Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been consumed with baseball. While I’ve gotten older and my priorities have changed, I’m still consumed with baseball, specifically the Mets. The Mets off days drive me crazy because it means I have to find something to do. 

Tonight is one of those nights. Now, I have plenty of things to do in its place. I’m married to an amazing woman. I have a perfect little boy. Like every night, we’re going to have dinner. I’m going to play with my son. This involves a number of games and puzzles. It always involves me breaking out his baseball stuff. 

When he starts getting tired, it’s bath time.  After that, my son asks to watch the Mets. He gets next to me in the bed, looks over, and he crosses his legs exactly the way I have my legs crossed. It may not tell me if I’m doing a good job as a parent, but it lets me know that I’m making an impact. 

On Sunday, I had a dilemma. He wanted to watch baseball. The problem is the Mets had a day game. Fortunately, there was Sunday Night Baseball. It was good enough. There’s no Mets game tonight. Not that I would put it on, but there’s no Yankee game tonight. That limits me to the MLB Network.  I’m sure I’ll throw on the game they are televising. 

My issue is their choices tonight are terrible for the East Coast. It’s either Tigers-Royals or Rockies-Giants. The Royals have a 12 game lead in the AL Central and the Tigers are 10 games under .500. The Giants, like the Nationals, are 6.5 games back in the division. Like the Nationals, they have no real shot at the Wild Card. 

Personally, I’d like to see the Braves-Nationals game. It has an impact on the Mets and their divisional race. The other games don’t. In fact, the Royals game has no impact on anything. I realize the MLB Network exists for ratings. I’ve been to a game in San Francisco. They’re terrific fans, and I’m sure they’ll drive ratings. 

However, I can’t imagine the Rockies-Giants game will remotely register in New York, the largest media market in the world. There’s Giants and Jets preseason games. There’s the U.S. Open. The MLB Network punted probably presuming there will be no eyes in New York. 

I know my son and I won’t be watching.  That’s hard to accept because I’d love to have an important game to watch tonight. It’s just one night. My son and I will be tuning in tomorrow. 

I didn’t like Citi Field when it first opened. There were too many obstructed views. There were less seats. It was more expensive. I missed the ramps on the way out of a game. There was more Dodger than Met focus. Most importantly, the baseball was terrible. 

Most of this holds true except for the bad baseball. However, as a parent, I’ve come to appreciate and really like Citi Field. It’s the first place my son ever went to a game, and the ballpark is kid friendly. 

For starters, there’s the presence of Mr. Met. My son loves him. He had a Mr. Met mobile as an infant. There’s a Mr. Met fathead above his toddler bed. When my son saw him walking through the concourse, it was as if he saw Santa Claus. Mr. Met made a quick stop and gave my son a high five. My son was thrilled. As Mr. Met moved along, my son called for him to come back. 

Mr. Met couldn’t. He had pregame things. We were heading in the opposite direction. We were going to the Fan Fest area behind centerfield which is like a mini-amusement park. There’s an area to get photos with Mr. Met. There’s a dunk tank/speed pitch. There’s a place for video games where you get to play Homerun Derby with you favorite Met.  There are batting cages.  There is also a mini-ballfield. 

I’ll speak to each of these more in future posts. I will say the ballfield is my son’s favorite. It is a mini-Citi Field. Each kid gets to play each of the OF positions, gets a turn at bat, and weather permitting, run the bases. This is my son’s Disney Land. He hates the line. He loves the entertainment. He cries when it’s time to leave. 

We went to the Fan Fest area twice on Saturday. The first time was when we first got to the game. The second time was at the start of the second inning so we could see Mr. Met. The staff was helpful and friendly. They all seemed eager to give my son a Mr. Met sticker, which he loved. 

So, I want to thank the Mets for building Citi Field. While I miss Shea, I couldn’t have brought my son to four games before he turned two. There was nothing to do there. There’s so much at Citi Field. It was so great my wife even considered going to Sunday’s game.  Trust me when I tell you that’s no small feat. 

