Fun at a Fraction of the Cost

A couple of weekends ago, I took Daniel to his first live baseball game, and instead of sitting in traffic for an hour and putting down more than $120 for overpriced tickets, parking and food for the privilege in sitting a mile up in nose-bleed seats while inebriated fans around me screamed sexually and racially-charged epithets around us, I opted to take him to a Newark Bears minor league game instead, where I could score box seats for a mere $10 per seat. Plus, the stadium was conveniently on the commuter train line, making it an easy trip. And the other bonus was that this game would conclude with post-game fireworks.

My old church buddy Nader tagged along volunteering to drive us, and the three of us made the 20 minute trip down to nearby Riverfront Stadium (finding free street parking) and walked up to a gate. Upon asking the ticket taker where box office was, the lady responded and held up a wad of tickets, "Looking for tickets? This is your lucky day... a gentleman was looking get rid of these so you get in for free." I gladly put my wallet away and we all walked in to a seating section right behind home plate, settling into seats no further than 30 feet behind home plate.

All the non-baseball stuff that you'd want at a live baseball experience was there - the singing of the National Anthem, singing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame', the goofy mascot, ballpark food (paying out $6.50 for a hot pretzel and french fries wasn't great, but it would've cost $10 at Citi Field or Yankee Stadium) ,the mascot racing kids on the bases between innings, etc. The baseball wasn't major-league quality of course, but it's not if Daniel cared whether the guy at bat was Manny Mejia or David Wright. The important thing is we had great seats, the weather was perfect and fans around us were drinking beer without screaming obscenities.

Of course, watching baseball can frankly get old for kids (or adults for that matter), and by the bottom of the 1st inning Daniel was asking me for food, and by the 3rd inning Daniel was asking me when the fireworks were coming. Being able to walk around the not-so-crowded concourse helped the time pass by, as was the freedom to explore the empty seats near right field. Eventually the game ended on a walk-off single for an exciting Bears 4-3 win, highlighted by clutch hits from former major leaguers Carl Everett and Eric Munson. All in all, not bad for less than $10, even if the enduring memory for Daniel was the fireworks show at the end.