Minor Buffalo Ballpark With Major League Memories [PICS]

Over the weekend we had the opportunity to see a major league baseball game at a minor league ballpark. It was an amazing experience. Since the Canadian border is still closed due to the pandemic, the Toronto Blue Jays have been playing their home games at Sahlen Field which is the home of the Buffalo Bisons minor league baseball team. The fans in Buffalo affectionately call them the Buffalo Blue Jays. We got tickets on the first base side where the Tampa Rays were.

Because the ballpark is a minor league field, there were only ten thousand people in the stands. We had seats that were ten rows up just past first base. My son Ryan lives and breathes baseball so we thought it would be an awesome game for him to see. We have been to Yankee Stadium but this major league baseball experience was so much more intimate. So much so that Ryan actually got not one, not two, but three baseballs during the game.

We got to the ballpark two hours before game time hoping to get a baseball and some autographs. The players were busy warming up and would only throw balls to the people in the outfield stands before the game. Ryan stood by the netting with his uncle but the players didn't give him a ball. He was disappointed but he had no idea what the day would bring.

Right before the game began, Ryan went back down to the netting by the first base side and one of the players gave him a baseball. He was so thrilled. Then the game began. In the third inning, the Tampa Bay first base coach threw a ball in Ryan's direction and it landed on an older gentleman. He gave Ryan the ball and we bought him a beer. Then a couple of innings later the same first base coach looked in Ryan's direction, pointed to him, and threw a ball up and over the netting almost right to Ryan. That was game ball number three! Ryan kept one, gave one to his cousin Mia, and the third to her friend Olivia who came to the game with us.

What an awesome major league baseball experience in a minor league ballpark. Definitely a once in a lifetime memory. I guess the pandemic was good for something.