My World Series Experience

The World Series is the culmination of a season's worth of baseball games. Arguably the best teams in baseball come head to head in the Fall Classic. Granted, my team was FAR from clinching a post-season berth this year, but that certainly does not mean that I zoned out when October came around. Quite the opposite, in fact, as I stayed up night after night watching team after team face elimination, and eventually skidded to the end of their respective seasons. Two teams remained: The Philadelphia Phillies representing the National League, and the Tampa Bay Rays representing the American League. Who was I pullling for? Well, I can't actually like the Phillies since they are in the same division as my team, and the Rays were the classic "worst to first" story of the season. Having never had a season above .500, they managed to convincingly forge their way into the World Series. Who doesn't love a Cinderella story in sports?

Its always been a dream of mine to go to the World Series. A dream that seemed farther and farther away the more time I spent actively trying to manuever a way to make it there. After all, Philadelphia is only about two and a half hours away. The first game in Philly was on a Saturday night. It had all the makings of the perfect opportunity written all over it. When else can you just get in your car and DRIVE to the World Series? (Because sadly, I doubt it will be in DC or Baltimore any time soon.) Craigslist, eBay, StubHub, ticket brokers, and everything else I could think of became my nightly routine, hoping that somehow, some way, I would be able to find a screaming deal on World Series tickets. But to no avail, the cheapest ticket I ever saw was $465, for standing room only. Um ... the next day, they skyrocketed to over $500, and finally ended pushing $600. And that was just the beginning. People asking thousands of dollars for tickets was commonplace. Yes, I wanted to go, but there comes a time (price) that its just not worth it. Unfortunately, I wasn't willing to spend what anyone was asking.

A friend of mine suggested that we go up to Philly to watch the game at a bar near the stadium, since we could be IN Philly with the fans and could at least be a part of it all. Brilliant! I Googled bars in Philly and was reminded that there's a McFadden's actually AT the Ballpark. Perfect. That was the plan. Go up on Saturday afternoon to stake out our spot at the bar and enjoy the game. Wouldn't you know though that the three boys who were supposed to come, um, didn't come through. That's not going to change anything though - Jenny and I were still in. One of them tried to convince me to go watch it somewhere in DC and I said "yes, that would be fun, and I definitely think YOU should do that. But I'm still going to Philly." When I get an idea in my head, I kind of have to follow through with it, for better or for worse.

So Jenny and I got in the car around 3p on Saturday and headed up 95 to Philadelphia. Not without first stopping at the bank and securing some cash, with our price limit well in mind. We spent the entire drive trying to pretend that we weren't secretly hoping that by some miracle we would find ourselves in the Ballpark in a few hours. Talking about it seemed like it would only jinx the idea though, and I didn't want to get my hopes up for something that was a longshot anyway. We got to the Sports Complex (the Eagles football stadium, the Phillies ballpark, and the 76-ers basketball arena) around 5:30 and parked in the Eagles lot, and then made our way through the tailgaters donning their Phillies gear. It was a bit windy, but not really cold and I don't think we noticed the mist of rain because we were so caught up in the idea that we were actually AT the World Series. Well, at least at the physical location of the World Series, seeing all the fans that actually had tickets in hand anxiously waiting for the experience of a lifetime.

We walked around for awhile, soaking it all in. We weren't too thrilled about the prospect of McFadden's when we saw the massive crowd already in line, but give that much of a thought. Unlike regular season games, there were not scalpers following you around trying to sell you one of their many tickets. Rather, we walked down one side of the stadium without seeing any at all. So we went the other way. And there they were. Two men who were undoubtedly scalpers, who muttered "tickets" under their breath as we walked by. Both of us instinctively turned around, glanced at each other, and cautiously made our way back to them. I said "what do you have?" and one of the men told me that he had two standing room only tickets. We'd already discussed that we'd even do that - just to be there. And that was our best hope of getting anything, so we started talking. He'd just sold the other pair for $300 apiece, but he was really nice and offered them to us for only $250. Sorry, $150 was what we wanted to spend ... knowing full well after talking to a broker last week and having him practically hang up on me when I told him I didn't want to spend over $200! No way they were letting the tickets go for that price. So we worked our magic. We talked to them, we gained some confidence, and let them know that this was something we really wanted. A wink here, and a smile there, and before we knew it, we each forked over $160 and practically ran ... Citizen's Bank Ballpark, home to the Philadelphia Phillies, playing in their first World Series in 15 years, here we come!I handed my ticket over to the cute old man to scan it so I could enter the ballpark. When he handed it back to me to go through the turnstile, he said "This is your lucky day!" Boy was he right! This was the day I'd been waiting for as long as I'd been a baseball fan. The World Series. Unreal. We were there. We were handed rally towels and the plastic ticket holders as soon as we walked in.

