beer's full flavor as a result. It was good anyway.
Brian was a great choice of game buddy. You just never know when you go to a sporting event with somebody. While it would be boring to sit in silence through a game, no matter how into it you are, it can also be annoying when people feel the need to comment incessantly. I like a good mix of paying attention to the game and talking with whomever I've come with about matters related or not to the action in front of us. Brian seemed to be on the same wavelength. We caught all the important action but also had plenty of time to discuss whatever and just catch up. I was also able to forget that I was feeling sick during that time. Mad props for good company! And then...the A's won. Woo hoo!!
It was a great night all the way around.
It was Bring Your Dog to the Game day, so there were tons of adorable mutts trotting around with various types of A's gear on. So cute!
One thing that I love about the A's is that they are still a blue-collar team. Ticket prices are still affordable (made even more so by a 2-for-1 voucher), as is food. And while I'm all for keeping to ballpark food at the ballpark, my vegetarian diet limits that to the choice of nachos or other snacks, but I hadn't had dinner. So I went for a pretty decent veggie dog, which is--I suppose--as close as I'll ever get again to a true ballpark meal.
A few innings later I lost a bet on racing dots on the big screen to Brian with a round of beers at stake. Here is where the sticking-to-ballpark-fare takes a turn and wherein comes
Today's New Activity: Plastic Cup o Widmer
Our tickets were pretty close to a loungy, enclosed restaurant area that featured a full bar. Not only was the wait much shorter than that for the regular concessions, there were more beers on tap to choose from. A true purest would have gone for Bud at the ballpark, but I prefer to drink decent beer whenever possible. I'd never tried Widmer (which has the option of being served with a lemon, though I skipped that), but Brian described it as light and wheaty, so I went for it.
It was just that: light and wheaty, and tasty. The only problem was that I woke up feeling sick Friday morning, which only got worse throughout the day. I fought through it because I really wanted to get to the game, but I'm not sure I tasted the beer's full flavor as a result. It was good anyway.
Brian was a great choice of game buddy. You just never know when you go to a sporting event with somebody. While it would be boring to sit in silence through a game, no matter how into it you are, it can also be annoying when people feel the need to comment incessantly. I like a good mix of paying attention to the game and talking with whomever I've come with about matters related or not to the action in front of us. Brian seemed to be on the same wavelength. We caught all the important action but also had plenty of time to discuss whatever and just catch up. I was also able to forget that I was feeling sick during that time. Mad props for good company! And then...the A's won. Woo hoo!!
It was a great night all the way around.
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