Back in 2011, I came up with an idea for a bucket list party. I wanted to create a totally unique, once-in-a-lifetime event for me and my friends. My goal was to produce an experience that my party guests would be telling their kids and grandkids about 50 years later, if they were willing to “go the extra mile.”

The Arizona Diamondbacks have the only stadium where you can watch a major league game while swimming in a pool. I thought that throwing a pool party there would be a unusual experience for my Fullerton friends, so I looked into renting the pool suite. The weekend games get claimed pretty fast, so I got placed on the waiting list. I finally got my reservation for Saturday night July 13, 2013, and quickly sent out “save the date” notices to my most ardent baseball fan friends . The pool suite rental comes with 40 game tickets and was determined to use every one of them.

I figured that if my guests were willing to travel 350 miles to attend a baseball game, I needed to raise the bar and create a “wow” moment. I decided to try and hire a special guest to attend and create an activity around him. I contacted the founder of the Hollywood Autograph Show and told them that I was having a party with a bunch of 40 year olds and I wanted a celebrity guest who we grew up watching on TV. I mentioned The Brady Bunch kids, the players from the original Bad News Bears movie, and then I mentioned my all-time favorite celebrity Mr. T. Before the T had even passed my lips the man interrupted me and said, “Mr. T is not going to happen.”
“I pity the fool that squashes my plans,” I thought to myself.

After seven months of planning, the weekend of the game finally arrived. We flew into Phoenix the day before and stayed in Tempe and partied on Mill Ave. The next day we hung out in the hotel’s pool and little by little the party guests from California started to show up. Around 5:30 we all arrived at the stadium’s pool.

“Since you all made a big effort to get here,” I said, “I wanted to make this a party you’ll always remember, so I want you to meet our special guest. He’s a guy you grew up watching on TV, the guy who played Eddie Munster…. Butch Patrick.”

Everyone was a bit taken aback, and didn’t know if I was telling the truth or not. “In a little while we are going to cross-off a bucket list item, and whoever participates get a t-shirt.” I then held up a t-shirt I had designed with a big red check in a black box that read, “Play Marco Polo with Eddie Munster in the AZ Diamondbacks pool.”

Almost everyone was up for the fun! A couple of my high school water polo friends and I jumped into the pool in our Speedos ready for the big Marco Polo match with the kid from 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Butch Patrick was a good sport and agreed to be “it.” The game was on!
“Marco?” Eddie Munster hollered with his eyes closed and arms outstretched.
“Polo.” We all answered back while trying to avoid being tagged by the former child star.
Eventually he tagged one of us, and a new game began. A few games later, Eddie Munster got out and dried off. He then signed some 8×10 photos of himself in character from his days on The Munsters and Lidsville.

After the baseball game got started, I chatted with Butch, trying not to call him Eddie, but occasionally slipping up. He was free-flowing with Munster Memories, and stories about the actors he had worked with over the years too.

Our game happened to be the Fox Sports featured game, so it was being shown everywhere west of the Mississippi that night. The play-by-play announcers sensed that something different was going on in the pool, and talked about it during the game frequently. Eventually they sent Phoenix’s version of Erin Andrews over to the pool to do an interview with Butch Patrick, and threw me a few questions about my bucket list.

Thankfully it was a long game with a lot of runs and pitching changes so we got to spend plenty of time in the pool. The Diamondbacks hit three homeruns that night and each time they did, the pool erupted like the Bellagio’s fountain show meeting a mini Niagara Falls.

It was a remarkable night. Everyone had made the extra-effort to be there, and came with a fun and adventurous spirit. It reaffirmed by belief that life is indeed a collection of extra-special moments, and we need to create as many of them while we’re here as we can.

You can view the video of our Marco Polo game on You Tube by searching: Eddie Munster Marco Polo or the video is also on the “Do Everything” page at www.MrBucketlist.com