July 6, Chatham

This is the 5th park I've been to this year -- but only the third I've been to with my recording equipment. (I've been to Orleans at Brewster as a fan only.)

I didn't interview as much as I wanted to/could have/should have because I went to the game with my father and decided I didn't want to leave him alone for too long, so I did double duty as a student and a son.

Chatham has some bleechers down the left and right field lines. There is a very steep hill in Center that is popular, though I am not a big fan because it does not level off to allow for easy sitting. People either half-roll down or sit at the top of the hill. It's a decent view -- until the fog rolls in, that is -- in in Chatham, the fog rolls in thick and fast. Y'know how smoke blows in the wind when a grill fire is started? (Note to self: clean gril...) Well, that's exactly what the fog looks like. It tends to blow right through and clear up until around 9 or 9:15 when it just sits there and makes it impossible to see as far as the mound from center field.

Today's interviews were notable for a couple reasons.
1) I got my first rejection from spectators. I'm usually good at picking 'em, but I managed to approach two people in a row who said no. The first one made something about about not knowing baseball well enough, and then i told him that didn't matter and he said, "I'd rather not" and I said, "Okay. Enjoy the game!" And went on my way.

2) I got to watch the intended effect of my project.

I interviewed a father and his 9-year old son. There was nothing particularly notable about the content of the interviews, but I did enjoy watching the son's face hearing his father tell stories of his first game, and even more than that, watching the father's face as the son told me about his first game with his dad as well as playing little league with his dad as his coach.

(Side-note: When do coaches become managers? I think in college, it's still a coach of the team...)

I ended my interviews with a couple from Manhattan. I saw this man keeping score and figured I'd approach him between innings and get his take. I was hoping he'd tell me that his dad taught him and have a great story about it. Well, his dad taught him, but no story...

Either way, they were very pleasant and I enjoyed talking to them.

I've found with a number of people -- the first and last interviews of this game, for example -- that the conversation continues after the tape is stopped and I question whether I should keep the tape rolling. For now, I don't regret stopping the tape, but I rather look at it as instant practice of what has been preached.

Next stop:
Either Tuesday the 8th at Orleans or Thursday the 10th at Orleans or Harwich.