Surprising my son with tickets to Royals games for his birthday! Wondering if I need to upgrade our experience at Kauffman...
Hey y'all!
My son is a huge Bobby Witt Jr. fan and has never been to an MLB game before. He had a great first season in Little League and his report card was fantastic so I'm surprising him with a weekend trip to KC in July to see the Royals vs Padres games at his birthday tomorrow! I know the Royals aren't having the greatest season right now but my son will be over-the-moon to experience a few live games, and hopefully get a chance to see Bobby play a bit over the course of the 3 games!
My question lies in whether I've ordered the wrong package. I went with the best seats that I could afford (200's for Saturday/300's for Sunday), I didn't want to spend more than I could afford for the Crown Club or 100's since I'd heard it's hard to meet players at the dugouts anyway. Instead I got us the 'Pre-Game Tour' on Saturday because I saw that we got to watch the Batting Practice before the game, and I'd heard that was really the only chance to possibly get a handshake or autograph. An autograph would be amazing but we don't necessarily NEED an autograph from Bobby (Bobby became my son's favorite player when he pulled a BWJ Autograph/Patch Topps card literally the first time we ever opened baseball packs), but it'd absolutely make the trip more memorable if there was a chance that he could get a picture with Bobby or shake his hand even. Or any of the Royals honestly, I know Bobby probably doesn't make a fan appearance every day and I'll make sure he knows that there is no guaranteed way to meet the players.
That said, I was just scrolling through old Reddit threads about how to meet players/get autographs and saw that several people were referring to the 'Batting Practice from Field Level' or 'Early Bird Batting Practice' if you wanted any chance of speaking to the players. Is that the truth of the matter? The Pre-Game Tour says that we'll be watching from the 'Seating Bowl'. If there is no chance with the Pre-Game Tour I may see if I can reach out to someone at Kauffman stadium and ask if I can upgrade us to the 'Batting Practice from Field Level'. I really can't afford it, but I've already spent so much on this trip that I'd love to try to make it as memorable as possible, and I need a little help to know what would give us the best chance of having the best trip possible.
Any help would be appreciated! I know people say you have a chance if you can wait at the parking lot entrance, but we're staying at an Airbnb a few miles from the stadium and will probably be taking an Uber to the stadium every day, so we won't be in any of the parking lots...unless that's literally our only chance. I'd rather spend time in the stadium and trying out some of that famous KC BBQ! Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!