Category: Experiences and reflections

Seattle Mariners vs. St. Louis Cardinals 09.09.2025

September 16, 2025

Yours truly spent the week last week in the Seattle area. Now that I have been back home a few days and have semi-caught up on my usual routines, it is time to share my experience attending the Mariners game I attended whilst there.

We took the light rail out to T-Mobile Park on Tuesday evening, September 9th. It was my first time on Seattle’s light rail, but it was not my first time in this ballpark. I attended a Mariners game almost twenty years ago — the stadium still called Safeco Field at the time — watching the action from the left field bleachers. This time around, we were able to get lower-level seats just to the third base side behind home plate.

T-Mobile Park, 2025

It was a giveaway night, and we made a point to arrive early enough to snag a Logan Gilbert Funko Pop. I’ve never owned a Pop prior to this one, but I suppose if I’m going to have one, it’s nice to have one of a baseball player.

Logan Gilbert Funko Pop

And I am a huge fan of having a hot dog while at the ballpark, so we traversed the concourse until we were able to score Seattle Dogs and cans of cider.

Seattle Dog and cider, T-Mobile Park, Seattle, 2025

The game itself proved an exciting one, complete with home runs, a couple stolen bases, a caught-stealing, double plays on both sides, and more. St. Louis struck first, scoring two runs in the top of the second. Then Seattle took the lead in the bottom of the third before the Cardinals tied it up in the top of the fourth. However, the Mariners managed to pull ahead, 5-3, in the bottom of the fourth, and this went on to be the final score for the game. As a Royals fan, it was quite satisfying to watch the Cardinals lose.

T-Mobile Park, 2025

“A True Story,” by Michael R. Burch

July 1, 2025

This piece makes me reminisce about playing ball in the backyard with my brothers while growing up. All the neighbors knew this was a favorite pastime of ours, and I do recall an occasion or two when the ball was indeed tossed back to us. High fives for hitting it over the fence were rare, however. Whoever hit the ball over was now responsible for retrieving it, so it was often more beneficial as a hitter to keep it on the ground.

*

Jeremy hit the ball today
when he and I went out to play.
He hit it, oh, so far away,
a neighbor had to throw it back!

Jeremy hit the ball so hard
it flew into the neighbor’s yard
and caught the other kids off-guard;
they thought it was an air attack!

Jeremy hit the ball again,
above the sun, beyond the wind;
as we watched it soar and slowly spin …
we gave high-fives for his awesome smack!

When the umpire gets hit

June 3, 2025

During a softball game when I was a teenager, I had a teammate who hit a foul ball, and next thing we all knew, the home plate umpire was on his back, his face beet red. We quickly learned that the foul ball had caught the umpire between the legs — an especially awkward occurrence for a male umpire at a high school girls’ softball game. While everyone waited for the umpire to regain his bearings, girls in both dugouts were noticeably working hard not to giggle too loudly. I felt bad for the guy.

It’s not uncommon for a player to get hit by the ball at some point in a game. However, as in situations like the one above, sometimes it is one of the umpires who gets hit. Someone put together the compilation video below of MLB umpires getting hit by the baseball, and watching it is like watching a train wreck. You feel bad for them, but somehow, you can’t stop watching.

My first Royals game since 2019

June 29, 2023

Last night I attended my first Royals game since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Not that I’ve been avoiding Kauffman Stadium altogether — last summer I ran the Royals Charities 5K and at the end of 2022, I took a behind-the-scenes tour of the K. But it had been quite some time since I last attended an actual Royals game, and to rectify that, I bought my ticket to watch the boys in blue take on the Guardians.

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This return to game attendance was certainly memorable, but unfortunately, not in a good way. For one thing, it was broiling hot outside: 96°F officially when the game started, and it felt like triple digits. As for the game itself, I knew things were going to be rough when the Guardians hit a grand slam in the 3rd inning. This was followed by a two-run homer in the 5th inning and another two-run blast in the 6th. By the time the 7th inning stretch arrived, the Royals were down 14-0.

