My dad got us front row seats directly behind the Red's dugout to the game last night (Reds won 6-3). We sat directly in front of where the players walk into the dugout. It was me, my dad, Jocelyn & McKailyn.
Before we even sat down in our seats, one of the on field employees flipped a baseball to Jocelyn.
After warming up, while walking into the dugout right before the game started,
Aaron Harang tossed his baseball to McKailyn. My dad & I were really hoping for a perfect game, a night that turned his career into a hall of fame career so that ball could finance McKailyn's college tuition, but alas, no cigar, his perfect game was ruined in the second inning :-)
Right before the game started after the Red's took the field and the infield warmed up again, coach
Billy Hatcher walked into the dugout and tossed Jocelyn another baseball. All on her on initiative, Jocelyn looked at me and said, "Dad, I"m going to give this ball to that little girl because I already have two and she doesn't have any." She turned around and shocked the little girl and her dad by giving her the ball. I was very proud.
At the end of the first inning, again, as coach
Billy Hatcher was walking into the dugout, he then tossed McKailyn another baseball. Again, all on her own (I'm sure it helped as she watched her big sister), McKailyn told me she wanted to give her second ball to another kid. She walked up 3 or 4 rows, found a little girl and gave her the ball. I turned around in time to see the girl's mom's eyes get real big and appreciative. A moment after McKailyn sat back down in our seats, the little girl walked down to thank McKailyn. I was very proud.
I told my girls, "In 33 years of coming to Red's games I've NEVER gotten a baseball and you two get 4 before the second inning!"
Then my dad chimed in, "In 58 years of coming to Red's games I've NEVER gotten a baseball and you two get 4 before the second inning!"
Now they expect to get balls every time they go to a game.
Also, in true baseball fashion, the girls went through a bag of peanuts, a bag of licorice and 2 cotton candies.......by the 4th inning.
For the Red's fans out there:
In between one of the innings, the jumbro tron showed
Billy Hatcher's highlights from the
1990 World Series (he hit a still standing World Series record of .750). He got a spontaneous standing ovation. He acknowledged the crowd as he jogged to coach first base. It was pretty cool.
One of the camera workers spotted
Pete Rose sitting maybe 10 rows behind home plate. They put the camera on him and showed him on the jumbro tron, again, another spontaneous standing ovation. A couple minutes later, a bunch of applause broke out where Pete was sitting......he was joined by
Joe Morgan. They put Joe on the jumbro tron, and again, another spontaneous standing ovation. It was kinda awesome.
