Lucky Elaine?

“Elaine Fulps is thrilled about the prize she won at a minor league baseball game. But she's hoping she doesn't have to collect on it anytime soon. Fulps, 60, won a $10,000 paid funeral at Tuesday night's Grand Prairie AirHogs game.”

This little bit of news reminded me of the time we attended a minor league game in Augusta. My mom and I were visiting my sister and her family. We went to see the local team, the Green Jackets (think Augusta Open where the winner receives a green jacket) with a wasp like creature for their mascot. There were probably 1,000 people attending the game.

The game was fun and between each half inning they were giving out prizes. The big prize for the evening was a boat and trailer. The other prizes were dinners at local restaurants, free dry cleaning, etc. The numbers called were all around our numbers and they called out a lot of numbers. My mom and I figured we were going to be the big winners. We decided we would sell our return airline tickets, rent a vehicle, and haul the boat and trailer back to my house in Houston. (My mom didn’t want the boat; she said she would give it to me provided I paid the taxes on it.) Finally they called the winning number … I missed it by 4 numbers – some old lady behind us won. Let me tell you there was no joy in Mudville (OK so it was Augusta) for me.

We still had the last half of the ninth inning and I was hopefully to win a dinner, a car wash, tickets to another Green Jackets game, or something I could give to my sister. My odds after all were pretty good – just about everyone in the stadium had won something. My brother-in-law sneaks up to the announcer’s booth and tries to get him to call my number and announce that my number didn’t win anything. The announcer said they had rules that prohibited that sort of stunt. (Brother-in-law should not try to trick most wonderful sister-in-law.)

It has been a long time since I have been to a minor league game, it is time I went back – maybe my luck has changed, after all Elaine Fulps was lucky.

ElaineH.