The Old Ballgame

HOME AGAIN: On Friday night, we took a long-awaited field trip to T-Mobile Park to root, root, root for the home team, the Seattle Mariners.

In a normal year, we probably go to a dozen or two baseball games. Last year was anything but normal. We went to exactly zero games, as fans were banned from the stands due to the ongoing global pandemic.

Fast forward to 2021. COVID isn't gone, but about 30 percent of Washingtonians are vaccinated, and we are learning to live with COVID safety protocols. So the ballpark is back open, with limited seating (9,000 per game instead of packed-to-the rafters with 40,000 or so), and social distancing. 

Because attendance was so low, we were able to park for free on the street, just a couple of blocks from the stadium. On our walk to the park, we passed a couple of new, huge murals. This one of Edgar towered about 20 feet tall.

 

The artist was still working on one, a portrait of arguably the Seattle Sonics' number one fan, Kris Brannon. Unfortunately, he died earlier this year, and never got to see his team return to Seattle. 

We made our way through the gates - with a little drama, given their new system. I'll spare you the blow-by-blow details about me arguing over taking in an empty water bottle, which was stated as allowed on the Mariners' website. I was told to throw it away by three escalating levels of people. The fourth guy (armed) finally cleared me. I wasn't going to let it go, because I knew I was right, and they were being ridiculous. 

Anyway, inside the part, we found many a hand sanitizer station. There are over 300 of them, apparently. 

We stood behind home plate for a few moments, admiring the green, green grass of home. 

We made our way around the main concourse. We had to stop by and say 'hi' to the longtime voice of the Mariners, Dave Niehaus. It has now been ten seasons without his voice filling the airwaves. He is missed. 

Down in the 'Bullpen' area of the stadium, there were some new attractions. The one below is apparently something that lets you turn yourself into a bobblehead, but it was closed because of COVID.

This graffiti-like mural features one of Dave Niehaus' most famous lines.

We stopped by the Moose's Den, but nobody was home. 

The kids' play park was closed, another COVID casualty.

We eventually made our way to our 300-level seats. I appreciated the BLM sign across the field from us.

Not long after we sat down, a fire erupted a few blocks away. I suspected it was a homeless camp, because they line the freeway in this part of town. Turns out my suspicion was correct. The fire snarled traffic for hours, apparently. There were no injuries, fortunately.

The field was absolutely beautiful! Oh, how we've missed this view!

The Mariners lost, of course. We had the 'pleasure' of watching a 30-year-old middle reliever's ERA go from 0.00 to 40.5 in one inning. That said, it was great to be back, and we can't wait to go back.

TODAY WE LEARNED: Thanks to a Facebook post by "Goodwill Librarian" we learned an interesting factoid today.

I did not know that. Now the question is, why did I not know that? Why have I, for five-plus decades, never wondered why they're called upper case and lower case? I think maybe it is because I wasn't taking it so literally. I thought of a 'case' as an example or type (no pun intended), and upper were the bigger ones and lower were the smaller ones.