Tommy Beckett

Turning Point in my Life

            This night is a night unlike any other I’ve ever been able to be a part of. The air is chill, crisp and the sky is a dark blue without a sight of any clouds. My family, some cousins and I went to a professional league baseball game. The game wasn’t just some ordinary game, but in fact it was my very first ever time I got to go to a baseball game. The game was about 5 years ago. We were in Cleveland and the Indians were playing the Oakland Athletics. There were a lot of people in the stadium. They were all cheering and yelling making the stadium louder than anything I have ever heard before. You could also smell all of the food cooking like hot dogs or even pizzas and hamburgers.
            We walked around the stadium just to look around. There was a memorial garden in the back of left field with all of the best players to play for the Indians. Kenny Lofton and Carlos Baerga are just two of many players that were honored in the memorial area. Lofton played outfielder and Baerga played second base. We then walked up a flight of stairs to the top of the stadium. The view from the top is one of the most mesmerizing views I’ve ever seen. You can see the Quicken Loans arena which is right next the baseball field. We then went to our seats and sat down. The seats were on the first base line and were close to the field. The seats we almost too close to where the batter could hit a ball towards you or a bat breaks and comes towards you.

During the bottom of the third my dad asked “How do you like your first game so far?” It was hard to hear anyone talking even if they were right next to you due to the stadium and the people yelling and cheering. We eventually got up to get food since we were all hungry. The lines were incredibly long and the wait was five to ten minutes. However the wait was worth it because the food was delicious. We then went back to our seats and watched the game. The next inning the Indians had taken the lead two to nothing. One of the players had hit a homerun which caused the score. The stadium went crazy when the ball had went into the stadium. The game went on with no one else scoring, so the Indians had won the game.

“Let’s go Indians, we won” is all I had heard from the fans after the game. The stadium was excited and crazy then there were fireworks that went off in the outfield. My parents both said at the end of the game “We need to hurry up and leave so we don’t get stuck in traffic.” The streets of downtown Cleveland were packed and had an awesome aurora surrounding it. People were crazy and screaming and all I could hear was chants of “Let’s go Tribe.” When we finally got to our car we couldn’t drive anywhere because of the roads being packed. It took about half an hour but, finally we got through the traffic and onto the highway back home. I had slept for most of the car ride back to my grandparent’s house. When I got inside I immediately went to bed and fell asleep.

Looking back at it everyone in the stands were bonding. Complete strangers were high fiving after the win and the stadium almost felt like a community. The game was a bonding moment with my family. I learned that it isn’t about the items or materials and it’s about family. My family made the game more fun and they were someone I could talk to instead of sitting next to complete strangers. This was a turning point in my life for these reasons and not just because it was a baseball game. It taught me there is more to life than materialistic items and everyone should spend more time with their friends and families.