Your most memorable MLB game experience

I have two.

1) Going to David Cone's perfect game in 1999.  I had just gotten engaged and my fiancé was away for the weekend. A friend and I went to the Saturday Yankee game, and over the course of the day and evening drank a bit too much.

We also had tickets for the Sunday game (the perfect game). Called each other in the morning and almost didn't go but decided to at the last minute because it was Yogi Berra day and we didn't know how much longer he'd be around.

2) Going with my oldest son to the final game at the old Yankee stadium in 2008.

2014 American League Wild Card game.  The Royals hadn't been in the post season since 1985.  My family has had season tickets since 1979.  I got to go to the game with my son and father and it was one of the best sports viewing experiences of my life.

I also have 2.

1. Back in 1988 I was staying in MA with my dad for the summer as usual. He always took us to Fenway as much as he could. During "Morgan's Magic" we were there for a Kevin Romine walk off HR. It was awesome!

1B. We had to sit in the bleachers one time when I was 12 or 13. Apparently, back then girls would take their tops off and try to make it as far down the bleachers as they could before security could stop them. I of course was on the aisle seat and it was spectacular!

2. Taking my son to Fenway for the first time. I think he was 6 or 7. I had them put up a thing on the scoreboard saying "TBPT's Son, Welcome to Fenway Park". A professional photographer got a photo of it and tracked me down to give it to me.

@Master P posted:

2014 American League Wild Card game.  The Royals hadn't been in the post season since 1985.  My family has had season tickets since 1979.  I got to go to the game with my son and father and it was one of the best sports viewing experiences of my life.

I took my dad and son to the Red Sox v. Cards game 1. Such a great experience having them both there with me.

anotherparent; Good Morning:

Steve Boros,  my teammate and friend from the College Summer League invited my son and I into the Royals dugout before their game with Oakland A's.

It was Sept.  and crowd would not exceed 500 that day.

The KC Royals team included Mgr. Whitey Herzog & George Brett. When the game was to begin I started to depart the dugout.  Steve said "stay and coach".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Boros

Bob

From an awe standpoint if would have to be my first game. I was six. I got to see Mickey Mantle play in Fenway in 1961. It was a night game. The field was so green. I was constantly looking at a Mantle in center.

My family saved me from the dark side (Yankees) when I was seven. We moved from CT (NY side) to.MA. I became a Red Sox fan.

From a game standpoint I was at Fisk’s World Series homer against the Reds, Henderson’s ALCS homer in Anaheim, Gibson’s World Series homer against the A’s and Garvey’s NLCS homer for the Padres against the Cubs (relevant enough to be in the opening for TWIB).

The Fisk ticket was free from a friend. The other tickets you would likely shite yourself if I posted what I paid for them through ticket agencies.

The weird thing about Fisk’s homer is I was only in Boston due to my grandfather’s funeral. I was talked into going to the game that night. “If you’re going to watch on tv you might as well go.”  It changed my mood.

Went to my first game in '72 at Fenway with my dad and brother.  I'll never forget being blinded by the green as we stepped out of the stairway.   BTW, I believe our box seats were $3.75. 

It's a cliche, but I truly was in line for a hot dog at Fenway when this happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79saGd6R0ZY

Mike Greenwell, inside the park grand slam vs NYY.

At least I can say I was there.

Two choices here:

10/7/01: Colorado 14, San Diego 5 @ Petco Park. A brutal baseball game, occurring after one of the worst months in American history. I include it for two reasons.  First, my childhood hero, Rickey Henderson, collected his 3,000th hit. Second, my adult hero, Tony Gwynn, played his final baseball game. I cry when I think about this game.

7/6/92: Baltimore 5, Chicago 4 (14) @ Camden Yards. I lived in the DC area for five years in the early 90s and became an O's fan. 1992 was a renaissance year for the Birds, who improved from 67-95 to 89-73. It was also the last year of play for 42-year-old Rick Dempsey, one of the most beloved players in franchise history. Dempsey entered this game late with a tie score (can't remember why - maybe an injury?) to rapturous applause. He led off the bottom of the 10th and received a wonderful ovation which he acknowledged briefly. He then dropped a drag bunt and somehow legged it out to open the inning. He didn't score, and the O's would need four more innings to dispatch the Sox, but that drag bunt is still the most delightful thing I've ever seen on a baseball field.

