By: Kelly Byrnes
Over the past week I have had a few opportunities to spend some time with my family at a couple different baseball venues. What came of it was 2 memories that I will never forget, and I hope my girls won’t either.
Memory #1
Last Tuesday I took my middle daughter Malia to Salem, OR for a Salem-Keizer Volcanoes game. They are the Short Season Single A team for the San Francisco Giants. They were playing the Spokane Indians (Texas Rangers). The sole purpose of us going was to spend some 1 on 1 time with Malia and to get a few autographs. On our way there we had lunch, went shopping and made a few other stops.
We got to Volcanoes Stadium about 15 minutes early and like always we were the 1st ones in line. What happened next was a surprise. As we were in line one of the workers came up to Malia and started talking to her. Asking her what her name was, how old she was and what grade she was going into. Then he looked at me and asked if she knew how to run the bases.
I mean of course she knew how to run the bases, what kind of baseball fan would I be if my 6-year-old didn’t know how to run the bases. He asked her if she wanted to run the bases before the game and of course she did. At first, I just thought he meant that a bunch of kids would be able to run the bases before the game but the more he talked I realized it would be just her doing it. So, he got all the information he needed and told us to meet him by the field by a certain time.
When it was time to meet, we went over to the field, and he told us what was going to happen then he brought over a player (Shilo McCall of the Volcanoes) to take a picture with her. For a while I didn’t think Malia would want to go through with it, but he asked her again and she was excited and ready. After the 1st pitch it was Malia’s turn. She walked out to home plate as they announced her name which was also on the big screen.
They asked if she was ready then told her to go and she was off. Even though there were only a 1,500+ people there they were all cheering her on. She crossed the plate with a huge smile across her face. As we walked off the field a bunch of the players gave, her a high five and 1 of the players told me she ran it in just under 30 seconds. That smile that was on her face as she crossed the plate didn’t go away until she went to bed that night and the same thing for me.
Memory #2
This weekend the whole family went to Seattle to see two Mariners vs. Orioles games. It was my wife and I’s 11th wedding anniversary. First game was fun; got some autographs, two of my girls got balls from the home plate umpire after the game and the Mariners won 4-3, but the second game is when the memory happened.
As usual we tried to get some autographs before the game. Gracie my oldest daughter and my wife stayed on the Mariners side and Malia, and I went over to the Oriole’s side. We got a few autos and were just getting ready to leave when we saw Manny Machado walking over in our direction.
He has had a tough year, and I haven’t heard many good things about him interacting with fans, so I was surprised to see him come over. We got his autograph, he stayed and signed for about 10 minutes. As cool as that was that wasn’t the best part of the day.
After the game my two older girls always try and get a ball from the umpires and usually are pretty successful. So, as the last out was made they rushed down to where the umpires made their way off the field. They each came back with a ball, but Gracie had a patch on her shirt.
She said the umpire took it off his uniform and gave it to her. It ended up being a game used 2014 MLB 75th Anniversary Hall of Fame patch from Home Plate Umpire Manny Gonzalez. So cool of the umpire to do that. That is above and beyond what is expected from them.
I don’t know if he or anyone from the MLB will ever read this, but he made a memory for my family that will never be forgotten.