With the end of the t-ball season for my 5–year-old, I was reflecting on what an amazing entertaining season this has been. These are baseball games that I actually enjoyed going to. I mean, what other baseball team would dogpile on each other while going after the ball? In fact, that is a Major League baseball game I would like to see!
Next time I head to AT&T Park to watch the Giants host the Dodgers, I want to see Yasiel Puig from the Dodgers hit one to left field and the entire Giants team run to the outfield and fight over the ball by jumping on each other. Then, like my own 5-year-old, I want to see Angel Pagan get the ball and then Hunter Pence ask him if he can have it, presumably so he can throw it in himself.
If the Giants and the Dodgers played like my 5-year-old and his friends, we would see some bored players out in the field trying to entertain themselves. We would witness Howie Kendrick from the Dodgers running circles around 2nd base while he waited for the ball to come to him. And right nearby? How about Dodgers’ Joc Pederson picking flowers in the grass and then lying on the ground in the outfield making “grass angels”? Or maybe when the Giants take the field, we might see a bored Joe Panik simply standing on 2nd base, facing the outfield while the game takes place behind him.
But those are just when the kids are bored and distracted. When the players are taking the game more seriously and there is action involved? If I were at a Giants v. Dodgers game? First Baseman Brandon Belt would put his face 2 inches away from Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzales when he got on base. Then he would poke him over and over until Gonzales listened to him talk about his recent trip to Disneyland or his favorite video game. Before you knew it, it would be time for Gonzales to run toward 2nd, but they would be so engrossed in a conversation about the latest Happy Meal toy that not only would the ball fly right over Brandon Belt’s head, but there would also now be 2 players on 1st base.
These are the sorts of things that entertain me every week at my kid’s games and I want to be entertained like this at a Giants game. Not by Lou Seal, their mascot, but by players like Buster Posey. If he was like my kid, I would go to a game where Buster finally gets to be catcher like he has been begging for, but he hates the uniform so much, he does everything he can to rip off the catcher’s mask when he is behind home plate. Having no luck, Buster just runs off the field and refuses to play.
Thankfully, after we coax Buster back in the game, he would eventually get used to the job and even try to tag out some players. In fact, sometimes he would try so hard to tag out a player like Dodgers’ Jimmy Rollins that he would chase him all over the field. If he isn’t fast enough, he may just switch to dodgeball and throw the baseball at his back to tag him out.
Or what about if Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford doesn’t get the ball to Posey soon enough and a player is coming down the line? Buster would just grab any of the 5 extra game balls at his feet and tag out the player with that one. I kid you not, this was the exact scenario I witnessed when my 5-year-old was catcher recently. And it was the best kind of game to be at.
In fact, watching my son’s affinity for baseball not only gives me a good laugh, but it also makes me enjoy the sport more too. Normally, I am not a huge fan of (what feels like) a 900 inning game, but when my kid is playing 1st base and he is so happy that he simply throws his hands in the air and shouts “BASEBALL”? That kind of enthusiasm is contagious and I can’t help but love the game too.
So, even though the t-ball season is over, here’s hoping the MLB will take some direction from my 5-year-old and his friends and entertain us all for the rest of the season. If so, I will be the first one in line at the next Giants vs. Dodgers game, shouting “BASEBALL” to anyone who will listen!
Soooo funny!! with a little help from Scott?