A Really Nice Night Out

Oops…I missed a day (no entry for yesterday). Since I don’t think very many people even know this blog exists, I doubt there was a huge outcry due to the lack of new content or any mild concern expressed that my absence might be health or crime related. If the truth be told, I simply had an opportunity land in my lap that (with no disrespect to Don Corleone) I simply could not refuse.

Early yesterday afternoon, one of my fellow employees (and a long-time friend) asked me what I was doing after work. Being the middle-aged guy that I am, I couldn’t bluff with some tale involving Catherine Bell and hot scented oils so I told him the truth—probably nothing besides watch some TV shows that I DVR’d during the week. After wondering what kind of commitment I might’ve stepped into (perhaps a slideshow of a boring family vacation or something else comparable to Chinese water torture), he asked me if I wanted to go to the Reds-Brewers game down in Cincinnati. It seems that he and his wife were invited by one of her former co-workers to attend the game but she had to bow out unexpectedly because their 4-month old son was under the weather. Although I’m not a Reds fan (I live and die with the Philadelphia Phillies), a night at a major league ball park is better than, well, nearly anything (if Ms. Bell is not a possibility--just kidding, dear).

After I told him I would ‘volunteer’ to accompany him on the 60+ mile trip down to the ‘Queen City’, we then started to discuss logistics (when to leave, who would drive, etc.) and that’s when I found out why this would be a really nice night. Shortly after he offered, I asked him where we would be sitting (I wanted to get an early mental image of what my spectator viewpoint would be) and he said something about ‘sky boxes’. I went to the Reds’ website but couldn’t find anything mentioning those types of seats and emailed him back to elaborate further. He sent me a response that truly stunned me.

His wife’s friend is a doctor who wanted to do something nice for his former co-workers from the Dayton area (he now lives in Michigan). Somehow he came up with the idea of renting one of the stadium’s available ‘Triple Play' party suites (accommodates upwards of 35 people). In addition to an unobstructed-view seat down along the first base line (just to the ‘foul’ side of the ‘fair’ pole), guests are treated to a pre-game buffet and a variety of beverages during the contest. When I went through the line to pick from the culinary offerings, the line ‘give me some salad and chicken breasts’ went through my head but it just didn’t fit into my pre-conceived notions of being at a baseball game; however, I was pretty hungry at that point so I wasn’t going to complain too loudly.

Eating and drinking was all we could do for our first three hours at the stadium. When we were approaching Cincinnati, we noticed that the sky was getting very dark but we weren’t ready for what we drove into. We tuned in to the pre-game show on the car radio when the host informed his audience that the ball park was suddenly getting walloped with severe thunderstorms (lots of rain and a pretty good light show—actually felt some heat on my forearms from a close lightning strike as we were exiting I-75 to the downtown area). The game was supposed to start at 7:10PM but the first pitch wasn’t thrown until 10:05—two hours and 55 minutes late.

The game itself turned out to be rather exciting. After surrendering five runs, the Reds started their comeback (two home runs by Jason LaRue and Juan Encarnacion landed just below us in the left field bleachers) and they eventually won it in the bottom of the 9^th inning (Ken Griffey Jr. singled in the tying and winning runs with a single to the gap in left-center field). Unfortunately, we weren't there to see this exciting finale (left at the end of the 7^th inning) because it was getting rather late (Griffey got his hit at 1:15AM—at a time when some of the West Coast games had already finished) and we had a long drive ahead of us (I finally rolled into my driveway at 2:15). I was hoping to see video of that play on this morning’s SportsCenter but I didn’t roll out of bed until nearly 11:30.

This was the second Reds’ game I’ve attended since moving here in the late 90’s (took my son to a game 4 years ago when they were playing at Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field) and I must say that I was impressed by their new facility. My ‘formative’ years were in the 70’s and I recall attending many games at Philadelphia’s Veterans’ Stadium. The ‘Vet’, Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers, St. Louis’ Busch Stadium and Riverfront/Cinergy were forever linked by the moniker ‘concrete doughnuts with Astroturf filling’—multi-purpose stadiums that allowed their budget-conscious cities to host both their baseball and football teams (plus any other large special events or minor sports events). Baseball purists complained that these generic fields took away some of the nostalgic ambiance of the game and that the trend was limiting this type of 'communion' to a dwindling number of locations, such as Chicago’s Wrigley Field or Boston’s Fenway Park. In the early 90’s, the Baltimore Orioles established baseball’s current trend of stadium renovations by building their ‘retro-feel’ Camden Yards facility. By providing plenty of luxury boxes and modern amenities, the team aimed to secure its financial future (and growing player payroll) through building a new fan base from among its more affluent followers. I’ve been to a few games there and must say it is a very nice venue for baseball. All of those ‘doughnuts’ I mentioned earlier are gone -- replaced with stadiums like Great America Ball Park and Philadelphia's Citizen's Bank Park--and are now relegated to photographs and the memories of the millions of fans who passed through their turnstiles over the years.

Going to baseball games also brings back some special personal memories. I attended ‘Mickey Mantle Day’ with my dad and uncle at Yankee Stadium in June 1969 (I remember getting a special souvenir program that had an enclosed vinyl recording of Lou Gehrig’s famous ‘luckiest man’ speech—with eBay and today’s lucrative collectors’ market, I wish I still had it!). My uncle also took me on a trip to Cooperstown, NY to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. My dad and I saw Phillies' ace Rick Wise’s 4-0 no-hitter over the Reds in 1971 and our family witnessed Karl Wallenda’s historic tightrope walk over Veterans’ Stadium between games of a doubleheader against the Expos in August 1972. The last game my dad and I went to see together was in the late 1980s (our Phillies were playing the Houston Astros—my wife also joined us for the trip). He’s been gone now for almost 15 years but it is times like last night that make me realize that he is never really that far away from me.

Not wanting to sound ungrateful, I did have to make some sacrifices (a little sleep plus some gas and wear-and-tear on my car for the 120-mile round-trip) for my night out, but I got a free ticket, some good food, major league baseball, and an evening that I will always remember in return. I tiredly thanked my host when I dropped him off early this morning for his display of friendship and hospitality; when I see him next week, I will have to share with him the true scope of his gesture.