Day 2 At Gil Hodges Memorial Park

Today Metsfan73 had the pleasure of taking my wife, three children, and #1 son's friend to Gil Hodges Memorial Park for the Mets pre-season workout.

After being at the park yesterday with Long Island Met Fan, it was really great to treat the fam to a day at the park. Granted there was no game, but watching the BoSox pile on Ollie and the Mets, it's not like there was much of a game yesterday.

We meandered around the park (like yesterday) and have some interesting memories:

We were sitting in the left field bleachers, and were in the front talking to John Maine, when Maine tossed a ball up into our area. I could have caught the ball, but, being a humanitarian, the young boy and his father, who were in front of me got the ball. My eldest son and his friend were situated to the right of where I was. I got a little bored, and went back to my seat where my wife was. All of a sudden, I saw security coming down our isle as if they were Secret Service. Sandwiched in between security was none other than General Jerry Manuel. I tried to get close to take a picture, but unfortunately the batteries in my camera died, and my cell phone couldn't get a clear enough shot. Manuel signed the ball that Maine had thrown to the youngster, and signed autographs for many of the fans crowding the left field fence. What royalty!

I again retreated to my seat, and waited. About three minutes later, Manuel made his way back up the steps, and I stepped into the isle, and put out my hand. Jerry shook my hand, and I said, "Keep up the good work Jerry". Manuel smiled.

My eldest son came back up to our seats, along with his friend with a smile on his face. Unbeknownst to me, he had Jerry sign a baseball that he had with him. His friend had Jerry sign his hat. How fantastic was that!?

My younger son, who didn't get an autograph handled it well. My six year old daughter was a different story. She was crying and carrying on. I have been going to Mets games since June 1, 1975, and have never gotten a ball. I tried like never before to get a ball for my little girl...with no luck.

She carried on a like a lunatic, and when the batting practice had ended, I decided to get out of there quickly. How can I console my six year old?

We were going towards the car, and we were parked behind the rubble that used to be our home, Shea, and I got an idea. I went with my three children and wife towards the rubble. We saw a construction worker, and I thought, "Why Not?" I asked the person for a piece of the Rubble, and gave it to my daughter. Autograph be damned, she had a piece of Shea. So, being the idiot I am, I got a small rock that used to be Shea, and my two boys got these huge boulders, along with their freind. I was the lucky one who got to carry the boulder back to the car.

What a great day the Metsfan73 family had. As I posted here, there wasn't much I wanted from our old home but the God awful blue and orange tiles that used to adorn the outside of Old Shea. This is better. I got a rock (sort of like Charlie Brown on Halloween) that used to be a part of Shea.

Check out the video below of my last two days at Gil Hodges Memorial Park. Mets fans, this is our new home: