My first game at the baseball stadium as a dad

 What a deal!  Sunday was a fundraising event at PGE Park for my son's elementary school, and it was "Kids Eat Free" day.  And as an extra bonus, the first 2000 kids got free baseball mitts.  My son had been a little worried that we wouldn't get there early enough for the mitt, but as you can see from the box score, the total attendance that day was around 5000, so it wasn't surprising that there were still boxes of mitts at the entrance when we arrived 30 minutes before the first pitch.

The Portland Beavers are the triple-A team for the San Diego Padres, and the Sacramento Rivercats are the triple-A team for the Oakland As.  I've admired the As organization, but as an Angels fan, I detest Oakland for the endless beatings they administered to my Halos during my time at Berkeley.

It was a fun time.  My son's good friend had the seat next to us, which is probably a key reason that two 6 year old boys were able to last the entire 3 hour game.  It's too bad that this is the Beavers' last season here in Portland, since the owner for some bizarre reason would rather have a MLS team here than a triple-A baseball team.  PGE Park is getting remodeled for soccer, and it looks like the Beavers are headed out of state, maybe down to Southern California.

I mean, from the baseball fan's point of view, triple-A baseball is much more fun than major league baseball.  It's cheaper, there are more fun events for kids in between innings, and there's a lot of scoring, because any halfway decent pitcher generally goes straight from double-A to the major leagues, whereas there are a bunch of hitters in triple-A who could hit in the major leagues but are blocked by other hitters.

Anyway, I guess I will have to see if I can catch another game this season . . . .

Comments

[Matthew Lewis]

Pretty soon you can teach him to keep score! I've gone to countless baseball games with my dad in the past couple decades, at all levels. It's just one of those classic father/son bonding activities. Sucks that the team is moving. Any independent, A or AA teams still around? (I guess I'm spoiled, Chicago had 2 MLB teams and a few smaller A and independent teams in the area.)

[Stuart Levine]

I would go further and argue that virtually any minor league ball is more fun to watch. (While calling the Baltimore Orioles a major league ball team at this point might be a bit of a stretch, it is manifest that they are no fun to watch.)