Results tagged ‘ Ken Griffey Jr. ’
Baseball Roadtrip ’08, Day 1: Cardinals at Reds (8/15/08)
Last August, I did an entry summarzing The (First Annual) Great Cook Grandfather-Father-Son Baseball Road Trip. The purpose of doing so was to give some background and context for the Second Annual Roadtrip that took me, Tim and my dad through Chicago, Minnesota and Milwaukee in August 2009. Those entries were just a combination of emails I sent to family members while we were on our first roadtrip. Now, its time to do actual game updates for those four games.
After I got off work on August 14, 2008, my dad (Jim), Tim and I packed into the car and drove to Washington, Pennsylvania where we spent the night at a KOA. Over the next five days, we would visit Great American Ball Park in Cinncinati, the Louisville Slugger factory in Kentucky, Progessive Field in Cleveland, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
We woke up on the morning of August 15, 2008, and packed up our stuff to head to Great American Ball Park…
…as my dad packed his stuff, Tim stomped around the campground exploring and hit some whiffle balls off of his Tee.
I’d been watching the Reds on TV since Griffey was traded to Cincinnati, so I knew exactly where we had to go for dinner before the game…
…Skyline Chili was right on the way as we walked from our hotel to the ball park. If you like cheddar cheese, this is the place for you.
Downtown Cinncinati slopes down toward the Ohio River, the Ohio-Kentucky border…
…and Great American Ball Park.
Now, in the grand scheme of all of the new stadiums, I had heard that Great American Ball Park was nothing special. But, you know what, I really liked it. Its no Camden Yards or Safeco Field, but it had a special feel of its own. In fact, I almost felt like it was a Major Leauge size minor league ball park. That’s not meant to be insulting. What I mean is that it sort fo felt *quaint* — maybe it was because we sat in the RF bleachers with the big steam boat nearby in CF and the river behind us. Anyway, I liked it a lot.
As we approached the main entrance of the ballpark, we found a statute of Ted Kluszewski and a big banner thanking Griffey for his 600th homerun…
Tim monkeyed around in the grass between Griff and Kluszewski…
…and practiced his power stroke.
Sixteen days before this game, Griffey was traded to the Chicago White Sox. We’d planned to sit right behind him in RF.
By the way, I didn’t write an entry about it because Tim wasn’t with me, but after missing seeing Griffey’s 600th homerun in Philadelphia, a buddy from high school and I saw Griff’s 601st homerun at Yankee Stadium during interleague play.
With no Griffey in sight, I was all about seeing Albert Pujols do something special in this game. As we entered the park, Albert was standing right there behind home plate speaking with Edinson Volquez…
…a few minutes later, Volquez walked into the Reds dugout just below me and Tim. All I had on me was a cheap plasticy ball we bought on our way to play catch with on the trip. Anyway, Volquez and some other unidentified Red signed it.
We headed out to the seats in RF to watch some BP. It was pretty packed out there. Tim and I squeezed into the first row and my dad hung back a row or two behind. We were having no luck. Then, on what I think was the final pitch of BP, someone hit a ball off the wall right in front of us. As it bounced off of the wall, all of the Cardinals started to run toward their dugout. But reliever Chris Perez turned around to grab that ball. He grabbed it and started running back toward the field. Then everyone yelled at him. He turned around. The 20-something guy next to us and I both pointed at Tim. Perez fired the ball over to us.
Yes!
It was the first ball Tim had got this season.
With Tim’s new baseball in hand, we headed to the concourse behind 1B and made our way over the Reds Hall of Fame:
As Team Halls of Fame go, this one probably sets the standard. It is excellent.
Along the far end of the Reds HOF (closest to the outfield and Ohio River), there is a wall of 4,256 baseballs representing Pete Rose’s record-setting career hit total.
The balls cover the wall the entire way as you ascend three flights of stairs. If you click on that picture to enlarge it, you will see that the balls are all game (or at least BP) used. They are all dirty and scuffed with bat marks. Its an excellent visual representation of Rose’s hit record.
The Reds HOF is packed with jerseys, bats, gloves, and shoes with little descriptions of the Reds Hall of Famers.
I was happy to see a Ken Griffey, Sr. jersey in there. I’m a big proponent of team Halls of Fame. I think the Baseball Hall of Fame should be reserved for the super-elite, best of the best of the best of the best. Some peopel refer to “inner circle” Hall of Famers. To me, the “inner circle” should be the entire Hall of Fame. If a player is borderline, if an “argument” mut be made for a player’s candidacy to the Baseball Hall of Fame. I think that means that player is not a Hall of Famer.
But that doesn’t mean there is no place for such players. If a player can’t make the Baseball Hall of Fame after years on the ballot. No problem, those players can still be remembered forever by the people to whom they were most important in their respective team’s hall of fame. Anyway, those are my two cents.
And anyone lucky enough to make it into the Reds HOF should be very pleased, indeed, this place is spectacular.
Check out this great picture they have on the wall of the members of the Reds HOF:
Do you see Ken Griffey, Sr! He’s almost right in the middle. And he’s not just in the Reds HOF, we’ll see him again before the end of this entry.
Like a Safeco Field, they have a fake wall where you can pretend to pick-off homeruns. Unlike Safeco Field, the Reds offer a variety of gloves from past and present. Check out the sweet piece of leather I picked in the picture below:
Hey, Ken Griffey, Jr. was represented in there as well…
…they had a little kids club house type area with little lockers with little jerseys they could wear and slides and things to climb. In another area, they had a mock *man cave* full of stuff the ultimate Reds fan my have in his den. Check out this picture of Ken Griffey, Jr. Notice anything odd?
He signed it “George K. Griffey, Jr.” I have never seen him do that before.
Soon, it was game time. I took this panaramic view from our seats in RF.
I bought these tickets literally the second they went on sale…in February or March or 2008…and the best they could give us in RF (where I was hoping Griffey might hit a homerun) was 3 rows from the top of the bleachers.
In to top of the first, Pujols popped out. But the Cards scored two runs on a homerun by Rick Ankiel.
Then, in the bottom of the first, I got this picture just as Reds rookie Chris Dickerson hit his first career homerun.
The ball landed in the Cardinals bullpen just below the glass partition to the left of the picture.
After Dickerson’s homerun, I tried to zoom in for a picture of Albert Pujols, but this is the best my old camera could do:
Next, it was time to go get some ice cream helmets. I headed out toward centerfield…
…but didn’t find any cream helmets until I made it all the way around to behind home plate. So I ended up doing a full loop of the ballpark. I’m sure the wait made Tim appreciate the ice cream even more:
I took this random shot of the LF seats and the scoreboard.
