Yankees v Indians 9-18-21

Well, it's the middle of September already. Not that you'd know that from the sweaty gym balls-style weather that we've been having. We were looking forward to a pleasant outdoor experience during a late season baseball game. Instead, we've left the game with sun burns and suffering from dehydration. Probably didn't help that we started our afternoon off with wine instead of water, but that is not our fault. It should have been mid-70's at most and the Yankees shouldn't be selling souvenir carafes and wine glasses. It just spells trouble. 

Also, as you can see in this photo, we totally crushed the Don Mattingly bobblehead giveaway. This is largely thanks to Clear. That line was super quick compared to the rest of the security lines around the stadium AND due to an unwarranted amount of traffic for a mid-Saturday, we were totally late getting to the ballpark. So, anyone that tells you that the annual fee for Clear isn't worth it is a big, fat liar. They're lying to you and to themselves. Clear, we're ready for our paid sponsorship/advertising contract. Hit us up. 

We actually watched 4 innings of the game from this view because it was shaded and the temperature was much cooler here. Then we got hungry and foolishly decided to head up to our seats, thinking that the upper deck "always gets such a nice breeze." We got no such nice breeze, but we did go old school with our food selection - a nice, reliable spicy sausage and peppers sandwich. We've learned a few things over the years and the number 1, most important thing we learned is to not photograph yourself eating a sausage or a hot dog. Ever. It's horrifying. 

The Yankees took a giant sh*t on the field and called it a baseball game. They chose not to play today. Unfortunately, they didn't give us the option to not pay for our tickets. At least we got our bobbleheads. We received several offers from people requesting to buy it from us, but Serena felt that since it was Don Mattingly, it was a priceless artifact and Lisa's asking price was too high. The highest offer we got was $10, but Lisa held out for a Louis Vuitton bag. 

We decided that we needed ice cream, so we went in search of a Ben & Jerry's. The line at the stand in our section was personally offensive, so we decided to go downstairs to the main concourse, thinking we'd have more stands to choose from. We did not. The line in the food court was even worse, so we ended up on the Grand Slam Shake stand because no one was there. 

While tasty, it wasn't what we wanted, so it didn't really satisfy our cravings. Lisa got the cereal one and Serena got the celebration one. It was too hot to go back to our seats, so we ended up watching the rest of the sh*t show standing around the main concourse. Bunch of clowns. 

Mets v Pirates 7-11-21

We've not been the best baseball game attenders this season considering we're the "Traveling Baseball Babes," but in our defense, the extended lockdown done did us dirty. Suddenly, our weekends are filled with birthday parties, rescheduled bridal/baby showers, rescheduled weddings, bachelorette parties, anniversary parties, bbqs, and all of the other sh*t people enjoyed having before the pandemic hit and now they are all crammed into the same tiny window instead of being spread out throughout the year. We've literally had zero time to attend baseball games. Hell, we haven't even had time to post these recent blogs. Look at us. We're two months behind on sh*t.  

Which brings us to this particular Mets game. Normally, we pick games for a specific reason. Maybe it's the opponent, but mostly it's due to a special bobblehead giveaway. In this scenario, we picked it because it was the only Sunday we had free to go to game together. We didn't even know that there was a free giveaway (a Jacob DeGrom jersey) until the night before and Serena had to work so late on Sunday that we assumed we'd never get to the park early enough to get one.

For whatever reason, security had us circle around the ballpark before funneling the entire Tri-State area into one parking lot entrance. Seemed a bit ridiculous and inefficient to us, but what do we know? We didn't go to security guard school. We parked roughly 30 minutes to game time and since we were convinced that we didn't have a shot in hell at getting the DeGrom jersey, we meandered leisurely over to the gate with the shortest line. 

Lo and behold, we managed to get inside very quickly AND snag a pair of jerseys, which will come in handy next season when we finally get to make our way back to the ballpark again. 

They're shockingly not bad. Usually the free giveaway jerseys are absolute trash or the color is totally offensive, but here, neither was the case. 

