Happy Place — Baseball Bench Coach

Yesterday afternoon I was in my “Happy Place”, attending my first baseball game of the season at the ballpark. It was the Cubs and the Diamondbacks at Wrigley Field, but for me it could have been two teams playing at any major or minor league park in professional baseball. It is time to relax at my home away from home and take in the intricacies of the game I love.

As a baseball fan I’ve been fortunate to have resided in cities with great second homes, Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and now Wrigley. There is always that special excitement in the air as you enter the ballpark. While presenting to the gate attendant your ticket stub from your wallet has been replaced by the “ping” of acceptance of your electronic ticket from your iPhone wallet, the message is the same. “Welcome to the Ballpark”. Walking down the concourse I see the bustle of fans and smell hot dogs on the grill. I am indeed home.

A first stop before settling into my seat is always to grab a hot dog. It just so happens at Wrigley that spot is the Marquee Grill, famous for its grilled hot dogs. Unbelievably delicious! And of course while I add a little mustard to the hot dog at the stand, I take a moment to appreciate the back of the historic Marquee sign that has welcomed fans to Wrigley for 85 years.

I love traditional ballpark foods, except maybe one, Cracker Jacks, that has never made it to my Happy Place checklist! You see, at Wrigley over 40 years ago, my date was attending her first baseball game and immediately asked to “buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks”, sadly the only thing she knew about baseball. I said I would get them, but I missed the first inning doing so. And when she took a paperback book from her purse to read in the fourth, I knew it was the last date!

With a hot dog in one hand, you certainly need a beverage in the other. For me, that is usually a beer. As an 18-year old (of age) kid, my first ballpark beer was a Hudepohl (“Get Moody with Hudey”) at Riverfront. In college I was in Wrigley’s bleachers and enjoyed Old Style in paper cups with plastic lids. My adult life took me to Busch where you always had to have a Budweiser (“King of Beers”). These later years I must admit I’ve attained a more refined taste and find myself at the Goose Island stand at Wrigley. I hear Guaranteed Rate Field now has its own Goose Island premium seating!

Finally, I’ve arrived at my seat and it’s time to Play Ball! There’s so much to enjoy watching a game. Early on, it’s good to clue in on whether the starting pitchers are in command of their respective games. Whether there is early scoring or not, you get the sense of how the game will go based on how hard balls are hit the first time through the lineup. There is the ultimate excitement for the average fan, the home team’s home run ball. For me though, I want something else, a batter sacrificing an at bat by moving a runner over with no outs, a stolen base, or the most exciting play in the game, a triple hit in one of the gaps or down the right field line.

And then there’s the part of the game that I also appreciate, the lull. Sometime in the middle innings there may be an inning or two when both sides are out in order, a time to sit back and just plain relax. I usually take that time to reflect a little or maybe check in with whom I am attending the game. I remember fondly those days when we were raising our daughters and it was my tradition to do a one-on-one weeklong baseball trip with each of them. You find out a lot about each other during those quiet times in baseball.

As we reach the middle of the seventh inning, it is time to sing! I don’t sing much in public (many are very thankful for that), but I do love to belt out “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”. There’s probably no better tradition in all of sports! No matter what ballpark I’m in, I have to admit that when it comes to the lyrics, “and it’s root, root for the . . . “, I reach back to my childhood days and think to myself “Redlegs”. It’s good to be young at heart.

The game is ending now, and oh by the way, the Cubs won, 2-1, in thrilling walk-off fashion. It’s time to sing “Go Cubs Go” and raise the “W” in centerfield, but also time to check the schedule for the next game I plan to attend. I can never get enough of my Happy Place!

Until next Monday,
your Baseball Bench Coach