Overall, in part due to the ability to stop at the Fan Fest area, we had a great time at the game. We got to see six of the nine innings in our seats. My son danced with his mommy during the seventh inning stretch. As Section 132 will tell you, when the Mets rallied and the crowd came alive, my son was jumping up and down and cheering:

  
The Mets lost 3-1. It’s the only time I’ve ever been to a Mets game that I’ve enjoyed the loss. I enjoyed it because my son had a great time. He woke up the next morning and said, “Baseball, yay!” as soon as he woke up. 

He then helped pick out his clothes for the day:

  
He said to me, “Go Mets please daddy!”  I told him we couldn’t go, but we would go to another game. He replied with a half-hearted “okay.”  We then played baseball (the ball is in the bottom right of the photo). 

I haven’t been this excited to go to another Mets game since 2006, and it has nothing to do with the fun and success on the field. It’s because I see my son becoming a Mets and baseball fan. The Fan Fest area has played a part in this. I can finally see they got it right with Citi Field. 

Thank you Mets. You have helped create a new diehard fan.  

Yesterday, the immortal Vin Scully announced he will most likely retire after next season. Tonight, ESPN had Jessica Mendoza fill-in for the suspended Curt Schilling. It’s fitting they were both working the same game. It was Vin Scully’s 20th no-hitter and Hesdica Mendoza’s first. 

It’s funny for a blog, but there is really nothing new or interesting I can add here about Vin Scully, except for maybe this: He started his career when the sport of baseball was all white males; he was there for the integration of baseball with Jackie Robinson, and now he’s seen a woman of Hispanic descent serve as a color commentator. 

That’s remarkable. It’s like how my Nana was born into a world with no televisions and the beginning of the dawn of automobiles. In her lifetime, she’d watch a man land in the moon. That’s revolutionary. What happened tonight is nothing short of that. 

Think about it. Before tonight no major sport has had a female in the booth. Also, I believe the top teams for all pro sports are white males.  I’m still not sure if it’s good or bad that no one has focused on Jessica Mendoza’s heritage. 

Personally, I’ve loved her smart, insightful work on Baseball Tonight. I don’t think choosing her to join the booth tonight was a PR move. I think ESPN just chose an amazing analyst, much like Greg Poppvich chose a good assistant coach. The question is how did she do?

I think k she started tentatively. It’s only natural. It’s a three man booth with Buster Olney chiming in whenever he has a thought. It’s a hard place for anyone to find their footing. However, she did find her footing. She was insightful and funny. She didn’t over talk, nor did you forget that she was there. She took on a real challenge and succeeded. 

Much like most of my life, I didn’t hear Vin Scully. I’m sure he was amazing. He always is. When I was growing up you rarely, if ever had an opportunity to hear him call games. When I was growing up, it was Jack Buck and Bob Costas who did play-by-play. Not too shabby. However, the real voice of baseball has always been Vin Scully, and to a certain extent I missed out. 

That was until I was at Shea Stadium during a long rain delay. I remember DiamondVision turning on the Dodgers game with Vin Scully welcoming the Mets fans who were watching from Shea. He was terrific. I could’ve sat and listened to him call the Dodger game. Alas, the game was officially rained out, the Dodger game was off, and it was time to head home. 

When XM Radio came out, I got the chance to hear Vin Scully again.  During this late nights I couldn’t sleep or I was working, I’d turn on the Dodger games just to hear him. It was a pleasure. 

Unfortunately, it’s a pleasure my son won’t know. He’s heard Vin Scully; I’ve made sure of that. However, he can’t try appreciate it, and he’ll probably never remember it. It’s sad in s way. My grandfather, father, and I, all of the same name, have heard and enjoyed Vin Scully. The Fourth won’t. 

However, there’s no Jessica Mendoza. We do t know where her broadcasting career will take her, but we do know it’s off to a promising start. I did make sure he watched tonight. He won’t remember it, but he will learn why it was significant. Who knows, maybe by the time he’s old enough, it will no longer be noteworthy. Maybe next time we’re talking about a questionable error made by an official scorer and the subsequent no-hitter. 

