Taking Your Child Out to the (MLB) Ballgame

A few weeks back I had a work event at a Texas Rangers’ game when they were playing the Oakland A’s. Since it was short notice I decided to take McKenna with me. Of course since I have never taken a child to a MLB game I decided to do a little research before hand. Here a few things that I have gathered on taking your child out to the ballgame.

Globe Life Park – Arlington, TX

Unlike some other sporting events, I was shocked to find that children under the height of 36 inches are permitted into Texan Rangers games for free. The rule is they have to sit in your lap, but if the game is not crowded like the one we went to they can sit in the seat beside you. Rules on free admittance for children are different at other stadiums, for more information on another team’s guidelines you will find this post helpful.

Taking it all in

Sort of…

Strollers are allowed in the game. I did not take one because I didn’t want to be responsible for a stroller, but you can bring one if you do not feel like carrying your child throughout the stadium. I looked into this beforehand and there is no place to park or store your stroller at the stadium. It also helped that I was with a big group so my coworkers took turns carrying McKenna.

Getting to the stadium, I thought about taking an Uber because I like the idea of being let out right in front of Globe Life Park instead of a long walk to the stadium in the summer heat. Taking an Uber is also convenient if you decide you would like to have a beer or two with your ballpark hotdog. Unfortunately Uber in Dallas does not have the option to request an Uber with a car seat and with no place to store McKenna’s massive car seat at the ballpark I had no choice but to drive. Luckily we had a gathering before the game at Humperdink’s close to the ballpark to collect our tickets and one of my coworker’s had a parking pass so we were able to catch a ride with them.

You can bring a diaper bag and baby food into the ballpark, but you must keep in mind that there are bag size limits. Make sure to always check the bag restrictions before you go. Your bag will be searched before you enter the game.

During the game it can be difficult to keep your child entertained for all nine innings so make sure to bring them some items that will keep them preoccupied. I am happy to say that McKenna made it through the whole game, but we didn’t sit in the stadium seat the entire time. At the beginning of the game a section of the Jack Daniels’ Restaurant was rented our for us for the first few hours so we got to eat and watch the game in the air conditioning while we waited for the sun to go down.

Taking your child out to the ballgame should involve a little ice-cream or in our case a lot of ice-cream!

Hanging out with Jack

Taking your child out to the ballgame should be a fun experience for everyone. All together McKenna’s first MLB game was great minus the fact that our home team lost. I look forward to bringing her to another game this season and next time watching the Rangers win!