My First Professional Baseball Game

As Told By Carter--

On Sunday, I went to my first MLB game in Tampa--the Detroit Tigers vs. Tampa Bay Rays. My Uncle Ryan's favorite baseball team is the Tigers, so I decided I would cheer for them. Go Tigers! Mommy and Daddy rode with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Kelly to the game. They all thought I would fall asleep since it is a two hour drive to Tampa, and they think I love to sleep in the car. Well, I fooled them and decided that it would be more fun play and bug Mommy and Daddy for attention. After a long time, I finally gave up and fell asleep, but Mommy woke me up really soon after that. I heard Mommy say that I slept for 20 minutes and that she hoped I would be good at the game. In my opinion, I am always a good boy.

When we got inside the ballpark, there were so many people and colors and sounds! I was a staring at everything with my mouth wide open. We walked around, and then Daddy took me over to this really hairy looking thing. I couldn't figure out what it was. It was as big as Daddy! I stared at him for a minute, but he was really scary. Mommy and Aunt Kelly tried to get me to look at them for a picture, but I didn't want to. I wanted to leave that scary blue, hairy thing.

This is me and Daddy with Raymond, the Rays mascot. He sure is funny looking!

We had to go up some very big moving stairs to get to where we would watch the baseball game. Daddy said we were in the nosebleeds, whatever that means. My nose didn't bleed. All I know is that we were really high up.

Daddy and me going up the really big moving stairs.

When we got to our seats, we saw the Tigers hitting the ball. I didn't really pay attention to them. There were other things to do, like jumping on Mommy and falling backward on Daddy's lap to look at people all around me. I also at some lunch--carrots. Mommy gave me some bread from her sub too. I would rather have a sub than some mushed up old carrots.

Then, more people came and sat near us. I started to get really hot. I was very sweaty because Mommy put me in these silly overalls. I heard her say that it is never this warm in here. All of a sudden, it got really loud with some man saying a bunch of stuff. Then, this lady sang some song. Everyone was really quiet, but I decided to sing along really loud. Everyone looked at me. I must have been singing good! When the game started, I decided it was time to crawl around. But, Mommy and Daddy wouldn't put me down! I couldn't even stand on the ground! In my opinion, baseball is really boring right now. Not enough colors or action for me! So, I decided to get cranky. Sometimes when I get cranky, Mommy and Daddy let me get my way. It still didn't work. So, Mommy gave me Cheerios instead. I like Cheerios, but not as much as crawling.

Daddy played the jumping game with me again, and I shook my rattles around for awhile. Then, I started to get really sleepy. Well, I think sleep is overrated. There are too many things to see, and I can't see them when I am asleep. Daddy held me tight, but I squirmed around and fussed. Then, Mommy took me. Daddy calls Mommy the fun stealer sometimes, and she was definitely the fun stealer at this game. She held me tighter, and I couldn't move! I finally gave in a fell asleep.

Mommy and Me (asleep)


How embarrassing!



I was asleep for a little while when I woke up to a really loud noise. Someone hit a home run for the Rays! Lots of people were cheering, but Uncle Ryan was really mad. Daddy explained it me. See, the guy for the Tigers that catches the ball, the catcher I think, was traded to the Yankees (Daddy says we hate the Yankees), and the yucky Yankees gave the Tigers a pitcher named Farnsworth. Well, Daddy said that this pitcher played for the Cubs (Daddy's favorite team) and lost a lot of games for them. So, Uncle Ryan was not happy with this trade because Pudge, the catcher for the Tigers, was one of his favorite players. It just so happens that this was Farnsworth's first game for the Tigers, and his first batter hit a home run off him. I think Uncle Ryan said some very bad words about Farnsworth. Mommy took this picture of Uncle Ryan after the home run.




The Rays came back and beat the Tigers. I don't know the score because I didn't care. I just wanted to crawl around and no one would let me! We finally left that baseball game almost four hours later. Mommy said I had only slept an hour that day, which was fine with me! I got to see so much stuff! I had a lot of fun with everyone who went to the game.