Jenny and I were as giddy as I've been in a LONG time, and just kept looking at each other saying "we're at the World Series!!" I'm pretty sure we texted and called everyone we could think of, as we walked around and tried to soak it all in. The fanfoto employees were everywhere and it seemed like every time we turned around, one of them was asking us to take another picture.It was barely 6pm by the time we entered the stadium, and gametime wasn't until 8pm. Did we care? Absolutely not! We thought we'd be able to catch the tail end of batting practice, but quickly realized that the tarp was on the infield since it had been raining for the better part of the day. At the moment, however, it wasn't even raining, just a little windy. We enjoyed ourselves walking right down to the field and jealous that we weren't actually sitting there!
Standing room only - we had a lot of decisions to make about where we were going to plant ourselves for the biggest game of our lives. We concluded that about halfway between center and left field would be the best, so we stood there and made sure that no one took our spot. We bought our Diet Cokes, knowing that we would need caffeine to make it through the night, and also knowing that we needed the commerative cups to drink out of for the rest of our lives (and maybe try to figure out if we could really use those red nylon backpack bags as purses)! The weather had other plans in store for the foreseeable future, however. The rain had picked up a little, and we looked up to see the lights above the stadium shining on the ever-increasing rain. Then almost out of nowhere, it was literally like a SHEET of water came pounding into us. Immediately, everyone scattered as fast as they could to seek cover from the torrential downpour that ensued. It didn't matter if you had an umbrella, a poncho, rain boots, or none of it. Everything was soaking wet.I lost Jenny, and it wasn't for about a half hour that we finally met up again. I made my way through the crowd underneath a tent, which was covering t-shirts, jackets, hats, jersey, sweatshirts, baseballs and bats, and every other possible memorabilia you could imagine. All of a sudden, I found myself near the cash register, and right smack dab in front of my face were the World Series baseballs. The thought hadn't even occurred to me that I would be able to actually buy a baseball at the World Series. But there it was, and there I was, with nothing else to do than to pick one up for my collection! Done. Jenny came and found me, as we tried to figure out what was going on with the game. The unofficial word was that the game was postponed until 9:30 at this point, so we made our way outside and waited in line to buy our Philly cheesesteaks while we continued to wait. Twenty minutes later, and cheesesteaks in hand, we wound our way to a new spot - also underneath cover - and ate our sandwiches while we chatted with some new friends. A couple from Detroit, some from Philly, and all of them floored when we told them that we'd driven up that afternoon without tickets. They were shocked not only that we were able to get tickets, but at the deal we got them for. That made us feel pretty good! One woman, after hearing that I'd been to every ballpark, decided that the news crew should interview us. Right. We hung out there for quite awhile waiting for the storm to pass. It didn't seem to want to let up.So back to the cheesesteaks - they were huge. I couldn't even finish mine. And then all of a sudden, a guy (about my age) that we had NOT been talking to, looked at me and asked "hey, are you going to finish that?" Um...no. "Can I have it?" Seriously? Did a random stranger really just ask me if he could eat my sandwich? Yup. So I handed it over, and his dad said "did you really just ask her for her sandwich??" Whatever! After he finished eating, they left and he called out to me over his shoulder, "thanks for the cheesesteak!" People are so weird! And that's what I love about baseball games.

