A Visitor Crashed Dad/Daughter Day at the Ballpark

We got back from our Tall Timber Days weekend up north, Emmy and I went to work for a couple days, and then we promptly took Wednesday afternoon off for our annual Dad/Daughter baseball game. Our group was up to eight people this year (three dads, five daughters) and we've been looking forward to it for weeks!

I learned my lesson a couple years ago and took the bus up (parking downtown is beyond awful). The bus leaves at 10:30 - so I was at the field almost an hour before anyone else in our group. I'm in the middle of a really good book. There are chairs in the lobby of the Legend's Club. I managed to make it work. I was also kept company by an on-going text chat with my sister as she hopped the train to the park. With a super entertaining punchline when she realized that the Twins don't play at USBank Stadium. Luckily she noticed all the people with Twins shirts did not exit and stayed on the train!

As most of our gang congregated, we decided to swing by the bar to grab some drinks before taking our seats. And that's when I saw him ... Tony Oliva. The man. The legend. My dad's favorite player of all time. Now, Dad had finally met Tony O in person last time he was at the game (a brief meeting that resulted in an autograph on his jersey!). But I had not met him. So I marched right over and shook his hand. Then the rest of the gang came too and we all gushed about how much we love him.

Then, like a good sister, I texted a picture of it to my sister (who was still not there) to show her what she had missed. When the final members of our group arrived, they were not thrilled that they had missed the Tony photo ops. My sis was ready to lead the stalking charge to recreate the moment. We were all standing around a table laughing and drinking ... when who walked up to talk to us more. Yep, Tony O! He sought us out and believe me, that detail was not missed. My dad is pretty sure they are besties now. And joked that he's going to invite Tony to his birthday party!

The game itself was pretty terrible (we did not play well - except turning a triple play in the field - which is basically like a baseball unicorn. And I missed it because I was in the bathroom. Grrr). It was a very hot and sunny day, so we bounced back and forth between our seats and the air conditioned lobby every couple innings to not have heat stroke! But the company and the Tony visit made it the greatest day ever. The dilly bars and nachos didn't hurt either.

My sister left early, so when the Twins started a late inning comeback, Dad's friend Greg deadpanned "Em should have left earlier." At least I got to see a Twins homerun since I missed one last time we were at the park. Catching my bus back was easy peasy and I was home in time for dinner. I always love going to the game with my dad - and need to work on how to explain to Dec why he is not invited. Because he was not having it this year!