My Major League Summer

I love baseball. I loved it when my grandma would send us Detroit Tiger's t-shirts from Michigan when I was growing up in California. I loved it when my brother had posters of Californian teams on his walls and my dad would tell us stories about playing as a kid and being called Little Willie Mays. I started loving it more when I would stroll past my teenage boyfriend's practice just to sit and watch him a bit. Seventeen years later and hundreds of games later, I will watch baseball with that guy anywhere.

When we were in Russia, baseball was pretty hard to come by. Every March we would all feel a lonesome sadness for what should be the beginning of the greatest American pastime. In 2012 when our beloved Tigers were in the World Series we couldn't seem to get the games to stream right. We missed most of it.

But we're back. We aggressively set out to make up for lost time. In April, my sweetheart whisked me off to Seattle for a long weekend and surprised me with tickets to the season opener at Safeco Field to watch the Mariners. It was raining. I loved every minute.



In May, we took our whole family to Camden Yards in Baltimore for an Orioles game. Actually, the Tigers were playing so we went to watch them. It was amazing. Our kids have sun-bathed in the Mediterranean and seen the Eiffel Tower, but the awe on their sweet faces when they entered the park was ten times more exciting.



For the June, July, and August, we supported our hometown team, the Washington Nationals. We went with friends, the kids, and sometimes alone. My husband would call me from work and say, "Hey, $5 tickets tomorrow. Wanna go?" I answered the affirmative every time. We learned pretty quickly that if you sit on the first baseline, MUST WEAR SUNSCREEN. No matter the weather or the score, the kids never wanted to leave.





We had planned a vacation up to Michigan in September, but we wanted to add a couple of days on the front end for some extra fun. Fun equals baseball. We stopped in Cleveland for an Indians game. Our seats were only nine rows behind the dug-out and we could hear the crack of the bats and the leather smack in the gloves.



And then a long awaited stop at Comerica to see our wonderful Tigers. It rained so there was a delay, but it was just as perfect as ever. I even sprung for Cracker Jack so the kids would have the real, American baseball experience.



But there was on last stop to be made in September. To end the season, we hopped on a plane for a well-timed business trip and caught a San Francisco Giants game. With boats in the bay and palm trees in the courtyard, AT&T is a pretty beautiful park. My favorite part was finding a little gated area behind center field where anyone can watch three innings for free.



I don't know if I'll ever have a summer like this again and it was good. It was good because it was spent with family and because it truly is the greatest game ever. Sure the Tigers didn't make it to the World Series, but there's always next year...