Interview #22: The Cool Grandma

Denita Simonsen from Chicago, IL

Intro

Denita Sorenson is Brandon’s mother-in-law (I’ll link to his story at the end of this article). He married her daughter, Kelly, and they have two of her five grandkids, Carter and Kendall. Brandon sent her my site and she told him she really enjoyed reading it, so I had him get us in touch to talk about baseball. I only knew a little bit about her, the brief summary Brandon gave me, and she was hesitant at first because she didn’t think she was that interesting.

But, as I always say, everyone’s story is interesting if you get to the good parts. Like, going to games with her grandson. How awesome would that be to have a baseball bond with your grandma? I love both my grandmothers, but our relationship is mainly centered around family reunions, lunches and birthday cards. If my grandma wanted to take me to baseball games growing up, everyone in school would’ve said mine was the coolest (they’re both lovely grandmothers, don’t worry).

She was born in Chicago in 1951 and grew up on the north side, so you’d think that’s where her baseball fandom began, but her father hated baseball and it never made it into their house. Even though she was there right as Ernie Banks won back-to-back MVPs! So when she moved to Arizona she got her first taste of the sport, playing sandlot games with neighbor kids (I asked, but sadly, none of the kids had cool nicknames like “Smalls” or “Squints” or “Ham” or “Benny the Jet”), and also with the minor league team here at the time, the Phoenix Firebirds.

Then when the Diamondbacks began play in 1998, baseball became her sport. There’s also some cool stories from her long career as a nurse practitioner and other parts where she compares her childhood to her daughter’s to her granddaughters in terms of how much access girls had to play sports in their respective generations. Plus, she gives her side to the story about almost jinxing the no-hitter.

Being the cool Grandma

Did you guys go to any spring training games yet?

“Not yet. The only reason that we haven't gone is because my game buddy is really my grandson, Carter, and school is a little tougher to get out at this age. We've got tickets for opening night, though. That's what they gave me for my birthday. Opening Day tickets. Carter and I do it together and we love it.”

So how many games do you guys go to?

“We don’t go to that many anymore. I say that, but usually it's more like half a dozen, probably more like 10 or 12.”

What was your most fun game with him?

“Oh the high point was the World Series game (2023 game 5 at Chase Field). We had nice seats and just being there, I was just proud to be there and I was sad to see them lose.”

When did you retire?

“I retired in January of 2016.”

Is that when you started going with Carter? How many games were you going to?

“Yeah, probably a dozen games a year. The issue with that was as much his school schedule than anything else because he's a sophomore now, so taking time off school is not as doable as it used to be.”

(note: I should definitely not tell Carter that I used to ditch school, sneak home and unhook all the landlines from the phone so my mom didn’t get a phone call, and go to all the weekday A’s games as a junior and senior)

“I would have gotten season tickets if I knew that I could get there because I enjoyed it. I like to go, and I have friends that go as well, not just Carter. But it's mostly Carter. My son has a couple of daughters who play softball, and occasionally they would go too, but it's really kind of a me and Carter thing. It's kind of our special bond. It's hard to find things to bond with a young boy with his grandma. You don't have much in common with your grandmother. You just don't. I want him, when he thinks of me in years to come, he's going to think of baseball. And I like that so.”

So your grandkids keep you active in retirement?

“Yeah, I've got five. We know about the softball stuff, we have two girls that are playing. One is playing high school softball and the other one’s playing club, so they're always doing something. Just the softball schedules alone between high school and club…”

That'll keep you busy.

“Yeah. And then another one is in cheer. So luckily most of her stuff is out of town. But, you know, Carter plays soccer and Kendall plays volleyball. So there's always stuff going on somewhere.”

The North Sider who never went to Wrigley Field

Was it your favorite sport growing up?

“No, actually. We're from Chicago, from the north side, parents raised on the north side. I had an aunt that lived across the street from Wrigley Field and never ever went to a ball game, didn't have one on television. My father hated baseball, said it was for wimps, and it was wimpy and slow, didn’t like it. So it really wasn't until later because we didn’t have professional baseball here until 1998. So we would watch it occasionally in high school. We would go to the triple-A games (the Phoenix Firebirds). So no, I can't say it was my favorite.”