The scoreboard seems sort of short, doesn’t it? Its really wide, but not very tall at all.
After we finished our ice cream, we headed back toward home plate because I saw some ballpark artwork I wanted to photograph while I had my hands full of ice cream helmets. Here they are, two big mosaics of the .
Above is the 1869 Red Stockings, which according to Wikipedia were the first “openly professional” baseball team. Below, is the Big Red Machine from the 1970s…including short-time Mariner and father of a future Hall of Famer, Ken Griffey.
Back to the game, in the top of the third, Pujols hit a ground rule double. The first of two doubles and three total hits on the evening. By the end of the third, a bulk of the scoring for the game was done. The Cardinals were winning 4-2. Each team would score only one more run.
Late in the game, I ventured out in search of some pizza and took some more ballpark pictures. Here is Great American Ball Park from foul territory in the LF corner.
Our seats are all the way across in the top corner of the RF bleachers.
Here are two more pictures:
To the right, a view of the extra wide concourse in foul territory down the 3B line. To the left, a picture of the Cardinals bullpen. Directly across the field I have circled in yellow the big open concourse pictured to the right.
After taking that shot of the bullpen, I turned to the right at took two more pictures:
To the right, my dad in our seats up above the cardinals bullpen. To the left, I backed up a bit and got a shot showing a little more of the standing room area down the RF line.
And when we were over there, we ran into a local celebrity, Rosie Red…
…I tried to also find Mr. Redlegs for a photo-op, but he was nowhere to be found. The pictures to him above to the left are from earlier in the game.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, the Cardinals brought in Chris Perez. He gave up one hit, but struck out two to secure the win for the Cards and the save for himself.
After the game, they shooed us out of the OF seats. He relocated into the infield seats, where I took a couple more random stadium shots…
…we got a group shot of the roadtrippers…
…and then we settled into the seats for Tim’s first firework show of his life…
…it was an amazing firework show. And an outstanding first day of our first roadtrip.
Tim would fall asleep on my shoulders as we walked back to our hotel.
Sitting On 599 & Eating Ice Cream
On June 2, 2008, the stars appeared to be aligning themselves for something wonderful. I’d been watching with anticipation the past month. I saw the possibility. But could it really happen?
Then the day arrived.
Ken Griffey, Jr. and the Cinncinati Reds arrived in Philadelphia. It would be Tim’s first opportunity in his life to see my all-time favorite player. And if Griffey could connect for a homerun, it would be his historic 600th blast. It all seemed too good to be true!
Sadly, it was.
I questioned whether the Reds would sit Griff so he could hit number 600 in Cinncinati. But the Reds had 7 more games before returning to Cinncinati. There was no way he would sit 7 games.
At this point, Tim was not quite 2-and-a-half years old. He really wasn’t good for BP and a full game yet. That was just too much. But, we headed down to Philadelphia early for this one. I wanted to maximize our time in Griff’s presence. But when the Reds took the field for BP, Griff was nowhere to be seen. This wasn’t promising for our chances of seeing number 600.
In fact, it ended up that Griff’s knee was acting up. He was not in the line-up.
Anyway, as I said, Tim wasn’t really a BP guy yet. So we did a little touring around the ballpark before the game…
He pushed his stroller all the way up the winding ramps up to the upper deck in the RF foul corner. I took this shot as we turned the final bend in the ramps. That’s Lincoln Financial Field in the background.
I think this was Tim’ first time ever being in an upper deck of a ballpark. He was a little *iffy* about it. I’m not sure if it was because he was uncomfortable being up so high or if it was because the sun was blazing down in our eyes.
So we asked a nice patron to take our picture…
…and then we headed for lower grounds.
We got some french fries and found a nice spot behind Section 106 at one of the many standing counters ringing the field level at Citizens Bank Park…
Tim was much happier back on the field level. So we waited for the start of the game (and confirmation that Griffey would not be playing).
Seeing Griff play and getting a chance to witness No. 600 was the entire reason we attended this week-night game. With our hopes and dreams for the night spoiled (he would not even pinch hit), we needed to make the night special in some other way.
So, sitting behind Section 137 at Citizens Bank Park, we started a grand tradition…
…we shared Tim’s first ever ice cream helmet!!!
Do you notice there is an extra spoon in the helmet? This being Tim’s first ice cream helmet, he had not yet realized they were too good to share with his dear old dad.
I’d been watching the Reds pretty regularly for 8 seasons by this point (solely to watch Griff), so I was pretty familiar with their team. While standing down the LF foul line in Section 137, it was a straight shot out to Adam Dunn.
In Griffey’s world, Dunn was to the Reds what Buhner was to the Mariners: Griff’s friend and big Texan power hitting neighbor in the outfield.
That last picture was taken in the bottom of the first inning and the Phils were already getting business started. After Shane Victorino singled with one out, Chase Utley staked the Phillies to a 2-0 lead with a 2-run homerun.
For about an inning and a half, it was as if there was no game being played at all.
Tim was lost in the chocolate-vanilla swirled goodness of his first ice cream helmet.
After Tim finished his ice cream, we headed over to the home plate area, a little off toward first base, so we could get a peak into the Reds dugout…
…we couldn’t find Griff in there. Yep, on the Griff-front, the night was a total bust. But we had fun nonetheless.
Tim loves the kids playset at Citizens Bank Park. In the 18 MLB ballparks Tim and I have visited, I’m pretty sure that it is objectively the best play area…
…at some point, I always find Tim cranking on that wheel up on the second level.
By the way, for perspective for anyone who hasn’t visited Citizens Bank Park, those steel beams above Tim in that picture are supporting the winding walk way up to the upper deck where Tim was pictured above with Lincoln Financial Field in the background. The play area is just to the outfield side of the main 1B side entrance to Citizen Bank Park.
Back to the game, in the top of the 4th inning, as Tim played in the play area, I watched on the Dads’ flatscreen TV as rookie Jay Bruce (the man who was playing RF in Griffey’s place) hit his third career homerun in this third career game.
We headed back out to the field level for the bottom of the 4th in time to see Pedro Feliz (2-run) and Chris Coste (solo) hit back-to-back homeruns off of Bronson Arroyo…
…Tim cheered on as he ate cotton candy (it was a high calorie night for Cook & Son), as the Phillies took a 5-1 lead.
Late in the game, Tim wanted to play around in the field level concourse. I snapped this picture of him hiding in a steel beam…
…he always enjoys standing in these things at Citizens Bank Park. He enjoys the little things in life.
