My day at AT&T Park
If my seat alone wasn't enough, the game itself was a good one for the Giants. Afterward, I guess you could say one of those childhood dreams was fulfilled in a way.
Not long before I left to hop on BART, I checked the Giants website to see what kind of seats they had available. Sometimes a good ticket unexpectedly frees up on the day of the game that wouldn't normally be available. That's what happened, as I scored a seat in section 123, just a few rows behind the Giants dugout. Definitely the closest I've ever sat there and the resulting photos will show that.
It was my first opportunity to see Matt Cain in person. This kid's got some seriously good stuff, especially for a rookie, and he's in the middle of a major hot streak. In keeping with that, he went eight innings and allowed just two hits, no runs. The Giants won 5-0.
About half an hour or so after the game was over, a small group of us had gathered by a gate behind the right field wall where fans can normally watch through the outfield fence for free. Pretty soon, everyone was warming up along the right field line, getting our arms loose as part of the "Swing Like A Giant" event. I'd seen it promoted last night as something where for $75 (that went to their charity fund) fans could face eight pitches and shag fly balls in the outfield and I jumped at the chance, even rushing over to a local batting cage to get some hacks in.
We had two groups of hitters (about 30 people overall) and rather than just eight pitches each, they let us see about a dozen. The speed was slower than I expected - maybe about 50 MPH - so going to the batting cages did help. I didn't come close to hitting any home runs, but I had good contact on a number of pitches and had a couple solid line drives to left field. Definitely felt good about that. There were a number of people there who had some nice hits and one guy even put one into the water beyond the right field wall.
As big a place as a major league ballpark is, I was wondering how my focus would be. Would I be distracted by the scoreboard beyond center field? Not at all, as it turned out. When you're concentrating enough on the ball, all the rest really does become background stuff.
After I took my swings I roamed the outfield and set up under a few fly balls, then as things went on a bit a few of us took up positions on the infield and we threw the ball around a little like you do between innings. Not only can I say I hit in a major league ballpark, I also played a little first base. Fittingly, my first throw from second to first went wide, right into the visitor's dugout (where we had our stuff) and down the steps. That was my bout of wildness for the day. At least the relay throw I made on a "double play" was right on target.
Once everyone had their chance to bat, they held a mini home run derby, three swings each. They even had one of the team photographers there to take shots of us, which we'll be getting via e-mail. Nobody hit a ball out - I at least had another solid hit to left - but the three who hit the ball the longest did get prizes. First was a ball signed by the Giants coaches, second was a ball signed by Noah Lowry, and third was a Moises Alou bobblehead. I didn't win a prize but I felt like a winner anyway.
I'm home, I'm a little sore and tired from doing some things I hadn't done for a while, but I'll be damned if it wasn't one of the most fun things I've ever done. If they do something like this again, I'll sign up for sure.
Not long before I left to hop on BART, I checked the Giants website to see what kind of seats they had available. Sometimes a good ticket unexpectedly frees up on the day of the game that wouldn't normally be available. That's what happened, as I scored a seat in section 123, just a few rows behind the Giants dugout. Definitely the closest I've ever sat there and the resulting photos will show that.
It was my first opportunity to see Matt Cain in person. This kid's got some seriously good stuff, especially for a rookie, and he's in the middle of a major hot streak. In keeping with that, he went eight innings and allowed just two hits, no runs. The Giants won 5-0.
About half an hour or so after the game was over, a small group of us had gathered by a gate behind the right field wall where fans can normally watch through the outfield fence for free. Pretty soon, everyone was warming up along the right field line, getting our arms loose as part of the "Swing Like A Giant" event. I'd seen it promoted last night as something where for $75 (that went to their charity fund) fans could face eight pitches and shag fly balls in the outfield and I jumped at the chance, even rushing over to a local batting cage to get some hacks in.
We had two groups of hitters (about 30 people overall) and rather than just eight pitches each, they let us see about a dozen. The speed was slower than I expected - maybe about 50 MPH - so going to the batting cages did help. I didn't come close to hitting any home runs, but I had good contact on a number of pitches and had a couple solid line drives to left field. Definitely felt good about that. There were a number of people there who had some nice hits and one guy even put one into the water beyond the right field wall.
As big a place as a major league ballpark is, I was wondering how my focus would be. Would I be distracted by the scoreboard beyond center field? Not at all, as it turned out. When you're concentrating enough on the ball, all the rest really does become background stuff.
After I took my swings I roamed the outfield and set up under a few fly balls, then as things went on a bit a few of us took up positions on the infield and we threw the ball around a little like you do between innings. Not only can I say I hit in a major league ballpark, I also played a little first base. Fittingly, my first throw from second to first went wide, right into the visitor's dugout (where we had our stuff) and down the steps. That was my bout of wildness for the day. At least the relay throw I made on a "double play" was right on target.
Once everyone had their chance to bat, they held a mini home run derby, three swings each. They even had one of the team photographers there to take shots of us, which we'll be getting via e-mail. Nobody hit a ball out - I at least had another solid hit to left - but the three who hit the ball the longest did get prizes. First was a ball signed by the Giants coaches, second was a ball signed by Noah Lowry, and third was a Moises Alou bobblehead. I didn't win a prize but I felt like a winner anyway.
I'm home, I'm a little sore and tired from doing some things I hadn't done for a while, but I'll be damned if it wasn't one of the most fun things I've ever done. If they do something like this again, I'll sign up for sure.