Fan Confidence: the Baseball Bucket List
by soco on Sep 7, 2011 1:01 PM EDT
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Pop culture loves nostalgia. It loves nostalgia because it is inherently a narcissistic culture. From the 80's revival (soon to be 90's) going on right now, to grown people actually reminiscing about plastic video game boxes, pop culture is always looking inward on itself because it lacks the ability to have perspective. It celebrates, after all, what is popular.
The bucket list, the idea, not the awful movie, seems in many ways a practice in nostalgia. Let's make a list of things I need to do to feel accomplished! It's a very ends-based thought process, but it should instead be means-based. In other words, to use an overused parental phrase, "it's not the destination that matters, but the journey."
So with that in mind I thought I'd share my baseball bucket list, and perhaps encourage others to talk about things they'd like to experience with baseball. Ultimately, though, it's about who you experience these things with.
A selection from my bucket list
- See all 30 teams in their home stadium (3 of 30)
- See a game at ASU's Packard Stadium (completed)
- Go to an All-Star Game (completed)
- Go to a World Series Game
- Get an autograph directly from a player (completed)
- Catch a foul ball
- Play a full season of vintage baseball
- Teach a kid how to play baseball
- Teach a kid how to score baseball
- Visit all of the D-backs minor league affiliates
- Visit 2 oldest ballparks, Rickwood and Bisbee
- Go to College World Series
- Visit Baseball Hall of Fame
- Visit Negro League Museum
- Attend a doubleheader
- Sit in scout seats
- Sit in a luxury suite
- Attend SABR Convention
- Have a paper published in a SABR journal
It's not going to kill me if I don't accomplish most or any of this. Some of it is out of my hands (such as catching a foul ball). Others are longer shots, or based on significant monetary contributions (luxury suite). I figure if I can cross off a few over the years as I watch baseball, then that will be excellent.
If you want ideas on what to put in your own baseball bucket list, there's an extensive book that lists 162 things baseball fans should experience. Snooping around on Google found a few blog entries with some other ideas: here, here, and here.
What's on your baseball bucket list?
Diamondbacks Fan Confidence Poll
Last tallied on 09/07.
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The bucket list! The bucket list!
I get the feeling I am a little connected to most of these. ;) Except the con and the getting published of course.
I can’t wait to take PTBN to their first game, watch a beloved team win big live, watch a player all the way through the minors to the bigs (sort of completed with Kip————nissssssss…)
Working on a Player to Be Named... (babysoco! 11/24/11)
is it bad that I know you are referring to Easy A?
great movie.
Not bad-- AWESOME!
It’s one of our favorite movies. :)
Working on a Player to Be Named... (babysoco! 11/24/11)
i just watched a really weird sun dance film with the two parents as the main characters
it was actually written by stanley tucci. It was not quite what I as expecting from my favorite movie parents.
I watched it on Starz like 20 times the past several months.
my fiancee put it on and i made fun of her, then found myself watching it over and over without her:)
"Visit 2 oldest ballparks, Warren and Bisbee"
Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t those the same place?
Founder of the 'Foundation for the Advancement of Clefoing' a 501C3
"I'm like if it fits in the oven, play ball." - soco
Promised Colin Cowgill fifteen sandwiches on 7/6/2011
My weird pedantic sense aside...
That is a pretty good list. When I was younger my dad and I had a plan to visit all 30 Major League Parks. In my lifetime I’ve gotten about halfway there (assuming I don’t have to revisit new stadiums).
I also still have yet to catch a foul ball. I came close at a spring training game once ten years ago, but some 7 year old kid was a freakin ninja!
