Summer is looming large. It seems like five years since 2020’s Summer of Lockdown, which saw our big trip to Philmont postponed and most normal summer activities (going to the beach, going to an IronPigs baseball game) were canceled. Heck, I haven’t slung dice in the real world in 15 months. If last year was … Read more
The Broken Ankle Saga continues, though it might be better described as the Healing Ankle Saga. In the week and a half since my last post, a lot has improved: I have almost no numbness in my foot and the nerve pain has quieted considerably. I’m regularly putting 80 lbs. of weight on my right … Read more
It’s hard to work out in the spring. I had a great routine going all winter long, and a fantastic stretch during February and March where I got to the gym every day, hit my activity goals every day, and more or less felt like a middle-aged juggernaut. That didn’t survive contact with April, when … Read more
It’s probably the goatee.
Somewhere around the year 1998, an alternative version of myself never started watching the Mets again. Never got hooked on the Subway Series between the Mets and the Yankees in 2000. Never started playing baseball games again on his Xbox 360, never started throwing baseballs on the quad at the college where he works, never went to an IronPigs game, never assistant coached his daughter’s softball team…
I love science fiction, but I’ve come to love baseball almost as much. As long time readers know, I came to the Church of Baseball late in life, so I don’t know all the rituals and I haven’t memorized all the stats … but I do enjoy the game. This summer my friends and I … Read more
This may be one of the best newspaper corrections I’ve ever seen, courtesy the MetsBlog. Apparently, the RA Dickey named his bat “Orcist the Goblin Cleaver”, but mis-attributed it to belonging to Bilbo Baggins. It actually belonged to Thorin Oakenshield. It’s not often that baseball and speculative fiction combine — the last time I can … Read more
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs — the AAA affiliate of the Philadelpha Phillies — is hosting a Star Wars night. That’s right: Star Wars. And baseball. On the same night! The event is being held Thursday, June 11, 2009 from 5:45pm – 10:45pm at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pa. According to the team’s Facebook page, fans … Read more
It’s February in Pennsylvania, which means we’re alternating between cold and icy, cold and muddy, and just plain cold. Oh we get the occasional spring tease, when temps spike up to the mid-40s, but those are quickly gone. Now granted, it’s not New England, which just got another foot of snow, but it’s still miserable … Read more
I went to my first-ever baseball game with my dad last night, as we watched the Lehigh Valley IronPigs take on the Buffalo Bisons at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pa.
It took us a while to get there, seeing as how I’m 36 and he’s 66, but it was worth the wait. The IronPigs are the AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, which means they’re one step down from the Show. The new stadium reflects that; it’s a first-rate, beautiful stadium. I doubt there’s a bad seat in the house; we had field-level seats down the first-base line and even we had a good view. It was also cheap; tickets were $9 a person, and even with the entire family there — my parents, Sue and the two kids — the whole thing end up costing me about $60.
It was fantastic being there with the kids, sitting in foul ball territory with Jordan, gloves in hand, waiting for fly balls to come soaring our way. None came close, but it was fun to watch and wait all the same. Jordan was half-crazy with excitement about being at the game, and while she got a little wild at the end, she loved it. It was a good trial run for going to a big league game — like watching the Mets at Citi Field next year.
