Let Baseball Season Begin!

Baseball season officially began for AR and I yesterday. We drove down to Springfield to watch the St. Louis Cardinals (the red team as AR called them) and the Springfield Cardinals (the white team) battle it out at Hammons Field. The Springfield Birds did pretty well, keeping the lead for the majority of the first part of the game. We got there when the gates open and went straight to the dugout by first base. That's Kolten Wong there on first base. 

We were down there for only a few minutes when we saw one of AR's favorites, Matt Adams. In her little girl voice, she shouted his name. Matt turned around, saw her, waved, picked up a ball and came straight to her. She got him to sign the ball for her and they chatted for awhile. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the two of them but she was pumped, that was her main goal of the game-to get Matt to sign her ball that he threw her last year!

She also yelled at Greg Garcia who waved while he was taking BP. When he got out in the field, he ran a ball over to her and signed it too.

The players were great, listening to her stories, and taking pictures with her. FYI-Greg's wife, Hannah, is pretty awesome. I follow her on IG and I think she's just a great role model for AR and little girls out there. And Greg is awesome, too!

Kolten Wong came over and signed for AR and took a pic.

Matheny came over and here are two great stories.

AR asked him very politely, "Could you please sign my ball?"
Matheny: "Yes and you have very good manners."
Me beaming proudly!
Teenager beside us to Matheny: "Dude, we were at the game in Memphis last night-"
Matheny stops signing and looks up: "Did you just call me 'dude'?"
Kid shrugs and doesn't answer
Me: "Didn't you just hear him comment on her manners? You shouldn't call adults 'dude.'"
Matheny: "Yeah, you should take some lessons from her."
As though I didn't love Matheny already, he made me one proud momma right then!

After that was over, AR looked at him and asked, "Do you get marker on your hands a lot?"
Matheny smiles and nods: "Yeah, I do."
AR: "Me, too, at school."

Then along came Fredbird and her world was bursting with excitement!!! He signed her ball, too.

Next came Jacob Wilson! Haley met him a few years ago at spring training and loves him. AR met him last year at spring training and he was super sweet to her. AR was also excited because he was #4 just like she is in soccer.

We got a TON of autographs from the Springfield Cardinals players then made our way to our seats. Not a bad view, huh?

And oh hey, look who we found sitting in front of us! H came down with our friend Lisa but we didn't buy our tickets together. Funny that we ended up being so close!

It got a little chilly but this little chica refused to wear her coat, only her gloves and hat.

Another one of her favorite parts of the game... Take Me Out to the Ballgame!



While she may not have been cold, I was freezing so I pulled her on my lap and we got some silly pics out of it while I tried to steal her body heat.

And I talked to her into one non-silly one to commemorate the first day of baseball season for us!

A huge thank you to all the players, mascots, and coaches that made the day so special for my girl! We look forward to seeing everyone play and I'm sure we'll see you all soon! Now... GO CARDS!!!