I always like to tell people,

“I married into a love for baseball.”

My parents and brother give me crap because as a child I was your average luke-warm-fan-of-the-home-team {Padres} but when I married, I married into a love of the game, and a love of the Dodgers.

I always liked baseball. My brother and I even once scored tickets from a family friend to a very exciting playoffs game. But I never really knew or understood the game fully.

When David and I got married we lived on a half-a-shoestring budget. We had no cable but our college town happened to have a station on the Dodgers Radio Network, so we listened to just about ever Dodgers game on the radio (so old-school, huh?).

It was then that I “met” Vin Scully and began to learn all the ins and outs of the game, got to “know” the players and some of the Dodgers lore and history, and basically fell in love with America’s pastime.

Here are a few things I love about baseball…

-it’s (essentially) a summer sport, so it invokes feelings of long, warm days
-it’s a mellow, relaxing game, most of the time.
-other times it is so exciting that you worry your husband will fall off the top deck at Dodger Stadium because he’s jumping and cheering so enthusiastically.
-it’s a family thing for us (we have quite the extended family of baseball fans).
-it has a rich American history.
-it’s become a global game, especially in countries where they speak my other language.
-the culture, players and fans are generally pretty down-to-earth; the vast majority of pros are not known for their extravagant lifestyles (superstars aside)
-it spans all ages and generations.
-it’s a family-friendly sport.

I’d consider myself a pretty sport person, tolerant of almost every sport, but here are a few factoids on why I would definitely categorize myself, 29-year old crafty, stay-at-home mom of a girly, as a bonafide Baseball Fan…

-I’ve been to 20 out of 30 Major League Baseball parks.
-I’ve been to several Spring Training games, in both FL and AZ.
-I’ve been on a 3-week long road trip to a dozen games across the Midwest and East Coast.
-I allow a collection of bobbleheads in my master bedroom.
-I attempt to run a baseball blog with my hubby (we’re not very consistent with it yet though, but stick with us, we have some great ideas in the works!).
-I play fantasy baseball. With my mom. (we totally tanked last year. my father-in-law whipped us all. we vow to pay a little more attention to our team this year).
-my daughter (who went to her first game at 3 weeks old)’s favorite color is Dodger Blue. And she loves Manny.
-I even find myself watching baseball when David’s not home!

Can I get a shout out from any other female fans? How did you get turned on to baseball?

We’re headed out to catch a few Cactus League games this weekend- looking forward to some sun and some foul balls! And you can bet our little one will be stoked to see Manny!

Here are some photos from a game we went to last year on June 20th, 2009. We love going to Angel Stadium (Gigi and I particularly like the Rally Monkey), especially when we get to see the Dodgers play there. The “Freeway Series” is always a fun rivalry. Angel Stadium will always be special to our family since our little Gigi went to her first baseball game there almost three years ago.

We used to live really close to Angel Stadium and would even ride our bikes there to catch a game. Here’s a parking tip… if you get there early enough there are a handful of free parking spots on Orangewood just east of the 57 freeway. Just walk under the freeway, over the bridge and there’s a gate where you can walk in to the stadium.

Here’s the photos from that game… a little reminiscing to get us thinking about the excitement of a new season.

Yesterday my dad took Chiquita to the grocery store. Apparently, he asked her which “car cart” she wanted to drive/ride in. Her choices were red and blue. Now, let me point out that this is the girl that almost always responds with a confident “yellow!” when asked what color something is, regardless of what it really is. But not this time! without hesitation, she pointed to the blue cart and said, “Dodger Blue!” Atta, girl.

Now if only the Dodgers had a mascot she could love like she loves the Philly Phanatic (he’s one of the only green things she can correctly identify). At least one member of our household was glad to see the World Series played in Philly– she loves the Phanatic almost as much as she loves Manny (good thing for us, he’ll be back next year)!

This is how she looked every time she saw the Phanatic when we were in Philly:

Speaking of Dodger Blue, we got to go to a playoff game this year to root on the Blue. Unfortunately, we all know how the season ended but the game we went to, NLDS Game 2, was pretty darn exciting! Going to a playoff game was all David wanted for his birthday (well, aside from attending a World Series game, but alas, that was not an option this year). Click over to view the slide show if you are in a reader or your email inbox).

We’ll be thinking blue all off-season and are already looking forward to Spring Training ‘10!

Yesterday morning we walked around Lincoln Square, the neighborhood where we are staying, had lunch at the tasty Bad Dog Tavern, and even got a little taste of Chicago’s Mayfest as well (thanks random guy for giving us a few free food tickets!).

Chiquita took a good nap and then we headed out to Wrigley Field. We got to take the “L” train, which is Chicago’s mostly-elevated train system. Taking public transportation is something we really enjoy; unfortunately so does the rest of Chicago. We had to wait for a second train to Wrigley because the first was too jammed-full.

After a nice treat at the Starbucks across the street from the ballpark (free, thanks to our friend Melissa who used to work there!), and a quick gander at the Wrigleyville Fire Department (the “fighter-fighters,” according to Chiquita), we entered the hallowed grounds the Cubs call home.

This was the only game where we’ll get to see the Dodgers on our trip, and it was a good one for the L.A. fans! This was our third game at Wrigley Field, but did include some first for us– our first with Chiquita, our first Cubs night game, and our first time seeing the Dodgers play there.

