In spite of what you might think, I haven’t been to that many major league ballparks, so my beliefs about this one kind of exist in a vacuum. For instance, about ninety percent of my belief that Oracle Park is the best one depends on the fact that it is objectively perfect; the other ten percent comes from the fact that I’ve been to the Oakland Coliseum, which now represents the rest of MLB parks for me. Likewise, I don’t know if we have the best gate giveaways in baseball, but the ones we have are pretty good. Last year saw a pretty wan selection – mostly T-shirts with the SF logo in different colors for different heritage and appreciation days – but in 2023, we’ve had several really good jerseys and Hawaiian-style shirts, not to mention a few good caps.

Today’s is a Sea Lions jersey, cream colored with an appealingly retro/amateurish font that commemorates the jerseys San Francisco’s Negro League team wore in 1946, their sole year of operation. The emblem on the front is a bear cub, because the team was using hand-me-downs from a former organization. Another notable fact: the first American woman to play on a major professional American team, Toni Stone, was a Sea Lion. That kind of gets lost in today’s theme, which is African-American heritage. I got to the park very early to make sure I secured one of these jerseys, but Karyn wasn’t able to arrive before they ran out. Luckily, by means I will not detail but which were neither nefarious nor legitimate, I managed to secure one for her anyway. The Giants, incidentally, are also wearing them on the field today, although theirs might be a little more substantial.

Karyn is an Atlanta fan, and she is neither afraid to ask the Braves for specific things – a hit here, a double play there – nor chary with her approval when those things happen, which is unfortunately all too frequent. The Braves are really good right now and the Giants are not, so she has a very satisfying day. I appreciate her for it – a lot of people who sit with me and are even faintly supportive of the opposing team are sort of apologetic about it, but like a honey badger, Karyn don’t care. She is also not apologetic about the portion of her fellow Atlanta fans who are still, even in San Francisco, doing the tomahawk chop and the war chant that the rest of us recognize as, to various degrees, racist, stupid, and annoying. It’s come up for me at previous games that admonishing those people is pointless – if they were going to get it, they would already have gotten it – but one guy from the arcade tries, stepping in to speak to a couple of Braves fans who have illegally occupied the ADA seats off the starboard quarter. At least, his body language says that’s what he’s doing, and I kind of hope he’s going to start an actual physical fight, but he turns out the be the kind of busybody whose involvement doesn’t rise to the level of punching racists, in spite of how much I want him to.

Karyn asks me if I think Acuna is a legit MVP candidate, and I am on the verge of admitting that I have not even the faintest clue when one of four guys – Braves dudes in maybe their early twenties who have come to sit next to us for a while – chimes in with an opinion, and I am relieved not to have to say that my entire opinion of Ronald Acuña Jr. is that I’m pretty sure plays for the Braves. I can prove that, though. He’s doing a good job of it, helping Atlanta to yet another win here, this one a 7-3 romp whose only real high point for a Giants fan is a two-run homer for Wilmer Flores that briefly ties the game in the third. There’s a run in the ninth, but it’s what, in football (either kind), you’d call a meaningless score in junk time. Tomorrow may be another day, but it also may be the same day again, except with less interesting jerseys.

What Did You Think of the Afternoon, Karyn?

“Baseball with Justin is always a good time. I’m a Braves fan since childhood, and he always keeps a date open for me when Atlanta comes to town. Beautiful day for a game–upper 70s, sunny, 1:05 start time. Max Fried was on the mound for the visitors; he’s back from an extended time on the injured list. He pitched well today, giving up two runs in six innings. I think he’s still building up stamina, as it wasn’t overly hot and he wasn’t over 100 pitches. The Braves’ hitters also did not disappoint, staking Fried to a 4-2 lead before breaking it open late, to finish with a score of 7-2. The only notable miscue was a baserunning gaffe by Michael Harris III, getting himself into a brief rundown.

The Mayor of Section 152 was in fine form. He greeted stadium staff, chatted with strangers, and heckled tomahawk-choppers. He questioned why the latter were imitating giving a giraffe a handjob, but of course there were no answers. He attempted to instigate shenanigans, but alas, his efforts were for naught.

We spoke of baseball, of course, but also of music, of women, of food, of fathers. He’d acquired an extra giveaway shirt, which he handed me, and also several bags of peanuts and Cracker Jack, which he also shared. There is no better host for a baseball game; if you haven’t been with Justin, you should. There’s a month left in the season. Get on it.“

• 1 October: Farewells and Almosts
• 30 September: For the Love of God, Max Muncy
• 29 September: Flower Mary Child Lavender Blossom
• 27 September: Junk Time
• 26 September: Mathematically