We also ran into three nice ushers out in the concourse who each gave Tim a little souvenir: a Philly Phanatic figurine, a little wood baseball bat keychain, and a Cole Hamels baseball card that was magically pulled from behind Tim’s ear.
Between a solo shot by Juan “Fireworks” Encarnacion in the fifth and a 2-run double by Dunn in the sixth, the Reds would score three more runs on the night, but Coste’s homerun would be enough for the Phillies. In the bottom of the ninth, Brad Lidge nailed down the save 1-2-3 with two strike outs. On June 2nd, Lidge’s ERA was still only 0.75.
Over the next two days, without Tim, I’d make two more efforts at witnessing Griff’s 600th homerun. But he rode the bench both days. His knee was still bothering him. He pinch hit late in each game and walked twice on a combined 9 pitches. I only saw him swing the bat once between the two games. Both at-bats were incredibly intense. The whole stadium was on its feet. Philadelphia fans can be rude and crude and mean. But I was extremely proud of them at these games. They understood they had the chance to see history and I think a lot of them wanted it to happen despite the fact it would have been terrible for the Phillies in both games. At the end of the final game of the series (the only game I didn’t attend and the only one Griffey played), the entire stadium gave Griffey a standing ovation.
Sadly, he went on to hit his 600th homerun in South Florida before a pathetic and heartless crowd. It should have happened before one of those great sell-out crowds in Philadelphia, but at least his wife and kids were able to be there for the historic blast in Florida.
Kicking Off 2008 With a Brutal Mariners Loss (4/6/08)
Hope springs eternal in the month of April. And entereing April 2008, I was hopeful that the Mariners were about to embark on a successful campaign in the AL West. And I was happy to be there at the beginning of it all. For the first weekend of the 2008 season, the Mariners were in Baltimore and that is where we met up with them on April 6, 2008.
As we approached the field for the first time of the season…
…Tim was brimming with excitement.
Soon after we arrived, the Camden Yards grounds crew removed the tarp from the field…
…and we were in business for the 2008 baseball season.
With no batting practice taking place, we took the opportunity to get a family picture by the LF foul pole:
And Tim was all smiles and giggles as he looked through the foul pole to the beautiful baseball field:
Before the game started, Tim checked out one of our favorite spots at Camden Yards…
…the marker plaque where Ken Griffey, Jr. hit a ball off of the warehouse.
Then we headed over to our seats in centerfield:
We attended this game with some of Tim’s best friends. All told, our group was about 15 people. So Tim was extra excited throughout the whole game.
And even better, Felix Hernandez was dealing like crazy on the mound. In his second start of the season, he pitched 8 scoreless innings, gave up only 5 hits, struck out 6 and maintained his flawless 0.00 ERA.
To go along with King Felix’s mastery, Raul Ibanez put together a 3-4 day at the plate including his first homerun of the season to help lead the Mariners offense.
Everything was looking great, and Tim (and I) was having a blast…
…as the games progressed, he just kept getting more and more silly…
…this was my favorite pose of the day…
…yep, I caught me a knucklehead.
As the innings ticked by and the Mariners marched toward an apparent win, the kids were excited to see the Orioles Bird visit the outfield seats:
As the win got closer and closer, Tim decided to start sharing his Mariners love…
…with his model friend, Avary. It was a major hugfest in CF.
But then things turned dark.
Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Mariners had a 2-0 lead. King Felix had dominated from his 1st pitch to his 97th pitch. But for some reason, soon-to-be-fired Mariners manager, John McLaren pulled Felix and went to the bullpen.
Bad decision.
It took Eric O’Flaherty only three batters to get the first two outs, and give up the first Orioles run of the day. O’Flaherty’s fourth-and-final batter-faced, Luke Scott, hit a single. That was all she wrote for O’Flaherty.
With two outs, a runner on first, and a 1-run lead, Mark Lowe entered the game. Another bad decision by McLaren. Lowe’s first batter hit a single sending pinch-runner Adam Jones to third. Lowe then threw a wild pitch and Adam Jones came in to tie the game at 2-2…
…”Oh, brother, there goes King Felix’s win.”
We started praying for extra-innings. But one batter later, Luis Hernandez hit another single bringing in the losing run.
Aye, aye, aye…a great day with friends at the ballpark ended in misery…it was a gut-wrenching Mariners loss. Unfortunately, it would be a sign of things to come for the 2008 Mariners.
2010: Let The Planning Begin
I am officially excited for 2010! I love that Griffey is coming back. I can’t wait for Tim and I to get more opportunities to see him play. And I’m excited about how Jack Zduriencik is shaking things up to help the Mariners improve again in 2010.
So its officially time to start thinking of 2010. I’ve been scouring team schedules and planning out a great 2010 for me and Tim.
The first order of business: planning The Third Annual Cook Grandfather-Father-Son Baseball Roadtrip of 2010. Last night and today, my dad and I have exchanged a lot of emails on the subject and here is the tentative plan:
June 2010
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Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
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6/10 – Angels at A’s |
6/11 – Angels at Dodgers
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6/12 - M’s at Padres
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6/13 - M’s at Padres |
6/14 – Brewers at Angels |
6/15 – Orioles at Giants
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The two things I am most excited about here: (1) getting in two Mariners games on the roadtrip and (2) Dodgers Stadium. I am excited about all of the stadiums. But for some reason, I am most excited to get to Dodger Stadium, which I was at for one game in 1994, but have almost no memory of it.
But I have one concern. We only have one game planned for Dodger Stadium, but I want to roam around and see the entire stadium. Is that possible? If we get infield tickets, can we get out to the outfield at all? If we get outfield tickets, can we get into the infield at all? It seems like I’ve read on a number of blogs that there are limitation on what portions of the stadium you can access with different tickets. Any advice about how best to do Dodger Stadium (or any of these five ballparks) would be greatly appreciated!
The Tale Of The Prodigal Glove
In middle school and high school, I played first base and left field. When I was stationed at first, I used a Rawlings RFM14 (Wally Joyner signature model). I Iiked it. It was a good glove. In fact, it helped me set a school record for consecutive put outs without an error in 8th grade at old College Place Middle School.
Here, in the only known picture of me during one of my high school baseball games…
…you can see me wearing my trusty RFM14 while watching my buddy, Jason, warm up.
Back in 1991, I went to Spring Training. For the final spring training game of the year, the Mariners let me be their bat boy for the day — a Mariners win over the Cubs behind the pitching of Randy Johnson and hitting of Ken Griffey, Jr. That day, the much-loved Harold Reynolds actually used my RFM14 to warm up before the game. So, it was definitely a good glove with a rich history.
