Heidi Parod, left, and Katu Allen shown their support for the San Francisco Giants as the team plays the Pittsburgh Pirates at Oracle Park on Mother’s Day.
Brontë Wittpenn/S.F. Chronicle
Before the baseball season began, Dawn Harris gave her husband and two sons an ultimatum. “I said, ‘I’m going to the Giants game on Mother’s Day, and you guys can come or not.”
It was not an easy decision because Harris lives in exile, in Huntington Beach, a seven-hour drive across the Orange County line. But they were in line at Oracle Park an hour before it opened, to make sure she would get at least one Mother’s Day gift, a padded black Giants tote bag that was a giveaway item.
“I planned the whole thing. I bought the tickets, which weren’t cheap. I got the hotel,” Harris said from her seat in the middle, flashing her orange nail polish. Her husband, Josh, was to her right and her sons, Nick, 23 and Joey, 25, both students at Chico State, to her left.
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“She could have anything she wanted,” said Josh, trying to act selfless, “and this is what she picked.”
There were a lot who felt the same way. Mother’s Day is a tradition with the Giants, who have a mom-specific giveaway before the game plus the bigger reward after the game of being invited onto the field to run the bases with their kids.
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But swag and perks are not what moms are about. They are about being the most loyal fans in baseball, and definitely more forgiving of the team than their husbands.
“The way we love our family and our kids, that’s the way we love our baseball team,” said Joanna Nunez, 40, of San Jose, who was with her husband, Bobby, 39; son, Aiden, 17; and daughter Olivia, 11. “When the Giants lose, I love them more.”
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It has been a season to test that resolve. The Giants, at 15-24, are in last place in the division and already trading away members of the family when it is just a quarter of the way through the season.
As a reward for her seven-hour drive from Orange County, Dawn Harris saw her Giants lose 13-3 on Saturday evening. She grew up in San Jose and has been a fan since the Candlestick years. She became a farmer in the Central Valley and has since moved deep into Dodger country. The farther away she gets, the more loyal she becomes.
“We love our kids even when they are jerks,” she explained, “so even when our team is disappointing, you’ve got to stick with them.”
Katu Allen and Heidi Parod proved this by arriving from Fairfield with handmade signs. “Happy Mothers Day to Us,” read the one held by Parod. “Mama wants a win,” read Allen’s. If the Giants delivered on their end, Parod promised to deliver on hers and run those bases like she meant it. Maybe slide in at home.
“Hell, yes,” she said.
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Sunday’s game was a sellout. The Giants showed their appreciation for moms by wearing pink stockings and sleeves in tribute to Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Some players on each team used pink bats, and the Giants catcher wore a bright pink chest protector.
But the game did not start well for the home side. The first hitter walked, stole second and took third on a wild throw from the new catcher. The next hitter singled, and the Pirates had a run. The first “boo” rang out from the crowd but it was a man’s voice, not a mom’s.
Amy Simayn, 40, of Pleasanton asked for tickets to a Giants game for Christmas. Given her choice, she picked Mother’s Day and brought along husband Adrian and their two kids, Jacob, 10, and Emily, 8.
It’s our first time at a major league ballgame,” said Amy, who had her kids practicing their fielding, in the event of foul balls, and baserunning.
“We trained in our backyard last night,” she said. “We’re ready.”
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Lauren Browne holds her 1-year-old daughter, Aaliyah, while watching the game with her mother, Sheila Secchitano, during Mother’s Day at the San Francisco Giants’ game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Oracle Park.
Brontë Wittpenn/S.F. Chronicle
No one was more ready than Lauren Browne, 35, of Angwin, who was there in her replica jersey, running shoes and shorts, ready to take off despite a temperature that barely cracked 50. A nurse in St. Helena, Browne is training for a marathon and planned to run the bases with her son Kendrick, 4, while her daughter, Aaliyah, 1, stayed in the stands with her grandma, Sheila Secchitano, and Lauren’s husband, Kenneth Browne.
There were more boos when a Pirate hit a home run in the second inning for a 2-0 lead, but nothing that happened on the field could ruin Browne’s day. It was the only gift she asked for.
“We love having a family day at the ballpark watching our favorite team,” she said.
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