Joe Kelly

Social Media Night at Busch Stadium

Last night was Social Media Night at Busch Stadium. I really wanted to go, partly because they were doing a Q&A with the players, and partly because I really wanted to tweet and blog about it. So, I did something that I’ve never done before…I went to the baseball game by myself!

The event was held in the Bowtie Bar, a place I had never been. Apparently, it’s the only place at Busch Stadium that serves beer through the entire game, and is open after the game, as well. It was a fun, busy place, and they had a “bottoms up” counter, where there “pour” the beer from the bottom up, thanks to a magnet system in the bottom of the cup. It was fascinating to watch, although I can’t quite figure out why it’s a better method than the more traditional pour!

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It was an amazing night. The Q&A session was great. There was a pretty good crowd, although there were fewer people than I was expecting.

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There were three rookies answering questions: Joe Kelly, Michael Wacha, and Kolten Wong. It was really interesting to hear them talk about their experiences. I learned that Joe Kelly grew up skateboarding in California, Michael Wacha is an Iowa native who was a Cubs fan growing up, and Kolten Wong, being from Hawaii, could only watch ball games on TBS as a child.

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The most exciting part, though, was that they chose the question I submitted via Facebook, and asked Michael Wacha how he handled moving between the minor and major leagues, and how the players on the team made him feel at home in St. Louis. I learned that being sent back down is a great motivator for him to try harder, and, unsurprisingly, the team is very welcoming, and tries to make the new guys feel welcome.

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The seats that came with the Social Media Night ticket were on the Left Field Porch, another place I had never been. The view was decent…not my favorite seats at Busch, but then again, there are no bad seats in Baseball Heaven!

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While I was there, I stopped at the Kohn’s food cart, to buy a “killer pastrami sandwich,” something I’ve been wanting to try for a few months. It was pretty delicious (although the ballpark price was painful to pay!).

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During the game, the Cardinals were also retweeting fans’ Tweets about the game and Social Media Night. I tweeted up a storm, of course, because that’s why I was there. I wasn’t really expecting the Cardinals to notice any of my Tweets, but they did!

Because I was retweeted by the Cardinals, I was entered into a drawing for the night. I wasn’t expecting to win anything…I already hadn’t won any of the give-aways at the Q&A session (one of which was throwing out the first pitch…I was relieved not to win that one!). You can imagine my surprise, then, when I saw a tweet from the Cards on my way home on the train, announcing me as a winner of an autographed photo! The evening had already been so great, but that totally put it over the top for me!

This is the second Social Media Night event I’ve been to now, and I hope it won’t be the last!