August 20, 2016 Trip to Baltimore

When I saw the ads for the Crush Davis and Samson bobble heads, I immediately knew I wanted to add it to my collection.  Sure, I PC Davis, but I loved that the dog was also included, as well.  Originally, I had contacted my friend, Michael, and asked if he thought he would be able to pick one up for me, but the more I thought about it, I decided to make a day-trip out of it.

My son, Chris, had asked a few times if I would be able to take him to Baltimore before school starts back.  Also, my older brother, Philip, had asked a few times if I would take him to a game sometime, as he had never been to an MLB game before.  So, after a few text messages on Friday and making sure Philip could get here in time, we set out early Saturday morning to Baltimore.

We ran into a ton of traffic on the way North.  I think everyone had the same idea we had, take one last trip for the summer.  Of course, that was in addition to DC traffic, which always is terrible.  We finally got to Baltimore around 3PM, parked, then walked to the Lexington Market for some seafood at Fraidley's.  Philip got a brioled salmon, Chris got fried oysters and I got an amazing crab cake.  The food was awesome!

Before the game, I met up with a fellow Instagrammer, Jack, and showed he and Philip how to "graph".  We got pretty close to Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa, but couldn't get them to sign for us.  Philip, Chris and I each ended up getting Marwin Gonzalez on OMLBs, but Jack held out for someone else.  We left the area before Jack got anyone, and I'm not sure if he did.

The game itself was forgettable.  We got to see Chris Davis hit a homer, which was nice, but the rest of the game has been erased from my memory.  Thanks, postage stamp-sized strike zone and crappy pitching!

We did have fun at the game.  Philip enjoyed himself, and it was nice to be able to spend time with him.  We have gone on some trips together, before, like Summer Sanitarium 2000 and Philly this January, but we had never gone to a baseball game together.  He loves to give me a lot of crap about the Os, feigning interest in the Yankees to get under my skin.  He does it out of love, though.  He is really knowledgeable about sports and is always ready for a good debate.  He also helps plug the blog whenever he gets a chance, which is very helpful.

Here is the Marwin Gonzalez auto that I got.  It turned out pretty well, and he was very nice to us.  I was hoping for Altuve, but I'm happy with what I got.

Overall, I had a great time with my brother and my son!  I also met up with a couple friends and got a cool bobble head.  What more could you ask for?  Oh yeah, a win would have been nice.  Oh well.