The Royals did manage to score a run in the bottom of the 7th, but this was small consolation in the face of what was probably the worst defeat I’ve ever seen live at the K. To make matters worse, Relish won the hot dog derby — my least favorite of the three condiments.

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Attendance in general was sparse, with the official number coming in at 11,978. Kansas City is feeling a bit disgruntled with its baseball team these days, and with games like the one we experienced last night, it’s not hard to understand why.

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In spite of all this, I am still glad that I made a point of attending the game. Kauffman Stadium has long been one of my favorite places to visit, and sitting in the stadium last night, I find that the sentiment remains. It breaks my heart that the organization intends to move the team out of Kauffman and into a new venue in downtown Kansas City. Until that day arrives, I want to try and get out to more games and soak it in while I can.

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Kansas vs. Air Force

April 20, 2023

The Royals’ season isn’t going too well this year — if you can count a .211 winning percentage thus far as merely “not going too well.” At the NCAA level, the Kansas Jayhawks aren’t exactly making headlines either, but at least their season is faring better than that of their MLB neighbors. I had the opportunity to participate in a somewhat behind-the-scenes experience leading up to the Jayhawks’ game yesterday, so naturally I signed up for it.

The afternoon began with batting practice, and our group was able to hang out in the KU dugout while we watched the team get in their swings.

Kansas vs Air Force

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Kansas vs Air Force

Afterwards, we were shown the indoor batting practice facility, which I did not get any pictures of.  That building also featured a wall of photos featuring former Kansas ball players, and the nameplate on each photo indicates not only the player’s name, but also the name of an MLB team.  We passed through the building rather quickly, so I didn’t have time to peruse this wall very closely, but given the number of photos up there, I’m guessing these are all players that were drafted by teams, and not necessarily all of them actually made it to the Major League level. 

After a filling lunch of pulled pork sandwiches, salad, chips, and brownies, it was time to head back to Hoglund Ballpark for the game.  In the early innings of the game, I found myself being gestured at by the KU mascot, who invited me to have a seat with him for a bit.  As amusing as it was, conversation with a mascot tends to be sparse and largely one way.  

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The game itself turned out to be a good one — if you were rooting for Kansas, anyways. The Jayhawks collected 3 home runs, and their pitchers held Air Force bats down quite solidly. The game ended in the seventh inning due to run spread, with a final score of 12-2.

The Jayhawks were 18-18 going into this game, so the win over Air Force yesterday puts them back on the winning side of .500. It was also the first Kansas win I have ever been able to see live. All in all, an enjoyable afternoon.

Kansas vs Air Force

Hall of Fame Vodka

April 8, 2023

After purchasing a case of tonic water on my last grocery shopping trip, I naturally needed a reason to use it, so I stopped by the liquor store this morning to pick up a bottle of gin. Contrary to my plan, however, that did not end up being my only purchase of this trip, as this caught my attention:

I’ve never heard of Hall of Fame Vodka before today, but the marketing genius who put this stuff into baseball bat bottles clearly knows the way into the hearts of suckers like me, because I could not pass this up. When I brought my purchases to the pink-haired gal working the register, I asked when they had gotten these in. She responded, “Oh, I don’t know, a couple of weeks ago, I think?”

“Ah, just in time for baseball season, eh?”

But she gave me this what-the-hell-makes-you-think-I-know-anything-about-baseball look, so I shut up through the rest of the transaction and contented myself with being pleased with the find.

The headquarters for Hall of Fame Vodka appear to be located in Bardstown, Kentucky. Appropriately enough, Bardstown is a mere 45-minute drive from Louisville, home of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. The company does not currently produce any other kind of spirits, but according to their FAQs, they do have a goal to expand their brand in the future.

To celebrate the Royals finally winning two in a row, I’ve decided to go ahead a try a bit of this stuff out this evening. Despite its position on the top shelf, this is hardly premium vodka. I imagine the positioning of the bottles had more to do with how ridiculously tall they are than anything else. But it’s not the cheapest of the cheap, either. I’d probably put it in the same league as Svedka or 360 vodka — not anything I’d want to drink straight, but perfectly decent when mixed in with something.

