Dear Matteo,
You’ve been such a huge baseball fan these past few months, and while we’ve gone to a few Rainiers games, Mom and I decided it was time to take you and Eliza to the big show: a Mariners game at T-Mobile Park.
Some of my favorite memories with my dad—albeit cliché—were going to Mariners games and watching a lineup full of legends: Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, and a young Alex Rodriguez. I remember one game in particular when I wore brand-new slide-in shoes. The old Kingdome had long ramps, and our parking lot was a good walk from the stadium. By the time we reached the ramps, a blister had started forming. By the end of the game, it had become a full-blown bubble on my heel. Nonno was not happy about giving me a piggyback ride all the way back to the car.
For our first family trip to a big-league game, we got great 100-level tickets for a Tuesday night matchup against the White Sox. It happened to be Ichiro Suzuki Week—he’d just been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and was getting his jersey retired that weekend. As part of the celebration, the first 10,000 fans in the stadium received Funko Ichiro figurines. I had a hunch they might be valuable, and sure enough, I saw them going for $50 apiece on eBay before the game even started.
We arrived early to watch batting practice but only caught the White Sox warming up. You and Eliza waited patiently along the first baseline for autographs, but no players stopped by—probably because of the 6:20 p.m. start time.
T-Mobile Park was a much bigger spectacle than Cheney Stadium. The music was louder, the screens were bigger, and of course, the crowd was larger—even for a midweek game. League home run leader Cal Raleigh didn’t have a great night, but the Mariners still hit a few homers, and you watched every play with great enthusiasm.
There was one emotional detour when we realized we had accidentally thrown away a baseball card you’d been given at the gate. I had tucked it under the lid of one of the Ichiro Funko boxes, which Mom unknowingly tossed while we were chasing autographs. You blew your lid and it took a couple of innings to recover.
After that, you were completely locked into the game, tracking the players and their stats. Eliza, on the other hand, was more interested in people-watching and asking me some fundamental questions about baseball—questions that made me realize I haven’t explained the sport as clearly as I thought. Innings, runs, hits, strike zones, walks… it can be a lot to follow.
We called it a night when the Mariners were up 8–1 at the top of the seventh inning. On the way out, a staff member handed you and Eliza free baseball cards, and all was well again.
Love,
Dad