A Giant day in Dodgerland

Since my early childhood I've been attending baseball games with my father. In fact, some of my earliest memories are traced back when walking through the turnstiles at Dodger Stadium to cheer on the archrival San Francisco Giants. Continuing a tradition that we used to live by at least once a year when school was out for the summer until some 3 or 4 seasons back, my father and I set out to catch a pair of games at Chavez Ravine for my Birthday for the first time since the Giants added two World Series titles to their resume (one in 2010 and the other in 2012) while calling the Bay Area their home, leapfrogging the rival Dodgers in the process with 7 Championships to L.A.'s 6.

With seats down near the right-field foul pole in the outfield for game 1 of a 3 game series, my dad and I took a stroll down to the visiting bullpen where we watched in awe as the starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner threw strike after strike to the Giants catcher and reigning NL MVP Buster Posey as the battery warmed up before joining everyone in the ballpark as we sung the National Anthem in unison. Shortly after, we took to our seats some six rows back from the field as the game got underway. With the entire row to ourselves and our gloves in hand, we knew we had a good chance at catching a home run ball if one was hit our way. Little did we know our catching abilities would be tested several pitches into the game. After the Giants failed to get anything going in the top of the first inning, it was L.A.'s turn.

Three weeks into his big league career, Cuban sensation Yasiel Puig, who's been red-hot since being called up to the Majors on June 3, stepped up to the plate boasting a batting average well above .400. The noise Dodger fans made for their new favorite player when he stepped up to the plate was deafening as cheers and whistles were mixed in with the sound of maracas that blew out the stadium speakers. And in his first career at-bat against the Giants, Puig hit a 87 mph offering on a two-seam fastball our way. The ball appeared to be headed straight for my lap but then began curling around the foul pole a few seats over. Hesitant to move as if my feet were stuck in quicksand, I turned my head and saw that my dad had already drifted over some eight seats down the isle with his hands in the air. Doing his best Say Hey Kid impersonation decked out in his vintage Willie Mays Giants jersey lost in a sea of blue, my dad came down with the ball. Standing their in disbelief, I instantly began celebrating and laughing with my father as if he had just caught the final out of a World Series clinching game 7, despite our team falling behind, 1-0.

With a good amount of Giants fans sitting in our section, it wasn't long before they began shouting, "Throw it back!" And had it been me who caught the ball, I just might have. Instead, my father began to make a throwing motion as if he was going to toss the ball back onto the field but he played it off and shook his head no to the chorus of boo's from our fellow Giants fans to which he responded by blowing them kisses. As if the moment couldn't get any better, a Dodger fan sitting several rows in front of us pulled out and flashed a one hundred dollar bill from his pocket and offered to buy the ball from us. With little purpose of a ball hit by a player of the opposing team, my dad proudly obliged before handing me the Benjamin and saying, "Happy Birthday, son," Putting a stamp on the perfect father son moment. And though it would be the Dodgers who came out victorious on this day, 3-1 winners, snapping a five-game losing-streak against the Giants whom they would later sweep in the series, being there with my father to soak in a ballgame, much less witness him catch a home run ball which is a once in a lifetime moment, is something that far exceeds one single 'W' in the win column. However, getting the win would've been pretty nice, too, given I've been to nine Giants-Dodger games in L.A. in my lifetime and the only game they've won, I was too young to remember. Needless to say, this is one Birthday present that I'll never forget.

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