Best Work Party Ever!

I'm behind on my blogging. Life has been busy. Disclaimer: this post is not about Stella, nor will it have any pictures of her. If that's all you care about, you can stop reading now.

Awhile ago, Mr. Frisby came home from work and informed me that there was a work party scheduled for June 1st at AT&T park. The Giants would be traveling, so they would be having the party at the stadium. I thought that sounded like a nice party for him. When he checked the info and found out that I was invited too, I got really excited.

We got a sitter for Stella and headed up to the city for the party. And, it was the best work party ever! We arrived at the park and they directed us to the club level. We checked in and they gave us free tickets for a game in September. Then we got in line to take pictures with the world series trophies. After that, we signed up for a tour of the ballpark and batting practice in the Giants' batting cages. Since we had time before our tour started, we helped ourselves to the various dinner buffets they had set up. The food was delish. This was no surprise given how awesome the party was.

After we ate dinner, it was time for our tour to begin. Our tour guide took us down to the press box. Those journalists have quite a view.

The tour guide told us about the baseball glove sculpture in left field. Then he produced an actual model of the glove that it replicates. Pretty sweet. After that, we headed down to see the visiting clubhouse. The tour guide told us a few stories in which we learned that Sammy Sosa is a cheapskate and the Dodgers, surprisingly, are classy fellows.

After checking out the visiting clubhouse, we headed out to the visitors' dugout. From there, they let us walk onto the dirt in front of the dugout, but not the grass. I've actually been on the field and in both dugouts at AT&T park. Back when I worked at UCSF, I covered the city high school baseball championship game which was held there. So, this part was a bit of a yawner for me. Been there, done that. Still cool, though, and fun to see how excited everyone else on the tour was. That concluded our ballpark tour, so we headed back up to the club level to have our turns in the batting cages.

I was super excited and also very nervous about the batting cages. I've never been in any batting cage, let alone the Giants' batting cages. I was really afraid I wouldn't hit the ball and I would look like an idiot. They took our group down to the cages and, somehow, Mr. Frisby and I were at the front of the line. The had the pitching machine set to about 50 mph and we each got 5 pitches. Mr. Frisby went first and got two hits. I made sure to get some pictures.

After Mr. Frisby finished, I stepped up to the plate. I had a swing and a miss for the first four pitches. On the last pitch, I thought to myself, "just hit the ball so you don't look like an idiot." I watched the ball more carefully and - blamo! - I hit it! I was very excited. Mr. Frisby took pictures and even a video, but those are on his phone, so I don't have them accessible to post here. After our turn in the cages, they let us hang out in the Giants' dugout while we waited until the group was all done so we could head back up to the club level. Again, I had already been in the Giants' dugout, but it was still cool and more fun to be there with Mr. Frisby.

After we finished and went back up to the club level, we decided to grab some dessert and take it out to the seats overlooking the field. We sat and enjoyed our tasty treats on a lovely evening at AT&T Park. And thus concluded the awesome work party. Did I mention this was the best work party ever?