What a thrill to take my 5-year-old grandson Henry to his first major league baseball game a couple of weeks ago.

We did not go to just any MLB game.  No, we went to see the New York Yankees play the Los Angeles Dodgers!

These two teams are early favorites to meet each other in the 2024 World Series.  They have the two or three of the most highly touted players in the game right now.  In addition to Mookie Betts, the LA Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese sensation who is the first two time unanimous Most Valuable Player (MVP) choice and recently signed a 10-year $700 million contract – both firsts in major league baseball history.

The Yankees have Aaron Judge who at 6’7” and 282 lbs. is home run machine, leading the majors with 28 so far this season and who set the all-time home run record of 62 for a season in 2022.

To make the event even more dramatic, we saw the game in Yankee Stadium located in the Bronx in New York City.  The stadium, even though it is not the original Yankee Stadium, is iconic.

What an experience.  And what an experience to see the game through a 5-year-olds perspective.

First, what is absolutely overwhelming is the size of the crowd.  50,000 strong.  Just to get into the ballpark took well over 30 minutes, waiting in line to go through security and get your electronic tickets verified.

The other thing that struck me about the crowd was its diversity.  Everything that you can imagine.  Young and old.  Male and female.  Every ethnic group you can imagine.  Every language being spoken.  Every color of skin that is possible.  All income ranges.  All there to spend 2.5-3 hours watching a baseball game.

Second, the seats and the view from the seats.  Henry and I were in the front row of the third deck behind the Yankees dugout.  We were pretty high up, but we had a great unobstructed view of the entire field, batters’ box, pitcher’s mound, the infield and the crowd.

Third, I thought I had a short attention span until I spent time with Henry at the game.  He moved his head and trained his eyes on something different every 30 seconds, or so it seemed.  I don’t think there was ever a batter that he watched continuously through their at bat.

Fourth, I realized that there is a lot to explain about a baseball game.  What is a strike.  What is a ball.  What is a strike out.  What is a base on balls.  What is a base.  What is second base.  What is a pitcher.  What is a foul ball.  Why is the pitching coach walking out to the pitcher’s mound.  What is a bullpen.  What is an error.  And on and on and on.  Let me just say that Henry – I don’t know about other 5-year-olds – has a very inquisitive mind.  He asks a lot – I mean a lot – of questions.

Food.  What to get for food.  With Henry the answer was not a hot dog.  No sir.  It was ice cream.  So, we went whole hog.  We ordered two scoops of vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles and chocolate sauce in a plastic baseball helmet serving as a cup.  As you might expect, by the time this heap of ice cream was devoured, at least 20% of it was on Henry’s pants, shirt, clothes and face.

Staying awake.  Henry’s normal bedtime is around 7pm.  The game started at 7pm.  I kept looking at him to see if I could see his eyelids beginning to close.  But, no, Henry never faded.  Never got the least bit sleepy.  This is saying something since the game lasted 11 innings.  We left after 10 to catch a train home.  We did not get home until after 11pm, and Henry never fell asleep the entire time.  Amazing.

As I think back on the game and how Henry absorbed the experience, what stands out to me are the unbelievable array of activity, noise, and visuals that are occurring at any moment.  The noise of the announcer going on at the same time that people in the crowd are talking or yelling.  The lights of the stadium are much more than the bright white lights overhead designed to light up the field of play.  There are lights on the huge electronic megascreen.  There are lights on the numerous signs all over the park advertising some product like Coca Cola for example.  There is activity everywhere all going on at the same time.  Not just on the ballfield, but also in the stands.  There are so many ways for a young person – or for that matter, any person – to be stimulated.  Stimulated to look at something.  Stimulated to listen to something.  Stimulated to try to understand what is happening in this stadium holding 50,000 people.

I have no idea what Henry will remember from this experience, his first MLB game.  But I can tell you that I will never forget my experience with taking a 5-year-old to his first major league baseball game.

Yes, Henry was wide eyed.  Just taking everything in.  But Gramps (that’s me) was wide eyed too, just watching Henry take everything in.

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