It never really leaves you if you love the game for the game, there really is no off season. As soon as the final pitch of the World Series is thrown you start talking about “Next Year” because instantly every team is once again a Contender. You talk of trades that should be made, trades you never want to see, and trades you can’t believe haven’t been done already… If you have sons who play baseball or daughters that play softball you begin to look forward to the beginning of your own season, you begin to once again look forward to throwing the ball in the backyard and the smell of leather oil and the unforgettable sound of a triple when it leaves the bat..you begin to look forward to long Summer days watching your favorite team battle it out on it’s quest for a Pennant, and maybe, just maybe you begin to make plans of actually attending a game at your teams Stadium…maybe.
I can’t think of a more iconic moment in a Father-child relationship then attending a sporting event of some sort; be it baseball, football, basketball…whatever sport it happens to be it helps forge a lifetime bond and commonality…even if by some rare stroke of fate your child falls in love with a different team…the foundation of Sports has the potential for an eternal commonality. Attending a Baseball game with my Father has always been a dream of mine; I have yet to accomplish this but it is on my Bucket List. Truth be told I never really took much of an interest in professional sports when I was a kid; again we only got about three channels till I was in my teens and by that time I was more concerned with being outside. I pulled for the Buffalo Bills through High School and for the Flyers, and as much as it pains me to say I pulled for the Red Sox in the eighties when they had a shot at the Ring but Buckner blew it at first base…I don’t recall the year which shows how much I cared for sports…it was popular at the time, I heard about it and figured what the hell, Ill pull for them too.
I didn’t become a Yankees fan till 1996, when my wife introduced me to them. It was Derek Jeter’s Rookie year and together my wife and I watched him and the Yankees the Summer of 96′ while waiting on the arrival of my first child in what was our Rookie year as Parents to be as well. She had fallen in love with the Yankees as a little girl attending the games with her Father and Brothers. She has many fond memories of the Old Yankee Stadium, and I am happy to say that the FIRST baseball game I ever attended was a Yankee game, in the Old Stadium, and it was with my wife, my brother in law and a mutual friend. I will never forget that game as it was the day after David Wells pitched his Perfect Game…and more importantly it was my first game ever and my wife was with me…THAT was a Perfect game.
So in 1996 I became a Father and as soon as Colin was home he had a baseball glove waiting for him in his crib. I could not wait to take him to his first game to see the Yankees play and to forge that bond that I deeply missed with my own father, it would take me a few years and two additional Rookies before I was able to make that happen but my wife and I made it happen. We took them to see the Yankees play the Orioles in Camden Yards…not a bad place to go to your first game. It was a gorgeous day, we were able to walk around the waterfront area before going to the game, we even got to see Bubba Crosby and Chien-Ming Wang crossing the street from their hotel. My sons flipped out when they saw them and they were nice enough to wave and acknowledge them but went on their way…a crosswalk probably wasn’t the best place for an autograph… We saw a great game as a family and forged that eternal bond that I had searched for for so long…it was an extremely happy moment for me…but it wasn’t Yankee Stadium.
Unfortunately I was unable to get my Boys to Yankee Stadium before it was tore down, so I promised them that we would go to a game in the inaugural year of the new stadium; and come Hell or High water we would see a Yankees/Red Sox game…this moment would be special and one for the ages. We were going to be in New York for a friends wedding in August of 2009 so we decided we would make a two week vacation of it and spend some time in the Adirondacks with my Aunt and Uncle then head to New York City and stay with some friends of my wife’s in Bernardsville New Jersey and catch a game then head back to North Carolina…the McPhail Summer Vacation of 2009 was in the planning stages and it would not be complete without tickets to a game…my Wally World to Clark Griswold had been created.
Let’s just say this was easier envisioned then accomplished. The ensuing battle to secure tickets prompted the following letter by me to Commissioner Bud Selig of the MLB:
I’m sure you can read that easily but for the life of me cant figure out how to make it smaller and maintain scale…, but my Photoshop skills are somewhat in development…yea, that’s the ticket, in development.
So I am sure you get the jest of my angst from the letter…and sadly it is still rampant even today. Unless you team really sucks chances are tickets are going to be at a premium. Understandably if you’re a resident to the Stadiums home city you have more opportunity to attend games that are not as popular, but I still stand firm in the belief that if the Stadium and the Team are willing to let you sit in that seat for $45.00 then at most you should be able to resell them for no more then 10% above cost…in case you can’t attend the game and want to make a little something for the effort. But there is no way that a ticket broker should be able to snatch up every available seat within minutes of opening the ticket sales…the same for Concerts, but Ill go there another day.
I never sent this letter off, which is why I can show it to you now…I honestly didn’t believe that it would make a difference, and it probably still wont, but it will get far more exposure. I believe that going to a baseball game with your children should be as easy as deciding to go…you shouldn’t have to budget two weeks of pay to attend one game with some souvenirs and munchies…We haven’t been back since, it is just too expensive, but I will always have that experience and I am glad for that. I really wish they could get the legalized scalping under control, I honestly don’t care if it kills an industry…the Teams and the teams only should get the ticket sales, and at what price they determine. It is simple Supply and demand…charge less and you will sell more. When it becomes too crazy you raise your prices slightly and get it under control…the industry drives its own success. You should never be able to make triple a tickets price just because you had the money to buy a massive quantity, you want to play those games go to Wall Street and see how you fair, but it shouldn’t be at sporting events, and especially not Americas Pastime. I shudder to think what it might cost my Sons to share the experience with their children when the time comes, they will probably have to apply for credit before doing a ticket search.
August 7, 2009 This was an Epic Game 15 innings with an Arod walk off Homer
What is your take on the current trend of sporting tickets and contracts etc when the rest of us are struggling to make it to the next paycheck?