Baseball Schwag and the Discerning Five-Year Old

Last weekend we took the boys to the World Series Replica trophy day at the AT&T Park. I ran into a friend who asked me if we were going to any more Giants games this year? Reasonable enough question. I responded that we were... we have tickets in September for the back to school lunch bag giveaway game, and Jonathan is trying to get tickets for July's Buster Posey bobblehead day.

I didn't have a clue about who my San Francisco Giants were playing, or what the dates were of the actual games. But boy did we have those giveaways down. I wondered, when did baseball become about schwag?

For our first 10 years of marriage we could care less about the giveaway. We arrived fashionably on time for games, and we were never among the first 10,000 who got a Barry Bonds bobblehead. We didn't mind.

Now the boys are amassing quite a collection of San Francisco Giants schwag. Helmets from Little League day, a Pandoval bobblehead, Cepeda bobblehead and now a replica trophy... What gives?

Maybe it is nostalgia. The giveaways are for kids, and boy do Jonathan and I remember getting and saving the free stuff as a kid (of course for me it was computer show schwag in the early 80s). The boys did appreciate their trophies, and managed to sit through eight innings before we ducked out. Schwag makes it a little more fun ... hopefully it is a gateway to baseball appreciation too.

Double Trouble at the Giants Game - Two Preschoolers & Baseball

When my husband informed me that he got tickets for the family for two baseball games this summer, I thought he lost his mind. Last year he did take the boys to the San Jose Giants game, with moderate success ... but were my three and a half year old, and my almost five year old ready for a pro game in something other than a one on one situation (one parent, one child ... the other parent and child stay home).

Recently we have seen a huge interest in sports from Caleb, especially hockey. He has taken to watching the Stanley Cup Playoff games on television ... and Jonathan did take him one on one to a playoff game. But I kept imagining the two sweet little tykes ganging up on us, and getting lost or into some big mischief.

The game we took them to last Sunday was during Little League Day, and they were giving out batting helmets. Did we need free batting helmets? Apparently we did, Jonathan got us to game two hours before it started. As we entered the sunny PacBell Park, the ticket person said, looking at our fair three-year old, "I hope you brought sunscreen."

Parent guilt ... we didn't bring sunscreen. However, with only a minor cramp in my arm, I managed to keep Caleb shaded all day.

To compound the potential issues with two tykes at the game ... it wasn't a very good game. The Giants lost and Sanchez takes a lot of time between pitches, so it was also a long game ...

But to my surprise the boys were great. They had a wonderful time, they can't wait to go back to our next game in August.  Although Caleb still prefers hockey right now ... but he wore his Giants t-shirt to bed and school the next day.

We also invested in some good strategies for enjoying the game. We surprised the boys with a toy each ... and a stuffed animal. We let them eat junk food including popcorn, and a sweet soda. We road the slide, they got to meet the Giants mascot the Seal, and we ate lunch out of the stands ... A happy, fairly stress free day for all involved.

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.