L.J.’s First Baseball Game

L.J. attended his first baseball game over the weekend, and we also got to check out brand-new SunTrust Park. This means that, technically, we went to the Braves game; however, if you ask L.J., Mike or our friend Todd – we totally went to the Mets game.

L.J. was very excited to wear his Mets shirt just like his daddy and to see his daddy’s favorite baseball team in the big stadium. Once we arrived, he quickly lost interest in the game and his excitement shifted to the big Chick-fil-A stand he saw right by our seats.

So basically, in summary, we could have dressed up in Mets gear, drove past and pointed out the stadium and then stopped at Chick-fil-A on the way home. L.J. would have been just as happy and it would have been vastly cheaper.

Just kidding. (Sort of)

We were supposed to go to the game with our good friends Ruth and Todd, but Ruth was under the weather so only Todd was able to come along. It was fun to check out the brand-new stadium and I was genuinely excited for Mike, L.J. and Todd to share the experience of L.J.’s first Mets game. (Todd is as big a Mets fan as Mike is).

It was really important that we get to the stadium early so that we could also secure the giveaway bobblehead. The player was a Braves player (obviously), but he used to be a Mets player. So it was of utmost important that we each secure a bobblehead before they ran out.

(Mine was to be traded to a friend of Mike’s in exchange for a box of straight-from-NY Mets goodies.)

We had great seats for the game! We were in the ‘home room porch’ section, close to the field behind left field. L.J. lasted for about two innings. Mike walked him around for awhile while Todd and I chatted, and then later L.J. and I went on a tour of the stadium.

We spent a good half hour checking out the Chevy car and truck on display, found a gigantic bobblehead statue and were the lucky recipients of a handful of children’s section tokens from a departing fan. That was a treat! We played a great game of whack-a-mole together. Definitely a sweet little memory from the night; L.J. was laughing so hard!

We wrapped up the evening a bit early so we wouldn’t get stuck in traffic. It was an enjoyable evening for all of us!

A few closing thoughts:

1. It was expensive. L.J.’s interest level wasn’t enough to warrant another visit for a few more years.
2. I had the best cannoli ever from the pizza stand. Seriously.
3. It was noticeably smaller than Turner and the “aisles” between the seats and the concessions felt kind of claustrophobic. We all noticed this.
4. The three of us felt very old compared to many of the people in attendance. A lot of young 20-somethings who definitely weren’t hurrying home because the babysitter was on the clock.
5. The bobbleheads are apparently really popular because everyone was carefully and possessively toting them around in their awkward-sized boxes.