Then came 1994 and my playing days were finished. But for some of my lucky friends, there was more organized baseball to be played. A contingent of my best friends went on to play at junior colleges and a couple four-year universities. One of those guys was my good friend since Sherwood Elementary School, Brian “The Amazing Speed” O’Neal. “The Amazing Speed” was a joke nickname in 5th grade. Later on, one of the guys would bestow upon Brian the nickname “Butch,” and for me it has stuck.
Anyway, Butch went on to play college ball in Oregon. He was a pitcher, and later a first basemen. With my playing days behind me, it made sense for me to loan my trusty RFM14 to Butch. And so, I did.
Fast forward 15 years to Monday, December 7, 2009. Butch and I have exchange thed occassional email and we spoke briefly on the phone once this past season. But for the most part, we’ve been out of contact for probably 12-13 years. But on Monday my wife called me at work to inform me, “You received a package in the mail today…from Brian O’Neal!”
Alarms instantly went off in my head. ”Oh, my god,” I thought, “ITS MY GLOVE!”
Although I have never made any effort to retreive my glove or ever really been concerned about getting it back, I’ve never forgot about that glove. It has crossed my mind from time-to-time as the years have passed.
Could this really be the day? I didn’t know why else Butch would be sending me a package.
Colleen asked if she could open the package.
“No way,” I responded! “How big is it?”
“Like a package from Amazon.com,” she replies.
“Hmm…” Now, I’m not so sure.
On the drive home after work, I continue thinking. Brian and I made a bunch of home “movies” — most notably, “The Hound Of The Edmondsville” — when we were…hmm…sophomores, I’d guess. Maybe this Amazon.com sized box was a VHS copy of the “‘Brian & Todd: Come Jam With Us” video we shot at the little kid hoops at Sherwood? That seemed more the size of an Amazon.com box.
Finally, I walk into the house and see the box. “Hey, that seems glove sized,” I though. I shook the box like it was a birthday or Christmas gift. ”Hmmm…that doesn’t seem very glove’ish. And it does sort of have a video cassette’ish sound to it.”
Colleen walked in and I declared to her that “I have two ideas of what this is…otherwise, I have no clue.”
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH:
“YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
And, Butch included a note:
That’s just too funny…and thoughtful. I’m sure he figured I had given up on any thought of ever seeing the glove again. So it was very cool of him to take the time (and postage) to send it across the country to me.
Anyway, I was pretty excited to see my old friend again. I did some inspecting and found that the years hadn’t been kind…so, after typing out a quick “thank you” email to Butch, Tim and I headed to “The Baseball Store,” our local Rawlings outlet. I decided the glove could use some new laces, and I figured that it would be fun to do them in dark green, which is the primary color of our high school baseball team.
Here are some photos from the last twenty four hours.
As you can see in the upper left, the sewn connection at the top of the webbing tore off. Hopefully Butch didn’t take a hard liner to the eye due to that. I had to fix that and, as you can see at the bottom right, it now looks much better.
Here are some comparison shots of the back of the glove…
…and the back of the webbing:
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Although Brian’s “fix” was creative, I think mine will hold up a little bit better.
Finally, you can see that my old friend was a little tired and flat from his 15 year journey…
…but it was nothing a new set of lacing couldn’t fix. Now, he’s standing at attention…just waiting to dig a low throw out of the dirt.
Its good to have my old friend home again.
An Afternoon With The Temple “Golden” Owls (11/21/09)
Let’s take a quick break from the off-season historical updates and get in late-November game update. No, we didn’t find a baseball game to attend. But I thought it would be fun to change the pace for one entry and do a college football game update.
I grew up in Seattle and am a Pac-10 college football fan. In 1999, I started law school at Temple University, which is historically better known as a basketball school thanks to the legendary John Chaney. In fact, during my time at Temple, I never attended a single football game…I’m not sure if anyone else did either. We were pathetic. But four years ago something changed.
In 2006, Temple hired Al Golden, Jr. as its new head football coach. At the time, I didn’t know a thing about Golden. But I soon learned that he is second cousin to my father-in-law, Kevin Gill. Specifically, my wife’s grandma, Regina (Ryan) Gill, was first cousins with Al Golden, Sr. So I decided I better start supporting both my university and my family. Tim and I have attended to 2-4 games per season since 2007.
And “Cousin Al” has worked miracles at Temple. A little background, in 2005, the Owls were 0-11. They haven’t made a bowl game since 1979. And I think their last winning season was 1990. They were kicked out of the Big East due to low attendance — “low” is actually putting it nicely. Their attendance was and still is pathetic. So they spent a season as an independent and then joined the MAC 2 years ago.
They have improved each year under Cousin Al. In 2006, they were 1-11. In 2007, they were 4-8 (4-4 MAC). In 2008, they improved again to 5-7 (4-4 MAC). They could have won as many as 8 last season but finished poorly in 3 games, including one loss on a hail mary pass by Buffalo.
Enter 2009. The Owls started out 0-2 against Villanova and Penn State. Since then, they had won 8 consecutive games entering this week. They were leading the MAC East at a perfect 5-0. They are bowl eligible and could finish as good as 10-2. Plus, they could make it to the MAC championship game.
Simply put, Al Golden was a great hire for Temple.
My father-in-law and some others have wanted to see Cousin Al and his “Golden” Owls. So, we decided to go as a group on November 21, which is also my lovely wife’s birthday. This would be Tim’s first time “tailgating” before a sporting event. The opponet: the Kent State Golden Flashes.
Coming from Pennsyvlania, New Jersey and Virginia, we met up in the parking lot at Lincoln Financial Field. Yep, the Owls play at the Eagles’ stadium. Here was our group:
Left to right: Kimberly (Colleen’s sister), Kate (our neice), Bob (Colleen’s Dad’s uncle and Al Golden Sr.’s first cousin), Ann (Bob’s wife), Colleen, Me, Tim, Kevin (Kimberly’s husband), and Kevin (Colleen’s Dad). Tim is giving a big frown in this picture because he just stepped on an unopened bag of potatoe chips, bounced off of it and fell to the pavement. You know you’re light on your feet when you can step on a bag of potatoe chips without popping the seal!
By the way, you may remember Kevin, Ann and Bob from Tim’s first Mariners game.
Here was our tailgating location:
Ann and Bob are long time New York Giants (booooo!) season holders and they know how to conduct a tailgating party:
I told them that their wine and cheese was bringing class to South Philadelphia, but their Giants table cloth might stir up some confrontation (it didn’t).
