First Post, First Pitch

So, here my blog begins ... because of my social media presence & (unbeknownst to me) influence I was picked to throw out the Ceremonial First Pitch for my favorite team, The Oakland Athletics, at one of my favorite places in the world, The Coliseum on April 16th 2013 before the A's vs. Astros game! I got the  invite via a direct message to my Twitter account @OaklAsSocksGrl.  My immediate reaction was literally "what is this bullshit? It's a joke" but I emailed the girl anyway and lo and behold it was not a joke.

Of course the request was, is and will always be a HUGE HONOR and a once in a lifetime opportunity! But it couldn't have come at a more inopportune time! I had only a couple days to get the day off work, I was struggling with a corneal ulcer (meaning I couldn't wear my contacts) AND I couldn't wear denim or anything too short yet they still wanted me to wear my signature socks! Plus I had to at least try to practice! Too much to do, too little time ....  

For those of you who know me, my signature style ALWAYS includes what I call simply, "socks w/ pictures" and I'll usually tell you "white socks are only for the gym!" ... My signature A's game style is usually an A's shirt, jean shorts or skirt w/ a pair of knee high A's socks!

(Even though I have been attending A's game since I was 5 years old, I began the socks tradition towards the end of last season and it kinda took on a life of it's own at Spring Training '13. I even got comments about my socks from Billy Beane and Bob Welch! Crazy! I know!)

So I started a second twitter account which led to other accounts and consequently this blog but I digress .. Basically my "signature style" included short denim attire which was not acceptable for throwing out the first pitch! So I had to also find time to go shopping for something appropriate that didn't look too horrible ... Found some random black shorts at Nordy's, meh.

Needless to say I was not happy with my appearance that day but it's that kind of opportunity that only presents itself once so I rolled w/the punches ... not like they were horrible punches in the grand scheme of life but they were just added stresses to an already nerve wracking situation. You don't wanna look stupid or "throw like a girl" - sure there weren't gonna be a lot of people there early on a Tuesday night in April against the Astros - but at any Major League game the number would still be in the thousands, then of course all your baseball friends are there and everyone's gonna want to see the DVD they sent you, etc, etc.

I get there, go in the STH entrance straight to the Executive Offices (which I wish I'd taken more pictures of because the stuff they have in there is hella cool) and met with the crew who would be taking me on the field. 

They helped calm my nerves a bit! Apparently (and I won't name names) some people have fainted and others have vomited before heading out to the mound so according to them I was ahead of the game! Then I met Ryan Cook, who I am a HUGE fan of! Having season tickets in row 2 behind the bullpen I could tell Ryan was a nice guy, always smiling, happy to interact with the fans plus I follow him on Twitter so you can kinda tell a bit about someone's personality that way too! I was stoked, he was taller than I thought but otherwise one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet! He above everyone helped me remain semi calm. But the moment he put that ball in my hand, I heard my name announced and began walking out to the mound all the thoughts completely flew right out of my head!

I just wanted that ball out of my hand! Any practicing I had done meant nothing. I was supposed to wait for one lady to point at me but I forgot about that too! I got to the mound and got rid of that ball as fast as possible! It's hilarious now because it really wasn't a huge deal and it only took about two minutes! The throw wasn't great but I made it to the plate and didn't "throw like a girl" so I am taking it as a success!

Afterwards I got to chat with "Cookie" and he signed my baseball.

Heading back to the seats was interesting as a couple of Twitter followers came up to introduce themselves but since then I've met many of my followers and people that I follow on Twitter so it's a fairly normal occurrence! That night the A's prevailed over the Astros and while I may have been extremely nervous it's one for the history books of my life! Thank you Oakland A's for the opportunity! It was A-mAzing!