I Took Me Out to the Ballgame

Once a year, I try to go to a Major League baseball game. This year I was lucky enough to be in Silicon Valley during a San Francisco Giants homestand, and bought two tickets online to a Friday night game.

As we were in San Jose, I planned to catch a Caltrain from the nearest station in Mountain View to the Caltrain terminal a couple of blocks from AT&T Field where the Giants play. What fun!

On the train, two young girls, age 10 or so, were playing pattty cake to the "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" song, bringing a huge smile to my face. Don'tcha just love it when kids get enthusiastic about something you enjoy?

Take (patty-patty) me out to the (pat) ballgame (pat-pat)
Take (pat) me out to the (pat-pat) crowd (patty-patty)!

I was on my way to my annual Major League Baseball game!

When we got there, we sat in the wrong seats and fortunately I discovered it before we got too comfortable. The ladies next to me were a little disappointed that I was leaving because they saw me taking Pinchy pictures and wanted to know all about his blog.

So ... loaded down with heavy jackets, two trays of chicken tenders and fries, a huge root beer, and some big refrigerator magnets they gave us at the gate, we squeezed into the correct row, displacing two kids who had to spend the game on their mother's and father's laps.

The kid next to me kept squirming and kicking my leg, but you know what? It didn't bother me because I was at my annual Major League Baseball game!

The Giants have a strange mascot named Lou Seal. Somebody in a seal costume. The name just cracked me up and I imagined this conversation going on at the Seal household at Fisherman's Wharf Pier 39:

Lou: Hey Esther! I got the job! I'm gonna be the San Francisco Giants mascot!

Esther: What? Do we have to move?

Lou: Nope, you and the kids can stay here. I'll take an apartment close to AT&T Stadium.

Esther: Oh lordie. You picked a fine time to leave me, Lou Seal ... with four hungry children and a crop in the field ...

Oops, sorry, I wandered out in left field.

I love the 7th inning stretch. It gives me a chance to stretch out the kinks from sitting in a squinched-up position for a couple of hours. Plus I get to clear out my lungs singing the famous song. Ya know, I even felt like turning to the kid next to me and doing patty-cake during "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

'Cause I was at my annual Major League Baseball game!

We left a little early so we would be assured of a seat on the train back to Mountain View. I mean, who wants to stand for over an hour on a moving train anyway?

A great many young college-age students were on the train, most of whom got off at the Palo Alto/University station. Apparently they were Stanford students. You could tell. Most of them had iPod ears on.

Some of the freshmen (one can spot them immediately) were carrying on a nerdy conversaton about matter and anti-matter and how it might be possible to build a transporter that would eliminate the need for a long train ride back to their dorms. I was chuckling to myself at the way they bandied about words and phrases without knowing that their logic was extremely flawed.

But that's dorky freshmen for you. I didn't care, because I was coming back from my annual Major League Baseball game! By the way, the Giants beat the Oakland A's, 3-0. Giant Tim Lincecum pitched a dandy of a ballgame.

You picked a fine time to leave me, Lou Seal ...