We continued chatting with everyone there, including a couple guys who tried to convince us that we needed to buy the hooded sweatshirts or something from the store. We weren't about to do that after we saw the $70 price tag on them though. We laughed as people tried to come into our group seeking cover, including a group of Rays fans. Interestingly enough, I heard about them before I saw them - it was hard not to when everyone started Booing when they walked by! Then everyone formed a wall and absolutely would not let them break through. Aahh, baseball fans uniting. It was starting to get a little chilly by this point, which was only exaggerated by the fact that every article of clothing on my body was sopping wet. No one knew what was going to happen. Were they going to play? Were they going to cancel the game? Would they really cancel a game when people had flown in from out of town, had travel arrangements that would have to be changed, as well as shifting all the other games in the Series? It was anyone's guess. And so we waited. We thought about what we'd do - stay the night in Philly and wait for the next night's game? Drive back to DC, sleep in our own beds, go to church and change into dry clothes, and head back up? Ugh. Then, a few minutes later, the rain let up, so we marched back to our self-designated spot. And wouldn't you know, another gust of rain came in and it was like de-ja-vu as everyone ran for cover yet again!?! We found our friends again, and our local Philly friend told us that this was the final push that they'd predicted (Not sure who "they?" was - because weather.com told me that by 7pm, the rain would end and it would be a chilly but dry evening - wrong!), and that we'd be set for the rest of the night. And guess what? She was right! You can't tell in this picture, but my jeans and shoes were totally soaked. We said our good-byes, and headed to re-claim what would become our home for the next few incredible hours. The tarp came off and here came the cheering. We were going to see a ballgame after all. And the excitement set in all over again! The starting lineups were announced. The Army National Guard carried a gigantic American flag out onto the field and Taylor Swift sang the National Anthem. Steve Carlton threw the ceremonial first pitch. Tim McGraw scattered some of his dad Tug's ashes over the pitcher's mound. And then ... "PLAY BALL!" The first pitch was at 10:06pm, the latest start to a World Series game in history.The Phillies boasted Jamie Moyer on the mound, a 45 year old pitcher. That's how it began, and the night was far from being over. The Phils scored in the bottom of the first inning, and it was nothing but incredible baseball from there. Stolen bases, home runs (including back-to-back home runs), double plays, strike outs, everything that good baseball is made of. And that includes tens of thousands of white rally towels being waved in the air. You've gotta love that!One of my favorite parts of the game was every time Evan Longoria got up to bat and the entire crowd would taunt him "E-va, E-va, E-va." He was hitless in the game. The fans are one of the greatest parts of baseball, in my opinion. Philadelphia did not disappoint. Sometimes you just wonder where they come up with the ideas that they do. Obviously not sober.There's always one dancing fan (who typically should not be dancing) somewhere in the crowd - and it always seems to be near me!And then there's the signs that people make. This guy was a few rows in front of us, with my favorite sign of the night ... "There's no cowbells in baseball." The home team was winning the game. 4-1 in the 7th inning. Then the Rays scored two runs. 4-3. And then in the 8th, the Rays tied it, 4-4. Crap. It was now already 1:30am and we would have to play the bottom of the 9th, and possibly face extra innings. We were definitely getting our money's worth this night! At the top of the 9th inning, everyone in our section turned around and started cheering. That's when we noticed that John Kruk and the entire ESPN Crew were right above us! Awesome. Then, in an uncanny turn of events, the Phils found themselves with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the ninth when Carlos Ruiz hit a walkoff infield hit down the third base line to score the winning run. And then the crowd erupted. Literally. Fireworks, jumping, yelling, screaming, dancing, high fiving, and any number of other celebrations! It was incredible. Positively one of the most exciting, adrenaline-filled moments of my life. So much for cheering for the Rays. After being innondated in such an experience, you are changed forever (though I'm not becoming an actual Philly's fan don't worry)! The game officially ended at 1:47am. We made it back to my car around 2:15 and were on 95 fifteen minutes later. Two and a half hours, and a lot of caffeine later (thank you Dr. Pepper), we walked in the door at 4:45am. I am actually not sure how we made it home! Completely exhausted, yet absolutely elated at the same time.

So there was a rain delay and once the rain (ie torrential downpour) stopped, the cold and wind honestly went right through every layer of our wet clothes (which were still wet the next day). My entire body was numb, I was on my feet for 9 hours (literally), my back hurt, our eyes were bloodshot, and every muscle in my body was frozen stiff. The game didn't start until 10:06p and ended at 1:46a. But who cares about any of that? We were there. We were a part of history, and I wouldn't change a single thing about it!! No questions asked, no doubt about it. It was unequivocally worth every penny, every minute of sleep we sacrificed, every sore and frozen muscle, and I wouldn't trade my World Series experience for anything!
I read an awesome article about the game, called "Night to Remember in Philly"which really sums it all up perfectly. (check it out!) I love what the Rays manager Joe Maddon said: "You had to love this game, I was sitting there in the dugout and thinking just that: if I'm a fan and a aficionado of baseball, it had just about everything. And it was a World Series game. What a night." I couldn't have said it better myself. What a night indeed. A perfect night. The Pinnacle of my baseball life (thanks CJ for coining the phrase). I can't believe I actually did it!!! You just don't get much better than this.