Founder of the 'Foundation for the Advancement of Clefoing' a 501C3
"I'm like if it fits in the oven, play ball." - soco
Promised Colin Cowgill fifteen sandwiches on 7/6/2011
I used to got to double headers all the time with my dad in Co Springs
THe AAA Sky Sox… They were fun because we also had a suite most of the time… I made it up to a few games at Mile High and also Coors Field before we moved here. I miss those days because my dad got free tix all the time from his vendors, but now I actually get tix from my vendors:) They aren’t suites usually (they’ve had a suite once), but their season tix are about 20 rows back from 3rdbase and I get to go to about 5 games from them each year. Pretty cool. To be honest, I prefer sitting closer to the action than a suite. THe suite is cool before the game with the food and drinks, but when it starts I prefer good seats. Another good time is going to the AZ Baseball Club above Uptown. Get the buffet and sit on the patio. Its a good time, just a different experience. We usually will do that for my dad’s bday…
My Baseball Bucket List
I like ths one… here’s how far I am:
1.See all 30 teams in their home stadium (3 of 30 – Chase Field, Tropicana Field, PetCo Park)
2.See a game at ASU’s Packard Stadium
3.Go to an All-Star Game
3b. Go to a Futures Game (completed)
4.Go to a World Series Game
4b. Go to a Divisional Series Game
4c. Go to a Championship Series Game (completed – 2008 ALCS Game 2)
5.Get an autograph directly from a player (completed – multiple times)
6.Catch a foul ball (completed – TEX-ARI from Marlon Byrd)
6b. Catch a home run ball
7.Play a full season of vintage baseball
8.Teach a kid how to play baseball (completed – my sister)
9.Teach a kid how to score baseball (completed – my sister)
10.Visit all of the D-backs minor league affiliates
11.Visit 2 oldest ballparks, Rickwood and Bisbee
12.Go to College World Series
13.Visit Baseball Hall of Fame
14.Visit Negro League Museum
15.Attend a doubleheader
16. Be on the field, during batting practice (completed – legally!)
17.Sit in a luxury suite (completed)
17b. Sit in the Press Booth during a game (completed 8/31/11 – SD-ARI 3rd inning)
17c. Sit up on the dugout (completed twice – Chase Field dugout suite in 2009 and 6/19/11 vs CWS)
18.Attend SABR Convention
19. Throw out a first pitch
I’m getting there…!
I like # 19
that would be cool. Although, with the pressure, I might want it to be at a minor league game.
I got nothin'.
Like your list Andrew!
I think that’s so awesome that you and your friend got to be in the Press Booth :)
"I didn't mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands." -Babe Ruth
A fine list
In my list, I wouldn’t include the last two, but besides that, I pretty much agree with all of them
In case you've forgotten, it's Row-Bleh-Ski.
Nice list Soco
I thought you guys made it to Bisbee for a game.
Another one I would add is winning a championship as a player. This could be from little league, to high school, to beer league softball. I was able to do it in beer league softball. Even though it was the lowest of the low levels of competition, it was a blast and a great feeling to win it all.
I got nothin'.
My Baseball Bucket List
1.See all 30 teams in their home stadium (5 of 30 – Coors Field, Chase Field, Angels Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Kauffman Stadium)
2.See a game at ASU’s Packard Stadium (completed—3 games worth, U of A vs. ASU—2002…friends & I were shown on ESPN during one of those games)
