Phoenix, or How we got some much needed sun, Part I

That's right! What would a trip to Phoenix in March be without letting our nerdy pride show at a Cubs game?



With the look on their faces, you'd think these guys were unaware of the last time the Cubs won a World Series. But who cares, right? It was 88 degrees. Gracie had her glove and a Sharpie for autographs. We had to get on the move!



Move we did. Gracie got two autographs. One came from a player we identified as Rich Fox, an up-and-coming cather who hit a home run the following day. The other player we couldn't identify at all. No doubt, he's a rising star who will one day get to bat in the Big Leagues before being optioned for good to Saginaw.


I debated long and hard about posting the following two photos. They show dad with his case of art supplies, ignoring the first four innings of the game to work on a banner. Then I realized that the photos might actually drive traffic to the site. Word of mouth would drive other bloggers in disbelief to the sight so they could see for themselves an Illinois native going to great lengths to craft a banner while ignoring a Major League spring training game.

Well, see for yourself:



Yes, it eventually got hung, but rather meekly. No telling whether the nearest WGN cameramen could even read the letters to decide whether to put it on TV.



With the Cubs jumping to a quick and decisive lead, attention spans waned. The Phoenix residents scrambled to shady seats while the Pacific Northwesterners remained in their purchased seats to soak up the sun. Gracie wandered down to the front row, wielding her glove and asking gently but repeatedly, "When were we going to get a ball hit our way? When are they going to throw us a ball?"

An answer came in the fifth, during Henry Blanco's 10-pitch plate appearance, when the catcher lined a foul tip directly at section 117. The ball shot like a bullet directly at us, curving away from Sarah's head just moments before impact. It dove into the concrete wall and ricocheted off a railing to the floor, where it came to rest, pinned beneath one of the seats on the aisle. As it so happened, the closest human to the ball was Eric. He'd been standing at the top of the aisle, in the shade nonetheless, watching the game like the cool Arizona cat that he is. We yelled and implored him to dive for it. Upon what seemed like 10 seconds of consideration, he did. His hand reached beneath the seat, but others soon followed. A scramble ensued. A full second passed with no clear winner. Then, in true Eric style, he rose, ball in hand, saying, definitively, "Got it!" He then hoisted the ball triumphantly in the air for Gracie - and those ambivalent WGN cameramen - to see.



Needless to say, Gracie was thrilled. Moments later, another ball, again fould off by Blanco, landed right near us again. One of the 7-year-old boys who Eric beat to the first ball got this one.



We took Gracie's ball to get it signed by Lee Smith, the great Cubs reliever who was sitting in the Fergie Jenkins Foundation fundraising booth. The boy who caught the second ball had just gotten his signed before Gracie. Somehow, someone mentioned to Smith that both balls came off the end of Blanco's bat. This prompted Smith to ruminate at length on why pitches get fouled off into the same part of the stands, and how pitchers today throw pitches differently than in his days, and how that affects foul balls. To tell you the truth, he lost me before he finished. That might or might not have had something to do with whatever was causing his noticeably bloodshot eyes. Either way, it was a treat to Gracie's ball signed by a guy who I would've died to meet when I was 13.



Claire loved her big cousin Gracie. She stood in awe as Gracie ran around their nana's condo, trying before long to get her little legs in running gear as well. Here you'll see the two huggin' cousins in action....





More to come...