Take me out to the Baaaaallllll game!

My nearly 10yr old nephew, Danny, comes from a baseball family. Their love for the San Francisco Giants runs deep in their blood and, by transfusion, mine. His passion for baseball is preceded by his Dad, Mom, Uncle, and Grandpa. As soon as he learned hand-eye coordination he began throwing & swinging, and he’s been playing on a team since he was five.

I moved to New York right before Danny joined his first team, which meant I never got to see him play. I saw plenty of pictures and always stayed up to date on who he was playing for each season and how they were doing, but that didn’t keep me from wishing I could see him play in person.

This year Danny was hand-picked for All-Stars!!!!!! That meant baseball continued into the summer, longer than it ever has before. The Berryessa Blues did so well they stretched their winning streak into mid-July when I happened to be in San Francisco for work. Their biggest, flag award winning game also happened to be on my day off which meant I'd finally to see Danny play ball for the first time!! Naturally the fam went all out and decorated their van and themselves in Blue gear.

Danny rocked a blue-hawk.
And I even scored a "B" hat and had a blue & white star painted on my cheek for the occasion.
Betta Represent! ;)

It was awesome. The game was super intense (I was caught pacing and biting my nails on more than one occasion and his Mom could barely keep her wits about her to take pictures--she's a photographer so that's saying something!)

Lots of loved ones (who I hadn't seen in forever!) came out to cheer (and jeer) and we had a blast.

Danny's Grandpa & Grandma (who are much younger than their titles sound) were there too, but didn't make it into pictures because towards the end of the game Grandma slipped on some gravel outside the field & broke her ankle & bones in her foot! (Val knew better than to get a picture, but trust me it wasn't something you'd want to see anyway; a foot should not bend that way.). I give Grandma an 'A' for Effort in trying to cause a diversion so we could score some extra points (seriously, wouldn't put it past her). ;)
Thankfully, after successful surgeries, she's going to be ok.

Unfortunately, the Blues lost 5-15 which hurt a lot and many tears were shed (that Val caught no problem).

But to me he's always an “All Star” & I felt so proud and lucky to be there!