It's actually nice going to baseball games with Kieran, he understands enough about the game in order to follow along and he's able to tell you about the game when you're watching. Just like watching football games that we go to each year (one MN Viking game and 8-10 Central Raiders games), he knows enough to be interested in the games and want to go to them.
Well on Sunday, July 8th, the Hambury Hawks (the team Craig still plays for) played against the Cologne Hollanders in Cologne so of course we had to attend, Hamburg ended up winning the game. While there, Kieran wanted to know when Hamburg would play again, turns out they had games on Wednesday and Friday evenings of this week. So after T-Ball on Wednesday, we went directly to Hamburg to watch the game against the Green Isle Irish. Tonight (Friday) we went to Brownton to watch the game against the Bruins, Craig would be pitching.
We started the watching the game behind home plate in the grandstand. I wanted to see how hard Craig is still throwing at his advanced age (for town team baseball), let's just say that I'm confident I'd hit a homerun off him (with an aluminum bat, not the wood bats they use now). Kieran did not like the seats because 'you can't catch foul balls here dad'.....
Kieran had captured two foul balls during the game in Cologne (and the $.25 each when he turned them into the concessions) and Craig had handed him a ball to keep when we were in Hamburg. So his focus was now on 'getting a ball' and he was watching intently trying to make it happen. His best opportunity came early on, he saw the ball going foul and went charging for it, there were no other kids around and he knew it was his for the taking. Unfortunately for him it landed on the concrete surrounding the restrooms and bounced over the fence onto the street where he couldn't reach the ball. If the ball had landed two feet shorter, or two feet longer, it would have landed on rocks or grass and stayed in his field of play. But it was not to be....after that, the area was filled with many kids, most larger and faster than Kieran. He did not get any foul balls this night, after one attempt where a kid got to the ball faster than him, Kieran came back with tears in his eyes saying he just wanted to get a ball.....
After Craig came out of the game (the pitcher in all of the pictures above are him by the way), Kieran had to go interupt and say hello again. Craig had pitched six innings, gave up three runs (all in the first two innings) and left the game with a 3-3 tie. We left the game in the top of the 8th inning as the game was still tied, it was approaching 9:15 or 9:30 by that point, with another thirty minute drive home.
If I was someone to plan Christmas or Birthday gifts, I would think about a Hamburg Hawk t-shirt, hat, or something along those lines. Craig....take the hint....you have access....
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