OT: Rite of Passage - Took My Nine Year Old To His First Game Last Night (and that's going to be hard to beat)

Good story and thanks for sharing. My first game was back in 1992 it was a late September game between 2 pretty bad teams in the Tigers and Red Sox, but that's just the way baseball was around Detroit in the 90's to early 2000's. That said I saw Skeeter Barnes score on a walk-off error and the Tigers won 3-2 on a complete game from Frank Tanana.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a house where not only did we have UoM season tickets but we also had a package of I believe 12-15 Tigers games a year. I thank my Dad today for raising me as a baseball fan, I'll hopefully do the same someday for my kids as well.

. I'm sure your son will enjoy the trip.  

Have fun tonight! Go Tigers!

I actually took the kids to their first game at Comerica last June, wishing I could have taken then to the old park at Michigan & Trumbull but having fun all the same. I actually think my son ate more hot dogs than I did, but then I remember my dad and I would have that contest on occasion at Tiger Stadium. Since then, they've been to two Mud Hens games too. It meant more to me to do that than I thought it would actually, and even if my kids don't turn out to be the baseball fan that I am, they are still special moments to me and hopefully them. 

Don't have tickets yet and forgot my Tigers hat so a yellow M hat will have to do. We are staying for Sunday as well.

Just took our little three-month-old to the Dodgers game last Sunday. He won't remember it, but it'll be fun to show him pictures when he's older. I'll never forget my first game at old Tiger stadium as a seven-year-old: the good guys pulled it out, but Eddie Murray hit the only home run.



We're moving to Cleveland this fall, so we'll have plenty of other father-son moments at Progressive Field, especially when the Tigers are in town.

Awesome. I remember my first Tigers game as a 9 year old as well. We parked far away (for a 9 year old). Walking to the stadium a guy runs out of an alley in front of us followed by another guy with a knife. Welcome to Detroit circa 1989!



We arrived early and sat behind the White Sox dugout. A young pitcher came over and signed my ticket stub before the game. Bobby Thigpen went on to capture the single season save record that year.



I was so stoked J don't remember if the Tigers won or lost. I loved Tram, Chet Lemon, and Sweet Lou Whitacker. oh and those little chocolate malt cups with the wooden spoons.



We went to many Tigers games after that. I remember seeing a number of Cecil Fielder's home runs in his magical year.

(I just saw that the game is in Cleveland, hopefully the bus makes the trip.)

(Had to use the double post for something)

+1 for best hot dog ever!

The first game I took my daughter to was in '07.  Verlander's 1st no hitter against the Brewers and Prince Fielder.  My daughter was 8.  What a great nite that was.  Have fun.

my first Tigers game.  It wasn't my dad that brought me, but my Little League bus trip to Tiger Stadium.

OTOH, all 3 of my kids took in their first Tigers game with their dad and mom.  My youngest (only boy out of 3 kids) had his first game at the age of 4 (6 weeks before his 5th birthday)--- it was the first game of the final series ever to be played at Tiger Stadium back in '99.  While my two daughters still remember going to that game (they were 12 and 10 and both had experienced their first Tigers games when they were 7 and 9), he says he doesn't recall it at all. 

Oh well, at least I tried...

Enjoy that game with your son tonight, MGrowOld---you're still young enough to remember and he's now at about the perfect age to have fond lasting memories of it for the rest of his life!

The good news for your son is that he did not grow up in SE Michigan in the '90's, and therefore he has a baseball team to cheer for.

I went to my first professional baseball game at the age of 19, in 2005.  So yeah, I'm kinda bitter.

I don't remember specifics about my 1st game but two highlights I remember both happened on birthdays.

we went to the game on my birthday every year, but my 12th birthday I got to see Nolan Ryan pitch (AND got to see a Tigers victory). on my 18th birthday I saw Ernie walking up to the stadium so my dad and I walked over and said hi. He took the time to talk to us for about 5 minutes and wished me a happy birthday before excusing himself to get prepared for the game.