The guys next to us were big time tailgaters too. They set up a big flag pole at the side fo their car…
…featuring a Temple flag, Irish flag, and Papal flag. The guy said they put the Pope’s flag up because another tailgating regular also flies a Temple and Irish flag. Anyway, those guys were cool. They let us use their soft temple football, a soccer net and soccer ball, and sidewalk chalk.
I came prepared with baseball equipment:
When some cheerleaders passed by, I asked if they’d send the Temple Owl, Hooter, by to get pictures with the kids. About 10 minutes later, Hooter arrived:
I think this was Kate’s first sporting event and first mascot interaction. She couldn’t take her eyes off Hooter long enough to look at the camera:
While we were calling “Kate, Kate, look at the camera,” Tim was poking Hooter’s face and calling out, “Look at his beak! Look at his beak!”
I couldn’t pass up the chance to get my photo with Hooter too:
Uncle Bob got in on the sidewalk chalk action…
…and showed some family support:
We all played some football with our neighbor’s ball:
Some other nearby tailgaters had a nice Owl painting on display:
The marching band kept marching back-and-forth and then they formed a semi-circle and started playing some tunes…
.
…when we finally entered the stadium, the band was configured as an owl’s head on the field:
Soon they reformed into a human tunnel so the team could charge to the field:
We were in a suite for the game, and this was our view of the field:
The football action was exciting in the first half:
In that top right photo, the Owls receiver missed that pass for a touchdown. But we still came away with some points.
Kevin took Tim under his wing and taught him some of the ins and outs of football:
…just before this picture, Tim walked up and said, “Bob, what are your letters?”
The first half was too close for comfort. In fact, Kent State led for much of the first half. And when things went right for Temple, they still didn’t go all-that-right. Like after Temple’s lone TD of the first half, Kent State blocked the PAT kick:
At half-time, we trailed 10-9.
Then, we toured around the stadium a bit. ”The Linc” is a great place. But Football stadiums are no where as cool and wonderful as baseball stadiums. We did find this excellent view of Citizens Bank Park and the Philadelphia skyline from the field level concourse at the NW corner of the stadium:
During half time, Tim tried to “throw” some field goals:
Then we got some group shots by the field:
And another:
By the way, you might notice that Kevin, Kimberly and Kate are not in these pictures. They ended up having to leave before the game even started. You see, Kate’s brother Gill was napping in one of the cars during the tailgating. He wasn’t feeling too hot and they decided they better take him home rather than make him sit through the game. So we were a party of six during the game.
Here is a panaramic view I took of the field from the endzone concourse:
Back in the suite, I took this shot of the Temple Owl on the scoreboard:
And we got some more random shots of us watching the game:
The Owls turned it on in the second half. Here are some more random action shots…
…and in the inset photo is our buddy Hooter standing on the sideline.
Colleen grew up in Fredericksburg, VA. And so did Temple football player Delano Green…
…here he is breaking a 52-yard punt return for a touchdown. A couple minutes later, he took a hand off on a reverse and broke it for a 50-yard touchdown run.
Toward the end of the game, Tim watched a TV show about big ships at sea while Colleen did some coloring:
Toward the very end of the game, I got this excellent shot of my beautiful little family.
And then it was over. Temple won 47-13 and then went and shook their oppenents hands:
NINE WINS IN A ROW! Go Owls! Hoot! Hoot!
By the way, this was also Ken Griffey, Jr.’s 40th birthday. Happy Birthday, Griff!
Mariners Dominate In The Bronx (9/3/07)
On September 3, 2007, we headed up to NYC to take in a Mariners game in the Bronx. We went with my friend Marc from college. Marc is also from Seattle, but in 2007 he was working in the investment world in NYC. This was the first time I’d seen him since college. And, it was Tim’s first trip to NYC and to “The House That Ruth Built” (and Griffey destroyed).
We came up to NYC for the weekend, and we stayed with another friend from college, Davlynn, who also lived in NYC in 2007. The day before the game, Davlynn took us to the American Museum of Natural History…
…where Tim REALLY enjoyed seeing lots of dinorsaur bones. Trust me. He looks utterly bored in this picture, but he really loved the museum. So, if you find yourself at 79th & Central Park West in Manhatten, check it out.
We also took Tim to Central Park to play a little baseball on a field that we miraculously found to be empty…
There were thousands of people in the park and every other field was packed.
Soon, it was time to meet up with Marc and his wife, Angie, and take the 4-train up to the Bronx.
Now, I’m a good baseball fan. So I’m dutifully teaching Tim a healthy disrespect for the pinstriped-team from the Bronx. Upon entering the ballpark, he already had the heebeegeebees from the cramped confines of the ballpark and the overwhelming aroma of corporate greed that would soon bring wall street crashing to the ground:
I assured Tim that there was nothing to worry about. The Mariners would surely destroy the home team. The Mariners would be throwing their young ace, King Felix Hernandez, while the home squad would be trotting out an old goat, a pre-Mitchell Report Roger Clemens. I was ready for a historic Clemens loss, and I would not be dissappointed.
So, as the game began, Tim was cautiously optimistic and ready to see his Mariners put on a show to remember:
Still, he had questions for me…
“You mean, none of these people like the Mariners? All of these people are Y******* fans?” (sorry for the censoring, Tim isn’t allowed to curse)
“Yes,” I explained, “so mind your P’s and Q’s.”
By the way, not everyone was a fan of the opposition, that is Marc shown behind Tim’s outreached arm. He’s a good Mariners fan.
Now, I wouldn’t lead Tim astray, it WAS a great and historic game. In fact, despite the fact it didn’t feature former-and-future Mariners great Ken Griffey, Jr., this is one of the best games I’ve ever witnessed.
The game started like so many Mariners games do: Ichiro hit a line drive single to right field. So things were already off to a good start. Ichiro extended his hit streak to five games in the five games Tim had attended to date. But that was all the M’s managed in the top of the first.
The bottom of the first was the only bad part of the game. King Felix had some first inning jitters and fell behind by 1 run.
But don’t worry, the M’s came back in the top of the second. Raul Ibanez started off the inning with a single to LCF. Ben Broussard walked. And then Clemens fired a wild pitch to the backstop sending Ibanez to 3B. Finally, Jose Lopez got an infield hit to score Rauuuuuuuuul! And just like that the Mariners had tied it up 1-1.
Tim was happy about this turn of events:
By the way, check out the old water-soaked wood on the bottom of the upper deck (behind/above us). You don’t see that in a modern stadium! Well, really, I think you don’t see that anywhere — not in Boston or on the north side of Chicago, which were much older than this 1970′s re-model job.
