Hullo fellow wanderers! Greetings from the center field wall, Comerica Park, Bengal Town..er Detroit. I was in the D for a game between the Tigers and the Orioles. We are talking Bengal Town. We are talking baseball. We are talking a crackerjack day for a September game.
It all started innocently enough. We had a drawing at work for a pair of tickets to a ball game. We do that and well, I never win. I wanted the iPad they were giving away! That's ok, it is a drawing. This time, I did win.
It was a day of days, a day of firsts. It was cool on so many levels.
The first game I ever saw, in person and not on a TV that you had to jiggle the rabbit ears, was at Tiger Stadium, the old ball park. It was against the Orioles, way back in the Fashioned Challenged Seventies. The first pitch, Eddie Murray hit a Moon Shot to the warning track in center field, I was amazed!
This was the first game I ever saw at Comerica Park. It also happened to be the first game Better 1/2 ever saw in person. I know, right? This time, the first pitch was at worm level, ball one. Still though, it was a start. After driving down under cloudy skies, even a bit of a sprinkle, start time there was nary a cloud in the sky. But I should back up a bit.
Paid ten clams to park in the parking ramp next to Ford Field. Not bad really. Walked around the outside of Ford Field and stood in awe between the two stadiums. Comerica on the left, Ford Field on the right, narrow street between them. Wowzer.
I remember that first game my Dad parking in this guys front yard and paid him a five bucks to do so. Guy lived right across the street from Tiger Stadium, perfect parking spots. He had a good gig. His wife would take your money and he would run off to the stadium to sell red hots in the cheap seats.
We entered the stadium and found our seats, an hour and a half before game time. Perfect. We found our seats, they looked good to me!
Verlander fans are everywhere, all ages, all sizes. The guy can pitch, no doubt about it. Good seats though, right down the line and could see everything. We even could see the bullpen, and that bullpen got peppered with a three pack of homers during the game. Perfect!
Before the game, we took a tour of the staduium. I have to say, I like it. I will always love the old ballpark, big cement walls dripping with moisture, cold in the tunnels even in August, and all the charm of an old stadium. But Comerica is very cool and has so much to offer. We were excited walking around.
I did a blog post about Ernie Howell and what he meant to me. Having Better 1/2 take my picture next to the statue commerating him was unbelievable. Once agan, for a moment, I was a wee lad and I could hear him calling a game while I was standing there. That is magic. I am pretty sure everyone who remembers, can hear that when standing there. Better 1/2 could, she remembers.
Me and The Georgia Peach. Yeah, that was awesome.
Me racing over to statue: Honey take my pic!
Better 1/2 with arched eyebrow: Really?
Me: Yeah come on, this is great.
Guy passing by stops his wife and smiles at me.
Me: This is Ty Cobb!. The Georgia Peach!
Better 1/2 looks apologetically at passerby's wife. Passerby nods and chuckles.
Picture achieved. Yeah, I am a big kid. But the day aint over yet. Oh no.
Oh yeah! First game I ever went to there was the parking lot guy with a big tin box yelling Red Hots! Get your Red Hots. My Dad bought us all a big old hot dog, saurkraut, onions and mustard. Best hot dog I ever ate. We each got a big old dog and devoured them before the game even started. Best hot dog I ever ate since the last time I was at a ball game.
Had my program, a soda and the big dog. We were ready. So first inning was exciting. Tigers did well, even though they had a nice play at the plate, he was out and I said so before the tag~I could tell. Then Cabrera hit one out right next to us with me yelling come on, come on, carry, carry!
Of course I started commenting. I said oh yeah, killer curve, got him swinging. Better 1/2 says how you can tell, you are 300 ft away? I can't even see the ball. Well I said, I can see it just fine. Which was not the whole truth. I mean, I could see the ball, but curve? I don't know. I do know it was an off speed pitch... but I kinda left it at that.
It was quiet really, a bit of cheering, me yelling its outta here at the crack of the bat long before the next homer sailed into the bullpen. Magic I tell ya, you can tell by the thwack of the bat. You dont get that on tv, or radio really. Lots of excitement, the poor Oriole playing getting caught in a pickle between second and third, that was fun. Negated that sweet steal he did the pitch before.
Then we had a 'When Harry met Sally' moment. The fans to the left were trying to get the 'wave' going. I am not much of a 'wave' person, so we were sitting there, just trying to watch the game and laughing. The guys behind us were talking about everything but the game. When the wave would come by they would stand, cheer, then sit down and go back to their discussion of dating. Just like in the movie. It was hilarious.
Got a bit of sunburn(remember I work in a cave), better 1/2 did too(the grocery store is cave-like). Got beer spilled on me by a passerby. That was too bad too. At seven simoleons plus per cup, that poor guy may has well have pitched a buck at me. Then again, he had enough already.
And the Tigers won 10-6. Not a pitchers duel by any means, but thats ok. If you are going to see a game live, may as well be either a no-hitter(I never saw one live..yet) or lots action. In the end, it was a grand day. First game for better 1/2, our first together, first time at the 'new' stadium. And it rounded off nice with the first game I ever saw in person. There is that time dilation type thingy again. Ghost like.
And every once in awhile, I could hear Ernie calling the game.
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