Overall, I just want him to have good announcers to help him learn about and enjoy baseball. Jessica Mendoza qualifies as that. 

i was looking over my blog the other day. I think it’s a good idea for anyone who writes to do that. You learn what you like, what you don’t like, and any crutches or patterns you have. If you’re being honest, whenever you read something you wrote, you want to edit and/or rewrite everything. 

On thing I’ve noticed is this blog has been a little more Mets-centric than I anticipated. I suppose it’s only natural. Baseball is pretty much a daily sport, and it takes a lot of time and energy – blog or no blog.  With that said, when re-reading my blog, I really wish there were some more pieces on my son. 

I want this blog to be a snapshot in time. I want to go back and be able to see my thoughts at a particular time. I want my son to see it as well. What I lament most thus far is I haven’t really spoken about how proud and amazed I am. Each and every day, he does something that amazes me. 

I guess it’s easy to be complacent with my amazement of him.  He’s advanced. In daycare, he was promoted to the toddler room ahead of older children. He’s the only one in his class that knows all of his colors, all of the animal sounds, can speak in sentences, and can count to three. The teachers and other kids love him.  

Also, he’s adorable. That’s mostly because he looks like his mother, but with my eye color . . . hey there was a reason a mook(ie) like me could actually marry a beautiful woman. Not a day goes by that I’m not stopped by someone telling me how cute he is. That’s not hyperbole. I really get stopped at least once a day. At today’s Mets game, it happened several times. 

I assume most people, other than my wife and other family members have stopped reading by now. That’s fine. This piece is reall for my son when he’s much older. If you’re reading this buddy, I am so proud of you and love you very much. I may not say it enough, but that’s because if I said it as often as it needed to be said, I wouldn’t be able tosay anything else. 

Anyway, back to talking about the Mets and how much fun it is raising a Mets fan.  Before I get back, I’m proud of you, and I love you buddy. 

Hearing about the recent Little League scandal, I went back to my days in Little League. I made me question when did this win at all costs approach start?  

The sad, ugly truth is that it’s always been there. We ignore that until we get to this point. I remember what happened my second year of Little League. I was on a team that was almost half boys-half girls. This was in the days before softball. If you remember those days, the girls on your team were mostly an automatic out. There were some good female players, but for the most part, they weren’t very good. 

Well, we surprisingly made it to the playoffs. Shockingly, we made it to the 3rd place game. The coaches wanted to win. They wanted the players to get that trophy (this was in the days before the participation trophy). Then something truly awful happened. The coaches didn’t tell the worst players, including the girls, about the time and location of the 3rd place game. 

We won resoundingly. However, what sticks with me most was not the victory, but how upset my teammates were at missing out on the game. Some skipped the year end awards celebration. Others cried when they were given their trophies. At what cost did we get those trophies?  

It should be said out coach was a good man. He was a very involved dad. He was a Little a League coach, a scout master, and a volunteer fireman.  All season he never got down on anyone for making a mistake. He gave everyone time each game to play their favorite IF position. He allowed the less talented players to have some time batting at the top of the lineup. He made the best players play the OF. All of this doesn’t change the fact that he made a mistake. A bad mistake. However, I refuse to let that mistake define him.  

I’m not going to pass judgment on one Little League coach for one ugly moment. I don’t know him as a person. I suspect he thought he was helping his team. I know good men and good coaches can make mistakes. It doesn’t change his egregious error in judgment. 

This is why when my son is old enough I want to coach his baseball team. First and foremost, I’ll coach them to win the right way. You win by always playing hard and always wanting to beat the best. You win by giving everyone on your team a chance to succeed. If you do your best, everyone hustles and plays the right way, and everyone improves, you’re a winner.

You’re a winner even if you lose the game. However, if they lose, I don’t think the players should deserve a trophy just for showing up.