Here’s the photos from our first day in Chicago…

Unfortunately, Chiquita came down with a bit of a tummy ache last night, so we’re taking it easy today and hoping we can still make it to at least part of the White Sox game if she’s feeling better later today. Travel can be hard on a little one but hopefully she’ll be up on her feet again and ready to go soon.

We had a great time as usual at Dodger Stadium! This was our first time taking a toddler, and despite the age of the stadium, it was pretty doable with a stadium. A couple of downfalls for a young fan was the lack of elevators (only a couple at the whole place!) and unfortunately no kids’ concession stand so we had to settle for buying Chiquita a $5 hot dog.

For the first time ever, we got there before the gate opened! We were stoked to get to see a little bit of the Dodgers’ batting practice and then also hung around to watch the Padres practice for my brother’s sake. Dodger Stadium now opens up the center field wall so fans can get a warning-track view of the players getting warmed up. What a treat for the baseball-loving family!

We went on a fireworks show night and it was a great choreographed show with a Las Vegas theme. We’ve been to a few fireworks nights at other locations and I must say that I’ve never seen a ballpark allow the fans down on the outfield grass during the fireworks! We couldn’t make it all the way down there from the Top Deck with a stroller but we still had a great view.

Here are some pictures from the game!

Ballpark tours are such a fun way to learn more about the game and its history and get a behind-the-scenes look at a particular team. It’s also a great way to get excited for a new season and to get a little baseball fill during the off-season.

Here’s the photo album from the tour we went on in March.

Something that was great about this tour was getting to see a video about the “Next 50 Years” at Dodger Stadium. We love that they decided to update the existing ballpark, retaining all the history that it houses, rather than tearing it down to build a new one. The McCourts have got some exciting plans up their sleeves for updating the old stadium!

The tickets are similarly priced to a game ticket ($15 each I believe from dodgers.com) and I think it’s well-worth the price for any true fan of the game.

It’s sad when you have to tell your two-year old that her favorite player is on “baseball time-out.”

One of the biggest stories of the off-season has been the saga of Manny and the Dodgers. We know that they finally made a deal, but Manny is one of those guys that is always in the news.

Here are a few recent Manny-Related Links from around the blogosphere for ya.

• The Korean Manny from Bugs & Cranks
• UmpBump gives the Dodgers a B for the off-season, but says, “At least they got their man(ny).”
• Bugs & Cranks looks at the Manny-Dollar Question
• The Dodgers community makes projections about Manny at True Blue L.A.
• Now that he’ll be officially in L.A., Manny’s penthouse is for sale for $8.5 million, according to the Boston Herald.
• And apparently Manny is working hard at Camelback Ranch and will be making his Spring Training debut this Thursday (via MLB.com)

In contrast with the long, money-crazed process of signing Manny, as is almost commonplace today in the majors, I was blown away at the refreshing attitude of pitcher Randy Wolf on his recent signing with the Dodgers.

Wolf originally thought he’d be signing with the Astros for $28.5 million over three years, but instead signed with L.A. with a a one-year, $5 million deal with $3 million in incentives. That’s quite a difference from what he originally hoped for, but ahem, quite a bit more than our multiple-college-degree-household’s income.

When he was on the Dodgers before, I always got the vibe that Wolf seemed like a nice guy, and this NY Times article sure hints at that again. The article quotes Randy as saying,

“I play major league baseball. It may not be under what the contract was that the Astros offered, but I make a very good living and I get to do what I love to do. With people losing their jobs, and they’re making $40,000 a year and they’re working their tails off 12 months a year to make ends meet, and they get laid off, it’s not right for me to complain about a contract. It’s exciting, I saw what happened last year and how they played the second half of the year. I’m 15 minutes from the ballpark. I get to live at home. I get to go to Dodger Stadium every day.”

Finally, a player who publicly recognizes the reality of how blessed his situation is.

As a regular, working stiff, I can only dream of how I would spend $45 million.  But for the Dodgers, they may have just bought themselves a second consecutive National League West pennant for that exact price.  After four months of deliberation, the Dodgers and Manny Ramirez agreed to a 2-year deal worth $45 million.

While the arguments will continue on whether or not Manny’s services are worth the price the Dodgers have paid, this contract could be considered a small victory for teams that have the unfortunate experience of dealing with Scott Boras, Ramirez’s agent.  When the negotiations began last fall, the initial offer the Dodgers made to Manny’s camp was a 2-year deal for $45 million with an option for a third year.  Scott Boras initially scoffed at this offer, indicating that he was waiting for “serious offers” to come in.  In the end, the Dodgers called Boras’ bluff and signed Manny for the original amount offered.

As an avid Dogers fan, I can only hope that the well-behaved Manny from August, September, and October of last year is the one that shows up this year.  He is a proven hitting savant and his on-field contributions during the Dodgers’ postseason run in the fall of 2008 left Dodgers fans everywhere longing for more Manny-mania.  There is no doubt that the Dodgers will sell more tickets and merchandise as a direct result of this signing.  Even Chiquita got into the act last year when we attended a Dodgers/Rockies game at Coors Field.

Now that the negotiations are over and Manny has returned to the Dodgers, the focus will (hopefully) shift from business to baseball.  I look forward to watching Manny mash as the Dodgers attempt to defend their NL West title and ultimately win a World Series.