Diamondbacks Single Game Tickets on Sale/Promotional Schedule Announced

The latest sign of spring finally arriving occurred this morning when the Arizona Diamondbacks began selling single game tickets for the 2010 season. Up until this point the only way to get tickets to 2010 regular season games was to buy some type of ticket package.

Beginning today fans are now able to select game-by-game tickets for the upcoming season. This includes not just the 81 regular season games but also the final two Spring Training games against the Chicago Cubs.

It is not just the single game ticket sales that make today exciting. The Diamondbacks also introduce their promotional calendar outlining the various stadium giveaways that will occur for 2010.

As a diehard baseball fan it doesn’t really matter to me whether the team has a stadium giveaway or not I will still be in the fans. As a father of five children I can tell you the promotional calendar is paramount for getting kids to the ballpark over the course of a 162-game season.

Our season tickets rarely if ever go unused. I am always at the game. I will bring with me either my wife Trina or one of the kids. During the first couple of weeks of the season everyone is enthusiastic about going to the ballpark with dad.

By August the kids begin making comments about how long the baseball season is and that they didn’t sign up for attending 81 home games. It’s funny, you would think after 13 seasons of the same itinerary they would come to understand how long baseball season is but I get the same argument every season.

One of the things that make this manageable is the promotional calendar. The Arizona Diamondbacks usually have several stadium giveaways to maintain interest by the kids or those less dedicated to baseball.

When the promotional calendar is announced we will sit around the kitchen table with a calendar and a copy of the proposed giveaways and begin to map out each of the 81 games in a season.

We will start with birthdays and anniversaries making sure I take the birthday child or my wife to the game on their special day. Holidays will follow as we decide who will go to the game on each observed holiday where the Diamondbacks are in town.

This is usually also the day when I make my case for at least one or two away series to see if I can talk the family into going on vacation with the Diamondbacks. In typical fashion my plea for a road series is met with boos and a stern lecture about how messed up my priorities are.

Finally we will go through the promotional calendar with each child selecting a giveaway game they would like to attend. In cases of two children claiming the same giveaway there will be some negotiation or trading of a future promotion to be named later.

There are of course exceptions. On bobble head games I’ve learned it is just easier to get tickets for everyone rather than hear them argue over who gets which bobble head.

What I find most interesting is seeing which stadium giveaways my kids think are the “must have” items. There is always one item I least expect being the wildcard of stadium giveaways.

In years past these included Webkinz, Beanie Babies, Baxter Toothbrush Holders, and Diamondbacks lunch boxes. This season I expected it to be the Webkinz Pug being offered on April 11th. I could not have been more wrong.

This year the giveaway that brought the most heated discussions was the promotional item being given on May 22 against the Toronto Blue Jays. To start with it is 70’s night meaning they can dress up and party like a Disco Duck.

The giveaway that night is a D-backs Garden Gnome Figurine. I literally had five kids nearly come to blows over who was going to get a lawn gnome. I could not have been any more shocked if the Diamondbacks had announced they were changing their colors back to Purple and Teal.

After several minutes of heated discussion and a few tears it became evident that I needed to buy extra tickets for that game. I have no idea what the garden gnome looks like but I know that I will be bringing five excited children to the stadium hoping to get their hands on this protector of the garden.

I can’t decide whether garden gnomes are just that cool or if my kids are just that weird. I’m thinking maybe it is a little of both. I’m just hoping none of them decide they want to go to the game dressed as a garden gnome from the 70’s. That would just be too weird even for my family.