Despite having been to more baseball games in his first 8 years than most people have been to their whole lives, my son has not yet really gotten in to baseball. He’ll put up with games to eat ice cream and nachos, but mostly he wants to play Nintendo DS or leave.

Someday he’ll appreciate all those family togetherness hours at the ballpark, but not yet. Which is why it surprised me a couple times last season when he brought up Jay Bruce. If we were watching the game on t.v., he’d perk up when Bruce came to bat, he’d ask me if Bruce was the best player on the team, and once he even said that Bruce was his favorite player. A startling pronouncements indeed from a kid whose favorite part about the ballpark is the Dippin’ Dots.

I finally asked him why all the interest in Bruce, and worked out that it was because we’d met him in person once, at a Reds Heads event. I hadn’t thought much about the 30 seconds in which we walked through the Reds Hall of Fame, got a quick autograph and a quick photo, but apparently it had quite the lasting impact on my boy.

Which is why I’m planning on dragging the family all the way out to Cincinnati this December for Redsfest. Who knows which chance interaction could finally flip the switch that turns on his dormant baseball fan gene?

Reds Heads memberships are only part of the excitement fans can experience at Redsfest this year. More than 50 current and former Reds players and coaches will be there, including Brandon Phillips, Bronson Arroyo, Joey Votto and Reds Heads Captain Jay Bruce! Plus, there are all kinds of fun, interactive games, from indoor baseball fields and batting cages to the return of the KOI Redsfest Raceway and an appearance by the Harlem Globetrotters!