Alex’s First Cubs Game, June 1, 2011

I was amazed that he was able to sleep the night before. He’d been talking about it all week and I wasn’t sure it was such a good idea to tell him so early, but he did very well.

Actually, the worst part was that morning. Being a 1:20 game, we didn’t need to leave for it until late morning, but every 5 minutes he kept asking me when we were going. Finally at 10 I caved in, knowing we’d be early, but at least we’d be there.

We drove to Oak Park to take the Green Line El in from there. I had considered taking the Metra to Oak Park just for the experience, but decided I didn’t want to be tied to the Metra schedule. Trains only run once an hour. But at least this way, we got to ride on one type of train.

We got the front row seat so we could look forward as well as out the side. We were right behind the driver, who was very friendly. Just before the train departed, he held out the loudspeaker mic to Alex and told him to say “Doors are closing”, which Alex gleefully shouted out. Well, it came out “Doors close”, but close enough.

From the Green Line, we had to transfer to the Red Line at State/Lake. Alex enjoyed it.  We were in Chicago amongst the tall buildings. The Red Line thankfully wasn’t very crowded since we were an hour early for the game. That was one of my fears was that it was going to be crazy crowded, but it was fine. The station is right next to the gate we enter, which was another reason for me wanting to take the train: we didn’t have to walk far from a parking spot, nor did I have to pay an exhorbitant amount to park close.  Avoiding the heavy traffic was another bonus.

Alex handed the tickets to the gate attendant. The promotional item was a lightweight watch. I thought originally when I looked at the schedule that it was going to be a stuffed bear, but back then I had figured we weren’t going to be there early enough anyway. Oh well. Alex wore his for 2 mintues, but it doesn’t fit his wrist. The lady giving out the promotions asked if it was his first game and told us to go to Fan Services for bonus stuff. We did and waited in line a bit to get a sticker, First Visit photo and coloring book. The coloring book had a cut out catcher mask on the back, which we did later that night. I’ll get a photo up of that soon too.

Next, we walked up the steps to the field level and were right behind home plate. The Astros were still taking batting practice. The cage and other fences were still up and Alex wondered how they were going to play a game with all that stuff on the field. After a few minutes we went back down to the concourse to look for nachos (his request). We went out over to our section in the right field corner to eat them and finish watching batting practice. Alex was relived to see them wheel all that stuff off the field. He was also intriqued by the grounds crew spraying water all over the dirt in the infield.

Alex was patient. Thankfully that hour past quickly as there was a lot of activity to watch.

Kosuke Fukodome is Alex’s favorite player because we got him a shirt with the number 1 on it a while back. It was great to have Fukodome lead off the bottom of the 1st inning with a home run. He also plays right field, so we could get a good view of him from our seats in the right field corner.

I packed a lot of food for him and a sweatshirt. You never know in Wrigley. It was a beautiful day – mid 70s, but it was also windy, so the sweatshirt came in handy. Sheryl texted me that I should buy him whatever he wanted. Thankfully his list was short. First there was the nachos and later he wanted ice cream from the vendor shouting it out. I did make him eat half the PBJ I packed for him before he was allowed that dessert. I couldn’t convince him to get a hot dog.

Alex, being the ever so thoughtful one, kept informing me the beer vendor was coming by and I should get another one (I had one with lunch). He even held up my empty cup to try to show me that I needed more.

Finally, he needed a Cubs flag. He has a fascination with flags right now. We got him a checkered one at the Monster Truck show and now a Cubs one. I don’t mind that souveneir at all. It’s better than a foam finger or crazy hat. Thankfully our area was not full at all and we could move back a row so he could wave it around without disturbing anyone around us (unlike the Monster Truck show)

By the 4th and 5th innings, Alex was getting itchy to play baseball himself. He started warming up in the aisle.

By the way, he does this warming up all the time at home. It’s often while he’s waiting for us to get ready to go to the baseball field with him. You can see him catching the invisible ball back from the catcher. I keep missing my chances to get a better video of it.

Alex took this picture:

By the 6th inning, he was ready to go. He was more interested in playing baseball himself than watching others play. So we headed out. On the way out, we passed by Tom Ricketts, the owner of the Cubs. It didn’t registered with me who that was until after we passed him, otherwise I would have said hi.

Because we left early, the Red Line was not crowded (thankfully). I had taken the Red Line with Todd a couple years ago for a Cubs/White Sox game and we stay until the very end. The subway was packed and it was a madhouse getting through the station and onto a train.

I had no intention of staying all the way to the end of this game, just to avoid that situation with a 4 year old. I thought at best we’d stay through the 7th inning stretch and hear them sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, but he was ready to go, so I didn’t argue.

The train ride back out was uneventful. Alex started yawning while on the Green Line. We got in the car and 15 minutes later he was out. Unfortunately, 15 minutes after that, we were home. So in order to allow him some sort of nap, I drove around the block for another 45 minutes. It was scenic and relaxing.

After he woke up, it took him another half hour to fully wake up. Sara was home by then, but now he was ready to go play baseball. So I took him to go find an empty field (it gets hard to find one this time of year with all the Little League games). We played on the field for about an hour and then went home for dinner.

The Cubs have fan photographers walk around all game long and I got one of those pictures taken, too. I’m still waiting for them to get those online. When they are, I’ll share them, too.

So it was really a fantastic day. It couldn’t have gone any better.