Take the Kids Out to the Ballgame

Xander was turning 4 this summer, and Kate and I decided that it was the right age to take him to his first San Francisco Giants baseball game. When it came time to choosing which game he would go to, I had an alterior motive: May 18th was Tim Lincecum bobblehead day.

Tim Lincecum is by far the most impressive pitcher that I've ever followed as a fan. He has a consistent 94 mph fastball, a phenomenal curve ball, and a 74 mph change-up that makes batters look foolish. He's only in his third season and there is the potential for Lincecum to have one of those rare, legendary careers. I wanted a Tim Lincecum bobblehead, and with Xander there we'd have two.

From a kid-friendly game perspective, this wasn't the best choice however. The game was sold out - so very crowded and no room to move around at our seats - and we needed to get there early. If you are going to take young kids to a major league game, it's best to look for games that aren't sold out and are a little less hectic. Often times there are mid-week afternoon games, especially on the West Coast (giving teams more time to get to the next city after the game is over), and those are good choices for the kids.

A good decision we made was to go for bleacher seats. In the outfield, there is a lot of open space to walk around, there are things to see and do such as hopping on the SF Cable Car...and then...there's the Coca Cola slide. Since we got to the game early, we had some time before the game started and I introduced Xander to the slide. Within that neon green and red Coca Cola bottle in left field there are actually two slides. One is high up and goes straight down, and the other is shorter and is twisty. However, Xander is only tall enough for the twisty slide. We must have gone down the twisty slide about 8 times.

When the game started, Xander had his hot dog and coke (I was trying to buy a water from the coke machine, but a coke came out instead) and we were ready to go. The only problem was that Xander didn't have much of an attention span for the game. I expected this, to an extent. I knew we wouldn't make 9 innings, but thought we could at least get through 2 or 3 innings before he would lose interest and would need to take a break. He made it through 1. Back to the slide we went. We also walked around the stadium, and he did enjoy that. Rather than go back to our seats, we went to the standing room only area and watched some of the game from there. Including a lot of walking around and playing, we made it through 6 innings and left. Although he wasn't interested in the game itself, he had a great time.

Another great choice for kids is Minor League Baseball. We are very fortunate to live just a few minutes from where the Single A (lowest level, whereas AAA is the highest) San Jose Giants play, and last weekend I took both Xander and Caleb to a game. We went with their best friend, Jonas, and his dad.

Minor League Baseball is very affordable and it's often easy to get free tickets, and it's very kid friendly. There is plenty of room to move around, all of the seats are great, and there are lots of things for the kids to do. The kids got their picture taken with the San Jose Giants mascot, and for a few extra dollars they got to jump around in the bouncy houses and hit beany softballs off of a tee.

There's also something to be said for the atmosphere, which is very unique to A or AA minor league baseball. While I did not partake, especially since I was minding two little boys, my favorite in-game promotion was the "Beer Batter". If the SJ Giants got the designated "Beer Batter" out, all beer was 1/2 price for the next inning. Sure enough, the Beer Batter struck out. Everyone else seemed to make a break for the concessions, which just opened up more space for us.

Here again, we didn't watch more than 2 or 3 innings, but both boys really had a great time at the game and are asking when they get to go back. I'll look forward to taking them both to more baseball games next year, especially when they will be a year older and can appreciate the baseball just a little bit more.