Spring Training...VVM Style

For those of you that may be new to the insanity that is my daily life, you may not be aware of my family’s baseball obsession.  My husband and I both grew up liking baseball, but life takes over and we don’t have a major league team where live and it just kind of fell to the side.  After our son was born, around age 3 we took him to a minor league game here in Asheville.  He showed an immediate interest.  As time went on we attended more games and my husband and I began to rediscover our love of the game.  In the spring of 2017 we were on vacation, not far from Miami and it happened to be the Miami Marlins home opener, so we went and had a blast.  And lucky for us, it was the first time Rally Cat made an appearance and thus an unofficial mascot was born…my husband does the best play by play…

In early May of that year, we trekked down to Tampa to see Tom Petty (more on that in a later post) on a Saturday and saw that the Tampa Bay Rays had a home game on Sunday, so we extended the trip by a day. Again we had a blast.  And the best part was sharing all of this with Lennon, who at this point was almost 7.  Our wheels started turning.  These had been two of the most fun family experiences we had ever had.  And then the question was asked…

Could we see all 30 major league ballparks? 

And then the challenges grew…

By car?

And then we were just gluttons for punishment…

In 18 months?

Bottom line is, yes. We did it, by car, in 16 months.  Boom!  But that’s a fun filled story for another post.  What I want to write about today is the food.  I was on my veggie to vegan journey through all of this, and these long trips and ballpark food did not make it easy.  Many parks now have veggie burgers and veggie dogs (while sodium filled and most likely not vegan, they will do in a pinch and at least feels like ballpark food).  Some stadiums have Mexican Food vendors now where I could score a veggie taco or veggie nachos.  Arlington, TX had a baked potato stand, of course all potatoes advertised were smothered in chili, cheese and butter.  Some stadiums have little markets with prepackaged cheese and fruit platters, and salads. (I have to draw the line here.  I’m at a baseball game, not a cocktail party.  This is a completely last resort in dire circumstances only).  But I’ve learned that if you ask nicely and get creative, even within the confines of a baseball stadium, people, will happily do their best to accommodate you.

Well, it’s March.  It has been 6 months since my husband and son have seen baseball game, and almost 7 months for me.  Spring is in the air and cannot get to the currently cold, rainy, dreary mountains of western NC fast enough.  But we simply could not wait.  The calling was too strong.  Friday night, March 1, we hit the road at 5:45pm after work, stopped and stocked up on 10 bean burritos from taco bell (no cheese), ate 3 each in the car for dinner, checked into a free hotel near Jacksonville Airport around 1am (thank you Hilton Honors Points).  Hit the road again at 5:45 Saturday morning and headed to Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fl.  Home of the Detroit Tigers Spring Training season. 

It was in the 80’s.  It was sunny.  We were sweating.  We were happy.  We arrived at the ballpark a little before 10am for the 1pm game as we had batting practice tickets and needed to continue the tradition of getting a ball at every park.   While the boys were hawking, mama did her ceremonial stroll and investigation of the concourse and the offerings.  No veggie burgers.  No veggie dogs.  There was a little market with the fruit and cheese and salads (I had not hit “dire” on the Vegan Vocalmama meter yet).  And then I saw it.  “Mac and Taters”.  Take your pick of mac n cheese or tater tots and load them with a protein and various toppings.  Hmmmm.  It took a while for them to understand that I did not want to “choose a protein” and could I please have a few extra other toppings instead.  Finally we overcame the nutrition communication barrier and for $10 I got tater tots topped with guacamole, tomatoes, roasted corn, black beans and crispy tortilla strips.  Voila!  Vegan Tater Tot Mexican Taco Salad!  It was oddly, insanely delicious and did not sit in my stomach like a rock.  That is successful dining at Baseball Park.  BOOM!

And not only did we make a new baseball stadium fanatic friend from Michigan (Hi Ron and family!), we got another ball to add to our collection.  Ok, we got 8.  Including one I caught with a textbook two handed grab from high atop the Braves bullpen.

After a sweat filled day we headed a bit back east to Orlando where we scored another free night (thanks again Hilton Honors Points).  After a dip in the hot tub (because who doesn’t want to submerse themselves in scalding water after they’ve sweat all day?), it was time for a run to Subway for some yummy veggie subs to end the day.

Up early Sunday morning for another pool dip, split the third veggie sub and polish of our remaining 2 bean burritos each…breakfast of baseball vegan champions!  So off we set to Champion Stadium, home of Atlanta Braves Spring Training.  Park, enter, and chill on the berm.  Very fun atmosphere.  And then mama takes her concourse stroll.  No veggie burgers.  No veggie dogs.  Not even the dire circumstance fruit, cheese, salad option.  But wait.  Rounding the last bend I looked up with a total sense of defeat at one of the last concession stand menus and could not believe my eyes. 

Not veggie burger or veggie patty.  But a Vegan Burger.  This was a first from any major or minor league stadiums I had been too.  Someone finally understood that there are vegan baseball fans who want to eat baseball food too.  I was so friggin excited.  I wasn’t ready to order and eat yet, but I was giddy.  I literally stood in line just to talk to the worker about it.  They were delighted at my excitement and said that when I come back and ate it, I needed to tell them how it was because they had never had one.  They also, said, "yeah, we also have that Tomahawk Shrimp!"  Which just reminded me that not everyone knows what vegan means, but they generally mean well.  Later in the game I went back and for $12.25 I purchased my vegan burger with vegan pepper jack cheese, vegan sriracha mayo, arugula, tomato and pickled red onion served on a warm pretzel roll with a side of fries.  Yes, please.  I stopped at another stand for plain tater tots for Lennon and met Terry who had a smile and energy that lit up the concourse.  She was happy for me and couldn’t wait to try the vegan burger herself.  Terry rocked.  Hi Terry (sorry, I suck at selfies)!!!

And then I ate.  And ate.  And ate.  

And then it was gone.  

And I was once again happy.  SCORE!!!!!!!

The day ended with several more balls, including a toss up to moi of an official spring training league ball from the Marlins pitching coach. One for the books.

My point is, if you keep asking, you will find it.  And the more we ask in more places, the more likely we are to start seeing more options and changes. I always make it a point to thank someone in charge for whatever option I was able to find.  It reminds them that we are not all the stereotypical barefoot, granola crunching, tree hugging, tie-dye wearing people you see in movies and on TV (but I love them too, please tell them to subscribe J).  Many of us are just normal everyday people who participate in life and activities and just want to eat things that did not come from an animal or involve hurting an animal for whatever our reason(s).

So speak up, vote with your dollars and say thanks where it applies.  And most importantly PLAY BALL!!!

Now go have a rock star day.