Opening Day! Save 20%...
Today is Opening Day for baseball. I thought I would celebrate by introducing a new baseball theme invitation, note card, return address label and stationery set. I can customize these products using our JLMC feature.
Historically, baseball has been very accessible to everyone. Until recently in most major league parks tickets were very affordable, in some cases as low as $7. Many of us played some sort of baseball as kids: baseball, softball or even stick ball. As tots our kids now play T-ball.
Even if we did not love the game, many of us go to baseball games for social or professional reasons. We entertain clients at games. As summer interns, companies take us to baseball games. Hanging out at a baseball game with a group of friends is a great summer activity. For some of us it does not really matter if we even pay attention to the game; being there is just fun!
So, as we usher in another opening day, I would love to hear your baseball stories from your childhood, or your baseball experiences with your kids. We took Isaiah to his first major league game in 2004 when he was 4 years old. Isaiah enjoyed the surroundings. He was fascinated by all of the people. However, he demanded that he be allowed to go on the field and play, and just could not understand when we would not let him. (BTW, it was horrible game for Cubs fans and included Mark Prior giving up a grand slam.) Now we pretty much just go to minor league games. Single A Kane County Cougars’ home field is about 15 minutes from our home. The games are inexpensive and very kid-friendly. Each game includes at least 2 renditions of the SpongeBob theme song and permitting kids to run the bases at the end of the game.
I would love to hear about your experiences taking your child to a baseball game, watching your child play in a baseball game, or about you attending a baseball game or playing in a baseball game as a kid. The story can be about baseball, softball, stick ball or T-Ball.
To submit just click on the "comments" button at the bottom of this entry. Entries should be no more than about 150 words. We reserve the right to reject any entry, including those that include inappropriate language. We are just looking for fun, cute or touching family experiences.
Each person who submits a baseball related entry my blog that I post will receive a coupon for 20% off of Stacey M Design products. (Coupon is not valid for wholesale orders and or for custom design fees.) This offer is for the month of April 2009 only. One lucky person will also receive a FREE set of baseball note cards! I will chose this person at random from all posts that I publish during the month of April 2009. To receive the coupon, you must email to let me know you have left a comment and you cannot post anonymously. Thanks!
Labels: baseball, invitations, note cards, stationery
posted by StaceyMDesign at Sunday, April 05, 2009
8 Comments:
I loved this time of the year growing up. The snow was finally gone, you could see the changes in the season, and we'd all run home after school to play some baseball until dinner time.
This is not exactly the type of baseball story you are requesting, but I just gotta say how much I want to go to the new Yankee Stadium. I saw some photos online and it just seems so cool! And I am not even a big Yankee fan-- although I do love Derek Jeter.
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When I was around 13 or so I remember playing softball with some girls from my school that I went to.One day when we were playing the ball came real close to my head I remember one of the girls getting hit on the head and that was one of the last times we played.I still would love to play a game it's been awhile but it was alot of fun when we played.Makes me feel like a kid again thinking about it.
I thought I wanted to play baseball when I was about 11 years old, until I was practicing with friends who hit the ball right at me. I missed the ball and it popped me right in the eye. At that point I decided that baseball is not for me....or my daughter. hee hee
When I was kid we played pick up baseball games almost everyday durirng the summer.
When I was (ahem) in my 30's, I played on my church's softball team (infielder). One evening, we were winning by a good amount in the bottom of the last inning, no outs and I was playing second base. There was a man on first and second and our third baseman was teasing the batting team that we were going to turn a triple play. He moved over close to third base so he could start the play.
Sure enough, the batter hit a hard grounder to him right at third, he step on the base (out #1), and immediately threw to me at second where I tagged the base (out #2). But I was so excited I rushed and threw off balance to first, the ball was in the dirt. Our first baseman tried scooping it up and had it on the end of his glove (ice cream cone style) WELL before the runner passed first base. But the ball fell out of his glove, the runner was safe, and we missed turning the triple play. I caught grief from my team the rest of the season because of my bad throw!! :)
Opening day is less than two weeks weeks away for baseball season here in Geneva, Switzerland. Yes, Switzerland. The Geneva Baseball League organizes t-ball, Little League and girls softball. The atmosphere is so American that, if you couldn’t see the Salève mountain from the pitcher’s mound, you could be in any leafy-green American suburb.
The GBL teaches just what you’d expect from an American league: rules of the game and sportsmanship. Despite the coaches’ best efforts, our daughter’s t-ball team, the Muck Dogs, looked more like rugby players than baseball players. Whenever the ball hit the ground the entire infield - and outfield – dove for the ball. They ended up in a big scrum every inning. I don’t know how much our little slugger remembers from last season, but she’s raring to play again this spring.
Despite being the all-American game, the league is filled with kids from all over the world, some of whom can’t even speak English. Living in a multi-lingual society you learn that young kids, especially boys, don’t care about language. Give them a ball – and a bat – and they’re happy; they just want to play.
Some of the coaches do speak French and the others just muddle through or rely on the players to translate - just like a Major League coach talking to his Japanese or Dominican players. I am a bit curious about how you would say bullpen or clean-up pitcher in French.
Surprisingly, there are a fair number of Brits in the league. I asked one of my English friends why she’d put her son in t-ball and not cricket. She responded with a laugh, “This is a whole lot more fun!” I actually don’t think the Brits know what’s going on the field, but they always look like they’re having a good time.
One week one of my daughter’s coaches was out of town and her dad was asked to fill in. My Jamaican-born husband who was raised on cricket wanted to decline, “I don’t know anything about baseball!” In my best you-know-you’d-better-coach-or-there’ll-be-hell-to-pay voice I told him, “It’s not all that different from cricket. Besides they’re only six-years old. All you have to do is say, ‘Great job!’ ‘Hustle!’ and ‘Have your mom take you to the bathroom’”. I am happy to report that he did indeed survive his first t-ball coaching gig.
After the opening day when the moms organize who is bringing which snacks when, I’m free for the season. I decided that t-ball is the perfect Daddy-and-Me activity and that Mommy gets Saturday mornings to sleep in. Boy, do I love baseball season!
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