Monday, August 04, 2008

Day 6 - Redux

One of the things I have longed dreamed about was taking my son to the ballpark and teaching him all about baseball. Like my father did for MD and me, I want baseball to be something we can share. Going to games was "our thing." There was nobody I'd rather be at the ballpark with then my dad and brother. I know Andrew is not even two years old yet, but I've been dying to take him to a game down at the Jake. Now I'm not talking nine innings here right off the bat. I'm figuring 3-4 innings at this age and we should be all good. And, as a wise friend once told me about having young kids, "its all about activities."

Leah and I are planning of taking Andrew to his first Indians game in on Saturday August 16th against the Angels. Its a 4 PM start, so perfect for his post-nap activity. I figure we go about 4:30, stay for as long as he lasts and come home. So I decided to give him a trial run.

When the Indians traded CC Sabathia to the Brewers, the key guy they got back was AA stud Matt Laporta. He was going to be playing in Akron for the Tribe's AA affiliate, the Aeros, which is about 40 minutes from here. My friend Jeremy and I decided we had to go see him play. So we settled on a Sunday afternoon game. He'd take his oldest daughter Stella who is 4, and I'd take Andrew. The games start there at 2. We went after Andrew woke up from his nap, around 2:40. We got there in the 4th inning.

Lets just say it was the perfect warm up. Amazingly, when we sat, Andrew sat on my lap quietly for two innings, burying Goldfish one by one. Stella is an amazing little girl. You can tell she is a big sister. She was so good with Andrew. Here is the rundown of how the activity went down:

1. The tickets were $10. Jer had a coupon, buy one, get one free. You can't beat that deal. Love minor league action.

2. Jer and I held Stella's hands while walking into beautiful Canal Park in the heart of downtown Akron.

3. Stella went to the bathroom while Andrew scoped out the stadium from my shoulders.

4. We sat for 2 innings, while Andrew scarfed a bag of goldfish and clapped every time the crowd did.

5. Stella enjoyed the ice cream sandwich race, a takeoff of the Sausage race in Milwaukee.

6. We got up to get Stella some ice cream and roamed out to right field, where nobody was sitting or standing because of the sun.

7. We hit the team shop, where Andrew and Stella tried on purple Aeros wigs. Stella
decided between the white rubber baseball and a stuffed Orbit doll. She got the ball.

8. Stella couldn't decide between Dippin Dots and real Ice Cream. I ended up getting her some rainbow ice cream and we watched Andrew run in the right field concourse. (SIDE NOTE - having they been calling Dippin Dots "Ice Cream of the future" for like 20 years? Still hasn't caught on. I don't get it either.)

9. Stella and Andrew played a pseudo game of tag in the right field concourse.

10. The four of us watched some dudes warm up in the pen from atop the bullpen.

11. We left.

Two things of note. Normally I never forget my camera and would not miss this opportunity, but for some reason, I did. I'm real pissed about it too, especially since Andrew was so good, as was Stella. Also, when we set this up, it was originally to get a glimpse of Laporta. That didn't happen. He left four days earlier to play in the US Olympic Baseball team.

Regardless, we had a great time and now Andrew is ready for some big league baseball. Lord knows his father subjects him to enough on television.

---------

Of to Chicago this weekend with the fam. I'm sure we will have good stories and photos. I know Saturday afternoon we are hitting Hot Doug's with Gregg and the kids. Andrew and Gregg's son Benjamin are set for the big Duck Fat Fry eating contest! May the best less-than-two year old win!

---------

Rafael Perez should finish out the year closing for the Tribe. He was lights-out tonight.

No comments: