Guest Book

I'm having just a little trouble sleeping, so I thought I'd get up and blog for bit ... A walk-off grand slam could be the most exciting play in baseball. Two outs, behind by a run, bases loaded, and the game ends with a towering home run to left field. Even better, the hitter is the wildly popular Jeff Francouer. Yes, I was in the stands with my kids Saturday night to see the Braves come from behind to beat the Nationals. Deliriously happy, Frenchy rips off his batting helmet as he trots home from third base and leaps into the air to land on home plate with both feet as he is mobbed by his teammates. The celebration was of playoff intensity, with Braves players hugging Francouer and wrestling him to the ground. To top it off, I got a foul ball in the second inning! This season marks the 25th year that I've been a Braves season ticket holder and I had never picked up a foul ball before. My seat location is right on the aisle, just behind the owner's box, and foul balls seldom come down this low in the stands -- they usually just whistle overhead. But Saturday night Royce Clayton hit a Jorge Sosa fastball off the tip of his bat and it rocketed into the stands, missing me by no more than a foot. Thank God! It was moving so fast that I could never have moved out of the way, even if it had been aimed right at my nose! The ball hit the steps just to the right of my seat and made a tremendous commotion as the huge kinetic energy of the little white sphere was transferred into a bounce straight up and into the handrail. Then -- in some amazing miracle of angular momentum -- the ball bounced right back down beside my seat and spun to a stop. I didn't even have to get out of my seat -- I just reached down and picked it up from the aisle right before a mob of fans began to converge on it. I immediately handed the ball to my 10-year old son who was thrilled as he could be. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I realized that we had probably been shown on national TV. The ball had arrived with such velocity and made so much racket bouncing around that several ushers stopped by to make sure everyone was OK. After they left I realized -- hey, don't they show it on camera when a foul ball enters the stands? Anybody happen to Tivo Saturday's Braves game? Going to Braves game with my kids is a very unique experience that we share as a family, Both Ronnie and Angelica have been going to baseball games with their dad since they were infants -- in fact Angelica's very first game was as a babe-in-arms, less than two months old, to the 1992 World Series. And Ronnie was just a week older when he went to his first game in the 1995 World Series. These kids are so spoiled -- they've never gone to a major league game and sat anywhere else besides my seats, no more than 30 feet from the Braves on deck batter's circle. Most people have never even seen a game from that close. I remember when my dad took me to my first baseball game when I was 9-years old. It was the Cards versus the Cubs in St. Louis and my most vivid memory was how green the grass was on the field -- you see, I'd never seen a game in color before! My kids have grown up going to games and the Braves have been part of their childhood since before they can remember. And Ronnie and Angelica really enjoy going to the game with their dad. They truly get into the events on the field and pay attention to the play. Earlier in the game when Francouer was at bat, Ronnie yelled out, "Hit it to Copenhagen, Frenchy!" It is so special for me to share these moments with them. Angelica, now in her teenage years is so blasé about most things -- yeah, whatever, dad -- but she still gets excited at Braves games, clapping and chopping with the crowd. I've been a little under the weather lately and it was a real effort to pull it together to get to Turner Field, but I'm so glad I did -- Saturday's game is one my kids will always remember.