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This past Sunday, G and I took our nephew, Brayden, to a baseball game. The Reds were playing the Rockies to wrap up a three-game-series, and looking to avoid a sweep. It was a perfect day for a game weather-wise and Brayden was excited to be heading to his third game of the season.

While he's been to three games this year, this will be just the second game which just his aunt and uncle have taken him. It's also Jay Bruce Mesh Jersey day and were excited to get him the giveaway. More excited that he probably was to actually get it. I must say, he's a purist and is there just for the game.

Even with me leaving the tickets at home and running back to get them, we still get to the ballpark early, making sure we were able to get little Mr. B his Jay Bruce jersey. We also meet up with our friend Dave and his son, Jacob before the game. After getting through the gates and get the little ones their jerseys, we have an impromptu jersey try-on inside the ballpark. Brayden is only 3 and a half years old, so the jersey was hanging on him like a bathrobe. He wasn't too interested in it, so we snapped a few photos of him posing in it and put it back in the bag. He has a few years to go into it.

Next stop for all of us was the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. Former Red great, Lee May, was scheduled to sign autographs and chat with fans that afternoon before the game. We came prepared with a card to get signed for Brayden and headed in. It wasn't too crowded around Mr. May when we got to his table, so we immediately walked up, said hi, and shook his hand. He signed a baseball card for Brayden and another for me, all while chatting up Brayden and giving his some high fives. Mr. May was also gracious enough to pose with us for a photo. I've given a few autographed cards to Brayden over the past year or so, but I think this was the first time he received an autograph in person.

After some snacks, we took Brayden to the stands on the first base side of GABP to catch the last bit of batting practice. While we were walking down the aisle, a Rockies batter was pulling foul balls into the stands pretty close to us. I found an empty area in the stands near where the balls were landing, and what do you know, the next swing puts a foul ball a few rows up from us. At first, I didn't think we would have shot at getting it, but I got in position for a rebound and it worked out. The ball bounced off the hands of a guy two rows above us, rolled down his leg and kicked out under the seats in front of him for me to grab - all while having a tight hold on Brayden. I could hear the footsteps of people run down the row above me from both sides, but I kept my eye on the ball and picked it while leaning over the seats in my row. Not exactly an epic catch or anything, but I had to be quick and in just the right spot to get the ball. As soon as I picked it up, groans where heard all around from the folks I beat to the ball.

Once secured, I handed the ball to Brayden, thinking he might be pretty excited about it. Well, to my surprise, he immediately wanted the throw the ball back to the players saying, "Noooo! We have to give it back to the players!".

It took a minute, but I finally convinced him that the players want us to keep balls that are hit in the stands, that it's all part of going to the ballpark. How cute, right? It's hard to argue with the little guy when he is trying to be so polite.

As it turns out, that was the very last ball it into the stands during batting practice and the grounds crew was soon hard at work preparing the field for the game. G, Brayden and I were only in the stands for batting practice for all of maybe 5 minutes, and we came away with a great little souvenir.

All this action, and the game hadn't even started yet. Needless to say, we had a great day with our little nephew.

Labels: brayden, family, reds