Kids? At A Ballgame?
The scoreboard operators here at Frontier Field in Rochester did it either out of habit, or out of sleep deprivation – they’d been there late Wednesday, and this game was an 11:05 AM start. Whichever explanation, this much is certain. They will not do it again.
They will not put the message “Make Some Noise” on the scoreboard again – not when the announced attendance was nearly 9,000 and the adults were outnumbered 10:1.
The resultant screech was nearly enough to send blood gushing from the ears of the grown-ups, and to terrify the youngest in the crowd. Something like 8,000 fingernails on a blackboard, all at once. But once it subsided, what a marvelous flashback it was, to the days when the background noise at almost any day baseball game, majors or minors, was several octaves higher than it is today.
Kids.
Thousands of kids, at a pre-noon weekday start, on Scout Day, with great blotches of color where groups from various camps wore identical t-shirts…
They did not all survive the twelve innings of choice International League four-hour baseball, during which three separate storms drenched the assembled. But they were enough to cheer any jaded fan. A kind of wider view, with the Kodak Building, image right:
And two kids of particular note, one who has appeared here previously, Yankees and Red Wings fan, Jacob, my nephew, at his 11th birthday party with 10 surprisingly well-behaved fellow 11-year olds, and with one surprise visit to the press box (hey, he beat me into one by five years):
And, new to this blog, and having either spied Dora the Explorer, or possibly Kevin Mulvey, just sent back down to the Rochester Red Wings not two days after I mentioned him here in connection with Santana and Halladay trades, my niece, Eve, who can indeed shout “Ballgame!” whenever one is contemplated, or “Red Wings!” whenever they are mentioned, and who remained completely engaged for the eleven innings we sat there – a hopeful sign for the future of our sport, and a bigger wiseguy than even her uncle…
Baseball Nerd 
They sure are cute! (Don’t tell Jacob I said that.)
Nails on a chalkboard is right..*cringe*
But Jacob and Eve are definitely cuties! She seems like she is gunning for the Olbermann family position of #1 Yankee fan. Her uncle is teaching her well!
Nails on a chalkboard is right.. *cringe*
But Jacob and Eve sure are cuties! She seems as if she is gunning for the Olbermann family position of #1 Yankees fan. Her uncle has taught her well.
Awwwwww! That’s Eve? Of “Good night, Eve” fame? What a cutie!!!
Happy post-birthday to Jake too!
Eve is going to be a heart – breaker! Her dad & her uncle better give her the “heads up” on what teen – aged guys can be like when she gets to be that age! ;D You seem to be enjoying your time off; I’m so glad!
Hey, the kids are adorable! Still can’t believe you missed the All Star Break, though. Happy Birthday to your nephew.
Sadly, variations of “Make Some Noise” seem to be used at virtually every ball park these days, even at the Major League level.
It’s my contention that real baseball fans do not need to be told when to cheer. Too bad teams don’t take this opportunity to teach kids something about baseball: How to keep score, fundamentals of the game, etc., and turn them into real baseball fans instead of mindless noisemakers.
I guess getting people to act like sheep and scream when the message board tells them to is easier.
My grandfather worked at Kodak for his entire career, so I went to many a Red Wings game when I visited them every summer. In 1992 I caught a foul ball at a Red Wings game – the ball was pitched by Arthur Rhodes and hit by Vinny Castilla. What are the odds that both would go on to long productive major league careers?
I now live in Austin, and I love going to Dell Diamond in Round Rock to watch the Express. Last Sunday night, the Express honored the 1959 Austin Senators, who won the Texas League championship that year. But they never got their rings, until now. Check out the newspaper coverage, what a great story! http://www.statesman.com/search/content/sports/stories/express/2009/07/19/0719express.html
I must say this is my favorite baseball blog. It’s wonderful to read something by not only a great yankees fan, but also a passionate baseball historian. The little family touches help one realize how the sport is still just a game, and hopefully its appreciation will be passed down for years to come.