Championship Three-peat & All-Star Nod

For the third year in a row, Drew's team wins the championship game!  And this time in a new league!

2017 - Single A Marauders (CCLL)

2018 - AAA Pirates (CCLL)

2019 - Majors A's (ECLL)

The Championship game against the Giants was Saturday and we were going into the the game undefeated in a double elimination situation.  We beat this team the previous Saturday, and they played the Wednesday before to make it to the Finals.  There was a question about whether Drew would be the starting pitcher, and in the end the coach gave him the nod.  Here's his first pitch.

Drew pitched for 2 innings never letting a runner make it home.  At the end of the second, the score was 0-10 in favor of the A's. The game went only 4 innings when we mercy ruled the Giants on a passed ball at home plate to bring in the winning run.  Kind of anti-climactic when the boys didn't realize that run ended the game.

Drew is on the top right

Regardless the boys had fun celebrating by playing with some sparkling cider & silly string!

On Sunday, our new league held closing ceremonies - which is new for us.  It was really cool as only the winning teams received trophies except for our Major division which received rings!

Drew is on the far right

The Bling

Our team is now onto the Tournament of Champions which starts this weekend in Alameda.

And the big surprise to Dad and Drew was that he got the All-Star invitation for this summer!  A new league and Drew made All-Stars for the 9-11 team!  They do All-Stars differently in our league compared to our previous one.  It's only 1 team per age group and it's 100% invitation only - not just because you sign-up and want to play summer ball. 

I knew about the nod about 24 hours earlier, but chose to keep it a secret from father and son - so it was like a Christmas Gift for the both of them.  Drew couldn't have been more excited and surprised, or Dave more proud.  Drew's name was the first read and he had to go on the field to await his new teammates names to be called.

Drew accepting his All-Star Nod

The Award

More than 24 hours later - this family is still in baseball shock and glowing in the excitement.  We are looking forward to the Tournament of Champions this weekend and All-Star games which kick off in about 2.5 weeks!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

And now I finally get us into September!  We scored some last minute tickets to the Astros/A's game in Oakland so we decided to have a tailgate and pop into the game.  We were warned the seats were awesome...

We of course took an obligatory family selfie... Drew had lost his first top tooth that morning.



Finally I got picture with Drew!  I'm never in photos anymore.


Wow - the view from the seats were spectacular! 


But after I checked in from the stadium, I found out our neighbors were there too up in the boxes right above our heads.  So we walked up to say hi - and I think Dave grabbed a beer (I was on a 2 week self-induced dry spell).


And then we found some cool things to take pictures of!


Drew had a blast watching the game - he was really into it.  And had his glove ready between innings to try and catch a game ball. 



No such luck.


We just couldn't get over how great our seats were.


Daddy and Drew at the field, trying one last time for a game ball from the ball/bat boys.


Mommy and Drew..


Family Field Photo


A's ended up losing the game 4-3, but we had a great time!
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First Hall Of Fame - 75th Anniversary

Waiting for Dave to be "ready" to write a blog is like waiting to see pigs fly.  Because he was never "ready", I'm going to go ahead and share my interpretation of his trip to Cooperstown in July. 

In July, Dave was able to go on a trip of a lifetime - to see the Baseball hall of fame induction.  One of his favorite ball players, Frank Thomas, was being inducted.  So he went back while Mom and Drew stayed home (or rather  took a road trip to Yosemite).

After a flight filled with drama, he made it back to Albany and spent the night with his parents before making the 2 1/2 hour drive to Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.  They go all out for induction weekend.  You're able to walk through the streets and see players from the past lined up so you can pay them for their autographs - some Dave said wanted more than $100!  Dave said he waited in the lines just to say hi and shake hands.

Ricky Henderson

Rollie Fingers

Dave Henderson

Tony Perez

So the big story of the weekend were these fellows...

Reggie Jackson (Left) Pete Rose (Right)

 Grandpa Tim saw Reggie Jackson and Pete Rose shooting the breeze inside one of the shops.  And Grandpa Tim being who he is, cut through the line to break up the conversation between the two men to say hi to the guys and pumped up Dave.

Grandpa Tim Photobombing Pete & Reggie

  He went out to find Dave and then he too cut in line to get the autograph.

Grandpa Tim, Dave and Pete Rose
This was the one autograph they paid for.

 Dave made a joke that he wanted to meet Mr. October... but Pete Rose joked and said, "He may be Mr. October, I was known as Mr. April, May, June, July, August and September."

Grandpa Tim, Reggie Jackson, Dave

 It's one of the highlights from their trip.

Frank Robinson

 As you can imagine hotels during induction weekend are expensive and really hard to come by.  So about a year ago Dave looked into campsites where they can stay for a fraction of the cost.  They had a great time, and it looked beautiful. 

Grandpa Tim belting away

Grandma Lolly & Grandpa Tim

Dave & Tim

 They had a parade of the players from the past and inductees as they made their way inside the Hall of Fame.  Dave said he saw and shook hands with many ball players.  One of the most crowd engaging was Cal Ripkin Jr.  He spent about 45 minutes shaking hands and signing autographs.

Baseball Hall of Fame

Dave, Grandma Lolly & Grandpa Tim at Doubleday Field

Grandpa Tim checking out his new ride

 Later they walked the streets and saw more former players.

Ron Guidry

Goose Gossage

Dale Murphy

Darryl Strawberry

Robin Yount

Crazy Crowds

 And then on Sunday it was the day that Dave was waiting for.  To see the induction from the field.  He even made a homemade sign to represent his favorite player.

Dave at the induction with the sign he made

He'd hoped at one point that he could get Frank Thomas to sign it, but unfortunately that never happened.  He did however get his 4-seconds of fame on the ESPN broadcast of the induction. His sign made the opening of the Induction Show.

Frank Thomas receiving his plaque

Frank Thomas' Speech

Others who were inducted that day: Tom Glavin, Greg Maddux,
Coaches: Joe Torre, Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa

Dave loved the experience and said he wanted to bring Drew and I in about five years.  Just in time for Derek Jeter's induction..... however I think this is much more a father/son trip.  Mom would be a whiner - except for the part where I got to see Jeter...

Future Hall of Famer

When Dave heard that Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees was retiring he knew we had to go to the first game where they played the A's - the game where Oakland would say goodbye to him.  Figuring he will go first ballot into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Dave didn't care what it took to get tickets, he scooped them up the day after the announcement.

Dave's goal was to make a farewell sign that would get on National TV.

Family Photo with "The Sign"

Dave was a big hit while we were tailgating - getting a nod from A's fans and a ton of picture requests from Yankee Fans.

Dave & Nicole

Dave & Drew headed into the Stadium

And it was a hit inside the stadium.  And the thing that meant the most to him - he got the nod of recognition from Derek Jeter.

My photo of Dave, Sign and Jeter (off to Left)

 And a lady from behind us grabbed one on her cell  phone and sent it to us (they drove all the way out from Utah for the game).

Cell Phone shot of Dave & Jeter

Jeter's first at bat.

Dave even made his way around the stadium to show off his sign, show some respect for Jeter and hope to get on TV.

Look on the far side of the stadium to see Dave (under the scoreboard)

The only time Dave got on "TV" was when he was photobombing a kid's interview on the jumbo tron.

See Dave's sign behind the kid?

Dave even crashed my coworker's son's seats...

The bonus for this game... Mario Fireworks night on the field!

So while Dave didn't make it on national television with his sign, he did make it into a lot of Yankee Fans Social Media pages and we had an awesome time at the ballgame.  Yankees shut out the A's 7-0 (A's went on to win the final two games of the series).