Queen Anne's Lace and Lilacs

All-Star Game 1998

Many moons ago, my parents and my brother, Timmy, took the kids on vacation to Colorado at the time of the 1998 All-Star Game festivities.  Evan and Brett were thrilled to be going to FanFest.  Bethany looks happy, so maybe she was thrilled, too.  I was thinking about this photo while Evan and I watched the Home Run Derby last night (the All-Star Game has ended tonight, but I'm still waiting for people to show up so that we can watch the recording.  I accidentally saw the score, so, grrrrr!!!!!). 

During last night's Home Run Derby, Prince Fielder hit a 503-foot home run.  My dad informed us today that, when he was playing baseball back in the day, he once hit a 510-foot home run.  This was determined by the opposing team, so it's surely true!   

Out to the Ballgame

Evan was thrilled to learn that the Astros would be in town, sort of, while he's here, for the first time in 10 years.  The kids and Tim piled in the car a few hours ago, and took off early, hoping to get there in time for batting practice.  I think they made it!  Tim sent me this photo from his phone.  I guess the seats aren't the most horrible, although I've never liked sitting in the outfield.  Maybe they'll catch a foul ball.  Tim also called me so that I could hear the National Anthem.  Tonight, it was played by one of the military bands.

Tim has decided that his team should be the Giants, since we live closer to them than the Phillies (the team he had been following and selecting in the APBA game).  Sorry, Daddy. 

I guess I should go watch the game.  Maybe I'll see them.  I hope they all remembered to bundle up (if it's ever warm in San Francisco, it's a fluke).

"Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

(click photo for a larger view)

One of the advantages of having an ex-baseball player for a dad is that you end up knowing a lot about baseball - even if you're a girl (what am I saying!  I'm more athletic than either of my brothers!).  Now, my boys may take issue with that because, for the last few decades I haven't watched a lot of baseball - except for them, when they were in Little League - and they think I'm clueless.  But if they could have known me when I was growing up, they would discover I knew just as much as them about, not only the rules of the game, but about who was playing and how they were doing.  With just the one TV, all we watched on the weekend was sports - and any other time of the week that they were on.  I was familiar with basketball and football, too, but since my dad specialized in baseball, that's what we played just about every day after supper, in good weather. 

As an aside, I don't know if Evan and Brett remember, but I was the assistant coach one year for their baseball team.  Their dad was the coach.  He didn't know diddly about baseball, but with my instruction and guidance, he learned quite a bit - as did those kids he coached.  :)

Each summer, my family embarked on a vacation.  Many of these vacations included a major league baseball game.  (They also often included visiting Indian places, i.e., Anadarko, because Jerry Mark was into that.  I don't think we ever took a vacation based solely on my interests, but I wasn't one to complain.)  During our Haysville era, we went to quite a few Wichita Aeros games (AAA).  I loved those games.  Every night, I listened to the Aeros game on the radio.  If I got in trouble, one of the punishments was grounding me from listening to the game.  Torture!!   

It was in Haysville that the Kansas City Royals acquired George Brett and Hal McRae.  I loved these guys.  (In fact, Brett is named for George Brett.)  We often watched/listened to the Royals games, so, with Brett and McRae, they became my official team.  I also liked the Pirates and the A's. 

After Haysville, we moved to Norfolk, NE.  My dad bought the APBA baseball game.  Each player selects a major league team to manage.  Mine was the Royals, of course.  My dad's was the Phillies, of course.  Timmy also had the Royals, Jerry Mark the Dodgers, and my mother, the Rangers (although, she rarely played, and why she picked the Rangers, I have no idea).  Because I don't remember having trouble with this game, I purchased the game myself a couple of years ago.  Well.....there are so many rules!!!!  And playing with Tim!  Bless his heart.  He's not just a few decades behind - he never did baseball.  Oops.  I'm sorry.  He saw the Senators play back in the 1800s when just a wee lad.  That's about it.

So, I'm still the Royals.  I don't know a single one of the players.  I've been told they've had terrible teams the past few years.  Tim's the Phillies.  Now, we do know a little about some of them - we did watch the World Series last year.  But, you know, I have to explain the infield fly rule, errors, pass balls, home plate, etc.  We're trying to finish our first game.  I can't wait for Evan to get out here to deal with all of this.  We've gone three innings in a week.  And, I curse myself for not learning how to do the scoring back in the day.

