There Used To Be A Ball Park

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Posted By: Cy

I have to agree with Leon. Minor league baseball is a wonderful outing. I do like to go to major league games here and there (if you consider the Pittsburgh Pirates major league). But I take my daughter to the Hagerstown Suns games maybe 15 times a a year. We sit in the first row, right on third base, for $9 a ticket. My daughter gets two baseballs every game. We ask a player for a used one before the game so that she can get autographs on them and, because she is a cute 9 year old, they always give her one. Then during the game we either catch a foul ball or because we are so close, the third base coach usually throws a ball to her when he fields a foul ball. This is a lot of fun for a kid (big or small kid, meaning me, too).

Then the cost of food and souvenirs is extremely fair. I can get out of there for $30-$40 including all fees and a chance for my daughter and I to talk with the players and coaches every game. The only thing that frightens me about the whole picture is that she may change her likes and not want to go to as many ball games in the future. So as long as my daughter enjoys these games, I will go to minor league baseball as often as I can.

Let me tell you one other story. I have an older daughter who doesn't like baseball now. But on the first game that I took her, a player handed her a ball before the game (I didn't ask that time). So during the game I asked a scout behind home plate who was a good prospect so that we could get it autographed. He told me that the opponent's shortstop might be good. So after the game I asked the shortstop to sign it. Then I got his minor league baseball card, with the game ticket and the ball and put them all in one of those ball holder with a card holder as well.

We put that aside for a while and forgot about it. Two years later I realized that the person that signed my daughter's ball from her first professional baseball game was Hanley Ramirez. Now this doesn't happen all of the time. But she got quite a nice remembrance of her first game with her dad. You just don't get close enough to major league players to any more to get these memories.

Sincerely,

Cy