Son was 9 years old when I purchased tickets to see the O's play at Camden Yards. We arrived early and after locating our seats we wandered around looking for something to eat.  An Orioles representative approached us and asked if my son would like to a) participate in the pregame ceremonies or b) help change the bases after the 5th inning.  He opted to change the bases.

After the 2nd inning I took him to the O's rep as previously instructed and went back to my seat.  End of the 5th he comes out with the grounds crew and changes 1st base.  He later said it was awesome to be only feet away from his heroes.  While waiting they showed him the clubhouse, the bullpens and one of the relief pitchers walked by him as he waited.

To top it all off, a local kid, John Maine from Stafford County (VA), was the O's starter that day.  He pitched well and the O's won 1-0.

About the time the O's game ended, my wife was at a Rockies game in Colorado that was just starting - she had been visiting her parents.  In Baltimore it had been in the mid-90's that day.  In Colorado it was in the low 40's and cold.  I never forgot the irony.

Two games came to mind very quickly....

First game was June 22, 1989 two days before I was getting married in Kennebunkport, ME.  Red Sox vs Rangers.  Roger Clemens is scheduled to start and tickets were hard to get.   My fiancee (now wife) is sitting on a curb next to the stadium while my friend and I are trying scalp tickets.   A well hidden stadium door opens up near where my wife was sitting and out comes a well dressed guy in an Armani suit.  He asks my wife if we are looking for tickets.  She says "yes" we're looking for 4 tickets.  He hands her 4 tickets and walks on.  It was really weird, but we weren't asking questions.   Clemens get shelled by a really good hitting Texas Rangers team (Juan Gonzalez, Ruben Sierra, Julio Franco, Rafael Palmeiro, Harold Baines, etc...)  and he's off the bump by the 2nd or 3rd inning.  Not Clemens best start.

Second game was at Camden Yards.  I'm with my middle son, and some family friends. The Orioles are playing the Cubs back in 2003-ish.  Sammy Sosa had been suspended for corking his bat.   He's served his time and now he's back in the lineup.  Its about the 7th or 8th inning and some guy in a trench coat jumps onto the field and is headed toward Sosa in right field.  He opens up the trench coat and hundreds of corks jump out on the field.   Everybody is laughing their *ss off.  Security comes and takes him away to a standing ovation.  It was surreal.   There was no mention of the incident in the paper or on ESPN Sports Center.

In addition to the other games I was in Boston on business for Yaz’s 3,000 hit. He was stuck on 2,999 for a few games. I arrived in town. A friend gave me a ticket.

It was anticlimactic. It appeared Willie Randolph, being an old pro made a half hearted effort on a grounder through the right side to get it over with.

I framed the ticket and gave it to a cousin for Hanukkah. He took it out of the frame, got it signed and put it back in the frame.

@RJM posted:

From a game standpoint I was at Fisk’s World Series homer against the Reds, Henderson’s ALCS homer in Anaheim, Gibson’s World Series homer against the A’s and Garvey’s NLCS homer for the Padres against the Cubs (relevant enough to be in the opening for TWIB).

The Fisk ticket was free from a friend.

Did he have to go see about a girl?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViCfc3eIpv4

@PABaseball posted:

Did he have to go see about a girl?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViCfc3eIpv4

Great scene! He stayed in line all night with friends. Tickets were sold four tickets each for games 2 and 6 or 1 and 7. They swapped off tickets to go to all the games and sold the rest for a lot of money. One guy in their group couldn’t make game 6. I couldn’t believe he didn’t want at least face value.

The thing I remember as much as the game is how  nuts it was in Kenmore Square after the game. A lot of people don’t think about if not for Carbo’s game tying, three run homer to dead center Fisk’s homer wouldn't have happened.

One-armed man throws no-hitter.....no one can beat that one.... sorry.....

Watching my son’s MLB debut and seeing him pitch in the playoffs at Yankee stadium against the team that drafted him. He's blessed for the opportunity and I'm blessed to be a baseball parent longer than I deserve.

Far and away the "Bug game".  Yankees vs Indians.  When the Canadian soldiers rolled in, A Rod couldn't handle it.  He was complaining like a sissy.   Jaba Chamberlain was a mess and I think it ruined his career.  But the Indians pitcher Fausto Carmina, he loved it.  He would look in for the sign with bugs flying all around him and not flinch.  He would come set and remain motionless except for spitting bugs out of his mouth.  Striking out ARod in that situation sent us fans into a frenzy that I think forced the billions of bugs up and out of Jacob's field. 

My family went to Mariano's last home game. The stadium was emotional watching the Sandman get pulled by Pettitte and Jeter.  My other is recovering a foul ball hit by Joe Girardi in the late 90s. It hit my sister in law in the neck and I was able to grab the ball off the rebound. I gave it to her as she clearly earned for it. My brother in law was able to get it autographed by Joe and he wrote "nice catch!"

@JucoDad posted:

Watching my son’s MLB debut and seeing him pitch in the playoffs at Yankee stadium against the team that drafted him. He's blessed for the opportunity and I'm blessed to be a baseball parent longer than I deserve.

ok this one beat mine.....

This is easy….son and I were fortunate enough to get all star week tickets in Cleveland in 2019. Got to see one of the best home run derby’s ever in person, a wonderful all star game, then drove through that night to Pittsburgh to catch a flight to Myrtle beach at 6:00 am the next day for freshman orientation at Coastal Carolina where he spent 4 years playing baseball! To drive all night after the game, wash his hair and brush his teeth in the airport parking lot before boarding a plane was quite an adventure after a great time at our first derby and all star game! Memories of a lifetime! Senior season at Purdue coming up!

Thanks to the internet, there is video of my most memorable games. (I haven't tried to Google the Senators game where my buddy and I were yelling at Jim Piersall right below our "Knothole Club" seats in RF.)

I posted about three of them here a few years ago in a similar thread. Great moments in sports you've witnessed

Similar to JucoDad, my most memorable MLB game experience would be my son's debut. I was busy photographing TMM's first at-bat in any game since high school, 8 years earlier. (He was in 2 AL organizations. I will never like the DH!)

@TMM_Dad posted:

(He was in 2 AL organizations. I will never like the DH!)

My son was the 4 hole hitter for his last 2 HS seasons and became a PO his freshman year in Juco. His second season of Juco they gave him an AB after having an exit velocity of well over 100 while hitting infield (fungo bat). I've got photos somewhere, he reached on an error and his swing was smooth as 60 grit sandpaper. As cool as it would have been to see him get a MLB AB, nobody but a parent would pay for watching that... lol!

1st game I ever watched on tv was game 6, 1975 world series. Instantly became a fan.

Most exciting, I bet my friend .25 cents to his entire bank account at a Dodger game Jerry Reuse would pitch a perfect game that day. He was perfect through 8

I, to my great disappointment, was not at my most memorable MLB game experience, but two of my sons, my wife, and my mom were: Felix Hernandez's perfect game.  Our family had been on vacation in Seattle but I had to return home a few days before for work along with my oldest son, who had school registration. My wife called the day before and asked how the rest of the family should spend their last full day in Seattle. I impulsively said just go to Mariners game. It's a day game, the weather's great, and it won't be crowded, plus I knew Felix would be pitching.   I thought it could be a good game, so I arranged for the tickets on-line. All they  had to show up.

I'm at work that afternoon, oblivious to what was developing in Seattle until my wife texted the following:  "K.(our 12-year-old)..just told me that Felix is pitching a perfect game, whatever that is." I text back, "What!?! Let me talk to him!" Son calls me and says, "Yeah.  Sixth inning. perfect game. You should hear how loud it is when he gets a strikeout."

"Are you excited? You're so lucky. I cant believe I'm not there." I say, and start looking for a streaming site on my phone.

"Yeah, but there's this old guy sitting next to us who's keeping a scorebook and keeps trying to talk to me about Felix and how great this game is. Says he's been going to games for 60 years and has never seen a game like this." 

"Yeah, perfect games hardly ever happen. You're lucky to be there.  But, do me a favor, don't say 'perfect game' any more. Just say he's pitching great or something like that. You don't want to jinx him."

"What?"

"Never mind, just watch the game. I'll call you after." I find the game stream, and ignore work for the next hour. Each pitch makes me more and more tense, especially since I can't watch the game actually happen.  I'm just getting raw data as the box score up dates. It was really nuts. Hernandez K'd  5 of the last six guys he faced, four of them swinging, the last batter looking, and it was over. 1-0. Son called and said "that was cool."  Wife got on the phone and said "that must have been a big deal.  I thought the old guy next to us was gonna cry."

"Well, it's only the 23rd time it's ever happened. Ever."

"Oh."

Interesting details ( to me): Cloudless day. 79 F. Rays manager Joe Maddon got ejected for arguing a called strike in the 7th. Hernandez struck out the side in the sixth and eighth inning and another 2 in the ninth for 12 ks.

The greatest pitching performance I shoulda seen.

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