You were in Chicago, which is a baseball crazy town…

“Not in my house. I remember saying to my dad, ‘How did we grow up without the Cubs? You lived on the north side your whole life.’ And he just said baseball is too slow, don't like it. So I never saw it in the house.”

Did you have any brothers or Sisters?

“I have two younger sisters. There really wasn't much of an option for girls. Even Little League, we didn’t play. We played in the street a lot. We did have a very large empty lot behind our house when we first moved here from Chicago. All the kids around us, which there were many, gathered pretty much every day and made a diamond out of it. We played softball every day after school.”

And you moved out to Arizona when?

“I was 9 (1960).”

And the boys welcomed you to play?

“Oh yeah.”

So you were like The Sandlot?

“Yeah. And I loved it. I loved it. We couldn’t play it in school, there just wasn't much option for us. I did love to play, and when we couldn't play in the sandlot, we played in the street.”

How many kids were out there playing sandlot ball? Anybody have any nicknames?

“No, I don't think so. The family behind us had five kids and, let's see, then there were three next to them and across the street they had four. There were a lot of kids in the area. So we had a game. It was a lot of fun. And like I said, when the weather was such that the field was all muddy, we played in the street, so it's like we were trying, you know?”

Did you play in the summers?

“Yeah. At night. I mean in the evenings, not at night because we didn’t have lights obviously, but yeah.”

Trying to play sports

And then your daughter, Kelly, is also very athletic.

“Oh my, yeah.”

So Kelly didn't have the same opportunities as today's girls do, but she really wanted to play.

“She did, and there was Scottsdale Miss Softball, which two of my granddaughters are playing now, and Kelly was able to do that when she was young and she really embraced that. She liked it and she was a catcher because she liked to knock people down. She's my daughter. She was good, and she's one of those that she could just pick anything up, you know? It's like she’s never played volleyball before, but give her an hour, she’ll figure it out. So that's her thing.

We just didn't have a lot of the options that we do now. I mean the Scottsdale Miss, OK, that was fine for softball. I don't know how much there was above that, but she wanted to dance, so she was into dance and cheer and I encouraged her. I think Kelly would be more bought into baseball like me if she had the time. My son is hugely into baseball, but unfortunately the Yankees, so we argue about that a lot. Both my kids, both their families, very sports focused.”

Baseball as a common language

“One day at work, I'm a nurse practitioner, we were making rounds and I went into a room with a patient who was a young woman, a Saudi Princess. And she was sitting on a little bench next to one of our resident physicians, who was from South America and doing a specialty rotation with us. He was South American, also young, 20’s. And the two were sitting on the couch next to each other, and he's got a big pad of paper and he's drawing her a picture and it’s got a diamond. And he's saying, now after they get this many chances to hit the ball… And I walked in, he goes, ‘I'm really trying to explain baseball to her.’ She goes, ‘Yeah, I really am interested in this game. I want to learn it.’

And I walked out and I thought, that is somehow more important than than it was looking at the moment. These two people couldn't be less alike, from different parts of the world, different socioeconomic classes, and neither of them spoke good English. But you know, drawings work and they were both talking about our game and how much it means to everybody. And I thought, it's really a uniter. Baseball's for everybody. Old people, young people, people who have talent, people who don't, everybody. And I've never forgotten that, it’s probably been 30 years.

When we started playing ball again after 9/11, I was so proud that we were able to do that. That baseball put it into perspective that this is just a game, like Mark Grace said, this is just a game. We need to get ourselves put together first and then come back. And it showed itself to be more than a game because it kind of brought everybody together at a time that was horrid. I was proud that we were able to do that.”

The Diamondbacks

What makes baseball your favorite?

“I want a good game. I like a good, close game. I like the action. The pitcher’s duels don't interest me. I want to see guys go on base. I wanna see them sliding and knocking each other over, falling into the dugout, catching balls. I love watching Jake McCarthy (video below of her favorite play ever) do all this cool stuff. And of course, Corbin Carroll, every time he gets on the field…”

Do you watch on tv too?

“I never miss them on television. I like the game. You know, it's very cerebral. I appreciate that. I like being able to see the replays and the important plays more than once. When you're seeing it at the field, you always want to see that again and sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. I appreciate hearing the announcers throw their two cents in.

