My love affair with baseball

I have been going to a lot of baseball games lately. I think I've been to 6 in the last three weeks or so. Baseball is a sport that is best heard on the radio or seen in person. I've always thought it doesn't translate as well to TV as it does to radio. Kind of how like (American) football doesn't translate as well to radio as it does to TV. Part of it is probably the pacing of the game. But I am already off topic.

I've been to four games at AT&T park - home of my beloved San Francisco Giants - since returning home. I had almost forgotten how beautiful of a ballpark it is. I grew up going to Giants games at Candlestick park where you could always count on two things: that there would be ridiculous wind that would make any pop-up a terrifying event for a player and that, even in the middle of summer, you would need long pants, a sweater, and probably a blanket in order to stay comfortably warm. The Giants have since transitioned to AT&T park (formerly known as Pac Bell Park), which still features the characteristic unpredictability of San Francisco winds (just ask the Cleveland Indians players..they've been having a rough time with it this weekend) and the chilly nature of a San Francisco summer, but it also provides a beautiful overlook of the San Francisco Bay.

The Willie Mays Gate - the main entrance to AT&T Park

The ballpark sits right next to the Bay and there are ferries and boats that routinely shuttle people from various parts of the Bay Area directly to AT&T park. You can walk entirely around the ballpark and get a wonderful, picturesque view of the Bay. When you sit in the club level or upper deck, you have not only a beautiful view of the field, but a great view of the bay. On warmer nights and during day games, there are regulars who take their boats, kayaks, and other water-going vessels to the spot behind the right field wall where, on occasion, a ball will actually make it out into the Bay. Homeruns that land in the Bay are called "splash hits" and according to the ballpark, there have only been 55 as of 26 June 2011 (the ballpark opened on 31 March 2000). That's right - even though there have only been 55 splash hits in 11 years, people still take their boats out into the Bay in the hopes of retrieving a home run.

The Bay from the pier behind the ballpark

I have a couple pictures included in this post, but they really don't give you the full picture. Not only is AT&T park beautifully designed, the atmosphere is incredible. Giants fans are quirky, strange, and, to be blunt, often bizarrely endearing. Even before we managed to win the World Series in 2010 (still not over that, by the way), fans were incredibly dedicated.

The first time I went to a baseball game was back in the mid-1990s. It was a night game at Candlestick Park and the Giants were playing the Diamondbacks (before the Diamondbacks changed their color scheme to the terrible one they currently use). All I remember about the game is that Sean Estes was the starting pitcher for the Giants (and subsequently became my favorite pitcher for years, if only because he was left-handed) and that the Giants won. Oh, and it was insanely cold. I grew up watching baseball when some of the Giants greats were playing - JT Snow, Jeff Kent, Rich Aurilia, Kurk Rueter, Barry Bonds, Mark Gardner, etc. I was so obsessed that when my family was in LA for spring break one year - which conveniently overlapped with my birthday - my mom took my to a Giants/Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium (the Dodgers won, 11-1). It's a tad strange having been a baseball fan for so long that many of the players I grew up watching are now managers, coaches, and commentators. But that's life.

Ryan Vogelsong warming up before a game.

I've gone to baseball games in many different cities. Off the top of my head I can think of the following: San Francisco (which counts twice, for the two different stadiums), Oakland, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Cleveland. Not too shabby, really. When you start going to games in different cities, you learn to appreciate your home crowd. I happen to think that the Giants are blessed with awesome fans who embrace the quirky players that come to our city and turn those quirks into symbols around which to rally - Tim Lincecum's long hair, Brian Wilsons beard, Pablo Sandoval being nicknamed "The Kung Fu Panda," etc.

If you ever visit me during baseball season, make me take you to a game. It will definitely be worth it, even if you're not a huge fan of the sport. You should be, though. Baseball is awesome.