In 1970s Brooklyn, New York, elementary school students had an hour’s break for lunch. This reporter and her sister sometimes walked the ten minutes home, had lunch there, then walked back to school with time to spare.
On one such afternoon, our father was home, having taken the day off from his teaching job to do some work on another project. As we were walking back to school, we heard him calling us, turned, and were surprised to see him running to catch up with us.
“Hey, girls,” he said in a low, conspiratorial voice. “Wanna play hooky?”
Before this reporter could say “Let’s Go Mets!” she, her sister, and her dad were sitting in the stands at Shea Stadium on a Tuesday afternoon cheering on her hapless team with joy while the rest of her classmates were practicing cursive and learning multiplication.
Most weekday games are played at night now, with stadium lighting and attention paid to things like work schedules, school terms, and advertising dollars. There are, however, still the occasional afternoon games played during the week, and with them the chance to skip work or school to engage in some good-natured, old-fashioned hooky-playing. This reporter sought out people participating in such mischief at Thursday’s Orioles-Braves game.
“Shouldn’t you be at work right now?” this reporter asked the woman sitting next to her on the third base side in the lower level of the stadium.
“Yes. Yes, I should,” replied Lauren Cook, an administrative assistant, whose boss did know she was coming to the game.
It should be noted that not only was Thursday’s game at 1:05 p.m. — smack in the middle of the workday — but a t-shirt giveaway day, as well. The Orioles were making the pull of skipping work nearly irresistible.
“I came here specifically because I wanted a t-shirt, and I was not the first 15,000,” Cook said. “I did not think there would be this many people here on a Thursday at one o’clock.”
Why did she think that?
“Because everyone else should be at work!” Cook exclaimed.
Cook grew up in Baltimore and has always been an Orioles fan. When asked if she felt like she was doing something a little bad by attending this weekday afternoon game, she said, “I do, but I don’t feel bad about it!”
Leisa McCracken, on the other hand, didn’t feel as if she was playing hooky in the slightest. She works at the Franklin County Visitors’ Bureau in Pennsylvania, and she is making an overnight trip of the excursion.
She hesitantly admitted to also being a Braves fan but was rooting for the Orioles as well.
“We have a National League team and an American League team,” McCracken said, and here they were in one stadium.
Part of why coming to this day game didn’t feel like skipping work was because she technically was doing work in the car on the way down, and her boss is also aware of her whereabouts.
“I was answering emails on the way coming down,” McCracken said.
Bill W. works in the financial sector, and traveled from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania to see Thursday’s game. He wasn’t surprised at all to see how many people were in attendance on a weekday afternoon.
“Baltimore’s a good place to play baseball, a good season, good team,” he said. He didn’t exactly feel like he was playing hooky, though. His boss not only knew he was there; his boss was there with him, along with about 10 other employees.
“It’s a company thing,” he said.
The Lipstock family was feeling the pros and cons of an afternoon game, regardless of the day of the week. Seth, a veterinarian, and Elizabeth, a financial planner, have two young children. Night games interfere with bedtime, but day games are hot.
They were at this game, though, because of their commitment to the Orioles and the team’s gratitude.
“Our family had to come to this game because we were at one of the other only day games earlier in the year, and it got very cold and rainy,” Seth said. “And we stayed for it, and we ended up winning in a walk off home run or walk off hit. And they gave us free tickets to come to another game!”
This is a classy move the Orioles have made before, rewarding their most ardent fans who sit through delays and inclement weather with vouchers to future games. The Lipstocks are just not sure if it is better to contend with children in the summertime afternoon heat or children in the throes of cotton candy zoomies three hours past bedtime.
Regardless, they made the trip from Virginia, and even though they are each skipping work (the kids are done with school) neither grown-up feels as if they’re doing anything naughty. Seth’s veterinary practice is large enough to have coverage while he is gone.
Elizabeth took the days off from work and told her boss she was coming to the Orioles game. This was a risk, not for professional reasons, but because her boss is a Yankees fan and she had to endure some ribbing about how well the Yankees are doing. (Seth, originally from New York, is a Mets fan who has adopted the Orioles, and was able to provide needed emotional support for Elizabeth during that trying time.)
For Elizabeth, she’s passing on a family tradition.
“I started coming to these games at Memorial Stadium when I was their age [indicating her sons] so it’s just important to us that we bring them,” she said. “And we just met my new little nephew for the very first time. He’s two months old and he’s watching from the Hilton balcony over there.”
Andrea Bumbrey grew up in Caroline County, Virginia, and works at the Central Office for Fredericksburg City Schools. She was attending the game with her husband Julian and their 17-year-old son. Julian, a teacher, and their son, a rising senior, are finished with school for the year, and Andrea’s supervisor knows she’s at the game, so that sense of skipping work wasn’t hanging over her head.
She did, however, feel a real distinction between coming to a day game during the week and on the weekend.
“It does feel different. I think that is because you get a mental break from work and then you get to go work the next day,” Andrea said. “It just gives you … a different mental feeling. You know, we’re all about mental wellness, mindfulness. I think taking time off in the middle of the week helps with the mindfulness.”
Julian mentioned that he was an Orioles fan growing up, having a distant relative who played on the team.
That is right, Orioles fans, this reporter was interviewing the cousin of Al Bumbry, 1973 American League Rookie of the Year, All-Star, and World Series Champion. Bumbry is in the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame, and an Army veteran who was awarded the Bronze Star, to boot.
Naturally, those who agreed to be interviewed had varying comfort levels revealing their names, their employers, and their jobs given the subject matter of this article. Additionally, given the time of year in this part of the Mid-Atlantic, most children attending the game were already finished with school for the year.
Do not be fooled, though. There were quite a few people approached by this reporter who declined to be interviewed at all for this article once they learned the topic. They unequivocally did not want to be outed as attending a baseball game on a workday.
There are still some true mischief-makers out there playing hooky to watch America’s pastime.
