I'm pretty sure everyone remembers the first time they went to a Major League baseball game. Chances are you can probably name every player on your favorite team, who won the game, who scored, and who pitched.

For me, that very first time at a game was to see my Minnesota Twins at the old Metropolitan Stadium. I was maybe nine or ten years old and the strongest memory I have of that day is:

Green.

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A Great Little League Baseball Memory

When we came up that runway to find our seats out past the left-field wall, and the field began to unfold, to this day I don't think I've ever seen anything so green! For a minute I thought they must have spray painted the outfield. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

It was a long school bus ride to the stadium. You see, there was a special day for kids who held the stop signs at the school crosswalks. And yes, even in little Leota, Minnesota at our two-room schoolhouse, we took turns holding those signs (no jokes about the heavy traffic please). And as a reward, we got to ride the bus to Minneapolis (OK, specifically Bloomington) and see our heroes, the Minnesota Twins. And so did virtually every other school in the state I suppose.

What year was this? Well, I don't want to give away my age, but I can tell you that Killebrew and Oliva, Mudcat and Pasqual, Battey, and Zoilo were all playing then, so just look it up.

When we pulled into that parking lot and saw the Met, you'd have thought I'd seen the Pearly gates...and maybe in a way I had. I liked other sports, but the Twins were, well....the Twins! And walking into the stadium was truly something I'll never forget.

Who'd they play? Who won? That's all lost all these decades later, but I remember that green. And I remember they put 'Welcome Leota' on the scoreboard, right there in the middle of a hundred or so other schools. When the first batter hit the ball, I was sure it was a home run (It was a pop-out behind second base). And yes, Harmon homered to left, but we were sitting too far up in the nosebleed seats to get the ball. And that's OK, 'cause that would have been too much!

Ahh, baseball...every year it happens...somewhere a little kid will be going to his very first game...and he'll ( or she'll)make a memory that will last for the rest of his (or her) life.

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