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Tag Archive for baseball

It’s a Baseball Kind of Thing

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Renee Spindle

Happy, Happy Spring to one and all. For all of our friends and family just chomping at the bit to see more green we’re sending you sunshine and warmth from sunny, Southern California.

Today is the beginning of a great 10 day countdown. It’s only 10 days until baseball’s opening day. Yay! I’m presently doing my happy dance. I love the game of baseball. Love to watch, love to cheer for our hometown team,(the Angels), love to gain some knowledge about the history of the game, and love to go to a live game every now and then.

In my younger, growing up years, I did not really pay attention to baseball, or have the love for the sport that I have now. I suppose that all changed when my kids started playing baseball and softball. Every spring baseball or softball would start and we’d be at practices and games from February or March until July. It’s one of those life thingy’s about a sport becoming part of your soul. If you followed your kids through any sports, for any number of seasons you know what I’m talking about.

During our hectic spring schedules family members would join us as their schedules allowed to watch the kids play ball. There were many, many years of supporting the love of baseball for my oldest son, Bryan. Bryan started playing ball when he was 5 (the t-ball era) and played right through his senior year of high school. He never stopped playing or learning about the game. As a matter of fact that’s how we were able to get Bryan interested in reading. Bryan learned how to read the team stats in the newspaper when he was 5 or 6. That lead to reading the articles about his favorite players or our beloved Angels.

My collection of baseball buttons through the years.

Bryan’s last time pitching senior year of high school

These days Bryan is the family’s baseball statistician. He has a great knowledge of the game, and can recall stats and details of the history of baseball that never cease to amaze me. Whenever we get a chance we watch a game together, and compare notes on our favorite players. We (Bryan and I) have decided that on the 31st of March we’ll hang our Angels flag out on the front of the house to celebrate baseball’s opening day.

One last baseball thought for the day from the movie The Sandlot– The Babe said, “Remember kid, there’s heroes and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered but legends never die, follow your heart kid, and you’ll never go wrong.”

No comments Posted in Family

The Baseball Dream List

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Travel Man and I have a dream list item in common. We both want to travel this great US of A and see a baseball game played in every major league stadium. Our hometown team is the Anaheim Angels, and if we had the opportunity we’d follow the Angels around the country for an entire baseball season. That would be in our dream cloud of course.

Last month we took a vacation to New York City and got to see the Yankees play the Boston Red Sox. A great baseball rivalry. We had a wild taxi ride to the stadium, as we were running a little late. We had taken a day long tour of the city that day, and then headed straight to the stadium. Of course there was a downpour when we got there, and we purchased some wonderful dollar store ponchos for a price that we will not mention here.

We entered the stadium from gate 4 I believe, and I was completely mesmerized. There are banners of the former Yankee greats lining one wall of the stadium. Names like; Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Roger Maris to name a few. Such rich baseball history just in those pictures alone.

Once we made it to our seats, and got to take in the sights and sounds we could not believe we were actually sitting there watching the Yankees playing the Red Sox. We had to pinch each other a few times to be sure it was real. The crowd is always completely engaged in the game. Great music between batters, lots of chants and cheering. Plus a Yankees fan a couple of rows in front of us shouting, “Boston sucks”.

The bonus for the night was when Derek Jeter made history with his 250th career home run. Spectacular. Yankee Stadium, Derek Jeter makes history, Yankee souvenirs purchased for the grandson. All in all a great, great experience. It will be interesting to see which stadium we end up at next season. This may become a new summer tradition for Travel Man and I.

Are you a fan of baseball? What’s your favorite stadium to visit?

5 comments Posted in Sports, Travel Man, Vacation

Angels Baseball with the Boys

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Travel Man and I squeezed in some time on Tuesday night to see and Angels game. Yay!! With his crazy travel schedule we have had to learn not to plan our outings too far ahead, as his travel plans can change in a moments notice. So we are learning to be more spontaneous than we normally would. But it’s working. We took our oldest son, Bryan to the game, and grandson, Evan.

The Angels were playing an interleague game with the San Francisco Giants, with CJ Wilson pitching. We love baseball, so it’s always a treat to get to see a game live. And Evan is getting into baseball more and more each year. First inning, Albert Pujols hits a three-run homer. A great at bat, and Evan is on cloud nine because he got to see Pujols hit a homer while he was at the game. He knows who most of the position players are, and gets lots of questions about the game answered by his Uncle Bryan. He’s like a sponge this year soaking in all of the baseball details.

Before the game Evan got a mini bat for a souvenir. He told the employee at the counter that he could only spend $10, because that was Grandma’s budget. When Evan gets back to his seat he tells me, “Grandma, we only spent $5, so we’re in your budget!” Just too funny for me. I was laughing for 5 minutes along with some “Grandma’s” sitting a few rows behind us.

Evan got lots of treats; churros, red vines ( I tried to call these red licorice, but got corrected), peanuts, a soda, a soft pretzel. Not the usual Grandma meals, but hey we were at the ballpark. Funny thing is he told his mother last night that we never fed him dinner!