You know, nothing unusual stands out in my mind about those games we used to attend.  I do seem to remember some drunk guys a couple of times.  More recently, Tim took Bethany, Erica (Tim's daughter) and me to a Dodgers game.  The people sitting above us were seeming to be dropping an excessive amount of debris down on us.  At first, it was just popcorn and trash.  Erica (27 at the time) had never been to a ballgame before. She wasn't appreciating this.  I was a bit surprised, myself.  I had to explain this wasn't normal.  Indeed,  it wasn't happening anywhere else.  Erica took her place turned backwards in her seat, looking up, warning us as things fell down.  As time went by, she began to get a bit upset. 

If you know Erica, you know this is not good.  For example, when I get upset with strangers, I complain to my family.  When Erica gets upset with strangers, she takes it to them.  Well, when the ice and liquid started flowing down, I knew I would not be able to keep her in her seat.  Sure enough, the next time - there goes Erica!  Meek and mild Tim was right behind her!  Little Bethany (6 at the time) and I are sitting there like, "Now, what do we do."  We finally grabbed the purses - after another drenching - and went to find Tim and Erica.  Come to find out, you can't go to a level unless you have a ticket for that level.  That was probably a good thing.  The stadium workers did get an earful!  For some reason, I'm seeing Erica swinging the little souvenir bat around.  Could that be right?  

The reason for all of these meandering reminiscences about baseball is this You Tube video of Bernie Williams that I saw today at The Riddleblog:

Phils Win it All!

My dad has to be thrilled!  He's waited FOREVER for his Phillies to win the championship.  I don't remember the story about how a Kansas boy ending up going for the Phillies, but that's how it turned out.  (The Kansas City Royals weren't around when Dad was a kid.)  Tim has enjoyed watching the baseball games the last two or three weeks.  He's new to the sport for the most part.  So new that I'm an expert, if that tells you anything.

I am a bit concerned.  When we started watching the Kings games back in 2001, and until a couple of years ago, Tim really was only interested in the Kings.  Now, I have a few other teams, the Huskers and the Jayhawks, so when they would be playing football or basketball, we'd watch.  Of course, with Evan at the University of Houston, we've watched their football and basketball games, too.  If none of those groups were on TV, we didn't watch sports.  Several times over the years, I've wondered how long this would last.  Well, a couple of years ago, Tim got it in his head to watch NBA games that didn't involve the Kings.  Yuck.  This issue of his is becoming more pronounced.  He is going to have to accept the fact that, if my team isn't playing, I'm not watching.  It's OK.  He can watch his sports, I'll watch my shows. 

You know, I grew up in a house of continuous sports on TV.  I vowed it would never happen in my own house when I grew up.  Well, when Evan's home, all that's playing is ESPN.  I'm stuck in my room with my TV.  I can do that with Tim, as well.  I did a pretty good job of holding it off, now, for a few decades.

There was a time that I followed baseball quite faithfully.  When I was a kid, Wichita had a Triple-A team, the Wichita Aeros (the websites containing Aeros' information show a logo that was not used back in the '70s).  I had a transistor radio, and every night during the season, I listened to the game.  When I would get in trouble, I would lose game-listening privileges.  It was torture!  Also, at some point back then, George Brett joined the Kansas City Royals.  I liked him and Hal McRae.  For years, I followed the Royals - until Brett retired.  There were a couple of other teams that I was interested in back in the day, the Pirates and the A's.  (I'm mostly including this info for my kids - someday they may wish they'd asked about all of this.) 

Maybe Tim and I will stick with the Phillies, since we're kind of familiar with the players now.  I don't know.  What are the odds we'll remember any of them next spring?!  Well, we'll remember Victorino.

Speaking of the Kings, their opening night was tonight.  They lost.  Hmmm....  Frustrating.  

Baseball and California

Evan and Brett went to the Oakland A's - Toronto Blue Jays game last Monday.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this adventure.  Evan and Brett had never been to a game in Oakland, and this is the last year the A's will be playing in McAfee Coliseum - so naturally, Evan had to experience that stadium while he still could.  Hmmm, I'm not finding anything about the stadium closing.......Evan?  Anyway, the Blue Jays won, 6-1.  And, now that I think of it, didn't you say you were going to see the Royals play?  (I've been a Royals fan forever.  My favorite Royal is George Brett - I even named Brett after him.  But the Royals weren't in town last Monday!)

