 |
|
Jeffery Baker
Dean Rutz/The
Seattle
Times
|
|
|
|
I know what you’re thinking, the guy is blogging on Monday which is actor’s day off. Get a life BJ! But it was a great day off. Lisa our (INTIMAN’s) Marketing Director, got tickets for us to opening day of the Seattle Mariners and we sat in the fourth row not 30 yards from first base (big shout out to Kevin Martinez VP of Marketing for the Mariners for the great seats). It began to sprinkle so the roof rolled into place and I’d never been in a stadium that had that technology. Very cool.
At the beginning of the game a boy named Jeffery Baker from the Make a Wish foundation got to run the bases to the cheers of all the fans. What a thrill for this little boy who was battling cancer, as he ran with hands waving to the crowd, in full uniform, and when he crossed home plate he got hugged and lifted up by Jamie Moyer of the Mariners and other team mates and the Mariner Moose. Then he got to hold Matt Hasselbeck’s leather Super Bowl Jacket as he went out to the mound to throw out the first pitch. When Matt returned to home plate the little boy handed him back the jacket and Hasselbeck told him he could keep it. The kid was knocked out. He and his parents sat in front of us during the game, and I couldn’t help thinking about the struggle this family is going through. It was very moving and uplifting and apropos of Rounding Third, I thought of Don’s constant refrain, “It’s for the Kids!
 |
|
Matt Hasselbeck
Elaine Thompson/AP
|
|
|
|
So many kids were at the game and so many had brought their mitts, wore their hats, and jerseys, and those are the kids that we don t see in Rounding Third. It was great to see the Mariners throwing the balls up into the crowd at the end of the innings. A lot of kids got souvenirs.
At one point in the 3rd inning the designated hitter for the Mariners took a real hack at a pitch, the bat flew out of his hands and sailed up into the 15th row! I have never seen a bat sail that far in a pro game and I bet it took half a row out.
The Mariners lost 5-4 but it was close and exciting and it was opening day! Come to think of it, the team in Rounding Third never wins a game that we see in the play. Ouch! Well they make the playoffs anyway.
How can you deny the thrill of being at an opening day and I love Lisa for inviting me. It s a great way to fire myself up with the flavor of the game and since there are some places where music might be called for I was able to hear what they use at the Mariners games. Who knows we may just use some of it?
I am also grateful to Richard Ziman for inviting me to have dinner with him and his lovely girlfriend Leslie Law. We had a great time Sunday night and once again Seattle s hospitality makes me feel right at home. As Michael Edwards says, in the theatre there are only 2 degrees of separation.
More Anon...
|
