Sounds of Freedom!

With a mighty swing, crack of the bat, and roar of the crowd Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins hammers home run after home run before a sold out crowd at Petco Park, in San Diego California during the 2016 MLB Home Run Derby. Sounds of freedom! Stick with me you’ll see what I mean - read on.

Monday, July 11, 2016 Lori and I attended this years MLB Home Run Derby thanks to a generous gift from a colleague at Home Depot who for the first time became a season ticket holder for the Padres after retiring from his over 20 years of service.

“I’m taking my daughter to the All Star Game this year for the first time,” he said excitedly. “We’re not interested in the Derby and would love to share the tickets with you. I know you’re a big baseball fan. Would you be able to go?”

“Absolutely! We would love to go, thanks so very much . . . ”

Petco Park, decked out in all it’s glory is this year’s host of the 2016 All Star Game and it’s festivities. Downtown San Diego (Gaslamp District) a buzz with activity; police and security everywhere, local dinners, bars, hangouts, packed with people. We made our way past street fair vendors, barricaded streets, and entered the Park through the main gate on Tony Gwynn Drive. When you enter through this gate take a moment to check out the new Padres Hall of Fame exhibit honoring MLB players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame who at one time wore a Padres uniform.

The festivities began with the Fall Out Boy (Cubs fans) performing their music on an elaborate stage with flames, flashing lights, and fireworks, that appeared in the infield almost by magic.

Then the stadium announcer, “Please remove your caps for our National Anthem.”

Silence - then in unison, with reverence, and honor the entire stadium raises it’s voice to sing. In perfect synchronization and formation four Marine fighter jets ROAR over the stadium. At that moment, deep in your soul, you humbly realize it’s our Military might that provides citizens of the United States the Freedom to enjoy recreational activities like watching baseball players hit monster moon shots! CRACK - the sound of freedom!

Needless to say the night was magical. Local Los Angeles resident Giancarlo Stanton, using one of Barry Bonds bats (his hitting coach), put’s on a show that stunned the crowd. A record 61 home runs in three four minute rounds. Many of them over 440 feet!

Thank you Jim, it was an evening we will remember for a long time!

Comments

Resurrecting the '90s Graphite

Let’s face it, there’s a certain danger in reading John Gierach's Trout Bum . His wit, self-deprecation, and sharp, effortless satire are entirely infectious. If you aren't careful, his words will inspire you to drop everything, wade into a freezing river, and try to outsmart a creature with a brain the size of a lentil. In my case, re-reading Gierach recently didn't send me straight to the river. It sent me digging through the dusty, spider-guarded corners of my garage. In the early 1990s, seeking a natural escape from Manhattan's concrete canyons, I decided to learn to cast a fly rod. I bought an Orvis Rocky Mountain —eight-and-a-half feet, three ounces, built for a five-weight line—and had absolutely no idea how to use it. To avoid aimlessly whipping the water like scrambling eggs, I took fly-fishing lessons from Al Cucci, co-author of Hatches , on the Delaware River. With his guidance, I fished renowned waters: the AuSable in New York and Michigan, and New Jersey...

From Mailbox to Microphone

In this episode, catching up with Sierra . What happens when you combine a little imagination, modern digital tools, and the willingness to make a glorious, muddy mess? You get our guest’s latest project. I’m Patrick Ball. Welcome back to On the Fly . Today, we are diving into the world of native plants and guerrilla gardening with twelve-year-old creator Sierra. After watching her impressive, self-produced tutorial on how to make ‘Seed Balls,’ I had to know how she did it. It’s incredibly inspiring to watch Sierra evolve from a young artist wielding crayons and stationery into a savvy digital creator. She’s writing scripts, mastering voiceovers, and editing—all to make a positive, green impact on her local community. “She shoots, she scores, and she’s here to tell us all about it.” Please welcome Sierra to On the Fly ! Let’s get into it. Audio interview . . . For more blog posts showcasing Sierra’s talents, see: The Mailbox Surprise . . . and The Summer Surprise I’m Patrick Ball. Sta...

The AI Debate Was Settled in 1954

In this episode, what a 70-year-old sci-fi mystery teaches us. Welcome back to On the Fly. I’ve been looking for a clear way to explain how we should be handling Artificial Intelligence today. I finally found the answer hidden in a book I just finished. The twist? It was written more than seventy years ago. Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel was published in 1954, when a computer filled an entire room, consumed enough electricity to dim the neighborhood, and had roughly the computing power of today's microwave. Yet Asimov set his story nearly 3,000 years in the future—a world where humanity lives in sprawling enclosed cities (New York) and depends on advanced technology for nearly every aspect of daily life. The remarkable part isn't how much of the technology he imagined. It's how accurately he predicted us. In Asimov's future, society struggles with the introduction of highly sophisticated humanoid robots powered by "positronic brains." Naturally, a lou...

The Birth of a Cubs Legend

In this episode, The 162-Game Exhale — and the Birth of a Cubs Legend There’s a hush in the baseball world on Game 162 — a collective breath drawn in and slowly released. Scoreboards stop flipping. Dugouts empty. For six months, the game has been our steady heartbeat, pulsing from the cherry blossoms of Tokyo in March to the crisp, playoff-charged winds of late September. And now, as the regular season exhales, baseball fans everywhere pause to absorb the story we’ve just lived. For me, that story has been deeply personal. This season unfolded in the rhythms of my daily life. It was the summer soundtrack echoing beneath the constant turmoil of politics and sensational headlines. It was a handful of carefully chosen ballpark pilgrimages stitched together with countless nights in front of MLB.TV. And at the center of it all, for a lifelong Cubs fan like me, it revolved around one name — a young center fielder who turned hope into history: Pete Crow-Armstrong. The 2025 season didn’t begin...

On The Fly

Search This Blog