Kj's Baseball Collection: '09 World Baseball Classic

In the '09 World Baseball Classic section of merchandise at the Dbacks Team Shop I found two baseballs that were only $1. I could not decide which to get and since they were only $1 each I just got both. One just has the '09 World Baseball Classic logo on a plain white baseball. This one comes with a little stand, but it is actually just a pathetic very thin plastic packaging type stand. The other is an image baseball with an image of the logo, a trophy, and the flags of participating countries.

Mik's Mini Bat Collection: '09 World Baseball Classic

Mik did not really even expect to get one bat at the Dbacks game, as he already has a lot of Dbacks mini bats, but he did find a new Dbacks one. We also found a section of on sale leftover '09 World Baseball Classic merchandise. In the section they had a mini bat for only $1, which we could not pass up. The bat has the World Baseball Classic logo, flags of participating teams, and a R Rawlings logo (note: I think this is his first Rawlings mini bat, as most if not all of the others are Louisville Slugger brand).

Kj's Baseball Collection: Home of Your Dbacks

My baseball from visiting the Arizona Diamondbacks's Chase Field is an image one with a street map of the downtown Phoenix area. It has a big star where Chase Field is located with the label Chase Field. It also oddly has the nearby U.S. Airways Center (I think this is the basketball arena) identified in big letters. There are other landmarks noted with small dots and lettering, but the U.S. Airways is identified in the same big lettering as Chase Field despite having a small dot. The ball says Home of Your Dbacks in the middle of the Map. One side has a black D logo and the other has a red A Diamondbacks logo.

Mik's Mini Bat Collection: Black Dbacks

There were no mini bats at the Play Ball exhibit, so Mik's first bat from the All the Ballparks trip was from the Dbacks game. He already has a lot of Dbacks mini bats, but he found one with a different Dbacks logo than any he has and it is black, which is a color he did not have in his Dbacks collection yet. The mini bat has a silver Louisville Slugger logo and a red A Dbacks logo with Diamondbacks written below it.

Kj's Baseball Collection: Play Ball

The first baseball I got for my collection on the All the Ballparks trip was from the Mesa Historical Museum. The ball has the logo of the Play Ball: The Cactus League Experience Logo on it. It says the name of the exhibit and Mesa Historical Museum. Other than that on one side it is just a plain white baseball.

Baseball Museum 1: Play Ball Exhibit at Mesa Historical Museum

I briefly already posted about visiting the Play Ball Exhibit at Mesa Historical Museum in a post from my phone here. I mentioned our favorites, but it does not do the exhibit justice, so now that I have some more time as we drive back to Tucson I am posting a little more thorough of a review. Of course, more photos to come in the album that you can get to by clicking any of the photos above.

The Play Ball exhibit is an one room exhibit inside the Mesa Historical Museum. The exhibit focuses on the history of the Cactus League, but also has a tad more general history of baseball in Mesa. It technically does focus on the Cactus League as a whole, but really it mostly focuses on the Cactus League in Mesa with a lot of the space devoted to the Cubs and the history of them Spring Training in Mesa. Not that that is a bad thing, as I still consider myself a Cubs fan despite more recently being a Nats fan. However, it seems a tad misleading to come into the exhibit thinking it was going to be more about the whole Cactus League.

The exhibit starts out well rounded with a wall that is made to look like a wood fence with knotholes in it. When you peek inside each knothole you can see a photo of one of the current or past Cactus League ballparks. This is pretty much the only part of the exhibit that truly portrays the whole league.

The exhibit goes on to tell about the leagues history, but this is mostly done through just words and not much artifacts to go with it. Then it gets into the Cubs and their connection to Mesa and there is a decent amount of artifacts to go with that part including a clubhouse door from the Old Hohokam Park that is signed by Mark Grace. It makes sense the exhibit shifts to mostly focusing on Mesa since it is afterall Mesa's Historical Museum. Plus it is not like it entirely ignores the rest of the league. It just sort of over represents the Cubs and sort of downplays that the league once was a much more spread out thing, but I guess it kind of pulls it into the location that is now among the very central hub of the league in Phoenix.

Overall this exhibit was fun for all and I do think it does what it sets out to do, which is begin to display the history of the Cactus League. It certainly is not anywhere near all inclusive of the league, but there is hope as this really is supposed to be just the start with hopes for it being built into its own museum within 5 years. Plus having a Wii with a baseball only game (Backyard Baseball) definitely swayed Mik from being bored and playing his PSP to actually doing something at the museum.

Update 5/10/09: All photos I took at the museum can be viewed here or by clicking the photos in this post and viewing rest of album.

Game 1: Washington Nationals 2 @ Arizona Diamondbacks 1

The first game of the trip was a great one in my opinion, as my team won. Mik was a little disappointed, but he really got into the ninth inning when the Dbacks scored 1 run and had a shot of winning. He mostly played his DS and PSP during the game, but in the bottom of the 9th he shut it off and even said "This is exciting." That's the best I could hope for, especially after his close to annoying complaining of wanting to leave as early as the 7th mainly because the Dbacks were losing.

Honestly, I did not expect the Nats to win, as they have not been great this season and I think today's win makes it the first time this season they have won three in a row and they still are the worst team in baseball. I also expected it to be a hitter's game with lots of run, which seems to happen a lot when the Nats are involved in a game. Instead it was an interesting low run game, although I would not exactly call it a pitcher's duel with the Nats starting pitcher, Lannan, walking about one Dback an inning and a decent amount of hits from both teams. Nevertheless it was a fun game to watch and a great start to the trip.

The seats we had in section 105 were not too bad. The scoreboard was kind of hard to see, but not impossible. The one thing that annoyed me a little is the bar in front of the handicap seats that are right in the line of sight for watching the game if you are short. It really is a poor design thing in my opinion, especially for those in wheelchairs that cannot really stand up and try to get that out of their view when something really exciting happens. Unfortunately, that is pretty standard for handicap seating as far as I have experienced. Of course, Mik does not mind, as he mostly played his video games and actually found he could lean forward and get a good sight line below the bar. It is the only time I do not bug him for not sitting up straight. I kind of felt like this bar was a little higher than most other areas, though, because it never seemed to bug me as much. Or perhaps it is all the non-handicap seats I sat in last year at the Nats and got used to no people or bars in my sight line.

Besides the helmet sundae and Mik's meatball sandwich we had some other good food. I had a good veggie wrap and also had an interesting Green Apple Jolly Ranger Slushie. More on the food to hopefully come in the form of Mik's Food Review, which is a category I going to try to get Mik to consistently help post to or at least post the food scrapbook photos from this trip to.

Right now I am posting as we drive back to Tucson using the handy USB Internet thing for my laptop. It works pretty good, but not too great for trying to upload a bunch of photos, so I will get the rest of the photos from the game uploaded later. I will try to remember to update (here or a new post) when I do, but the photos will be uploaded in the album that can be seen if you click the photos in this post.

Now just 12 more days until the real road trip part of the trip begins. Today was just a small taste of the trip and I am totally excited for the actual trip begin. I sort of wish it was sooner, but then again there is still a lot I need to take care of at home before we hit the road for two and a half months.

Update 5/10/09: The photos I took at the ballpark and the game are now all uploaded here. They can also be seen in the album you get to by clicking the photos in the post.