Game 9: Cleveland Indians 6 @ White Sox 0

We got to the White Sox game only about two and a half hours before the game, which is probably about the closest to game time we have gotten to a park so far. We ended up actually having to wait for the parking lots to open as they do not open until two hours before game time. I am so glad it was not like the many other times when we have arrived way more than two hours early because we wanted to walk around it or see something else nearby or just plain had no other place to be.

We ended up parking right on the north side of the park and as we walked around to the handicap entrance at Gate 4 we found the home plate marker for the previous Comiskey Park, which was used through the 1990 season before the White Sox moved across the street to their new park that at the time was also called Comiskey, but is now called U.S. Cellular Field.

Overall our seats in section 108 were great, although the foul pole was slightly in the way. At least the handicap seats were actually accessible and we also could see the scoreboard well.

Before game time Dad and I walked around the park. In the center field area of the concourse there are a few statues of past Sox figures (mostly players, but also Comiskey). They are pretty interesting including a set of two that makes it seem like the one guy is throwing to the other guy who is waiting to catch the throw.

Tonight the Indians actually played well in comparison to their rather dismal outing yesterday. I was, of course, rooting for the Indians since I am a Cubs fan and cannot imagine rooting for the White Sox even if I do not really care about the Indians either. Dad was rooting for the White Sox, as even though he says he is a Cubs fan he is also a Sox fan since he went to school at IIT right across the freeway from the old and new Comiskey Parks. I think we can both agree it was a good game and it has proven me wrong on my theory of the American League being all crap pitchers, as the Indians pitcher actually threw a complete game. It is the first and I would not be surprised if only complete game we have seen pitched on the trip. I still maintain, though, that most of the good pitching games and especially pitching matchups occur in the National League.

Smashed Penny: Mall of America Pablo the Penguin

Mik spotted a penny machine when we first got to the Mall of America, but it just had Spongebob characters. That got me to paying attention, though, and I ended up finding a machine with a penny featuring Pablo, who is a penguin character in Nick Jr’s The Backyardigans show. Being a penguin lover I just had to get it for my smashed penny collection. It says Nickelodeon Universe and Mall of America. The image is of Pablo on what seems to be a carousel horse.

Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: HHH Metrodome 1982-2009

Mik had already got his mini bat at the game, but when we went to the Dome Shop across the street from the Metrodome to hunt down a logo only sticker for the car Dad found a HHH Metrodome 1982-2009 mini bat that we just had to get for Mik. He was actually quite excited with this find and even posed with this bat happily.

The bat has the logo for the farewell season like my baseball, although it does not exactly outright state farewell season on it. It has a cool background with little Twins logos all over in the blue part. Definitely a cool bat for his collection considering it is one of the few ballpark bats he has (only other one I know he has for sure is a Nationals Inaugural Game one I got him last year and he might have a Farewell Season or Breaking Ground type one for the current Busch Stadium as I vaguely remember him getting one like that when we saw the previous Busch Stadium in its last year).

Kj’s Baseball Collection: Farewell Season HHH Metrodome Ball 2 of 3

With it being the final season for the Twins at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome there was several special commemorative balls. This included a set of three that were each a limited edition of 600 and two other ones that were not limited edition. They all seemed to have pretty much the same design with the background color being the main difference between the two. I decided to get one of the limited edition ones and choose the dark blue one since it is a team color, I like blue, and it goes well with the colors in my room my baseballs are all going.

The Farewell Season HHH Metrodome Ball 2 of 3 has that statement on one side. Next to that on the right side it has a logo honoring the 1991 World Series win by the Twins. On the left side of the statement is a similar logo commemorating their World Series win in 1987 (hence another great reason to get this ball, as that occurred not long after I was born). On the other side it has sentences about the two Game 7 World Series wins (1987 and 1991) that occurred at the Metrodome. The side opposite the sentences has a HHH Metrodome Logo with the years it has been used by the Twins (1982-2009) and says Limited Edition of 600 underneath.

Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: Silver Twins

The mini bat selection at the souvenir kiosks at the Metrodome was not too bad. They only had the one Twins word logo design, but they had it in about six colors, which is about normal for mini bats. Mik ended up choosing the silver one because the silver color seemed to contrast and show off the logo the best.