Take Me Out To The (Daytime) Ball Game

When Hubby Tony made his list of post-retirement activities, going to a weekday afternoon baseball game was near the top. He researched the options, bought tickets, and today just before the announcer read the starting lineups for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals we were settling into our seats.

Our view

Not surprisingly, there were multiple social distancing procedures in place. First, the stadium was at 32 percent capacity. Masks were required. Tickets were sold in pods so there was no sitting next to strangers. (We were on the aisle and there were six empty seats between us and the next pod.)  Every other row was roped off. Tickets were electronic, and all concessions were cashless. The larger food stands had only touchscreen ordering.

I know a lot of thought went into the Covid plans, but the entrance procedures still needed some tweaking. Tony purchased our tickets on the secondary market. They were missing the designated entrance gate information, and we talked to at least one other person who had the same problem. Instead of bringing my big purse I put my essentials in a wallet on a string, which fit the posted size standards. I still had to go through an Inspection Lane, which an usher didn't point out until we had stood in a different lane for 15 minutes.

But the minor annoyances went away when we entered the stadium and walked up the ramp to the upper deck. Although the low-60 degree weather was a little cooler than I would have liked (our seats remained in shade for the entire game) I solved the problem by putting on a promotional puffy vest they handed out at the gate. Eventually we walked down a couple of levels and over to the sunny side, which made a big difference.

Yadier Molina, the Cardinals beloved catcher, celebrated a milestone today when he became the first Major League Baseball player to catch 2,000 games with one team.

What an achievement!

 That announcement was the most exciting part of the day. Last night the Cards had won big time with a score of 14-3. They obviously used up all their offense, because today they lost 6-0. It was still a lot of fun, thought, and probably not the last time we attend a getaway game.