Katie Hatfield Knight

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I come from a long line of sports lovers. While not everyone is a sports fanatic, I love the way it can be both a connection and a conversation. I have spent many hours watching baseball both on television and in the park. My roots are deep in the Atlanta Braves, over the years my family has expanded their teams to include both Tampa Bay Rays and the Cincinnati Reds. Lexington is only about an hours drive from The Great American Ball Park, so the travel is quick and doesn’t require an overnight stay. When the Reds took on the Rays we decided to go up with my family and introduce Leo to baseball. Here are five takeaways/advice I would give anyone planning to take a toddler to the park:

1. Take your stroller – but check it in at guest accommodations : Before we went I anxiously scanned the internet to try to get any information that I could about taking my toddler. I decided I needed my stroller, but wasn’t sure how it would pan out once we got there. Once we found our seats, I asked the usher what we needed to do with the stroller. I want to add that I took my smallest and lightest stroller (Heres the link! Summer Infant 3D Lite). He suggested we either fold it up and put it under our seats or check it in at guest accommodations. We tried option number one and found even though it was small it really didn’t fit and was a tripping hazard for us and anyone else who needed to walk past us to get to their seats. We decided to go back to guest accommodations. They were incredibly friendly and took our stroller. They will give you a little slip of paper to hold onto and when you are ready to give your stroller back you simply give it back to them. I asked if you could get it out and recheck it just incase he wanted to stroll around the park, and they said you could – you would just get a different number each time. It was super simple. I will add I did see some stray strollers park around the stadium, but I consider that to be a little risky.
2. Get your first game certificate : As mentioned before this was Leo’s first game. We were able to document this experience by going to guest accommodations (where we checked our stroller) and asking for a certificate! They asked for his name and quickly printed it out. It included the date of the game and who they were playing – so it made it extra special that it was two of the teams we regularly watch.
3. Go to the playground : Honestly, we probably spent more time at the playground than we did our seats. Leo loved climbing up the stairs and going down the slides. The area was fenced off, but didn’t have a gate. It was a good place to run off some steam, and would be appropriate for older kids too.
4. You CAN take your diaper bag : This was another thing that I was stressing about before we went. There are some rules with dimensions, but my Fawn bag backspace made the cut without any issue.
5. Eat before you go : We were running behind and didn’t make it up in time to eat dinner before entering the park, but I really wish we would have. As it usually goes, the food is pricey but honestly there was so much going on that Leo wouldn’t eat anyway. He was so busy looking around and moving, it was hard to get even a few bites in. We went to a 6pm game, so by the time we left it was pretty late. We ended up making him something quick once we got back to the house, but made a late night later.

Overall, it was a great experience. We didn’t see much of the game, but Leo had such fun walking around and meeting new people. Everyone was incredibly kind and friendly. We plan to go back. We are even thinking about signing Leo up for the kids club! I’ll let you know if we do!