2009 Arizona Fall League

Sammy and I had a great time this year at the fall league. It was the first year that Sammy was really into going to the games and meeting the players. He loved talking to the other fans and also to the players after the games. He was excited to get a few game balls, even one homerun ball and a game used bat. On Halloween I took both Sammy and Janet to a game, they both wore their costumes!! We took a lot of great pictures and got a lot of autographs. We had a blast at the rising stars game, Sammy spent most of the time playing with his new friends! For the last game of the season Michelle and I took Ava to her first game and she is already a fan!! Looking forward to Spring Training 2010, we will be bored until then. Gonna hibernate until Spring ball!!

The Arizona League just ended. The Royals and Rangers share the Surprise stadium so there was always a game going on. Went to quite a few games mostly by myself, since they were in the evening (too hot for day games!!) and collected a lot of balls hit out of the field during batting practice. Sammy and Janet love hitting the balls off the tee in the backyard! The instuctional league games started today and Sammy and I caught a few innings. Got to see Sammy's favorite player, Clark Murphy play a little today. It was too hot today (12:30 start times are brutal) and we left early. We'll be back again this week to check out some more games around town .

Every summer we take a trip to visit my sister and her family in CDA, Idaho and the boys always take a trip to Spokane to watch the Indians. This year Sammy, Uncle Mark, cousins Ashton and Alden and I enjoyed a fun night at the ball park. We tailgated in the parking lot with pizza and coke before the game. We got there as the gates opened and it was team photo day, so we got to go down to the field to get some autographs. Sammy got his picture taken with Clark Murphy, who he had met at Spring Training in Surprise and had given him his first autograph! Murphy is now his favorite player!! Murphy is here in town in a fall league and Sammy is so excited to see him again and thinks he is coming over to our house for a playdate. We only sat in our seats for a couple innings, because the kids wanted to go to the kidszone to play, so Mark and I watched the game from the outfield. The kids got to meet Otto the mascot and Recycle Man and had a blast playing in the kidszone. During the game my nephew Ashton talked Sammy into going over to the bullpin to ask the players for a ball which they are not supposed to give out during the game, Sammy was very persistent and eventually a player gave him a ball. But to Ashton's surprise Sammy wanted to keep the ball and was not giving it up!! We'll be back again next year! Would love to take a trip to Missoula to catch the D-backs minor league team next time we visit my sister.

More pics from 1st Annual Boys Trip, summer of 2009!!

These pic's are from our 1st Annual Boys Trip! This summer we went to Lake Elsnore, California to watch the California vs. Carolina league all star game. My nephew Daniel joined us for the trip and the boys had a blast. It was a long day, started at 8:30am when we headed out from Surprise to California on our road trip, we got to the stadium as the gates opened for the fanfest and stayed until almost 11pm! The game even went into extra inning, we really got our money's worth! The all star festivities definitely had a big league feel, with autograph sessions from each team, a homerun derby contest and the game ball was dropped from the sky. We had great seats, sitting behind the first base dugout about 5 rows up, not bad for $10. Sammy was definitely tired but made it all the way to the fireworks at the end of the game, which really scared him, guess he's not a big fan of fireworks! He loved the cotton candy, coca cola, hanging with his cousin Daniel, and his favorite part was the Storm's mascot, not sure of his name but Sammy called him a dog, he looked a little like the Philly Fanatic. Sammy still talks about him. This was definitely a quick trip but well worth it. Already planning our 2nd Annual Boys Trip for 2010!!

This is a pic of Sammy with his cousins Ashton and Alden with Hall of Famer Bob Feller at 2009 Spring Training in Goodyear, Arizona.
We had a blast going to a lot of spring training games, but this seems to be the only pic I could find of us! We spent most of our spring, checking out the Rangers complex which is in our hometown of Surprise, AZ! We got to watch games, practices and get some autographs. The highlight of our spring was getting to meet Nolan Ryan and get his autograph on a ball and picture. I have been a fan of Nolan Ryan for a long time and it was a thrill for me to get to meet him, it made me feel like 15 again. Of course Sammy being his normal friendly self decided to jump onto Mr. Ryan's golfcart hoping to catch a ride! Mr. Ryan was a nice guy and let Sammy sit on his lap and even let him honk the horn! The Rangers are by far the most fan friendly team, always ready to talk to kids (and the kids at heart) and sign autographs. Janet joined us a few times for practices and even got a couple autographs, she would ask the players to color her baseball card and her favorite part was when we got to sit between the fields and eat our picnic lunch that mommy packed for us!! Because of these awesome upclose encounters Sammy really thinks these players are his "friends" and he wants them all to come over to our house for a playdate!!
It was truly a great experience to get share my love of baseball with Sammy and to look forward to many more fun times together at the ballpark!