How I Spent The Game

"The House That Griffey Built" touched a nerve for a lot of you. Thanks for the comments and responses. It sounds like my crazy idea of interviewing true blue baseball fans about why they love the game and turning those interviews into a book may not be so crazy after all. Right now, I'm thinking of focusing on female fans, largely because that's the niche I fall into. When talking to male baseball fans, sometimes I find that they need to one-up me. While I did get into an interesting conversation with the guy sitting next to me as a result of this project, I didn't appreciate his implication that I'm not a "real" baseball fan because the first Mariners season I remember was 1995. I'm not a fair-weather fan. I went to games before that. But 1995 was the first year I remember actually caring about baseball.

I ended up being offered a free ticket to tonight's game. Instead of being a good grad student and working on my paper, I jumped at the free chance to go to the ballpark. I spent quite a bit of the game walking around the stadium, talking about my book project, trying to convince people I wasn't crazy. First, I tried the Bullpen Market area, thinking that might be a good place to find true blue Mariners fans. Nope. It's just a meat market. While I did get into a fun conversation with a Twins fan who was heckling center fielder Denard Span, the book idea had no takers. Six years ago, when I did a similar project for my bachelor's thesis, I had no problem convincing random strangers to give me their email addresses so I could contact them about my thesis project. Heck, I even got the Mariners to give me Dave Niehaus' phone number so I could interview him! This time, people were a bit more guarded. Really, folks, I just want to interview you about baseball. I'm not connected with any pyramid schemes or Nigerian money emails. Trust me.

Undaunted, I spotted a bright pink sign in the upper deck that read "4 Old Bats." I'd seen this sign at games before, and had sat near the women underneath on one occasion. I walked up and said, "Hi. My name is Anna. You look like baseball fans, and I wanted to ask you a question." They invited me to sit in an empty seat in their row. I explained that I needed help with a project. They said that they like helping with projects, and had played a role in a documentary about women and baseball.

"You should really come to spring training next year," one of them said. Another showed me an email from the Mariners inviting them to have lunch in the clubhouse with Don Wakamatsu. I took down their email addresses, and said I'd be in touch soon. Awesome!

Joan, one of the women I spoke with, said I should come back and say hello next time I am at a ballgame with them. She'd run out of Honorary Old Bat pins, she said, otherwise she would have given me one. My next game is Singles Night, on June 19th. They will also be at that game. I plan on coming up to say hello, and on updating them on my project. I will possibly be in the company of a tall, dark, and handsome baseball fan from Singles Night. We will see. :)

I've decided to tentatively title the book "How We Came to Love The Game." I'm definitely going to need a lot of support and help with this project. Right now, I'm thinking about traveling to the following cities to interview female fans, share stories, and talk baseball -- New York, Boston, St. Louis, Chicago, San Francisco, and Kansas City. I need help getting connected with baseball fans in each city, as well as a place to stay. If you yourself are a female baseball fan, and would like to participate in an hour-long interview for this project, please let me know. If you know of a female baseball fan who may want to participate, please pass on my info (my email address is on Facebook) to her. I will likely have to stay in Seattle this summer due to my meager grad student budget, but in the event that the book takes off and I actually get an advance -- or I win the lottery -- I'll schedule some interviews when I come through.

Oh, and if you happen to know of a tall, dark, handsome baseball fan who's looking for a gal who truly loves the game, would you please send him my way? Yankees fans need not apply. :)