As I mentioned yesterday, I planned my flight to San Francisco in order to attend the San Francisco Giants home opener Friday afternoon. With my parents both working on Friday, the Ultimate Sports Baby was coming with me.

Driving vs. Public Transportation to AT&T Park
I decided to drive to AT&T Park rather than take Caltrain up the Peninsula since it was easier with all of the stuff I needed to bring for Dylan. We got up there early so I had time to look for parking around the park. The official AT&T lots were charging $30 to park. I thought that was expensive, so instead I drove to the parking lots located on Townsend St. I thought they would cost around $20. But, today they were charging $70 to park! I immediately turned around and went back to parking lot C that had availability. It was a good thing I did too, since I was one of the last cars to enter the parking lot.

Beg, Borrow and Deal
After getting the Ultimate Sports Baby ready for the game, it was time to look for a ticket. Tickets were not cheap for the game and with the San Francisco Giants using dynamic pricing now it was hard to judge the correct market value for a ticket.

I first went to the corner of 3rd St. and King St. where most scalpers stand. They all wanted “face value” for their seats which was over $100 for upper level tickets. I held out and walked over to the Giants box office where I asked if any tickets were available. They said yes – a $105 bleacher seat! Dynamic pricing makes it hard to determine actual market value.

My original plan was to buy a SRO ticket for much less than that. I figured I would be walking the Ultimate Sports Baby around the park in his stroller. However, I went over to the corner of King St. and 2nd St. – another ticket scalper “hang” out. They also wanted over $100 for bleacher and upper level seats – neither seat would be conducive to sitting with Dylan as I found out at the Blackhawks game on Sunday.

Finally, I found a scalper who had a single in the Club Level. Face value on the ticket was $85 (a season ticket holder ticket). After a long negotiation, we finally agreed on $105 for the ticket.

AT&T Park Club Level
The seat I bought could not have worked out any better. First, I was in the Club Level which meant I could be inside. Second, my seat was in section 228 which had a handicapped section above it. Since I had a stroller and a lot of baby items, I was able to stand in the handicapped section without having to sit in my seat with Dylan. This was exactly what I wanted when I had wanted to buy an SRO ticket.

Another benefit of the club level was that they have a food court on the first level. This allowed me to eat a good meal in peace since I could sit and not chase around the Ultimate Sports Baby.

World Series Championship Ceremony
The highlight of the game was the raising of the World Series Championship flag before the game. Willie Mays handed the flag to manager Bruce Bochy, who passed the flag down the line so each player could hold the flag. Then, Brian Wilson ran the flag to center field, climbed a ladder into the stands which he then walked through to the flag pole where the flag was raised. Since I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was amazing to see a World Series banner raised for my childhood team.

St. Louis Cardinals at San Francisco Giants
The Giants has a 3-1 lead heading into the 9th inning. But, of course, since I was with the Ultimate Sports Baby, the Giants not only gave the Cardinals the lead in top of the 9th, but tied the game in the bottom of the 9th inning to send the game to extra innings! This is not exactly what you cheer for when you are with an infant.

At this point I would have preferred the game to end with either team winning but that was not the case. Instead, we stuck it out through extra innings as the Giants scored in the 12th inning to win the game 5-4. The game finally ended after 4 hours and 24 minutes which did not include the 50 minute pregame ceremony – a long day for both baby and Dad.