Three years ago I was lucky enough to
attend a Mets game and spend pre-game on the field, and take
one of my favorite pictures ever, with Mr. and Mrs. Met.
The experience I had before Friday's game against the Twins was even better. Thanks to the dogged persistence of a friend we were invited for a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium by the Mets PR team.
We entered at the Hodges gate, where right through that door is the press room where we often see Terry Collins discussing Mets injuries.
From there we were led down a back hallway, where the clubhouse is. And at the moment we passed by, Brandon Nimmo emerged on his way to the video room.
He stopped and chatted with us briefly about money and investing and the rapid depreciation of expensive automobiles.
To our left in that hallway is the batting cage where players can take some in-game cuts.
Lined up along the walls, where the bats and other equipment for every Met.
And in the best part of it all, we were led out onto the field, THROUGH THE DUGOUT!!!!!
Don't I look happy?
We were offered a piece of Major League gum. I brought two pieces home for the boys, who were initially unimpressed until they realized, that later that day the Mets had stuck their hands in that same bucket. They asked if the Mets get a new bucket of gum every day. I said yes. They decided the Mets must be rich to afford new gum.
They chewed it and decided it tasted better than the regular dubble bubble available to the public.
After a few more moments sitting on the dugout bench, and taking pictures we were escorted onto the field to enjoy batting practice. Unfortunately, the Mets had concluded and the Twins were hitting (Kennys Vargas hit some bombs).
After a while we were asked to leave the field and head back to our seats, which we purchased ourselves, which explains the view from the 500 level.
But from that vantage point I got to see a masterpiece from Bartolo Colon, back to back homers from Jose Reys and Asdrubal Cabrera, and a 3-0 Mets win, topping off another memorable experience I was fortunate enough to enjoy.
Note: Please forgive the lousy way this displays. I wanted pictures to be as big as possible, which doesn't work well with this template. For best experience click on the first picture and use the viewer to peruse them all.
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