For the past year, I have been working with Major League Baseball on some solutions to make the in-the-park experience more accessible – and ENJOYABLE – for visually impaired fans. I promise to share more on that in a future story.
My contacts at MLB generously offered me two tickets to the 2026 All-Star Game being held in Philadelphia on July 14th. Upon gratefully accepting their kind and surprising offer, I received great seats 14 rows behind the visitor dugout.
Anyone who watched will tell you the game itself was underwhelming; it was a pitchers’ duel with very little hits. When it comes to the festivities, however, both pre- and during the game, the Philadelphia Phillies and Major League Baseball knocked it out of the park.
The perfect pairing of America’s National Pasttime with the nation’s 250th Birthday was a beautiful thing. The Declaration of Independence was signed two miles down the road from Citizens Bank Park. Two miles! Stronger than the aromas of hot dogs, popcorn and cheesesteaks, the smell of freedom was heavy in the air. If you are a frequent visitor to Sister Rain then you know that any Revolutionary War component is enough to make my musket fire. You throw in the boys of summer and you could knock me over with a quill pen.
When the starting lineups were announced, each player entered the field through a Liberty Bell-shaped tunnel, after which they walked to a table to sign a Declaration that will be placed in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Minutemen and members of all branches of our military stood at attention behind both Jennifer Hudson, who sang “America The Beautiful,” and Philadelphia’s own Patti LaBelle who performed her own rendition of the “National Anthem,” complete with a flyover by four F-16 fighter pilots from the 177th Fighter Wing (the “Jersey Devils”) of the New Jersey Air National Guard.
The U.S. Air Force Wings of Blue parachute team successfully delivered the ceremonial first-pitch game ball and flags into the park.
The Clydesdales made an appearance as did the mascots from all thirty clubs. If you want to talk about diversity in America, all you have to do is look at this group. My husband kept track, he saw fans from every team in the league. The unity was undeniable. I mean the Kansas City Sluggerrr (a lion) and the (Seattle) Mariner Moose high-fiving? We even witnessed a Yankees fan buy a Mets fan a beer! God Bless America.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, usually seen running around Nationals Park during Washington Nationals home games, would not have missed the celebration for all the tea in Boston Harbor.
Of course a certain large green Phounding Phather was there, ready to serve in any and all capacity. Beloved in Philadelphia, many consider the Phillie Phanatic the best mascot in all of sports. Even if you don’t agree, you cannot deny that he is the ultimate fan whose childlike wonder of all things reminds us all who we once were and who we always hope to be. There could be no better ambassador for the game of baseball.
Not usually a fan of fireworks, I would have been disappointed if they had not been in abundance. The entire evening was an explosion of patriotism and the joyful lightness that comes from spending a July night in a ballpark in America, honoring her and the game that she loves.
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