Baseball Parents - Where do you sit?

My wife likes to sit as close as possible to home plate on our dugout side. I like to be further away down near the portable tent zone....that way I'm less imposing and less tempted to offer specific advise. People must think me and my wife don't like each other LoL!

Absolutely love this, thanks for putting it up Fenway South!  I was with you behind the backstop.  I wanted to see what my kids were seeing while they could not really see me as catchers, if that makes sense.

I'm in the catcher/pitcher zone.  Son 1 was a pitcher/outfielder. Son 2 is a catcher/3b.  At our high school, the stands go all the way around the back stop.  Being with the other parents turned me into the "rules" guy.

I’m HS, I had a camera set up on the backstop fence but didn’t stay there to watch him pitch. I was down the line of whatever side we were on…same with travel.

In college, never behind the plate, mostly in the cheap seats or Cajun cafe in Clemson, on the road…we sat with parents in our designated section.

I could never deal with all the non baseball or non game related convo’s when in the seats…

Through 16u I was in the dugout. In high school and 17u travel always stood far enough down the baseline to clear the dugout and see the hitter. In college our seats we’re about fifteen rows back behind the dugout.

Wherever I was it was away from the gossips and the judgmental second guessers (typically former rec coaches).

Directly behind home plate with no one next to me.

Usually as close as possible near plate and  son's dugout. My wife and I would usually keep score.

Behind home plate when my son starts pitching.  If he's wild I end up around dad's hiding beer in thermal cups.  But for the majority of his HS career I was set up in the armchair umpire spot.  I would also call that where the second-guessing of the HC occurs.   My son High School head coach though had a good few year heater going.  Just seemed to always make the right call.

Fenway - love the diagram.   Wish I had it when Foxson played.   I could have shown everyone where they need to be.  LOL!

Wife usually sat close to home plate as she ran the video camera.   I would have a chair set up next to her, but for about half the game I would be up wandering around to view the game from different vantage points.  Plus if it was a close game I would get antsy and simply had to get up and move around.   

Of course, when I wandered around my granddaughter would "steal" my seat.   

In the summer I was usually wherever there was shade.  Stands, outfield with trees, or wedged under someone's portable tent.  In all the years of all-star/travel baseball, we never bought one of those tents.  Every year we talked about it, then didn't get around to it, then someone else had one.

If shade not an issue, then if fielding I was in the stands with the moms, if pitching in the outfield or down the RF line.

Thanks for a good laugh, Fenway! There's more than a grain of truth in that diagram.

Back in the day, I migrated way down the 1st baseline; away from the magpies in the bleachers behind the backstop. Too much gossip and drama back there for me.

Outfield away from everyone else, except a couple friends whose sons were on the same team. Farthest away from the peanut gallery as possible. When son pitches, close enough to see and not be seen.

Fenway, you are the man!

While in HS, behind the bleachers. Never where son could see us. One time while in Jupiter at PG tournies, with many coaches and scouts with radar guns, my husband would hide behind a tree.

At Clemson we always sat at first base side with parents and the same on the road but on third base side.  We were a close group.

While in milb, we sat behind backstop only when son was pitching.

great graphic, Fenway.

I should sit where the no filter guys are but all by myself.  If we're all too close together it's like the Tower of Babel.

unfortunately, it's hard to game change out there so I'm usually closer to the backstop and do my best to avoid the inevitable drama there (some of which I have been responsible for).

@smokeminside posted:

great graphic, Fenway.

I should sit where the no filter guys are but all by myself.  If we're all too close together it's like the Tower of Babel.

unfortunately, it's hard to game change out there so I'm usually closer to the backstop and do my best to avoid the inevitable drama there (some of which I have been responsible for).

I thought my son's HS was fairly mild mannered - it's in the Wine Country, FFS, but this season at one of their away games, they made the front page of the newspaper when multiple players, coaches, and parents were ejected; the game was halted and police were summoned.  I'm still waiting for my wife, who always gives me a blistering side-eye and a punch to the arm if I say "C'mon, Blue" too loudly, to compliment me on not being a part of that

The best is people who like to get right up against the fence in front of all the other people blocking their view. As they got older I moved farther and farther away - from the other parents.  You might even find me on the opposing team's side or way in the outfield away from Dad's with no filter, Dad's drinking beer or ex-coach Dads. Basically I came to really love earphones and pretending I was on a call and just enjoying watching my kids play.

I alternate between the backstop, armchair umpire, snack mom and dad with the thermal cup.

I prefer the backstop but it’s not really my kids position on the field that dictates where I go - it’s my feelings about the other parents.

The less I like them, the further away I get.

I wear the anti-social dad title proud and hide past the beer dad near the bathrooms.

In left field with beer in a yeti!