Sunday, May 1, 2016

75. See a game in all the MLB ballparks

This dream is a lot harder than I had anticipated, because apparently baseball games aren't free, which makes it all the more exciting. Until about a month ago, I had only been to three parks - Busch Stadium, Citi Field, and Wrigley Field. I clearly have a lot more to go, and it's going to take me a while. However, I did add another to the list on Opening Day this year (and I'll add a fifth in June!).

Rich is a huge Mets fan (being from New York and all...), so when I found out that they were playing the Royals for Opening Day, I decided to surprise him with tickets. Kauffman Stadium is only about two hours from here, so even though the game was on a Sunday night, I went for it. He was thrilled when I gave him the tickets, and it was really fun to surprise him!

The weather was beautiful as we headed to Kauffman on Opening Day, and we got there pretty early. I'm used to games at Busch Stadium - no parking, walking a ways to get to the venue, etc., but Kauffman shares a HUGE parking lot with Arrowhead, and parking was a breeze. We got inside the stadium well before the game started, but we didn't take our seats until after the National Anthem. We explored a bit, got some drinks, and waited until the Royals' World Series celebration was over. (You may remember who they beat in the World Series last year? Yeah... the Mets...)

When I go to Cardinals away games, I swear it feels like at least 40% of the fans there are in Cardinals gear. Not so at this game. There were like 10 Mets fans there total. It was crazy! But the Royals fans we sat next to were very pleasant and friendly. So mid-western. The wife did, at one point, tell Rich, "At least you're not a Cardinals fan!" then proceeded to talk about how awful we all are. It was really funny, because she had no idea I was actually a Cardinals fan. I ended up telling her that I'm a die hard Cards fan, but then I apologized for any rude ones she'd encountered and all seemed to be well.

The Royals ended up winning the game, and until the eighth inning it was pretty boring. The Mets staged a comeback, but it wasn't enough to win. Even though the team we were there to cheer for lost, it was really fun to see the hometown fans get a win on Opening Day. And we didn't get home as late as we had expected, so that was nice too.

The reason I wanted to do this - visit all the parks - was mostly to see what other teams' fans get to see when they go to games. Each park is different, and I love comparing them to Busch Stadium and also seeing what makes each one unique. Kauffman has a huge crown over the main scoreboard, and I thought it was really fun to look at.

Stay tuned - we are going to a Mariners game in June, so I'll be adding Safeco Field to my (very short) list of parks visited.

Until then, here is a picture from our seats at the Mets/Royals game:


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