At some point early last season, I made up my mind that I absolutely hate day baseball games. I’m not entirely sure what happened during a day game that made me so spiteful towards that time slot, but there it is. But lately, I have been trying to like afternoon baseball a little bit more, and about 99% of my past English teachers would have me draft up a pro/con list to help determine the stronger argument.
This was the first Google Image result for “day game.” Not a promising start, but we’ll forge ahead.
Con #1: Pre-noon wakeup.
Living on a baseball-oriented schedule means I get to sleep until the crack of noon most days. So the 10:30 report time at work for day games is always a bummer.
Con #2: Sunburns!
Perhaps because of Con #1, I am never sound-minded enough to remember sunscreen. So I always end up burned to a crisp, and with the awkwardest of tan lines.
Con #3: The heat.
Hot afternoons make everyone grumpy, even this ball of smiling energy. When you have an evening game, there’s the promise of sundown and a couple of degrees’ worth of relief. But with a day game, you get the hottest part of the day, and temps go from miserable to utterly unbearable between the first pitch and the last out. From the mouth of a player Wednesday afternoon: “I haven’t stopped sweating in two days.” Yuck.
Con #4: Screaming kids EVERYWHERE
I love kids. Really. But when they’re in groups of roughly fourteen million, and wearing matching, garishly bright t-shirts, I just kind of freak out. They’re everywhere. They scream in only the highest of pitches. They move in very large, very slow herds. They demand that promotions staff members give them anything and everything for free. (No joke: if I even carry a freaking CHAIR through a crowd of kids, at least five of them will say, “Oooh! Give me that!” and of course none of them will even think to add a “please.” And I’d be a rich woman if I had even a nickel for every kid that demanded that I stroll into the dugout and get them a ball, bat, glove, jersey, sunglasses, or all of the above.)
But enough of that negative crap, let’s get on with the good things.
Pro #1: The occasional cute moments with all those kids
I have to hand it to large clumps of kids; they are always willing to start and sustain chants, which is good news for promotions staff. Yesterday afternoon, I had a group of kids “help” me start a chant of “Let’s go Royals!” and right after we started chanting, the Royals* first baseman, Ryan Shealy, hit a home run. A little boy gasped and said “Oh my gosh, we made that happen!”
*That’s the Omaha Royals, the AAA affiliate, for those of you keeping score at home.
Ryan Shealy, just because I can.
Pro #2:Post-game naps
There’s lots of time to nap after a noon matchup. And due to the forementioned heat and sunburn, it’s easy to fall right asleep and stay that way. Very refreshing, two thumbs up.
Pro #3: Eye black.
While we were busy ogling yesterday’s Hump Day Hottie, he and the rest of the Twins were getting bullied by the Red Sox. But Mauer was kind enough to wear eye black, so even if Twins fans (or people who desperately want Minnesota to start winning so they can knock those stupid White Sox out of first place) are sad about the 18-5 loss, they have something nice to look at.
Pro #4: EYE BLACK!
Ellsbury. Oh my.
You know what? I think I like day games now.
Ladies... 
I’m assuming you work for the Omaha Royals? I agree about the kids factor. They can be really annoying. But I still like day games, even with that. Day games are nice because they mean that I’m not at work, or at least taking a half-day!
Pam, yes I do work for the Omaha Royals, doing on-field promotions. It’s basically the greatest job ever.
Ahh Jacoby!! So cute. A friend of mine coined the phrase for him “chiseled by angels”…..I think she’s right.
Day baseball is ok. As long as it’s not 95 degrees and Hazy Hot and Humid at the ballpark. We were roasting. But the score made it worth it.
I think being a Cubs fan who went to day games before the lights were installed biases me. I love day games. I loved coming home from school and catching the games, and I love being able to go to a game on a Friday afternoon to start the weekend.
I love day games! Nothing finer than sidling up to your desk after lunch and grabbing your little radio and listening to Howie & co.
Of course, it sucks if your team loses, because you’ve got more than a day till they get back out there.
Yes, day baseball is awesome because it gives me something to listen to at work – I love trying to decide which announcers to listen to. I get very depressed on the days when I look at the schedule and there are no day games. But I agree with having to sit in the heat – that is horrible! I usually get heat stroke in those situations! And we’re ready for Shealy here, anytime y’all want to send him up!!
I grew up watching day baseball and I love day baseball.
What’s more than that, I hate night games, even though those are the only ones I get a chance to watch during the week.
There is just something about baseball, to me, that feels right when it is played under the sun.
NOTE: I never go to games, so none of your cons really apply to me.
I’ve never experienced the hot afternoon baseball. My Stros have always had a closed stadium. Sadly, I only get to enjoy the eye black on TV or at the very begining of the season when the roof is open. But I move to Arlington in the fall for college so I’ll get the experience there.
Anthony, I have definitely considered the tradition that day games represent, and I get that baseball’s Golden Age happened under sunlight. But that doesn’t make the seats any less sweaty and sticky, nor the sunburn less painful, nor the groups of kids on field trips less screamy.
Michelle, you can’t have Ryan back. I’m keeping him here, as in stashed in my apartment. (Just kidding; I’d be thrilled for him if he got another shot in the Bigs. I absolutely adore him, both as a player and as a seemingly decent human being. Plus, he’s built like a mountain! Awesome!)
Stephanie, the way eyeblack looks in person when it’s all melty and smeary is a Must-See. I hope you get an eyeful of that in Arlington!
By the way, that speed boat game looks pretty bitchin’
Oh I completely understand not wanting to be surrounded by screaming children and not wanting to be sunburned and sweaty which is why I watch games at home in the air conditioning on a 60″ HD tv with 5.1 surround sound with my one child (who doesn’t scream THAT much) and beer that is no $6 a pop.
Where can I find out more information about the speed boat racing game?