The top of the second was just the Mariners warm-up act. They were about to lower the boom on their hosts.
Ichiro led off the top of the third inning with a homerun blast to LCF. Not only did the hit give the Mariners the lead (for good), but it was Ichiro’s 200th hit of the season for the SEVENTH season in a row! Hooray for Ichiro!!! And hooray for us for being there to witness this piece of history.
Meanwhile, King Felix kept mowing down opposing batters.
In the top of the fourth, the Mariners scored three more runs on a single by Adrian Beltre, hit-by-pitch for Jose Lopez, a double by Yuniesky Betancourt, and another single by Ichiro.
By this point, Tim and I were having a great time watching our Mariners dominate:
At some piont in the 4th inning, Roger Clemens hurt his leg falling off the mound awkwardly. In an unprecedented move, Joe Torre brought former Orioles great Mike Mussina into the game in relief. A quick review of Moose’s bio will reveal that this was the ONLY relief appearance of his probably-Hall of Fame career — 537 games, 536 games started.
Here’s the second piece of history involved in the game, this must be one of the most combined career wins that one team has ever had on the mound in one game. I’ve tried to get someone from ESPN.com to research and determine if there has ever been more combined wins by a team in one game, but I haven’t been able to get the answer. After Mussina gave up two more runs, he was replaced by Chris Britton, who ultimately gave way to Kyle “New York’s Finest” Farnsworth. (By the way, I once saw a shirt for sale outside this ballpark that said, “Anybody But Farnsworth.” That gave me a chuckle.)
Anyway, as of September 3, 2007, Roger Clemens had 354 wins (and he would NEVER win again), Mike Mussina had 247 wins, Britton had zero career wins (he is still stuck on zero), and Farnsworth had 27 career wins. All totaled, the Mariners faced off against SIX HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHT (628) career wins. What do you think, is that a record? I’ve certainly never heard of a team throwing more career wins in one game.
But all of those career wins were no match for King Felix Hernandez and his (then) 27 career wins. Tim was all like…
“Dude, our Mariners are seriously awesome!”
The scoreboard showed the happy totals:
After the game, we tired to get a nice family picture, but Tim wasn’t into posing at the time (possibly because we’d just sat in ridiculously hot weather for 3+ hours). But combining the two pictures, you can get a semi-panaramic view of the field:
Thanks to the Mitchell Report and the amazing falling from grace of Mike Piazza’s favorite opposing pitcher, this game proved to be the final loss of Roger Clemens’s former-future-Hall of Fame career. But more importantly:
MARINERS WIN!!!!
The Griffey Email (2009 Edition)
Last year, I got an awesome email from the Mariners announcing the return of the greatest Mariner of all-time, Ken Griffey, Jr.
Today, I was equally as excited to receive the following email from the M’s:
To read the rest of the article linked to the email, click here.
YES!!!!!
Thanks, Griff! And welcome back, once more. I can’t wait!
PS – while we’re on the subject to Griffey, I heard throughout the season that he made several sets of white silk ties for his teammates season. But I never saw them on TV. Well, I just found pictures of them on the printing company’s blog. Check them out:
http://gorillaprintshop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ties_1.jpg
http://gorillaprintshop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/mariners.jpg
I like ‘em! Way to go, Griff. Bring that sense of humor back our way in the spring.
A Pair of Losses to the Twins (Aug. 14-15, 2007)
Five days after Tim’s first Mariners road game, we were back in Seattle visiting my parents and taking in Tim’s second and third home Mariners games…
…I slacked off on the photos, particularly for the second game, so I am doing this as a two-game entry.
As of this point in time, Tim had been to two Mariners games in his life and the Mariners were a perfect 2-0. Unfortunately, I knew that wouldn’t last forever. These two games would prove me right. We would come out of these games with a 2-2 Mariners record in Tim’s games. But, we had a lot of fun nonetheless.
At the first game, we sat in my parents’ seats…
…they have had either full or partial season tickets for about 15 years now. Back in 2007, their seats were behind home plate slightly toward the third base side, and about 30 rows up. They were nice seats.
Both of these games were against the Twins. For the first game, it was me and Tim, plus my parents and Colleen. Tim was under 2 years old so he didn’t need his own ticket or seat.
My folks had a great time passing Tim back and forth during the game, and he had fun sitting on their laps and watching the game:
He especially liked eating Grandpa’s french fries.
I used to also take his portable booster seat to games and he spent a little time in it at this game (still eating french fries)…
…and he spent some time sitting with me too…
Unfortuantely, this game got outta hand quick. It was a match up of Horacio Ramirez and Matt Garza. You may recall that just five days ago, Tim and I had seen Ramirez earn his first road victory of the season. Well, this game would be his first home loss of the season. Its unfortunate we had to see this outcome. Just a week later, Ramirez would face off against Garza at the Metrodome and would beat him.
With our M’s trailing in the middle innings, I took Tim to see the Mariners Hall of Fame display in the concourse behind 3B at Safeco Field.
First, we acted like we were picking off a home run:
Then, Tim checked out some lumber used by Mariners greats including the great, Ken Griffey, Jr…
…I should note, I’m not sure if these bats are game-used or just the models these guys used. I’m guessing the latter because it would seem like a poor decision to display a Griffey game-used bat in this manner (where it could get damaged by a fan). Either way, its cool to see these guys’ bats.
By the seventh inning, the Mariners were trailing 7-1. A lot of the damage was care of Twins center fielder Torii Hunter who was 3-4 with 4 runs scored. It was getting ugly. So, we decided to go track down one of the Mariners best fans of all-time, my best buddy, Paul:
Paulie was sitting in the LF bleachers with some friends from work. We stopped by the LF bleachers so Paul could say ”hi” to Tim and Colleen.
Paulie and I had gone to the game the night before and saw the Mariners beat the Twins. It was one of the few games I’ve been to without Tim since his first game back in September 2006. Unfortunately, it would be the only home Mariners win either of us would witness in 2007, and Tim missed it. But on a positive note, Paul and I enjoyed it a lot!
Anyway, back to this game, the Mariners tried to mount a come back in the 8th, but it was too little too late. And then the Twins piled on 3 more in the top of the 9th to put the dagger in the M’s. The bright spot on the night is that Ichiro was 1-4 to continue his hit streak in the games Tim had attended – 3 whole games, and counting…
August 15, 2007
Tim, my dad and I were right back at it the next day. I got us tickets in the “Hit It Here” Cafe as a late-Father’s Day gift for my dad. Although my dad had ate a meal in the Cafe before, none of us had ever watched a game from the Cafe.
This was a great game until the very end. But it was also the worst photographed game of Tim’s life. In fact, there is not a single picture of Tim and me together at this game, the only game of his life for which that can be said. I think it was because we were in the Cafe, which is much more like being in a restaurant (because you are) than being at a ballpark (probably because it is so quiet in there).
But I did get some great grandfather-grandson shots, like these:
As you can see to the left, Tim is checking out the menu. The tickets in the “Hit It Here” Cafe come with something like a $18 food credit. So, we had some eating to do!
We started out with some delicious nachos…
…the carnage of which is shown behind Tim in the picture above.
That last picture gives you somewhat of a feel for the Cafe, but I didn’t get a good picture of what the place really looks like. Here’s the deal:
There are three rows of counter-space seats. We were in the first row where there are two seats for each window. The seats are wooden chairs, not ballpark-style stadium seats. Behind our seats was a row of restaurant-style tables. They are tall tables/seats so the people sitting behind us had a clear line of sight over us. Just above/behind those tables was another counter with another row of tables just behind it, and then one more counter with one last row of tall tables/seats behind it. There is a big vertical rise in the Cafe. In that last picture above, I am standing behind the top counter looking down. You can see the bottom and middle counters, but you can’t see the tables because they are below and hidden by the middle counter.
After the nachos, we took on one mighty piece of chocolate cake with strawberry topping…
…this thing was huge and ridiculously good.
Grandpa helped Tim check out the action in the stadium with Grandpa’s binoculars…
…here is what our view looked like:
And here is Adrian Beltre taking a hack:
And, sadly, that is all of the “decent” photos that I took at this game.
As for the actual game, as I said, it was a good one. Jarrod Washburn pitched and gave up only 1 earned run in 7 innings (and 2 runs total). It was 1-1 going into the top of the 8th inning. And it was 2-1 Twins in the top of the 9th when, once again, Torii Hunter did some major damage. He hit a grand slam against Sean Green with two outs in the top of the 9th inning.
Once again, on the positive side, Ichiro was 2-4 with 2 stolen bases, and Raul Ibanez was 2-4 with a home run.
Despite the 6-1 final score, it was a well-played and exciting game until the very end, and it was a fun late-Father’s Day celebration for the Cook & Son Bats crew.
2009: It Was The Best Of Times…
Simply put, 2009 was outstanding. Tim and I had more fun than than should be allowed. We saw a lot of amazing baseball (33 games) including:
- Tim’s first time seeing Ken Griffey, Jr. hit a homerun (and as a Mariner!)
- Ichiro getting lots of hits en route to a record breaking 9th season with 200+ hits
- Felix Hernandez dominating the AL
- Jamie Moyer being Jamie Moyer
- A walk-off homerun by Raul Ibanez
- A walk-off single by Ichiro in the bottom of the 14th inning
- Two games with walk-off singles by Jose Lopez
- baseball in 13 stadiums including, most notably in my book, our first game at the Metrodome (also, Safeco Field, Camden Yards, Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, U.S. Cellular Field, Miller Park, Nationals Park, Citizens Bank Park, Rogers Centre and Progressive Field)
- Seeing a the Cubs score 10 runs in one inning
- Tim finishing off seeing all 30 MLB teams play live.
- A winning season by the Mariners! (85-77)
We also made great memories interacting with some ball players including:
- Tim asking Mariners reliever Chris Jakabauskas in the lobby of our hotel if he wants to come “see our room.”
- Meeting Mariners G.M. Jack Z. on the streets of Boston.
- Getting a picture with Felix Hernandez.
- Getting a picture with Ryan Rowland-Smith and having him throw a baseball to Tim:
- Giving Jason Phillips an A-Rod baseball to put in the Mariners bullpen’s pink backpack and then confirming the next day (in the hotel lobby) with Jakabaukas that the ball was indeed in the backpack.
- Getting 8 baseballs from Jason Phillips, including a pre-autographed ball, and baseballs at 6 stadiums.
The season — my first on MLBlogs — has provided so many great moments that I’ve recorded in game entries. Some of my favorite entires have included:
- Meeting the Metrodome — we took an awesome self-guided walking tour around this fun and unique (now-former) baseball park.
- Ice Cream Helmets, Anyone? – featuring our collection of ice cream helmets.
- Fenway Park Part 3 of 3 (A Moment To Remember) – featuring the first time Tim ever saw Griffey get a hit (a line drive off of the Green Monster).
- Griffey & Sensation: Two Kids Combine to Make Sweet Music - a story of my time having a partial season ticket plan in high school sitting next to Griffey’s friend and local rap legend Kid Sensation, and the songs inspired by their friendship.
Finally, we took tons of great pictures to document our adventures this season.
Here are some of my favorites (at least one from each game):
We started the season off on a chilly day in Baltimore — the world was our oyster, we had our whole season before us:
In week 2, we cheered on as former Mariner Raul Ibanez hit this pitch for a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning:
In week 3, Tim raced down the foul territory warning track on his way to his first Kids Run the Bases of the season following our first game ever at Citi Field.
