So when day 1’s ballpark slides itself into first place all time out of the stadiums I’ve visited, is day 2 simply doomed to disappointment? Oh no, faithful readers, oh no. The total experience of today far exceeded the joy I received from the physical surroundings of the stadium last night.
Today we saw the Phillies play the Nationals at Citizen’s Bank Park here in Philadelphia. We watched balls zip out of the park at a rapid pace, as the Phillies offensive torrent included a grand slam and a guy going 4 for 5 with 2 dingers and 6 RBI, on the way to a 19-4 victory. I got to go with our daughter, who remembers well watching the boat races on the scoreboard at the Kingdom for a Mariners game when she was a kid, and with her partner Nolan, who was attending his first Major League Baseball game.
We met Robin and Chris Mohr at the park, and shared the great day with them. Robin and I literally met because of this blog while we were in our 30’s, as we found we are kindred spirits from different backgrounds back in our Quaker Convergent Blogosphere .
The stadium is a great place to spend the day. It suffered in comparison with me just being at Camden Yards last night. The sightlines are good, and the view of downtown Philly is great from behind home plate. But things feel a little more removed from the field and not as open and communal as Camden Yards.
What it does have going for it are amazing options for the kids. Ten-year-old me would have been in heaven! They have a wiffle ball stadium just for kids (sponsored by Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, where Natalie will begin her internship on August 1,) a climbing wall, a hot dog shooter, and a place where a radar gun clocks how fast you can throw. (You may be able to find video of me trying it on social media. Spoiler alert: I can’t even throw my age in MPH…)
After walking all the way around the ballpark, we made our way to our seats. We met up with Robin and Chris, and this worker came over teasing us. “How come you’re the only one in this crew with any Phillies gear on, huh?” he said to Robin. We said we were visiting, and he asked where I live.
“Oh, my brother started his music career in Portland, he’s a blues player. He lives in LA now, he’s won Grammys.”
“Do you play music?” I asked.
“Nah, not anymore. But my stepson is…you might not have heard of him, he’s a jazz musician, he’s won Grammys too.”
Nolan’s ears pricked up. “Who is he? I might know him.”
“He’s a bass player, Christian McBride, you heard of him?”
Reader, I’ve taken great pictures in my life. I’ve missed many more, and this is one I wish I hadn’t missed. I wish I would have captured in video Nolan’s face, his body language, the “you’ve got to be kidding me” wave of his hand as he shook his head and said, “Oh yeah, I know him.”
It’s really hard to ever rank jazz musicians, but Christian McBride might be the best jazz bassist alive right now, says Nolan. And more than that, out of all the many players out there, his style is one Nolan appreciates and follows. If there was a dream person to take one lesson from, for Nolan it is Christian.
Such a surreal gift of a moment, at a baseball game, of all places! Our new friend George pulled out his phone and as he showed Nolan pictures, the stories came flooding out. “Here’s Christian with Chick Corea…Look up the concert Sting did during the pandemic, he’ll only have Christian play bass for him…Here’s Christian and Sting with my father-in-law—when Sting heard he had a terminal illness, all these limos just flooded the streets in Germantown and then Sting’s sitting on my father-in-law’s couch.”
“This one here? That’s the shelf for Christian’s first Grammy. I mean, it’s just sittin’ there on a shelf next to the TV! Hahaha!”
“Yeah Wynton Marsalis bought Christian’s first bass. He could tell he was going to be somethin’ special, and he just wrote a check to my wife.”
I smiled so big and so long that my cheeks hurt until the fifth inning!
“Hey,” I said. “Speaking like I’m my son-in-law’s agent, you said you were going to take his phone number? Put it in your phone as ‘the best bass player in Gainesville Florida, now moved to Philly.'” Sure enough, they exchanged texts and George promised to let Nolan know when Christian was playing nearby.
We made our way up to our seats, first row upper deck on the third base side, and watched the first pitch:
Nolan went back to talk with George, and then he texted us that George had some seats for us. So the five of us moved to the terrace level right behind home plate, in a roped off area.
As soon as we made the move, the Phillies bats exploded. We watched balls sail out of the park and runners race around the bags. And I re-lived childhood bliss with an ice cream sundae in a toy helmet:
Such an amazing day! As we left, Natalie said to George: “Thanks for making his (Nolan’s) day!”
“Oh,” George said, “I’m gonna make some more future days for him!”
How fun it was to watch a baseball game with you! And I look forward to seeing Natalie and Nolan around town in the coming year.
Blogging has changed over the last 15 years but the friendships of the Quaker blogosphere are still important to me.
This is an incredible treatment to the power of human connection. I can only imagine Nolan lighting up at this day, and the fact that you were taken care of by George is one of the reasons I love Philly sports. I’m primarily an Eagles’ fan and finally got to go see a game there when I turned 40. I have similar stories that make the experience so much more than what it would have been on the surface. Finally, as a dad, that had to be incredible to see your son light up like that. Keep the memory train going, Gregg!
Christian McBride is one of the great jazz bass players of all time. I have a good bit of his music on my Apple Music playlist. It would be wonderful if Nolan could connect with him.