I’m still smiling

PawSox lost/Red Sox won.

I was barely aware of these two facts last night. 😆

Kelly and I got to McCoy pretty much just as the gates opened. It was a gorgeous day and the idea of sitting in a park and watching a game had me very excited to have taken the train ride down. (Okay, it was a bus ride, a train ride, a long walk, another train ride and a cab down, but why quibble?)

We had single seats, one in the first row in section 9, which is behind the PawSox dugout, and one in the first row in section 12, which had a good view of the dugout. Given she has the camera that rocks, Kelly sat behind the dugout and I was in section 12. Kelly sent Steve the Ferret (in his Kyle Snyder jersey) down to see if maybe Kyle was around to sign him:

I walked around the park, got us some beers, had a hot dog and wondered what I was going to do. Getting back to my seat, I decided to put Kyle’s jersey out on the rail in front of me. I figured this way he could see it and my work would be done. 🙂 Kyle would know there are fans out there still supporting him and I’d be getting to see him get his ring.

Kyle DID come out and started pulling baseballs out of the pails to sign for kids. And he didn’t forsake Steve.

(For those new to the story of “Steve”, the short version is that he’s Kelly O’s travel mascot and she’s taken him on a lot of road trips. He’s also the unofficial mascot of the SG group. And the SGers kind of adopted Kyle since he joined the team, and well, they’ve been linked ever since. Kyle was good enough to pose with Steve in Baltimore for Kelly and Tex and then signed the picture during the off-season.)

Kelly comes running over to me and throws a sharpie at me saying “Just in case he makes it over here!” and runs back to her camera. I tell Kelly before she leaves that I didn’t expect Kyle to make it down my way and just take in the gorgeous day, watching Kyle sign for some kids.

And Kyle kept walking down the line and shows up in front of me. And calls to me “The only time I’ve seen that jersey is when I was wearing it!”

What you aren’t able to clearly see in the small version of this pic is my enormous smile – and Kyle’s smile as well! 

I responded with something like “Geralareojrea!” (Actually, I was much more articulate than you would guess. And I thanked him and got to tell him how happy I was that he was still with the organization – and he responded that he was too. He was great. And I was 12 years old for a couple of minutes.) I also got to tell the kids who surrounded me (and ended up getting autographs from Kyle as well!) and were yelling things like “player!” and “mister!” who he was while he was signing the jersey.

Me: Do you all know who he is?

Kids: He pitches for the Red Sox!

Me: Right. And his name is Kyle Snyder and he was on the team last year when they won the World Series and he’s getting his ring tonight.

Kids: Cool! Kyle Snyder!! Kyle Snyder!!!!!!

Of course, Kelly fessed up later that she pointed me out to Kyle and told him I was too shy to approach him while she was thanking him for signing Steve’s jersey. She wasn’t sure if I would be upset by that or not (I wasn’t!) nor was she sure he’d make his way over but she was pleased that it all worked out.

As was I.

I’ve written in great detail my feelings about hounding players for autographs, even at the park. It’s great for the kids and I know that most players just accept it as part of the job, but it’s really not my style. Admittedly, though, I was thrilled that not only did Kyle take the time to sign Steve and sign my jersey (and seem genuinely happy to be there in general) but that in doing so he was able to discover that he has fans out there who just want to see him be happy and do well. (Kelly made that jersey for Steve herself! So Kyle saw two Snyder jerseys yesterday!).

So mission accomplished. 🙂

Kyle really DID look happy yesterday. Not just when he got his ring, but interacting with the rest of the team and hanging out in the dugout. So, regardless of the PawSox loss, the day was definitely a happy success.

I posted the video (such as it is) of Kyle getting his ring earlier – and here are some pictures. (Given her angle and camera, Kelly O will, eventually, have some much better shots than mine up!)

Kyle with Brandon Moss, Devern Hansack and Jeff Bailey (apparently Bobby Kielty was seeing a doctor about a hand injury and wasn’t there last night)

Checking out the ring box

“See? The boxes are empty because we’re WEARING the rings!”

Kyle showing off the ring. “How cool is this?”

So thanks to Kelly, Steve and especially Kyle, yesterday was a great day. Finding out the Red Sox won and the Yankees lost was just the cherries on my sundae of a day!

(All photos taken by me except the ones that I’m in – which were taken by KellyO who I can’t thank enough!)