Take me out to the ballgame

Welcome to the weekend, my friends!  We hardworking folks look forward to two days of respite and doing what we want, instead of what we must!

This week I had and experience I had not had since sometime in 2018.  I attended a Major League Baseball game, hosted by and featuring my lifelong team, the Cincinnati Reds.

I don't imagine I need to detail the reasons why it's been so long since I last went to a Reds game.  If memory serves, I accompanied my son and his "big" kids (now 11 and 9) to a game back in the 2018 season.  During a big part of 2019, I was again in the midst of a job search and did not want to spend the money necessary to go to a game, so didn't.  And in 2020, of course, fans were not permitted to attend regular season games due to the coronavirus pandemic.

So I was simultaneously excited and apprehensive about the Reds' announcement that Ohio state regulations allowed them to welcome a certain percentage of fan capacity to games this year.  I read through the protocols that they planned to use to maintain safe conditions and appropriate social distancing, and it all seemed to make sense.  More sense than what's happening in restaurants and other public spaces, actually.

I talked with my son about attending a weekday game, when the crowd would likely be smaller than on a weekend, and we agreed to give it a shot, just the two of us.  That way we could kind of try out the conditions to be sure it was a comfortable situation before involving other family members.

We picked a pair of seats from an available pod and bought them online, which is pretty normal these days.  The selection process allowed a buyer to pick a section and specify how many tickets were needed, but it was not possible, at least not that I could see, to select specific seats.

So we made our plans and went north toward Cincinnati last Wednesday.  Both of us had to handle two or three work issues, despite it being a vacation day for each of us.  We agreed to park on the stadium grounds, since the crowd would be smaller than usual, and parking in downtown Cincinnati just a couple of blocks away would have been challenging on a weekday.  We found an open garage entrance and parked just one level below the entry level to the ballpark--right next to plaza with the statue of former Reds catcher Johnny Bench that contains a commemorative brick my family gave me some years ago!

The folks who inspect bags were incredibly friendly and welcomed us back to Great American Ball Park, even though we didn't have bags to be inspected.  We then used the MLB Ballpark app on my iPhone to access our tickets, as everything is being done in a contactless manner where possible this season.  A nice lady showed me how to tilt the phone just right, and we then went to the metal detectors, where my son somehow had to empty his pockets, but I didn't!

We took our customary walk around the entire concourse, just to see what had changed.  Alterations made in anticipation of the 2020 season were completely new to us, of course, as were the number of food and souvenir stands not in operation that day.  Have to believe that several were not in use just because of the expected crowd size.

Around the park we went, then found our seats in the left-field stands (a few rows from the wall, great vantage point) and then headed to the main souvenir shop.  We liked seeing what was new but didn't really see anything we either one had to have, then we began to debate about lunch.

We noted on our way around the park that most of the food stands were not selling draft beer, a staple of a visit to the ballpark, presumably for sanitary reasons.  There were a few stands selling draft beer of various types but these stands served nothing but beer, so that must have been the determining factor.  We bought two Kona Big Wave beers (interesting light-colored beer with a pronounced but pleasant hit of grapefruit) and I then went to the concession stand to get a couple of hot dogs. 

Another surprise here, some menu items that were still available a couple of years ago were gone, another that was of interest was not available on at that stand.  And, again, no draft beer.  And no communal mustard and ketchup dispensers.  Packets were available upon request, and I have to say, that hot dog tasted pretty good!

Returning to our seats with a bucket of popcorn, we noted that our seats were unobstructed, but on either side of our pair of chairs the next few seats were closed with zip ties, and every other row was completely obstructed from use.  Good social distancing.  Ushers went to the end of the section each half-inning to remind us to wear masks if we were not actively eating or drinking, which was and is a very good idea, whether vaccinated or not.

The men's restroom was also a little different, as every other urinal and sink were blocked from use.  Again, for social distancing purposes.

I won't bore you with the details of the game....well, I'll just say that the Reds won their fifth straight game 11-4.  Fun to see all of that offense!

I found the environment to be reassuring, so would not hesitate to go back.  We have a minor league team here in Lexington and I'll be interested to see what they wind up doing at their much smaller ballpark.

Go Reds!