My son and I put on our shorts and our Mariner ball caps and spent a couple of hours chasing stray balls around the outfield at Everett Memorial stadium on Saturday.
It was a perfect day for the AquaSox FanFest. A sunny day, blue skies and green grass.
My future star thought it was pretty great to race around in right field – because that’s where Ichiro plays (and every time a fly ball or a fielder came in our direction, he shouted, “Ich-i-ro! Ich-i-ro!”)
But later, when he reported home to mom, he was most excited about “froggy man.”
He was talking about Webbly, the costumed tree frog who is the AquaSox mascot. Good mascots seem to master the art of terrifying – and then enticing – small children. Even the shyest kid eventually gets a high five.
Now the thing that impressed dad most about FanFest was the music that blared over the P.A. – who knew there were so many pop songs written about baseball? I’ll admit, I was
unable to get John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” out of my head for 48 hours.
I didn’t stay at the stadium long enough to find out if their party tape included the late Steve Goodman’s “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request.” Now, that’ll teach you what it means to root for a last-place team.
And for someone who cares about newspapers as well as baseball, I’m proud to report that Mark Kemp, an ex-newspaper reporter and Rolling Stone writer, has compiled a list of songs about newspapers and journalists.
We’ll play it at the next Herald FanFest ….
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