We grabbed a pair of beers and headed up to watch the game. This is the view from our seats:

We weren't hungry yet (shocking, I know), so we hung out in our sweltering seats for roughly 6 innings. The Mets were performing marvelously, leading 5-2 before we headed to the Jim Beam Suite for air conditioning and food. This time around, we got ourselves some wine because we're classy broads like that. Also, we're suckers for souvenirs cups (as you can see). 

We also split a Polar Burger and an Ultimate Grilled Cheese. The burger was $16.50 and the grilled cheese was $10.25. 

The burger was Pat LaFrieda's black truffle blended burger patty with maple spiced caramel onions, smoked gouda, lettuce, tomato (which Serena picked off), and claw sauce on a brioche bun. The grilled cheese was provolone and american cheeses with pimiento spread in a pinwheel flatbread and it was served with what they called "tomato fondu," but let's call a spade a spade. It was served with a cup of jarred marinara sauce. 

While we stuffed our faces, Pittsburgh managed to scrape another 2 runs across, making the score 5-4. They wanted to make it interesting for us. We still didn't think much of it because the Mets were hot and the Pirates sucked (they still suck). We watched the game in the air conditioning until the bottom of the 8th when we decided that we needed ice cream (bottomless f*cking pits we are apparently). 

The line to the ice cream and waffle stand was so long that we ended up watching the remainder of the game from the line. 

And what a remainder of a game it was - the Pirates scored 2 more runs in the top of the 9th and closed it out to win 6-5. 

Oracle Park (the park formerly known as AT&T Park)

 June 5, 2021

We had a 7am flight out of New York to San Francisco. The trip was mostly supposed to be a wine-centric vacation with the purpose of us getting SOMEWHERE that wasn't our homes after a long lockdown. Not sure what prompted us to even look up the Giants' schedule (because as you know, we've already hit this park), but we did and discovered that they'd be home the weekend we were arriving in San Francisco. Unfortunately, due to COVID protocols, the Giants were not yet selling tickets to the general public. Only season ticket holders had access to buy. However, the wonders of social media came to our rescue. We posted one little story on Instagram seeking advice regarding tickets and one of our kick ass followers replied with the hook up! She bought tickets via her account on our behalf and we were in! 

Anywho, back to our arrival in San Francisco. We didn't have much time available to us before our 5pm game, but we managed to squeeze a lot in: Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, and mini doughnuts. We arrived and snapped our exterior photo of the ballpark, including a retake of us outside the Willie Mays Gate. 

Now:

Then:

Before we went inside, we stopped at the team store so that Lisa could get herself a hat and also visited McCovey Cove because we never documented it the first time around. We got to see someone snag a home run ball during batting practice. 

California was a little behind New York in their COVID protocols, so the attendance capacity was less than what we would've experienced at Citi Field or Yankee Stadium. There were still vaccinated and unvaccinated seating sections. We still had to wear masks at least until we got to our seats and most importantly, many of the concession stands were still closed. This is not a complaint by any means. It was just a different experience from what we've had. As we walked around our section trying to decide what we wanted to eat, we found these fun Lego set ups:

We ended up with pretty basic food, but no complaints here. We ate all of it and enjoyed every bite. We think it cost us roughly $40 for both of our dinners and beers, but truthfully, we can't remember and we apparently spent so much money on random sh*t that day that we can't decipher our bank statements as to what's what. The ballpark was entirely cashless also by the way, which was unexpected, but obviously we managed because we didn't go hungry. 

Oh! This picture of us in these custom sweatshirts (made by @evieandzoedesigns) just reminded us of a funny interaction with one of the park staff people. He spotted our shirts and loved them so much that he took several photos of us with his phone. Either he thought we were celebrities (we sort of are...and if we're not, we aren't sure what the f*ck is taking so long on that front)or he was a creep. Somewhere in the state of California, is an Oracle Park security guard with at least 10 photos of us in the same pose and facial expression. He didn't even bother to take a selfie with us. 

