Tonight I went to my first baseball game of the season, between the Yankees and Angels, and violated one of my own sacrosanct sports-fan rules: Never Leave Early. But since it was the Yankees, and I didn't leave until 90 minutes into the second rain delay of the evening, I feel like I had a good excuse.
The rain began about an hour before game time but we (my eight co-workers and I) embarked for Yankee Stadium regardless, and clearly glimpsed the setting sun as the 4 train pulled out of the ground as it approached 161st St. However, the drizzle returned in the third inning, and the players left the field for a 30-minute delay with one out in the bottom of the third.
Once skies cleared the tarp was removed and the players began warming up, but the rain began again literally the moment of the first pitch. The half inning was finished, before yet another rain delay. This one continued for over an hour, through periods of rain and no rain (as rain-themed songs played over the PA, Zeppelin's "The Rain Song" conspicuous by its absense).
Thankfully though, our seats were covered, as we were seated in literally the back row of the upper deck at the Stadium (albeit behind home plate). Not a bad view of the field, although our perch offered no depth perception whatsoever of batted balls, and we were way too high up to have any hope of catching a ball.
Drinking your way through a rain delay can be fun, but tends to lose its luster after awhile. Our party left one by one, and sure that the game would be called at any moment I checked out at about 10:00- I don't exactly live close to the Bronx, and had I stayed once the game was inevitably re-started (the Yankees won 8-7 in 10 innings) I likely would have arrived home around 4 AM. I was up late watching sports last night too, but in that case it was a game I actually cared about- not to mention that my team won.
(Speaking of which, the Twins won an extra inning game of their own tonight, apparently unfazed from the kitty attack that took place during batting practice yesterday.)
One more baseball/rain story: when I was eight years old, my father took me to Chicago to see real, outdoor baseball for the first time, as at that point I had only been to Twins games at the Metrodome. We went to a game at Old Comiskey, and were going to attend one at Wrigley the following night (against the fabled '86 Mets)- but, you guessed it, the game was rained out, and we couldn't get a rain check for as long as we were in town. "Gee dad," I said at the time, "it sure is a good thing we have a dome!"
Posted by Stephen Silver at May 12, 2004 01:53 AMYou made the comment as tears were streaming down your face. The whole point of the trip was for you to learn the joy of real outdoor baseball. The lesson may not have taken at the time, but eventually you became a believer.
Posted by: Your Dad at May 12, 2004 10:39 PM