My first game was at the old Tiger Stadium, must've been early 80s (so I'd have been around 8-9) with my parents & two of my siblings.  I loved Sweet Lou & Tram and all those guys so much.  As I recall, we had "obstructed view" seats and kept rotating as to who had the worst view by innings.  Only detail I really remember of the game itself was getting smoked by the As, something like 10-1, but it was a fun day anyway!

in 1979.  I will still never forget the stale beer smell of Tiger Stadium

But my 1st game the Tigers won thanks to a home run by Steve Kemp. It wasn't a late game heroics kind of thing. But it was the big hit of the game. Like I said, I don't remember a lot of details except for this rather large woman sitting a couple of rows in front of us. The entire game she was shouting, in a very high pitched, guttural voice, "Go, Steve Kemp!! He's my man!!"

She did this so often, that to this day, 30+ years later, I can start to talk in that voice around my dad, and he would know exactly what I was referring to. Strange memories.

Have fun!

Being born and raised near CLE, I am completely jealous of both the game y'all will see and Vizquel night. One of my all-time favorite players. Enjoy!

And BEAT CLEVELAND!

I took my 6-year old and it was a nice time, even though the Tigers lost. And that 101 questions is not an exaggeration -- everything from "Who's pitching?", "Is he any good?", "How fast did he throw it?" "Can you throw it that fast?", "How fast will he throw the next pitch?", "How can you tell it was a curve ball?", "Can you throw a curve ball?", and so on. Thankfully it was a not constant, just machine gun-like every 5-10 minutes or so when something new caught his interest and/or he was following up on one of my comments to my friend (e.g., "Boy, Verlander is struggling!")

And, of course, be ready to spend the usual excessive amount of money at the concession stands.

Have fun.

about my first game at Tiger Stadium (except being with my late father and grandfather) is my first sight of the field and believing it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. The exterior, the dull and dirty walk in, the fat old guys in too tight shirts...and then that beautiful field.

Your wife has that body and has produced children??

You are so right-- this is definitely a momentous occasion. My first game sure left a lasting impression. I had been begging to go to a game since watching the World Series on TV the year before. We finally made it down to Michigan and Trumbull on Tuesday night August 5,1969 to see the Tigers take on the Twins. I was eight years old and I can attest to the feeling of walking from out of the dark concourse through the tunnel into what seemed like another world. The green field and the crisp white uniforms and seeing all of my boyhood heroes out there under the bright lights on a perfect summer evening left an indelible impression. Denny McClain was the starter and I remember Gates Brown hitting a solo blast in the seventh inning to tie it up at 3. The game went on and on but for me the time just flew by. The Tigers finally came through in the wee hours of Wednesday morning when Don Wert drove in Willie Horton with the game winning run with a ground ball up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the 13th. John Hiller was the winning pitcher in the 4-3 Tiger victory. Treasured memories to last a lifetime for sure --especially getting to share it with my late parents. As a sidebar years later I became aware of the infamous Billy Martin - Dave Boswell fight that took place in the alley behind the Lindell AC. Oddly enough that fight occurred shortly after my very first game. For an eight year old I was aware of a lot of things but I really didn't know much about the wiry, hot tempered guy who was managing the Twins that night. Little did we know.



Enjoy the game and cheer on those Tigers MGrowOld!

We left Nathan in too long. Ausmus should have put Joba in after the 2nd hit.

nice start from Verlander.  nice finish from Coke.  Boy, it's been awhile since we could say either of those things!

from MGrowOld?  I'm guessing he and his son had the time of their lives and were so worn down by it all that it was probably time to call it a day once home.

I'll be looking forward to reading it Sunday, though.

Mark "The Bird" Fidrych was pitching.  Struck out 9 that night.  The strangest things you remember...

in your edit of the OP, MGrowOld!  That game last night, exciting to the end with the right team winning for your son, was the kind of game that makes for great memories. 

Thanks for sharing.

Too bad you are not going to games this fall, You are becoming kind of famous around MGOBLOG and I was going to get your autograph!

A close game, extra innings, home runs galore, a blown save by Nathan (vintage Nathan!), an as-of-late rare extra base hit from Miggy which happened to be the game winner...and a save by Coke! Looked like a great crowd last night, too.