In week 4, Tim couldn’t adjust to the West Coast time change and was a little out-of-sorts when Jarrod Washburn threw us our first ball of the season from the Mariners dugout during the 9th inning of an exciting Mariners win:
With this pitch on May 2, 2009, Tim had finally officially seen Ken Griffey, Jr. play for the Mariners (YES!!!):
On May 3, 2009, we took in an excellent Mariners game with some of my high school friends and their kids. Awesome times. And the Mariners won in 15 innings:
On May 4, 2009, Tim and I got our picture with Red a/k/a “Beltre Guy” — who is fast becoming a Safeco Field Legend due to his passionate following of Adrian Beltre. Will Red be back in 2010? We will see:
On May 5, 2009, we snagged a bag of hot roasted peanuts from a long-time Mariners legend, Rick “The Peanutman” Kaminski:
Back in Philadelphia later that same week, Tim put the smack down on this ice cream helmet — this boy really knows how to put an ice cream helmet in its place:
In mid-May, we went to Philadelphia to see the Dodgers, but the best part of the night was seeing my favorite pitcher, Jamie Moyer. With Colleen’s new camera and a little computer magic, I was able to create one of my favorite pictures of the season:
The very next week, we took in our first game ever at Nationals Park, Tim ran the bases (twice) following the game, and we got a sweet picture with Theordore “Teddy” Roosevelt:
Next up, we were back in Baltimore to see the Tigers with a couple Tigers-fan-friends. And Tim and his buddy, Brady, put on a dance show in the shady upper deck:
On June 3, 2009, Tim and I returned to Nationals Park hoping to witness Randy Johnson’s 300th career win. Instead, we watched hours of rain turn the field into a lake (we also met Zack Hample for the first time and spent several hours chatting with him while watching the rain fall):
On June 10, 2009, Tim got to see Griffey bat play for the first time ever in a Mariners uniform (he wore a Seattle Rainiers uniform on May 2nd, and was sick the rest of that week):
After the game, Mariners trainer Rick Griffin gave us a close up look at Griff’s bat — sweet:
On June 28, 2009, we stopped by Camden Yards on our way home from an OBX vacation and witnessed a monster Adam Dunn bomb and Tim ran the bases at our favorite park outside of Seattle, Washington:
Tim and I had tons of fun watching the guys in the M’s bullpen this season. In this July 2, 2009 picture, Chris Jakabauskas is shown sitting in the bullpen at new Yankee Stadium with one of three big metal warrior helmets the Mariners bullpen displayed during games until Bug Selig put the kybosh on the M’s fun:
The next day, my mom, dad, Tim and I were in Boston to watch our Mariners (and Jakabauskas) beat the Red Sox:
We started out watching the July 3, 2009 game from these seats with a young Red Sox fan named Tyler who told us to stay sitting there until people with tickets showed up. The fans in Boston were awesome all weekend:
The next day, Eric Bedard gave us his and Felix Hernandez dirty warm-up ball, a few minutes later, we got our picture with Felix and he signed the ball:
Tim and I spent a good portion of the Independence Day game standing (or crouching) in this walkway SRO area — where the local fans continued to be extremely nice to us:
Later in the game, my mom taught Tim how to do the wave:
During our third and final game at Fenway, Tim and I stumbled across the 2004 and 2007 world series trophies — although I wasn’t able to get a picture of it, this game was extra special because Tim saw Griff get a hit (a single off of the Green Monster) for the first time ever):
In mid-July, Tim and I headed back to Nationals Park for our rain-out make-up game and Tim tried unsuccessfully to get someone to hit him a homerun:
In late July, we were back in Philadelphia to see the Cardinals, during one of many rain delays we sat through this season, Tim begged and pleaded for an ice cream helmet:
During the rain delay, Tim and I toured around Citizens Bank Park trying to find a place where Tim could eat his ice cream in peace — it took us to three different locations:
In early August, we were back in Philadelphia to see Moyer pitch against the Marlins:
Hopefully this won’t be the last time we ever see Moyer pitch — but, sadly, it could be:
On August 5, 2009, Tim and I headed out to a sold-out FirstEnergy Stadium to watch future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez pitch for our local Reading Phillies:
A week or so later, Tim and I meet up with my dad in Chicago for The Great (Second Annual) Cook Grandfather-Father-Son Baseball Road Trip of 2009 where we witnessed the Cubs hang a 10-spot on the Pirates in the second inning:
Before the game, my dad toted Tim around as we toured Wrigley Field:
Tim and I had a blast touring around the upper deck at the Metrodome — as the title of this picture indicates (we loved the Metrodome!):
This is one of my favorite pictures from our trip to the Metrodome (other favorites include looking behind the canvas curtains in RF-CF):
On the third day of the baseball road trip, we visited the House that Happy Built — and we got this picture with Nick “The Happy Youngster” who we had first met on June 10th in Baltimore):
Tim wore his pajama pants to Miller Park (his choice, not mine), and he also ran the bases following the game (and I ran them with him!) after which we got a picture with my dad:
The next day, we finished off the baseball road trip and Tim finished off seeing all 30 MLB teams when we saw the Kansas City Royals play for the first time (and we got a ball from Willie “Ballgame” Bloomquist):
After the game, I presented Tim with a trophy memorializing his 30-team accomplishmen (thanks to Curious George, Tim loves trophies) — after the game, the nice folks did a cool little article about Tim’s milestone:
I took this picture for Tim’s 30-Team milestone entry — I like it:
Jason Phillips, shown here with me and Tim in Cleveland in late-August, was by far the coolest guy we ran into this season. Jason gave us 8 baseballs this season including at least 1 baseball at each stadium at which we saw the Mariners play this season (Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Progressive Field, Safeco Field, and Rogers Centre) — plus, we took time out to chat (and be photographed) with us several times throughout the season:
During that same game, Tim got his picture with Slider:
The following day, Tim and I achieved our No. 1 goal of the season — we saw Griffey hit a homerun as a Mariner — No. 624 of his career:
When we arrived home late that night, I watched the highlight and realized that Tim and I (the blue and white blur) could be seen in the highlight of Griff’s homerun:
On Tim’s third MLB anniversary (Sept. 12, 2009), we went to see the Orioles beat the Yankees in the Bronx and we had a blast.
During the fun-filled day, Tim played catch with an usher in the LF bleachers concourse:
…and the usher temporarily lost Tim’s baseball when it rolled through a hole in the stadium’s wall — the usher retrieved the ball, but also rewarded us with an Orioles BP homerun ball:
Tim also caused a scene in CF going all medieval on a pile of Moe’s Billy Barou Nachos — a mere 1,410 calories:
Back in Seattle the following week, we saw Adam Moore make his MLB debut and Tim showed us a new way of wearing a baseball glove:
At our final game of the season at Safeco Field, Colleen and I minute to pose for a picture while Tim played in the kids’ play area:
The next weekend, we attended our first game in Toronto and got a picture with and a ball and autograph from Ryan Rowland-Smith:
The ball from Rowland-Smith was the first ball Tim has ever caught thrown by a major leaguer — which is featured in another mygameballs.com article:
On the final Saturday of the regular season, we were back at Citi Field where we spent time with new friends and MLBloggers Alex K. and Joe F who were supercool to Tim:
Although my wife can, I officially “can’t wait” for the 2010 baseball season to begin. I’m already planning it out and we have some exciting baseball trips in the future.
I’ve certainly enjoyed sharing our stories from the ballpark this season. The reason I created this blog was the record our baseball adventures so Tim could look back on them later in life. This season has been thoroughly documented and I’m quite happy with the results. Now, entering the off-season, I’m thinking about the games we went to before this season. I have them all recorded in Tim’s Baseball Log. But I’m thinking that I might find time during the off-season to put them in story form here on my blog. Therefore, if you’re interested in hearing about and seeing some pictures from the games Tim went to between 2006-2008 (about 22 games total), check back from time-to-time during the offseason. Otherwise, see you in 2010.
Cook & Son Bats
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