Image by JasonTromm via FlickrWe have had a lot of activities this Labor Day Weekend. Friday night was Autism Awareness night at the Bowie Baysox game, so we naturally had to attend that. Yesterday was our day at the Baltimore Grand Prix. We originally were not going to do anything after that, but the house was hot because the air conditioning isn't working again, so we headed out to the Baysox at the last minute for baseball and fireworks after the game.The Baysox lost each game on Friday and Saturday nights. They have been fighting for a playoff berth, but they really hurt themselves with the two losses the past two days. Still, they have an outside chance of making the playoffs if they win their last two games and the Richmond Flying Squirrels lose their last two games. The Baysox did their part by winning their game this afternoon. As I write this, Richmond is tied with the Altoona Curve 0-0 in the 6th inning. Come on, Altoona.
We also went to today's game. It was "Meet the Team Day" and "Fan Appreciation Day" at the stadium. It was also the day they have their annual crab feast for the team, front office staff, and the Baysox Boosters. The Boosters do a lot of work for the players that the team does not do. They provide dinners after every Sunday home game, provide travel bags for road trips, and give each player a personalized scrapbook at the end of the season. As members of the Boosters, we get to attend the season ending crab feast.
It was another hot day at the stadium. Still, it was better than sitting in a hot house without air conditioning. On this particular day, they have all of the players sit on the concourse level for about an hour before the game to sign autographs. A member of the ground crew that we are friendly with gave my wife a game used, cracked bat used by Ronnie Welty. We got to the game early so that she could wait in line to get him to sign her bat.
Another feature of Fan Appreciation Day is a series of raffles sponsored by the team. There was no charge to enter the raffle, and they had a lot of different memorabilia from autographed baseballs and bats, bobble head dolls, and gift certificates to local restaurants and businesses. My name was one of the first ones called. I walked away with a black Louisville slugger baseball bat signed by the team.
After the game, we were treated to an all you can eat crab feast. In addition to the crabs, they also had hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, assorted salads, and a lot of different desserts. Oh, and you can't have crabs without beer so they also had Bud and Bud Light on tap. My wife provided a big batch of her chocolate chip cookies. That is usually her contribution as a booster for the dinners each Sunday.
We also had the opportunity to say goodbye to one of our favorite members of the Baysox front office staff. She has accepted a new position with a minor league hockey team and will soon be moving to Norfolk VA. We have known her for four years and she has always been very sweet to our son. She talks to him, and teaches him all of the between inning dance steps. When he nearly back out of his ceremonial first pitch, she was the one who got him down on the field. I nearly teared up when I thanked her for all she had done for him.
We left the house this morning just before noon and got home a little after 7:30pm. All of that time was spent outdoors in fairly hot and humid weather. My son usually would lose patience quickly on a day like today, but he was well behaved the whole day. The Baysox have one more game tomorrow unless they manage to make the playoffs. We were originally planning to go, but they are saying that it may be stormy most of the day. We will either be at the game or at Dave and Buster's playing skee ball followed by wings at Hooters.