On Tuesday, Evan, Brett, and Bethany went with some friends to see the San Francisco Giants play the Atlanta Braves.  The Braves have been Brett's team ever since he was on the Braves' Little League team as a wee lad.  I have no photos of this trip, either.  The Braves beat the Giants, 11-4.  Brett was happy.  (For the record, Evan's team is the Houston Astros.)

Since I wasn't there to tell of any funny or unusual experiences, I thought now would be as a good a time as any to give my public service announcement.   I first came to California in June of 1980.  I flew to Los Angeles, but I quickly traveled to Arrowhead Springs, a couple of hours away (near San Bernardino) for two weeks of Continental Singers' rehearsal camp.  It was a bit chilly those two weeks, but I was in the higher elevations.   And, it was probably a fluke.  I didn't spend much time in California, again, until the June of 1982 - for rehearsal camp.  It was even colder at Arrowhead the second year.  Still, had to be a fluke. 

It was 16 years before I, once again, found myself in California.  I flew, again, to Los Angeles, in June 1998.  Only this time, I stayed in San Pedro.  It's on a peninsula, a huge hill, just south of Los Angeles.  We were on the ocean side of the hill/peninsula, and even though it was the end of June/beginning of July, I froze the entire time.  Morning, noon, night - didn't matter.  Freezing!  I stupidly thought, as it was summer, that a summer wardrobe would be quite appropriate.  I mean, it's California, for heaven's sake!!!   Very wrong.  I moved to Pedro a couple of months later.  The chilliness is not a fluke - it's just how it is.  I lived there for two years - I wore a coat the whole time.  Bethany and I forgot what a "summer wardrobe" looked like.   In fact, it wasn't even a part of our vocabulary.

Here's what they never told you about California.  If you're on the coast, it's cold.  Those Beach Boy songs  really fake people out, with all their sand, sunshine, and warmth!   Now, LA is a bit inland, so it gets hot.  But if you're going to be on the coast, it will be cold.  Southern California is a tiny bit warmer than Northern California.  I'm way inland now, it's 200 degrees in the summer, but two hours away in San Francisco - freezing!  San Francisco experiences 14 hours a year above 80 degrees.  The rest of the year, it's cold, foggy (marine layer), and windy.  If you're going to San Francisco, Monterey, or any coastal area in California - it will be cold.  If you find a sunny spot, stay there - it will warm you.  Oh, and the sand at the beaches will reach about 500 degrees!  But the wind blowing off of the freezing cold Pacific Ocean is COLD. 

If you have grown up along the coast, you won't know what I'm talking about.  Or if you grew up in Alaska, you might think I'm crazy.  But if you come from the Midwest, or Houston, or anywhere that it gets above 90 degrees, bring long sleeves, pants, jackets, coats, etc. if you're going to be visiting the California coast.  And did you see the part about the water being cold?  Icy.  This isn't the warm Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico out here.

Years ago, when I'd be watching a Giants game, I'd notice that the people in the stands looked dressed more for football than baseball.  I didn't really care about San Francisco, so the thought quickly passed on by.  But, now I know.  You dress for winter for San Francisco's baseball games so that you don't freeze.

So, my advice for you:  If you're coming to California, and you'll be visiting the coast, it will probably be quite cool.  Pack accordingly.   

River Cats

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, we had a million things to cram in those last few days of summer.  We did a pretty good job, missing only Sunsplash and the drum corps quarterfinals at the theater.  I'm starting with the first event.

On August 2, the gang all headed over to the Sacramento River Cats (the Oakland A's Triple-A farm club) game.  The River Cats played the Nashville Sounds (wow, dig the name).  Bethany took a friend.  Tim had the picture-taking responsibility.  Evan and Brett may have been a little interested in the game, but I think the kids were mostly there for the food.  I don't know.  Maybe it just seems that way, because most of the pictures of them involve eating.

The game went into extra innings (or "overtime," as Tim kept instant messaging me - we've been working on his sports lingo skills for years, and I'm waiting for some of it to "take").  Most of the people had left, already, when the post-game fireworks show began.

Oh, yes!  River Cats in 13, 4-3.