Yeah, we’re big baseball nuts. We couldn’t wait for baseball to start in the Bay, so we flew out to Arizona to get our fix! This was our first MLB Spring Training out in Arizona, & we can’t wait to do it again next year.
We wake up in obscene hours here in Bay to catch a 7:00am Saturday morning flight from SFO. We land in Phoenix, shuttle over to the rental car complex (a 10 minute bus ride from the terminal) to pick up our PT Cruiser, then drive straight to Scottsdale Stadium to watch the Giants play the A’s. The game ends at 5:00ish, so we take a 15-minute walk from the park to our hotel to freshen up for dinner. It was the night of the Pacquiao fight, so we walked over to a local steakhouse for a little dinner, boxing, & mechanical bull riding.
After church on Sunday morning in Tempe, we went straight to the A’s Spring Training ballpark at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium, sliding into our seats a bit before showtime. It felt good to see the ol’ boys back on the field. On top of that, we were blessed with gorgeous weather during our whole trip & the A’s winning both games during our visit.
No, I didn’t get any iPhone signatures this time, or caught any homerun/foul balls, but one cool baseball-related thing that happened during our visit: at the restaurant on Saturday night, we were almost sure that Alfonso Soriano from the Chicago Cubs was dining at the table next to ours.
baseball, Photo of the day, photography, travel
Came across this gem of a photo recently. I invited some friends & family to come with us to an A’s game because I had a deal on really good lower level seats & Jordin Sparks happened to be holding a small concert after the game. A few rows in front of us, a bunch of friends had a bit too much to drink. Fortunately for us, they’re emotional drunks. One of the few fights that occurred within their group was between this teary-eyed guy & his buddy. Everyone that sat at least four rows behind them were watching intently, a soap opera drama unfolding
It was so entertaining, Clay video recorded a portion of the scuffle, dubbed with their custom audio track.
Flickr: A's games 2009
baseball, Bay Area, Photo of the day, photography, sports
You don’t see this often at the Coliseum: a bride & groom taking their wedding photos in the field level aisle. They couldn’t have chosen a better day—the weather was perfect for such an occasion. Much props to these newlyweds, hardcore A’s fans!
The A’s killed the Texas Rangers 9 to 1 that evening, mainly because of our section’s jeering of the Rangers’s left fielder David Murphy & my sign that took me hours of crafting on illustration board the night before:
I'mma let you finish...
Muuuuuurphy!
Wedding photos at the Oakland Coliseum
baseball, Bay Area, Photo of the day, sports, wedding
Baseball is fun. Playing dress-up is fun. Getting free stuff is fun. Yep, this was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
The A’s celebrated their 80th anniversary of the 1929 season with Turn-Back-the-Clock Day. They went all out as much as they could with the presentation: the jumbotron was in black & white, people drove on the field in cars of the period, some people dressed up & for the first few thousand fans, they received a replica blue jersey. The jerseys were blue on cream white—colors of the A’s back when they were still in Philadelphia.
The only bad news: Cindy got hit in the head with a batting practice ball at home run depth. We had her checked at the First Aid booth in the Coliseum as a precaution, but it looks like she’ll be fine (maybe just a bad bruise on her forehead).
At least she has a nice jersey.
A's 1929 throwback day
baseball, Bay Area, photography
