By Mark Hopper

Some of our grandchildren have been visiting us for the past few weeks. We have enjoyed having them and their parents staying with us at our house. One of the things I have enjoyed while they have been here is playing baseball with them in our front yard.

 

We use a plastic baseball and plastic bat. We play in the front yard so there is plenty of room to hit the ball. The best time to play is late in the day as the temperature cools off and the sun is going down.

 

Baseball has a lot of rules and regulations. It is difficult to explain and takes a while to get used to. While they have been learning how to play baseball, we have also talked about going to a real baseball game together.

 

They have been to a few games in past years, but now they seemed ready to really understand the game. We decided to go to a Saturday night game at Angel stadium. The Saturday games start earlier and they usually have a fire work show after the game.

 

Food at the games can get pretty expensive, but the Angels allow people to bring their own snacks and food into the stadium. So, we purchased two large bags of peanuts and two large bags of Cracker Jacks at a local grocery store and brought them and some bottles of water with us to the game.

 

The grandkids were in awe of the big stadium.  We had good seats in the upper deck on the shady side of the field.  The grandkids were very excited and had a lot of questions about the field and the players. They were excited to see Mike Trout hit a home run in the first inning.

 

Our peanuts, Cracker Jacks and water bottles came in handy as we munched throughout the game.  I was surprised at how much they consumed.

 

It was a good game for the home team. The Angels scored eleven runs and they defeated the Seattle Mariners by a score of 11-6.  During the 7th inning stretch we sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”.  The grandkids knew most of the words!

 

Between innings, they often show photos of fans in the stands. They actually showed our family on the big screen!!  It happened so quickly that we didn’t have time to take a photo. It was our family’s ten seconds of fame on the big screen at Angel stadium!

 

After the game, they had a great fireworks show.  All of us really enjoyed it. They also showed a movie after the fireworks, but we didn’t stay. Our young fans were pretty tired out and we were too.

 

Did I mention that our baseball experience actually continued the next day?  Because the Angels scored at least ten runs, a local restaurant chain offered all of those in attendance a free chicken Taco the day after the game.  We enjoyed eating our free Taco at Fresca’s Mexican Grill in Brea on Sunday afternoon!  It tasted great!

 

I suspect that whenever we play baseball in the front yard with our grandkids in the future, we will remember our special adventure to Angel stadium together.  It was an evening we will remember for a long time!

 

Pastor Mark Hopper

Efree Church of Diamond Bar

3255 South Diamond Bar Blvd

909-594-7604

Sunday Services: 9:00 & 10:45 AM

Efreedb.org