Tides Games

It's no secret that everyone in this house loves baseball (even Reesie has developed a pretty good swing in the last week!).  We like to go to as many Tides games as possible, and we definitely try to make it to at least one game when the Yankees' minor league team is in town.  When Ryne Sandberg became the manager of the Phillies' minor league team, we knew that we would be heading to one (or two) of those games as well!

When Brian was a kid, he spent a lot of his summers watching Cubs games on WGN.  The first summer that he remembers having cable was 1984 - which was Ryne Sandberg's MVP year.  The Cubs only played day games then (Wrigley Field didn't have lights), so he watched every game.  And he became a major fan.  He likes the Cubs (he refers to them as his "National League team" for that reason), but he is a huge fan of Sandberg.  In fact, the year that we got engaged was the year that Ryne got into the Hall of Fame - and I got Brian an autographed bat for Christmas (I had a feeling I was going to be getting a nice present that year - and I did! Ha!).

So when the Cubs shafted him out of their Manager job last summer, he went to work for the Phillies (which I will not state my opinion on because I have absolutely nothing nice to say about them!).  The Iron Pigs play in the Tides division, and they came to town last week!

Brian and I went to the game on Tuesday night with his parents.  We got the seats from one of the local radio station owners (through Brian's work), and we sat right behind the Tides' dugout.  Like, I propped my feet on the dugout all night!

Harbor Park is probably one of the nicest minor league facilities anywhere.  I remember going to the second game there with my family when I was younger!  Here is the view from our seats...

 One of the coolest things about the park is that it is literally surrounded by the river (so you can take a ferry there), there are trains that run behind the park during the game, and it is right in the flight path of the local airport - so you can see boats, planes and trains from the stadium (and of course you can take your car or the local light rail system, as well).

 Brian headed over to see if he could get an autograph - and he probably could have if he'd gotten there two minutes earlier.  He is a master of getting autographs - probably because of all his spring training trips!  I told him he can go again next year because it's been a few years, but if he goes, he better take Wyatt!

 Coming out for a pitching change

The Iron Pigs won the game that night - while we were on our way home!  They were 5 runs down at the top of the ninth, so we left - and they scored 6 runs.

On Wednesday night Brian and his dad took Wyatt to the game.  Brian told Wyatt that morning that they were going to the game, and it was all he talked about all day!  He knows who Ryne Sandberg is because he plays with an old action figure of Brian's all the time.  He kept saying, "Mommy, I can't believe that Daddy is taking me to see Ryne Sandberg tonight!"  When they got to the game and saw him Wyatt said, "Daddy, what happened to Ryne Sandberg's hair?  His hair is supposed to be brown, but it's gray!"

 

This time they got seats on the third base line, right next to the Iron Pigs dugout.   

 They were also right behind home plate, and Wyatt practiced his swing every time the pitcher threw the ball!

At the end of the game, one of the players threw a ball to some little boys sitting nearby, and the boys gave the ball to Wyatt!  He was so excited!  He came home and came running in the house to tell me all about it (and I was asleep).  The Iron Pigs lost the game to the Tides, but Wyatt didn't mind because he roots for the Tides at the games (even when they're playing the Yankees).  I don't think he understands that the team is actually full of Orioles players!  He had such a good time at the game, and I know that it was fun for Brian to share the experience with his little guy!