A few weeks ago Rick surprised us – in typical Rick fashion – by asking me casually on a Friday “want to go to the Tigers game tomorrow? We might have passes to watch batting practice.” If I ever get around to blogging about the rest of our summer vacation, you’d know that Rick really wanted to get to the ballpark in Toronto early enough to see batting practice, but so did about 100 other people so we didn’t get to see much.
So, Rick asked around (thanks Jay!) and was able to get us passes for batting practice. It was another one of those crazy hot Saturdays but we got to the ballpark early and found where we were supposed to be. The Tigers’ equipment manager met us and took us through a maze under Comerica Park until we ended up on the field.
Observations:
- It was hot
- Miguel Cabrera is way taller in real life than he is on TV
- Prince Fielder’s son’s hair is as crazy as you’d think it would be
- It was probably more for my benefit and not Rick’s, but we were told that we weren’t allowed to ask for autographs, etc.
Carson was sort of in awe for a bit watching the guys walk by and hit. As Prince walked into the dugout, I picked Carson up and told him to wave (while I waved too). I looked up and saw Prince looking at us…and I was the only one waving. Yep, I looked like a loser.
Then Miguel headed to the dugout. I was still holding Carson and told him to wave at Miguel. Carson started to wave and Miguel looked over at the right time and Miguel totally got a huge smile on his face and waved back at Carson. IT.WAS.SO.CUTE!
Alex Avila headed into the dugout on the other end of the bench so we didn’t get to wave at him.
At this point, it was still really hot, so Carson shed his jersey and was just wearing his white wife-beater tank top.
Then we saw Quentin Berry over talking to a group of kids that were there on a tour (and he was giving autographs, etc) and I figured he was fair game. So I asked Carson if he wanted to go say hi. He said yes, so we started over there just as Quentin headed our way. I leaned down and told Carson to say hi. Quentin noticed Carson just then and said “hi” to Carson and stuck out his hand…and my sweet boy actually shook his hand! Then Quentin said to my baby boy “Ooooh! You have your muscles out!” (since C had on a tank top). Carson responded all tough-guy-ish, “Yeah.” IT.WAS.SO.CUTE!!!
All during batting practice, Carson was watching ball after ball land in the left-field bleachers and told us that that’s where he wanted to sit. Apparently the seats we normally get 29 rows behind home plate aren’t sufficient.
After watching bp, we had time to grab dinner before the game started – after Rick’s summer of training and it being the eve of football camp starting, it was so nice to just hang out with the kids. I know it sounds dumb, but it was really special.
We were also going to be able to watch the post-game fireworks from the dugout. I was all fired up to watch them with Miguel & Prince and stuff. So when it started to rain and the pour after the first inning I was afraid my post-game plans were in jeopardy. Luckily it was only a 30-ish minute rain delay and the rest of the game went off with out a hitch.
After the game we were shown the dugout to watch the fireworks. Alas, no players came to watch them, but Mallory & Rick thought it was cool to be in the dugout. Carson didn’t like the loudness of being so close to the fireworks but it was still such a fun experience.
My post-game observations:
- We need to try to go to a game when it’s not a million degrees out.
- We need to try to get tickets in the left field bleachers for Carson.
