how i spent my summer vacation

well, summer is almost over based on the traditional measurement of labor day's approach. it's state fair time here in minnesota which may be an even better indication of the season's waning. i didn't do a whole lot this summer, although i did spend a few days in florida in early june.

we stayed in st. pete's beach and enjoyed the gulf coast from st. pete to anna maria island to siesta key. it was hot, but we survived. of course, i made sure to get in to tampa one day to catch a baseball game. in doing so, i was able to cross off another stadium that i've seen a game in - this one being tropicana field. i now have this card in my "stadiums i've seen games in" mini collection:

it's from 2019 topps, and it's a gold parallel. this is the 24th mlb stadium i've seen a regular season game in, and the 23rd different city (i've seen games in both the hhh metrodome and target field here in minneapolis) here's one of our tickets from the game:

a day game between the rays and white sox wasn't the most appealing matchup, but it was nice to take advantage of the air conditioning. we entered the stadium via a rotunda that put us in right-center field. when we emerged from the concourse, we were able to see the tank holding the stingrays

i liked that there was a concourse on the inside of the stadium, so we could walk to our seats from the outfield while still being able to see the field. we sat down behind home plate, and i took a photo of the dome's interior:

it's a different structural setup than the metrodome. it also has those catwalks that wreak havoc on a batted ball every once in a while.  here's a zoomed in photo taken during the game:

here you get a better look at the team's pennants - i would think with two american league pennants at this point that they would get rid of the wild card pennants, but that's not my call. as always, i sought out jackie robinson's retired number, and you can see that towards the right side of the photo and to the left of the big "gmf" ad.  along with jackie's 42 are wade boggs' 12 and don zimmer's 66. two brooklyn dodgers with a retired number in tampa.

the game we attended happened to be on pride night. we received pride flags upon entering, and there were quite a few fans who purchased ticket packages that included pride themed rays hats.  the team was also wearing pride themed patches on their jerseys - here's a rays batter wearing it on his right sleeve.

that's not a good photo of it, so here's one from getty images

i didn't try to take a picture of the patch, and really only mention it here because it became a big deal after the fact. a few players declined wearing the patch and exposed themselves as, in my opinion, ignoramuses about what the patch represents and the purpose behind the organization having a pride night in the first place. i was happy to accept a pride flag and show support as a member of society.

the rays lost the game - here's the final tally on the right field scoreboard

they had been leading 2-0 until the 8th inning when jake burger hit a 3-run, pinch-hit home run.  it was a big enough deal that topps issued this card the next day:

read all about the accomplishment on the back:

i did, of course, buy one of these cards to go in my "cards featuring games i attended in person" collection. it is especially nice to have a souvenir like this since tickets are no longer printed.

so far in 2022 i've attended three major league games, and there have been cards made for two of them. the other game that was commemorated by topps was back in april. i received the cards i ordered from topps about a month after the game. here's a refresher:

the dodgers went back-to-back-to-back

and clayton kershaw threw 7 perfect innings

i purchased these cards directly from topps since i knew i wanted multiple copies. and, just as had been the case with the steve garvey turn back the clock card last year, i received numbered parallels with my order!  

here's the blue parallel of kershaw's card, numbered to 49

and here's a purple parallel of the home run card, numbered to 25

i am going to try to get out to target field at least once more this season, especially if mike trout is back when the angels visit in late september. hopefully something interesting happens!