11/4/09 Yankees vs. Phillies
Game 6 of the World Series, whether the Yankees would lose or win this game, would be my last game of 2009. I showed up about 30 minutes before the gates opened and was greeted by Spongebob and Patrick at Gate 6.
Once again BP was going on when the gates opened, but since I wasn’t the first one in there were no Easter Eggs to be found. Or so I thought. I realized that only field level was occupied, not any of the other decks, including the bleachers. I didn’t want to go into the bleachers for nothing, so I stayed on field level and climbed onto some railings to look into the bleachers.
Lo and behold there was a ball sitting there!
It was a ball that I couldn’t have seen had I not climbed on the railings, but what I did next was stupid. I tried climbing into the bleachers instead of going the long route. Security started yelling at me, but since they have recognized me I got off because they know it was just bad thinking. So I after I was let off I ran up to the bleachers. I went to where the ball was, and it was still there, sitting in its puddle. I picked up my waterlogged 1st ball, which I couldn’t mark yet. You may be able to see how waterlogged it is in the following photo:
That was the most eventful part of the Yankees batting practice baseball wise, nothing else happened for me, although I did meet Brian who I’d seen from Zack Hample’s blog. When I moved to Left Field for the Phillies batting practice, it was barely better. The main reason I went over to Left Field was because I saw a ball land it. I positioned myself on the wall of it, and when the Phillies bullpen catcher, who I can’t name, retrieved it I got him to hand it to me, my 2nd ball (the bullpen catcher is in the top right of the photo below):
I stayed out in Left Field until the Phillies pitchers were just about done with their throwing. Normally at that time all the people would have been kicked out, but because the Yankees batting practice started early again, everyone could go everywhere for all of batting practice (except of course the Legends). As a result of the crowd, I didn’t get any balls, but one of my favorite Phillies, Cole Hamels, started signing and I was lucky to get his autograph of two baseballs for my 1st autograph.
I wanted to keep the ball a Cole Hamels only autograph ball, so I decided for that to be my final autograph of 2009. But that ball from the bullpen catcher wasn’t my final ball of 2009.
I moved back over to Left Field again, in the same general area, but on the front row, mainly because it seemed like a hot spot. It turns out it was, as three consecutive baseballs were hit in my area, but they all rolled to the warning track. The player, who I found out with a quick look at my picture roster, was Chad Durbin, and I got a baseball by just calling out his name, my 3rd ball, and it was final ball of 2009.
As everyone who will read this blog knows, the Yankees won. And I was able to get some not-so-good quality photos of the game, but I got some better quality photos after I snuck down a bit. They will be following my stats for the game.
Stats:
3 MLB Balls Today
1 MLB Autograph Today
212 MLB Autographs in this Season
252 Total Autographs in this Season
329 MLB Balls in this Season
350 Total Balls in this Season
1 Thrown, 1 Hand-to-Hand, 1 Found
3 BP
6.21 Balls / 1 Game
Attendance: 50,315
Competition Factor: 150,945
Mariano Rivera coming into the game.
Mariano Rivera about to step on the mound.
The Mob on the mound after the victory.
The Yankees making a lap around New Yankee Stadium (for the second straight year at the final game).
Phil Coke coming out of the dugout to spray the fans with champagne.
