Catching fly balls at Busch Stadium

Wednesday night, my boyfriend came up with the great idea of inviting our families to a St. Louis Cardinals game. My grandfather was invited, and he had not yet been to the new Busch stadium despite the fact that he's an avid Cards fan. He watches almost every single game.

My grandfather is 93 years old.

Around the 4th inning, my little brother began to joke with him about catching a foul ball and how odd the chances would be that the ball would happen to head to our section, directly behind home plate. Sure enough, within a minute of the comment, I heard a loud THUNK and looked back to see my family scurrying to see what had happened around them, and then my grandfather held it up high - the ball had landed right in our section, and Grandpa didn't let go of the ball the rest of the night. The ball had broken the television in our box seats and landed right at his feet. On top of all of that, the Cards then beat the Astros 3-2. His first night at the new Busch Stadium turned into his most memorable ball game ever - and the first ball he gets to take home to remember it by. It meant a lot to him.

I thought I'd take a moment's break from my usual musings about social media and online marketing and instead share this short story and some charming photos from a night that I will never forget, simply because he won't. And it's all thanks to the thoughtfulness and generosity of friends and family.

All of this combined with my grandfather's regular expressions of excitement or pensiveness as he attentively followed every play of the game, says a lot to me about America's favorite pastime. Baseball seems to have a life of its own in its ability to solidify positive memories, a winning and hopeful spirit, and bring teams, families and friends together.