So, I don't mind watching them at home. And you know, I live out here (northern Scottsdale, about 20 miles from Chase Field), so it's a long way.

When I was working, we had access to a lot of the suites. Every time they called and said, ‘We've got tickets’, I said tell me how many, I’ll be there and I never missed them.”

Do you in 2000, 2001, maybe certain players drew you in also?

“Yes, absolutely. Engaging, engaging. I'm using that word a lot, but it really matters. I met Luis Gonzalez in 2000. He didn't live too far from us and we would see him at the store a lot. There was a lot of other players at that time, but he was the one that actually put a face to the team.”

Steve Finley was in center.

“Steve Finley was. And he was… attractive.”

“And they weren't that great the first year and obviously the second year they won the World Series and that's crazy. And there were a couple years in between 2001 and my retiring, I kind of didn't watch at all. I just had too much going on in my own life. Not just my personal life, but my professional life as well. I just wasn't really interested. There were times when I’d get home the last thing I cared about was turning on the TV. Sleeping was really more important but I always knew that it would be there. Like when I did retire, it was like it was like I turned on the TV, you know? And so that's been a huge blessing for me.”

So you went to the World Series in 2001, what was that like?

“I got a call saying that they're having a World Series party, and do you want to come? Yes! And they picked us up somewhere and bussed us in and it was the suite behind the plate. All these very rich, high society people were there. And so I walked in and said hello to everybody got my seat. It was in the corner, first row and just sat there. I was so annoyed that all of these people were standing in the back talking to each other and laughing, like, you're not watching the effing game. What is wrong with you? It's the World Series. This suite cost, like your year’s salary and no one’s watching. It's very different, I feel like I didn't share it with anybody. I just watched it. I loved it from the minute I saw the fly over. I just, kind of didn't talk to anybody else until the game was over and they told us to leave.”

How did that compare to 2023 with your grandson?

“The game with Carter was just better because I was with him and he was very excited and. We didn't win, but it's OK. It was more special. The first game (in 2001) was better. This one was more special though.

He was excited and he's like we're going to go get a T-shirt right? It's just magic. It's just such a cool thing to see, you know. And I mean, obviously it would have been better had we won, but I’m so pleased to have gone this far. I can't wait for this season to start.”

So you think this current Diamondbacks team is as interesting as the 2001 version?

“Yeah, they are. I do get a little emotionally involved. We traded Goldschmidt. That was pretty painful, but losing David Peralta was almost as bad. Watching what they're doing now with this group of outfielders, I mean, how can you not get excited? To watch Corbin Carroll run the bases? And I love our announcers, they're so excited, so it really makes it all just more fun.”

Almost jinxing a no-hitter

You basically you had to learn a lot of baseball on your own because you didn't grow up in it. Was that hard?

“Mm-hmm.”

Like when Brandon said that you almost ruined the no-hitter.

“He will never let me forget that.”

Were you bored during the no-hitter?

“I love it. I just like being there, but it's like, I get that you guys were excited, but nothing was happening here. I mean, the only people that are doing anything are the pitcher and the catcher.”

So you were trying to jinx it.

“I'm not really big on, you know, good luck, bad luck. But when I said something, like wait a minute, is this a no-hitter, they were looking around, you know, nobody ever says that. And I was like yeah, because we up here are going to determine what's going on.”

That’s true, but fans are superstitious.

“I enjoyed learning the rules and understanding why things are. I like the strategy. Why did Torey Lovullo pull his pitcher right now? And why did this happen? It's like there's reasoning behind this, they're not just flipping a coin. There's thought and process behind all this, and I enjoy that.”

Do you get into any of the advanced statistics?

“I like some of it, others I find incredibly boring. I mean, does anybody really care about some of these? I think it's fun to see how fast Corbin Carroll could run per second. I don't care about the launch angle. Nobody sees that, I could see it 100 times and I won't see it, so I don't care about a lot of that. I like the physicality of it, but I like the fact that baseball is also deeper than most people give it credit for.

I definitely see it for more than one angle. I really like these guys that are so incredibly athletic. You can't help but just enjoy watching these guys and we've got so many this year and I mean the outfield is just crazy. It's really fun, but I like the other piece of it too, and I really like to understand what makes this game tick.”