3. See a game at Jerry Kindall Stadium at Sancet Field (completed—many times)
4. Go to an All-Star Game (completed – this year at Chase Field, summer of 1979 in Seattle at the Kingdome)
5. Go to a Futures Game (completed)
6. Work at All Star Fan Fest (completed—all 5 days in Denver, 1998)
7. Attend the All Star Fan Fest as a fan, not as an employee (completed—this summer here in Phoenix!)
8. Go to a World Series Game (completed – Games 1 & 2 of 2001 World Series in Phoenix)
9. Go to a Divisional Series Game (completed – 2001)
10. Go to a Championship Series Game (completed – 2001)
11. Get an autograph directly from a player (completed – many times)
12. Catch a foul ball (completed – many times, here and at Coors Field)
13. Catch a home run ball (completed this year – Henry Blanco home run)
14. Teach a kid how to play baseball (completed – the preschool kids I used to teach back in Colorado)
14. Learn the proper way to score a baseball game (completed)
15. Visit all of the D-backs minor league affiliates (1 so far—Tucson Sidewinders)
16. Go to Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado (completed—many times)
17. Worked at a ballpark (completed—Summer of 2000 at Bank One Ballpark)
18. Seen a postgame concert at the ballpark (completed—seen many here at Chase and some at TEP/Kino in Tucson)
19. Attend a doubleheader (completed—Coors Field, 1998, 1999)
20. Be on the field, during batting practice (completed – this summer!)
21. Sit in a luxury suite (completed)
22. Throw out a first pitch
23. Had photos taken with a baseball player (completed—many times!)
24. Been to a Spring Training game (completed—many times!)
25. Been to an Arizona Fall League game (completed—many times!)
26. Written articles for baseball sites (completed—many times!)
27. Played Fantasy Baseball with friends (Trying my hand at that next season)
28. Written baseball poetry (completed)
29. Take pictures at baseball games (all the time, as Photography is a hobby of mine)
30. Attended any player appearances in the Valley (completed)
"I didn't mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands." -Babe Ruth
Wow Rockkstarr
You’ve almost done everything on that list!
In case you've forgotten, it's Row-Bleh-Ski.
by imstillhungry95 on Sep 7, 2011 6:12 PM EDT up reply actions
It helps when you have friends who are passionate about baseball too
Most of the things I have done, I did with friends, like roadtrip games. I even forget another roadtrip series I saw…U of A playing Stanford at Sunken Diamond Stadium…now THERE’S a beautiful college baseball venue! That park is very sweet!
"I didn't mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands." -Babe Ruth
I used to visit ballparks when I travelled for work
I went to
Wrigley,
Kauffman,
Riverfront (old Cincy),
BOB/Chase,
the Angels old park (can’t remember the name),
the Padres old park (Jack Murphy?),
the Kingdome,
the horrible indoor park in Minneapolis,
old Busch stadium,
Memorial (old Baltimore – hideous ballpark)
I quit going when I stopped travelling at work, and when I planned an entire trip around going to Fenway and the bastards went on strike the week before my game.
Grew up a huge Angels fan...
The Angels Stadium in Anaheim used to be called Edison Field. Prior to that it was called Anaheim Stadium, but was affectionately known as the Big A (back when the team was named the California Angels).
Before moving to Anaheim, the “Los Angeles Angels” played 4 years at Chavez Ravine (home of the Dodgers), and a single year at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles (not Chicago).
Baseball Weirdo
The Big A is how I remember it most
My grandfather was the BIG Angels fan in my family (hence the reason some of my ‘baseball loves’ came from there before either going to the Rockies or DBacks). He took my brother and I there when I was 4, my first-ever baseball game!
"I didn't mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands." -Babe Ruth
Cool
My first game at the Big A was in 1972, because we got free tickets for getting good grades in school (2nd grade), andi I have been hooked on baseball ever since.
I wonder if the Dbacks have such a program to lure young fans into the game…….
Baseball Weirdo
They should
I know they always had the reading programs which kids would get tickets to games for reading a certain amount of books. I remember Tony Womack heading that up.
"I didn't mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands." -Babe Ruth
by Rockkstarr12 on Sep 8, 2011 10:17 AM EDT up reply actions
I just remembered I forgot a park on my list
I also went to Veterans Stadium the year before they opened the new Phillies ballpark…
"I didn't mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands." -Babe Ruth
by Rockkstarr12 on Sep 7, 2011 6:10 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Great Post - Amazing Bucket List
My bucket list includes pretty much what everyone else has already mentioned (all 30 MLB parks, HOF in Cooperstown, etc), but has expanded by marriage to include:
- England vs. the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup (hopefully this year in New Zealand)
- England vs. South Africa in Cape Town (Cricket)
- Ryder Cup
- Diamondbacks World Series (hubby missed the one in 2001)
Baseball Weirdo
I love reading what others have done :)
Yours are pretty cool as well :)
"I didn't mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands." -Babe Ruth
Now that would be cool :)
"I didn't mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands." -Babe Ruth
great list
thanks Soco.
"Baseball fans are junkies, and their heroin is the statistic." Robert S. Wieder
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