Baseball Parks

              I’ve been a sports fan my entire life. From birth my father instilled in me the basics, and from then on he taught me almost everything I could ever know. The best thing about my dad and I is that we love any sport you could think of and our passion grows everyday. When it comes to baseball, my dad and I have this bucket list sort of thing. The goal is to visit all of the major league baseball parks.

            Visiting 30 baseball parks across America in a lifetime is something that every sports fan could only ever dream of. There’s something about being in those historical parks that literally give me chills just thinking back to them. Fenway Park; without a doubt one of the best nights of my life. The comeback that came with the game that I went to was like something I had never seen before. The plus side of going to Fenway last season was that the Red Sox ended up winning the World Series, and the game I went to was just flat out proof that they were supposed to be champions.

            It was the bottom of the 9^th inning and the Bo Sox were down 7-2 against the Seattle Mariners. My dad was bugging me telling me that we should just leave because there was no way Boston would come back from that kind of deficit in the bottom of the 9^th with 1 out. Well for once, arguing with my father actually paid off. I begged him to let us stay to finish the game. I mean we were at Fenway Park, why would we leave early? It was Daniel Nava’s at bat that kicked off the 9^th inning heroics. It happened all so fast, all I remember now was balls flying left right and center. Homer, walk, single, double. I couldn’t believe what was happening right in front of my eyes. The Red Sox had 1 out, and the game looked as if it was done… but not quite. Fenway Park was rumbling. Half of the seats were empty because a lot of people were like my dad and wanted to leave to beat the rush (I bet at that moment when they went home to see the score of the game that they wished they had a persistent daughter like me). The whole Park had their rally caps on. It was something out of a movie scene. The winning run by Daniel Nava was hit and the Park went wild. The Red Sox had walked off the win, 8-7. Everyone ran out of the dugout to celebrate yet another walk off win. If that isn’t a beautiful game to be at… I don’t know what is.

            Remembering the crowd, replaying the game in my head, thinking back to hear the ballpark roar, I’ll never forget it. Nor do I ever want to forget it. It was about one year ago to the day. A day that I’ll certainly remember for the rest of my life.

            In a couple of days I will be sitting at Wrigley Field, watching the Chicago Cubs vs. the Tampa Bay Rays, hoping and praying that I can witness another beautiful game at another beautiful ballpark. I’d like to think that my dad won’t ask to leave the game early this time.