Regular readers here know I am a baseball fan. And this year I have been a lucky one, already having been to four MLB games.
I posted in May about our weekend in D.C., when I got to see the Nationals play the Astros.
Memorial Day weekend we went to Atlanta (home of Older Son and family) and saw the Braves play the Miami Marlins. I have a friend who has connections with the Marlins, and he got tickets for us Friday night and Saturday afternoon right next to the Marlins' dugout, on the front row on the third base line. Older Son, Grandson Hank and I went with my buddy Friday night, and Wife, DIL and I went with him Saturday.
The next weekend, at the invitation of Older Son, I flew to Pittsburgh on Saturday morning and met Older Son and Grandson Hank for a game at PNC Park Saturday afternoon. Hank, already a baseball enthusiast at age four, played for a team called the Pirates this year, so his dad figured getting us to Pittsburgh to see the grownup Pirates play would be a great way to use some of his frequent flier points.
And let me tell you, we had a great time. Hank made it all nine innings for the game Saturday and loved every minute -- a great game the Pirates won with a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth.
The two of them stayed for a game Sunday afternoon. Because my original flight got canceled and I had to connect through Baltimore, I was unable to stay for that one. So it was a quick trip, but incredibly fun.
A couple of weekends ago, the grownup boys in my family (Older Son, Younger Son, SIL and yours truly) went to Phoenix to add another MLB park to the list of the ones we have visited. This tradition began with Older Son and me when he was eight years old. He has now visited 28 (out of 30) parks and I have visited 25. Younger Son and SIL have some catching up to do, but they're steadily making progress.
The tentative plan is for me to try and make up ground by visiting the two Bay Area parks (San Francisco and Oakland) and Miami (the venues Older Son has visited and I have not) sometime over the next two years. We will hopefully do our regular guys' trip next summer and go to L.A. Then we'll have the finale in Seattle the summer of 2024.
Phoenix was hot as all get-out -- 110 degrees. I've heard the argument about "dry heat," i.e. it's not so bad because it's not humid. I am not impressed with that. It was like an oven when one stepped outside. 110 is 110. (Fortunately, Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, has a retractable roof and was securely in the "covered" position.)
Our host for the weekend was our friend Adam, a young man who was friends with Older Son and SIL at Auburn and has become a good friend to our family. His wife stayed with (or fled to?) her parents nearby for the weekend as we took over their home. Adam was kind enough to have planned indoor activities when we were not at baseball games, including visits to an excellent tap room, a superb authentic Mexican restaurant and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
So yes, I've been a lucky fan this summer. And the fun continues! Wife and I have plans to meet some friends from Little Rock in St. Louis for a couple of Cardinals games at Busch Stadium in late August.
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| With Grandson Hank outside PNC Park in Pittsburgh |
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| Chase Field in Phoenix |
5 comments:
For once Bob, you totally lost me. I was evidently born without a single baseball gene.
It is nice to hear how Hank loves the game at such a young age and how you are supporting him. He's a lucky chap.
Ed — I totally understand. But thanks for reading and commenting! BTW, I have less than ten states left to visit in my quest to visit all 50, one of which is Iowa. My wife and I have tentative plans to attend the “Field of Dreams” game next summer. Tell me again how far that is from you?
The trip to Phoenix sounds great! You are like my husband as far as "hot is hot". I'm one for whom the humidity really makes a difference. It actually makes it hard for me to breathe. I base that on plenty of very hot, but low humidity trips to Las Vegas.
I'm rooting you on in the MLB park quest.
Isn't PNC Park one of the best! When I lived in Pittsburgh back in the late 80s, it was the only Three River Stadium, which wasn't much, just like others down the rive run Cincinnati and St. Louis, along with other cities around. But I like PNC Park. As for Phoenix and the heat, when I was in Utah, St. George had a minor league (Single A) team one year. It was so hot, the team went somewhere else.
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