The first inning was so exciting, 4 runs scored, and 4 runs scored in the 4th inning, more excitement! Right after the seventh inning stretch we get on the jumbotron!! Evan had the funniest delayed reaction. Bryan and I are pointing to the jumbotron telling Evan to look, and he was just in awe. Then he got excited and started jumping up and down. Just too funny because Evan had been dancing all night when they had the “dance cams” going in the stadium trying to get on the jumbotron, and then he did. The 8th inning we score 3 more runs. The Angels won this game 12-5. Lots of offense, and fun times with Evan too.

Evan’s getting lots of lessons in reading the baseball stats from all of us. Bryan is teaching him to read the stats in the newspaper. Great way to teach a little reading, and the numbers and percentages. If you have a sponge like Evan who likes sports this is a wonderful way to soak up some knowledge.

It’s always a treat when we get to spend time with any of the kids and with Evan along too. Bryan is a baseball aficionado, and so knowledgeable about the game it’s always a treat to get to watch a game with him and learn something new.

Travel Man will be back on the road today to South America, so I’m thankful we got to have a trip to the baseball park while he was home. It’s always a treat.

What’s your favorite summertime adventure?

No comments Posted in Family, Sports, Travel Man

It was History in the Making.

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Renee Spindle

My love of history and my passion for following the game of baseball all converged on one center point last night. It was one of the games that is every baseball fans dream to witness. Last night Travel Man and I, along with our oldest son and his friend attended a baseball game at Angels stadium in Anaheim. It was a great night for baseball. The Angels are our home town team, and have been for over ten years now. It was a Wednesday night game, so the crowd was not huge. It was a crispy, chilly Southern California evening. Travel Man and I had a great view of the field, on the first base side. The boys were sitting field level by the left field, foul pole. We waved to the boys across the stadium crowd a few times, when there was a great play.

Now remember, my description of the game and my experience will be completely different from anyone elses who was there. (That’s why I like to blog) We got to see a bit of history last night. The Angels ace pitcher was on the mound, Jered Weaver. He is in his 6th season with the Angels, and his 2012 record before the game started last night was 3-0. Weaver was dealing with his pitches. By the end of the game he had 9 strikeouts (that’s k’s in baseball lingo). He is a smooth operator on the mound. I just love watching his command of the game.

This game was a hitting fest for the Angels. 15 hits, and 9 runs scored! A great night for the team. But an even better night for Jered Weaver. At the top of the 8th inning Weaver comes out to the mound, with a score of 9-0, the Angels are in the lead. I’m thinking, oh cool he’s going to finish this game out. He had around 98 pitches before this inning started.

He deals the batters once again, three up and three down. This is the moment I realize that Weaver has a no-hitter going. The Angels stay at 9 runs for the bottom of the eighth and at the top of the ninth out charges Jered Weaver. At this point I remember looking at the scoreboard and Weaver started the inning with 111 pitches. For every pitch of the ninth inning the crowd was on its feet. Cheering for each and every strike and out. At the end of the game the Angels had won, and Weaver pitched his first career no-hitter. It was the first no-hitter we all had the good fortune to witness at the stadium. The energy of the crowd was insane. It was the first solo no-hitter thrown by the Angels since June of 1975, that one was thrown by Nolan Ryan.

We will always remember being at this game, as we got to witness a part of the Angels history in the making. Kind of like when you saw Neil Armstrong step foot on the moon, or remembering where you where on the morning of 9/11. This was a completely awesome experience! Congratulations to Jered Weaver, and go Angels!

No comments Posted in Family, Sports, Travel Man

Kreativ Blogger Award

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Renee Spindle

A big huge thank you to Diane at Pleasant Valley Sunday. She kindly nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger award today. Diane left me a nice comment on my List-o-holic post today, which made my day so much brighter. I enjoyed reading Diane’s stories about baseball. That’s how I originally linked up with her blog.

I have been blogging regularly since last August, and am just giddy at receiving my first blogger award.

So in the spirit of the award here are 7 things you may find interesting about me:

1) I just discovered how much I love writing in this past year. So far it has been a pretty eye-opening experience for me.

2) Chocolate is one of my best friends.

3) Becoming a Grandma is one of life’s experiences that you can’t really explain in words to someone else. You just having to experience it!

4) I love trying out new recipes from Pioneer Womans’ website.

5) There is no one word to describe how incredible it is to be able to help your parents with anything they need, when they have ALWAYS been there for you.

6) Painting any room in my house is a hobby I love, love, love.

7) I once won a trophy for a sewing demonstration. It was a 4-H thing!

These are the top five blogs I enjoy following:

1) Meg Travels– Meg has great pictures of her travel adventures, and I love reading her tips and tricks for great travel experiences.

2) Creative Noshing– Great variety of recipes, easy to follow, and wonderful pictures.

3) Grandma’s Briefs– Lisa’s intriguing stories of the Grandma life are very relatable, as I have one grandson, and another grandchild on the way.

4) The Suburban Cook– Kim has an amazing way of writing about her cooking, and intertwining her life happenings with her food experiences.

5) Joan on the Road – This is my Mom’s blog page. My parents live in their RV fulltime, and my Mom has a wonderful way of drawing you into her stories.

Here are the rules for those nominated: