The First Time I Saw Derek Jeter

Time for a TBT post, baseball edition of course. 

My friend Lyndsey and I had been 16 for less than a year, and we (actually probably just me since I was the baseball fan) convinced our parents to let us make the 90 mile drive to Angels Stadium by ourselves. We funded the trip (gas, parking, tickets, snacks) with money earned from recycling cans. Plus a little extra help from our parents. Our directions came from Mapquest and had a Thomas Guide Book as backup. We hit the road with Cheeto Puffs, Hot Tamales, and Pepsi and after 2 hours of driving, we made it to the Big A. 

I actually don't remember if that's is how it all went down, but recycling cans for money, having a Thomas Guide Book, and Cheeto Puffs, Hot Tamales, and Pepsi are things definitely happened.

Story time. We got to the game early, sat in our seats, and watched batting practice. We sat next to a father and son and the kid who was no more than 10 years old kept saying that A-Rod was a sucky player. I wasn't having any of that because that's when A-Rod was a big deal, and not a pathetic excuse for a baseball player. I started to banter with the kid and eventually told him that he's the suckiest player, not A-Rod. I went there. Maybe getting told I look like I need exercise was karma for that. Full circle. I hope that kid took my statement to heart and used it as motivation to become the next big prospect for the MLB. MAYBE I SAID THAT TO MIKE TROUT?!! OR BRYCE HARPER?!! Probably not. Sorry about being mean, kid. You didn't deserve that. You called it, A-Rod is the suckiest player.

Anyway, I couldn't tell you how I felt the first time I saw Jeter or if he made any sweet plays or pretty much anything about that game. The only memory I have of that day other than everything mentioned above are these sweet pictures captured by Lyndsey.

Crotch grab :] Hahahaha.

That's about all I've got. You're welcome for the picture quality. They're pictures of pictures. It's crazy to think that this was just about 10 years ago. And crazy to think that this guy became one of the most talented and beloved players in baseball history. And lastly...crazy to think he's done.

  

The Knothole Club, Angels Stadium

I'm writing this post as a PSA to the internet because I did my due diligence in researching this place (like I do with anything and everything else I do) before making a reservation for the Monday night game of the Yankees series I recently attended. I found nothing. So I'm putting the info I learned when checking in for our Monday night reservation out in the world so others can learn from my "misunderstanding."

via

The Knothole Club is a restaurant at Angels Stadium that sits in the club level section above right field. They've got indoor seating and a bar as well as some tables in an outside patio. Looks like a super cool place, with a bomb.com menu. Reservations can be made through Open Table. When you make your reservation, make sure you read and understand the following statement:

"PLEASE NOTE THAT ACCESS AND RESERVATIONS FOR THE FIRST SEATING ARE RESERVED FOR CLUB LEVEL TICKET HOLDERS ONLY. GUESTS FROM OTHER SEATING SECTIONS WILL ONLY BE ALLOWED ACCESS AFTER FIRST PITCH. THE SECOND SEATING WILL BE BASED OFF OF FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE AND NO RESERVATIONS WILL BE TAKEN."  

This means that even though you go onto their website and make a reservation you will absolutely not get in at your designated reservation time unless you've got a game ticket in the 300 level sections of the stadium. The only other exception seems to be season ticket holders. That notice above is posted on the first page of their opentable site, and don't see it again until you get a confirmation/reminder e-mail. You've gotta be a REAL SMOOTH (smoother than me, someone who has kind of been able to talk their way into a lot of stuff) to be an exception. Anyone sitting in other sections of the stadium is welcome to come into the place and and out [if room allows] after the first pitch. 

Monday's seats

Okay, now that I'm done with that PSA, let me tell you how I learned this zero exception lesson: I bought nosebleed tickets for my friend and I to the Monday night Yankees game. The plan was to just get in and wander around the stadium instead of sit in our seats. I researched some SRO (standing room only) areas at the stadium and came across the Knothole Club. I did some Yelp reading and saw mentions of reservation trouble but it was about opening day. It's been a month since then, so I figured all the kinks had been sorted out. I didn't rely on that though. So I called all the available numbers. One is disconnected. Another is the general number to the stadium and was told they don't have the option to transfer to the club and anyone who could be reached didn't have/know any information. The last phone number was some sort of manager. I called 3 different times, no answer, get a voicemail. Left one message, never heard back. Figured we'd take a shot, make the reservation and hope everything works out. We get to the stadium Monday night at like 4:40 pm because our reservation is at 5:00 pm. Well...the main stadium gates by the huge helmets open at 5:00 pm on the dot, and all the other side gates open at 5:30 pm. There is a long ass line in front of the helmets about a 20 minute wait. Now I'm super concerned that even though we were at the stadium on time, we might lose the spot because of the line. Once we get in to the stadium, we book it to the place, ride the elevator, am told I look like I can use some exercise, and get to the door of the restaurant. In front of us are 2 other groups of people who had reservations without club level seats and either skipped the above notice, misunderstood it, or were just trying to talk their way in. Well the other two groups of people were able to swing it in their favor because they USED to be [*are not currently] Angels season ticket holders. I tried to make my Padres season ticket membership work, no dice. That's when we went to complain to the "captain" [who has not contacted me since the "incident"] and then carried on with our night. To make matters worse, Yankees lost. It was not a good Monday.

That's it. Hopefully people trying to get in come across this and learn from my mistake, and avoid getting called fat. I'm just super bummed that it didn't work out after doing tons of research, including Twitter and Instagram stalking, and was not satisfied with the level of customer service throughout the whole process. And obviously, this isn't something I experienced by myself because I'm dumb, because we walked up to the entrance and found two other groups having the same issue I was about to have. I understand why they have a restriction and limit entrance to certain people at the beginning, but include something on opentable where people either have to check a box saying they've read the notice, or have people type in or reply to an e-mail with their seats and make them aware of not being able to come in at a certain time despite the reservation. I just think it could be handled a lot better than it was. 

Next time, on the blog: a recap of the rest of the series. It got better.