Saturday, June 6, 2009

Casey's First Ball

Casey is 2 1/2 years old and I felt it was time to take him to a Dodger game with me one on one. Maybe it was too early for him. But I had tickets for a game on Monday May 4, so I could not take my older kids because they had school the next day. So it was pretty much take Casey or go by myself. Actually I had invited a friend from work, but he had to cancel the day of the game. I had taken Tommy to his first one on one Dodger game when he was just three years old. Tommy ended up being more interested in Dodger dogs then the game.

We ended up leaving after the second inning. I didn't want to burn Tommy out on Baseball so I decided I would leave as soon as he wanted to. (If you know Tommy now you know he is not burnt out on Baseball). I didn't feel too bad about leaving so early because Tommy and I got there early for batting practice. We didn't get any baseballs that day.

But now 3 years later, I had a much better idea on how to get a ball during batting practice. Casey and I showed up early and were ready before the gates opened at 5:10.

We had Dodger and Diamondback apparel, so that we would look like fans of whatever team was hitting.

Plus Casey is so cute. How could anyone resit tossing a ball to him. Well I was right. Withing the first 15 minutes of BP a security guard noticed Casey in the stands. He asked Guillemo Mota for a ball and tossed it up to me. Wow, that was so cool. Casey got his first ball tossed to him at only 2 years old. If he keeps going to BP he should be able to pass Zack Hample before he turns 25. However that's not the end of the story of Casey's first ball. You see I was holding Casey in my right arm much like the way I was in the picture to the left. In my left had I had my baseball glove. When the security gaurd tossed the ball up to us I caught it in my glove, and then opened my glove to show the ball to Casey. He seemed excited to get the ball. He grabed the ball out of my glove and . . . THREW IT BACK ON THE FIELD!!! I couldn't believe it and, I couldn't stop him either - my hands were full. There were 10 to 12 fans right behind us that laughed when they saw what Casey had done. That got the attention of Guillemo Mota who smiled, picked up the ball and threw it back to us. I guess Casey wanted a ball tossed from an actual player. :)

Later we switched over to the Right Field Pavilion, to try to get some more baseballs during the D-backs BP. Unfortunately Casey was more interested food, and stairs then getting more baseballs.
We stayed until just after the 7th inning stretch. We saw home runs by Andre Ethier and the "suspended" player. Casey and I had a great time. Even though I had brought a Dodger shirt for Casey, I left his Arizona shirt on him because it made a good bib. Here is Casey with his ball and nacho cheese all over his shirt.

Balls this game: 1 (but we got it twice)
Balls for me and the kids this season: 4
Average balls per game: 2