It's almost here!

Warning! There are no pictures of Jack in this blog post. I promise to post some tomorrow!

Jacob and I love baseball. It is a passion that began before the two of us met, and we have made it into our favorite pastime together. We both grew up as Reds fans, listened to Marty and Joe call the games on 700 WLW, and went down to the ballpark a few times each year. I am thankful that my dad was willing to take his girls down to the ballpark. I'm sure my brother was more interested than we were, but we weren't left out. I remember watching Chris Sabo and his Rec Specs, and cheering each time Eric Davis came to bat. Back then I cheered because my neighbor's name was Eric too. I know, it was totally a girly thing to do. Thankfully my dad stuck with me. 

Does it get much better?

Somehow I developed a strong interest in baseball as I got older, and I am so thankful that I did! I married a man whose love of the game goes much deeper than most people's! The year we started dating (in May) Jacob had already been to every home game the Reds played that year. Wow. I guess he had to date someone who had at least some interest in baseball. Our first date was supposed to be a casual Reds game, but it was rained out. We did manage to make it back down to the park that summer -- over 30 times! It seems a bit much now, but it was a great way to get to know each other. I love that about baseball. It is slow enough that you can relax, talk, and still feel like you know what is going on in the game. That summer was also when we began our quest to visit all 30 baseball stadiums. We are up to 27 at this point, leaving only Boston, San Fransisco, and Oakland!

My favorite - Jacob's Field 2001

This baseball season is going to look very different for us.  We won't be able to go to games on a whim and we certainly won't make it to thirty.  We do have goals for the summer, though.  We are shooting for a minimum of five games, and we need to get a picture in front of Great American.  We also want to make sure to make it to at least one Friday night game (making it a fun date night) and one Sunday afternoon game (my favorite).  If the Reds could make it to the playoffs again this year, we would love to see that too!

The Troescher men walking onto the field - 2009

I am looking forward to the day that we can take Jack to his first game.  I'll teach him what it means to have 'ducks on the pond', and what a 'can of corn' is.  We'll sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, hope to catch a fly ball, and maybe get some popcorn from the concession stand.  We can try to answer the Score Board Stumper, pick the winner in the Skyline Chili Shuffle, and hope to get on the big screen.  Oh, I can't wait!   Hopefully he'll love the game as much as we do.

One of four ballparks Jack visited before he was born!