30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Friday, May 20, 2016

Shiny Objects and Loud Noises

I have self diagnosed attention deficit disorder.  I'm being serious.  I'm the guy who has a very difficult time focusing on one thing for more than a few minutes.

Part of the problem is that I'll be focusing on something, then I'll see something else and it'll trigger a memory.  Within a few minutes, a variety of things are bouncing around inside of my head... except for the original thing I was thinking about.

It's a good thing teachers use lesson plans.  Without them... I'd probably end up teaching something different to each of my five periods.



The same thing applies to the blog.  A few weeks ago, I attended my first Oakland A's game of the season and had planned on recapping my experience on here.  Unfortunately... I got side tracked and the thought never crossed my mind until this afternoon when I opened up a package from Night Owl and saw this card:


It immediately reminded me of the Oakland A's Hall of Fame mascot race that took place at the game...


Which by the way... happened to be won by the Rickey Henderson mascot.  Normally you'd have a one out of three shot of picking the winner.  However on this particular day, it happened to be the 25th anniversary of Rickey breaking Lou Brock's record... so the majority of the crowd predicted #24 would come from behind and win the race.

Unfortunately... the Athletics didn't win the game.  They lost 2-1 after allowing only two hits to the Houston Astros.  One of those happened to be a leadoff home run by Jose Altuve.  The A's did manage to put together a small rally in the bottom of the 7th when they cut the lead in half, but left runners stranded on the corners to end the inning.


The A's really could have used Danny Valencia's bat that day.  At the time he was right in the middle of his stint on the DL.  He has since returned to the lineup and given the Athletics a nice boost to their offense.

Regardless of the loss... my cousin and I had a great time.  She really came through with some nice seats.  In fact it was the first time in years that I've sat behind home plate, which turned out to be a blessing because it was pretty hot that day and we pretty much spent the entire game in the shade.

Ever since I was a little kid, I've been more of a bleachers kind of guy.  I grew up watching guys like #21 and #42 out in centerfield:


It basically comes down to money.  I'd rather spend $20 on a bleacher seat and have $30 to spend on nachos, sausages, pretzels, and sodas... than spend $50 with a better view of the field.  If you know me well enough, you'd know that I'm still going to drop $30 on beverages and food.

While we're on the topic of money... you won't believe how much we spent on parking that day.  Forty dollars!  Yup.  Forty flippin' dollars.

Some genius thought it was a good idea to have the A's and Golden State Warriors play simultaneously next door to each other.  I'm pretty sure that's the most I've ever spent on parking at a sporting event.

Steve... here are the socks!

Anyways... I better wrap up this post before I get sidetracked anymore and start talking about the accident we saw on the freeway on the drive up or the cool socks they handed out to fans at the game.


Thanks Greg for sending me the awesome Dennis Eckersley card and all of the other cards featured in this post.  I'll get some more Dodgers together for you in the near future... assuming I don't get distracted by shiny objects or loud noises.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

11 comments:

night owl said...

I don't think I have ADD, except when I'm at work and conversations are going on behind me. I have the worst time focusing on what I'm doing and shutting those conversations out.

I've sat behind home plate only once during a major league game. It was in Toronto.

The Lost Collector said...

I love the perspective of sitting behind home plate. You really get a good appreciate for the speed of the game. I've been lucky enough to sit in the first row behind home plate twice at Yankee Stadium, and it was a blast each time. The worst part was my mom texting me every 12 second "I see you eating a hot dog", "How many beers is that?"

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Hilarious!

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

I haven't been to to a MLB game in awhile, but I used to carch my Braves every year the week before the All Star break. I was fortunate to always have great seats. Only once was it behind home plate, the rest (my preferred seats) were always field level behind or near the Braves the dugout compliments of my Brother's office always having greats season tickets. I plan on catching a game in Atlanta next year at the new park.

Man said...

$40 omg, what a rip-

Steve at 1975BaseballCards.com said...

One of these days I'm going to get home plate seats... Where's the photo of the cool socks! :-). No really.

Fuji said...

night owl - i've probably been to four or five in my lifetime, but i personally would rather go to three games and sit in the bleachers, than watch one game behind home plate.

the lost collector - lol... that's awesome! reminds me of that episode of seinfeld where george is eating the ice cream at the tennis match.

john miller - i don't think i've ever sat at field level behind the dugouts before. i'm sure that view would be amazing. one of these days i'll make it out to the east coast and when i do, a braves game will definitely be on my agenda.

brady - i know, right?

steve - i'll take a pic and add them today for you.

Matt said...

I always get sidetracked. I think I might have a case of ADD to.

Steve at 1975BaseballCards.com said...

Those are some nice socks! It looks like you guys get some cool giveaways (including free parking - which would come in handy at Safeco too) and one of them is a pack of baseball trading cards in June. Given the socks, the cards may not be too shabby... I once got a stadium bobblehead but the line for that was looooooong.

Fuji said...

i've gotten a few sga bobbles, but you have to go super early (usually two hours) and stand around. these days i just wait a few years and pick them up for $5 at the flea market. unless they giants bobbles. they go for a little more around here.

Fuji said...

join the club ;)