We are over half way through the season, so I wanted to document what is quickly becoming our best season ever. Below are the Top 10 Moments of the season so far...
10. 6/29/2015 - I love reading Benjamin Hill's blog and truly think he has
one of the best jobs on the planet. He stopped by the Pfitz and we had a
chance to talk and get this picture together. If you haven't read his
blog then you need to check it out: Ben's Biz Blog
9. All season -
Last year Abbie was lucky enough to get pictures with quite a few players, so
this year we decided to do the same. She has pictures with basically all the
PNats and quite a few with the visiting players. She has also been lucky enough
to get almost every one of them signed by the player. I will highlight them all
at the end of the season, but it is a pretty great list of players so far! The
first one of the season was with Clint Frazier...
8. 5/8/2015 - If you've been to a PNats game in the past two years then you
may have seen Abbie lurking outside the stadium on the hunt for foul
balls. It is truly one of her most favorite things to do. We have gotten
at least one ball at every game (Milb and MLB) we have ever been to and
she is a girl on a mission at every game until we get one. This
particular day was special because it was the Potomac debut for Lucas
Giolito. She wanted to be outside to make sure she got a foul ball if
any flew
over. It just so happens that his very first pitch of the season was
fouled out of the stadium right to her. Abbie offered it to
Lucas just in case he wanted it, but he said she could keep it. It is
easily one of her favorite baseballs.
7. All season - Abbie loves foul balls, but the Home Run ball is what she loves the most! She got four last year and has already matched that number this year. Her HR balls from this year were hit by Paul Hendrix(Lynchburg), Wilmer Difo, Drew Ward, and Isaac Ballou.
Disclaimer: All these HRs were to right field! We didn't go behind the outfield
wall!
6. All season - Early in the season Abbie noticed that
the players only get plain David sunflower seeds from the team, so she decided
she wanted to give them flavored seeds. I reached out to a few companies and
Chinook and Bigs were unbelievably supportive of her mission. She ended up
handing out the seeds at two different games to the PNats. It was fun to watch
her "sell" the different flavors to the players and give me a play by
play on which flavor each player took. She did struggle a bit with handing out seeds and getting autographs at the same time. If you look closely at the picture below you can see a ball tucked in her back pocket. It was pretty fun to watch her switch back and forth.
5. 6/18/2015 - We both love games at the Pfitz, so we
don't tend to venture off too often, but with Maddy and Macey out of town we
decided to take in a Washington Nationals game. This is only the second
Washington Nationals game we've ever been to and it turned out to be an amazing night! Not knowing
exactly how traffic was going to be and hoping to catch BP we left pretty early
and ended up getting to the stadium way earlier than expected. As we walked up
we noticed the "autograph guys" waiting by the parking entrance, so
we decided to hang out and see who Abbie could get to sign her Nationals team
ball. Turns out it was a good decision. She ended up getting autographs of Max
Scherzer, Jose Lobaton, Dan Uggla, Craig Stammen, and Yunel Escobar before even
getting into the stadium. Once we got in the stadium she was able to get Clint
Robinson and Gio Gonzalez, so it was a pretty amazing day for her! It didn't
end there, but you'll read more about that later.
4. All Season - We have been spending more time inside the
stadium this year and it has a lot to do with Abbie wanting to build her bat
collection. She has picked up five broken bats this year so far with only one
coming from the PNats Booster Club. The other four have come directly from
players. The first was a Drew Ward bat fron the Booster Club, the second was from Tucker Nathans, the third from Jeff Kemp, and the fifth from Frank Schwindel. The fourth? You'll read about that at #1.
3. All season - This is more of a dad highlight, but I would guess that Abbie has given away over 20 foul balls this season. She treasures every ball she gets and we document the who/what/when of each ball, but when she sees someone without a ball her heart takes over and she gladly hands them out. Her compassionate heart is one of my favorite things about her.
2. 6/18/2015 - The Nationals game was already a hit just for the fact that Abbie got the autographs she did before it even started, but what happened during the game was something I will never forget. In the top of the second Bryce Harper was done warming up and looked around to find someone to toss his ball to. He did a quick scan, stopped right at Abbie, and it happened... he tossed
her his warm up ball! I bought tickets on the right field line so she could be close to Bryce, but never thought this would happen. I hoped it might, but was still in shock that it actually did. It was an incredible
moment and was the second time that Bryce has provided me with an everlasting
memory of joy for Abbie.
1. 6/28/2015 - Like I wrote in #4, Abbie has had some
pretty decent luck this year with getting broken bats from players, but this one topped them all. Abbie was hanging out at the PNats dugout after the game hoping to get the lineup card when out walks Spencer Kieboom with a signed broken bat. There were four or five other people trying to get the lineup card along with Abbie and when they saw Spencer they all started asking for the bat, but he walked right up and handed it to her. This was the first time anyone has ever given her a bat without her asking for it and more importantly, it was Spencer's bat! Spencer has been incredibly nice to Abbie this year and quickly became her favorite early in the season. I've seen her light up before, but never like this. It was truly an awesome moment for her and especially for me. The Harper ball was tough to beat, but this one just edges it out...
We've had plenty of other great experiences so far this season, but these are the most memorable. I am hoping the rest of the season will bring even greater memories, but if they don't this will still be one to remember.
Yes, Maddy even came to a game once!
Lucas Giolito Signed Ball
First Autograph of the Season - Clint Frazier