Cheers!

Kauffman Stadium tour

December 31, 2022

As one last hurrah to 2022, I signed up to take a behind-the-scenes tour of Kauffman Stadium today. The weather was about as good as one could hope for on December 31st, but it was still pretty chilly, and I was glad I bundled up for this experience. My tour guide was an older gentleman named Michael, whose daughter also works for the Royals. According to Michael, one month after he retired, his daughter insisted that he needed something to do and helped him get set up giving tours of Kauffman during the off season and working in the Royals Hall of Fame during the season. He’s been working in this capacity for the last eight years, and he certainly knew his stuff.

This post is going to be predominantly pictures, but I’ll try to include explanatory captions where appropriate.

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One of the business suites. According to Michael, folks who purchase these get 24/7/365 access to their suite.

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This is what Kauffman Stadium’s famous fountains look like when turned off and cleaned out for the off season.

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Nines

September 9, 2022

Today is my birthday: September 9th. 9/9. Oh, yeah — and I was born at 9:50 in the morning.

When an employee at the local running store measured my feet a couple years ago, he informed me that my left foot is size 9.5, and my right foot is size 9. (Don’t laugh, I’ve heard that having differently-sized feet is more common than you would think.)

It seems that the number nine is a big part of my life.

The number nine is a big part of baseball, too.

A team is made up of nine players — there are nine defensive positions and there are nine spots in a batting lineup. In fact, in the early days of the game, a team would often be referred to as a “baseball nine.”

A game consists of nine innings. An immaculate inning is comprised of nine thrown strikes. A baseball is nine inches in circumference.

Scott Flansburg, a.k.a. The Human Calculator, takes the exploration of the number nine in baseball, and in other parts of life, even further in this video:

A bit unrelated, this blog is currently over nine years strong. It’s been a fun run thus far, and I’m excited to continue it!

Keeping score

April 24, 2022

My freshman year of high school, I played on the JV softball team. But whenever the JV team wasn’t playing, I was effectively the backup 2nd baseman for the varsity team. And while this meant I got to travel with the team for varsity tournaments, it also meant I rode the bench a lot for those games.

One game, we found ourselves without a scorekeeper. There were no parents willing to do it (or who knew how), and the JV coach was acting as 1st base coach for this varsity contest. Faced with limited options, the varsity coach called me over, sat me down with the scorebook, and gave me a crash course in scorekeeping. For the rest of the year, I also became the backup scorekeeper for the varsity team. From my sophomore year on, when I was a true member of the varsity squad, I became the backup scorekeeper for the JV team.

Equipped with this new know-how, I began keeping score whenever I’d listen to Royals games on the radio late at night in my room. My pencil-and-spiral-notebook system of scorekeeping was a much-simplified system compared to what I knew could be done in a true scorebook, but I still found it a great way to stay engaged with the ballgame.

My habit of keeping score for Royals games became sporadic, at best, after graduating high school, until the practice became virtually nonexistent. Today, however, I sat down with a notebook in the minutes prior to the start of the Royals-Mariners contest and I created that same, crude little table I used to make on those late nights as a teenager. I filled in the lineups for both teams, and as the game commenced, I tracked the results of each at-bat.

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The ghost runner didn’t exist the last time I scored a game, so that was a new experience — I created the not-so-imaginative notation “GR” to note the ghost runner. I really thought I was going to have to start a new page when I used up the last player spot for Royals pinch hitters, but the conclusion of the game in the 12th sadly prevented that from becoming a necessity.

I’m pretty heartbroken that the Royals ended up losing in extra innings (and got swept by Seattle in the process). But I rediscovered how much I enjoy keeping score and the act of watching every at-bat with so much intent. I definitely need to reignite this practice as a habit, and hopefully it won’t take too long before I get to score a Royals ‘W’.