Back to the game. The Giants, for the most part, dominated, but it did get hairy towards the end.  At one point Brandon Crawford bulldozed Evan Longoria in attempt to get the ball. We've never seen anything like it. Not even at one of Lisa's nephew's little league games. They did win the end even though they made it interesting. And so did we. We went back to our hotel and passed the f*ck out face down in our beds before going on the bike tour from hell the following morning. We'd tell you about it, but that's for a completely different type of blog. 

Cooperstown Strikes Back & May The Fort Be With You

Since our retirement from baseball stadium touring, we've decided to visit forts. We are now the Traveling Fabulous Fort...Folks. As you know, we previously traveled to the Alamo, so Fort Ticonderoga being our second fort pretty much makes us fort experts now. 

Fort Ticonderoga is close to 5 hours north of us. In other countries, if you drive 5 hours north, you'd probably hit another country. Here, you're still in New York. Unfortunately, the circumstances of the current pandemic basically ensures that crossing state borders ends up being more of a pain in the a$$ than it's worth, so this summer's travel plans had to be relegated to the great state of New York.

It would probably be odd if all we did today was post about forts...or would it?

Just kidding. We did actually do some baseball related activities this year against all odds. From Fort Ticonderoga is 3 hours from Cooperstown, but it took us close to 4 hours because the GPS led us up the hill and back down like the Grand Old Duke of York on a single lane road. We felt that the Hall of Fame was due a second trip, because of Mike Mussina's and Mariano Rivera's recent inductions. 

Due to COVID-19 protocols, this visit was definitely different. For starters, we had to reserve a time slot for our visit. We had to wear a mask while inside the building as well as on the streets of town. Everyone was given styluses at the entrance in order to utilize the touch screens at certain exhibits and markers were on the floor and in sitting areas to designate social distancing. Despite the restrictions, it was actually quite peaceful and enjoyable. We never felt that we couldn't get to an exhibit due to crowds. 

In addition to our stylus, the man at the front desk assessed gave us a team-specific scavenger hunt based on our clothing. This plays right into our wheelhouse because then the Hall of Fame suddenly became a competition for us. A competition that we'd win at all costs. Even if it meant knocking a small child over to do so. 

We will now share with you the results of the scavenger hunt that we won fair and square, but was not given a prize for at the end. In fact, we aren't even sure that we were congratulated on the victory. 

First up for the Yankees is Lou Gehrig's locker and for the Mets is Pedro Martinez's 3,000th K jersey.

Second is Joe Dimaggio's retired #5 jersey and Tom Seaver's 19-strikeout game baseball cap.

Third is Mariano Rivera's World Series cap and Dwight Gooden's rookie jersey.

Fourth is Babe Ruth's Home Run Record Crown and Tommie Agee World Series glove.

Fifth is Yogi Berra's perfect game mitt and Ray Knight's 1986 World Series helmet. 

Sixth is Aaron Boone's ALCS home run bat and Johan Santana's first no-hitter ball.

Seventh is Mickey Mantle's rare 1952 Topps card and David Wright's final game helmet. 

Eighth is Aaron Judge's 44th home run (of his rookie season) jersey and Pete Alonso's rookie batting gloves.

Ninth is Derek Jeter's World Series jersey and Casey Stengel's retired number. 

The real reason of visiting the Hall of Fame has nothing to do with the scavenger hunt, but that was a bonus. The real reason was not to celebrate Derek Jeter's induction (even though there's an entire display for him). If you don't know how Serena feels about Derek Jeter by this stage of our blog, we don't know what you've been reading. 

The real reason was to visit the plaques of these two men:

Before you assume that Serena's animosity prevented from taking a photo of Derek Jeter's plaque, we'd like to inform you that there was no plaque due to COVID-19. There was a sign that said so and everything. 

Sidebar: these two signs hung in strategic locations made us laugh. 

You're welcome.