Seattle Mariners - A day to remember...

Let's first reflect back to August 28th, 2013. The Mariners game that Uncle Bart and Aunt Christy took Mark and Ashton too. That night is what led to this great experience we had with the Mariners. To recap, Mark caught a foul ball and gave it to Ashton. Ashton thought he was supposed to give it back to the Mariners and threw it back. Poor guy below them who was hit by the ball. The video of this wound up on ESPN's Not Top 10 plays. 

Because of this video circulating around, Bart's friend, Bill Kelliher, shared it with Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln and we were able to be guests at their batting practice before the game last Monday night.  So I want to give a huge thank you to Bart and especially his friend Bill. They were the ones who made this whole experience possible for us. Without Bill knowing so many people out there Monday night, we wouldn't have had the experience we did.  It was amazing all the people that Bill knew and introduced us to. That was how the Manager, Eric Wedge, came up to us too. Thanks you so much Bill!

Ready to go. He was excited!

Waiting for the Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln in the lobby.

Howard brought us to batting practice. We found out that the other guest around the field weren't able to go up to the batting cage.  But since we were with Howard, he took Ashton and Mark and then came back for Bart, Bill and I. What a privilege it was to be escorted by Howard. Ashton seemed in awe to be that close to the players and action around him.

Oh my! How exciting! Howard was able to pull some strings and get Ashton's favorite player, Nick Franklin, to come and meet him.  He even signed a ball for him.

Thank you Howard for letting us all take part in coming out tonight. We all had such a wonderful experience being this close.  It truly meant a lot to all of us, and what a wonderful thing for Ashton to take part in. He is a huge sports boy and this truly was amazing for him.

Manager Eric Wedge was happy to see that Ashton was a lefty.  Bill says Ashton has 5 times a better chance making it to the majors as a lefty.

Tom McNamara, Mariners director of Scouting, wanted to know what high school he will be attending.

Is he going to be a pitcher......

Or perhaps practicing to be a catcher.

 Thumbs up! 

We have great seats!  3rd row.  

Proudly showing his autographed ball from Nick Franklin, with Nick in the background on 2nd base!

There's Uncle Bart and Bill. He looks like he is looking right at us.

What an amazing night! Memories that will last forever.