Tagged: Foul Ball

August 25, 2009

8/20/09 Tigers vs. Mariners

No batting practice here is worse than no batting practice at Yankee Stadium. Shocking right? At Comerica Park you have 90 minutes of time before the game starts, not so strict security, and dugout and bullpen areas accessible. At New Yankee Stadium you have 3 hours of time before the game starts, semi-to-strict security, and the dugouts aren’t accessible, but the bullpens are. At Yankee Stadium the extra 90 minutes gives much more times to get baseballs and the strict security keeps out the not-so-skilled people. At Comerica Park it’s only 90 minutes and security lets people move freely. So there are much more crowds and much less opportunities at Comerica.

Because of the way Comerica is run I only got two balls before the game, and it took a while to get both of them.

My 1^st baseball started off soon after the gates opened. After the gates opened I ran inside and saw that the tarp was on the field, but I also saw that two Tigers were running along the foul line. Not good. The people (Armando Gallaraga and a trainer) hadn’t thrown yet because they needed to get loose first (running) so by the time they would start throwing a crowd would have formed.

That was exactly what happened. They started throwing a while later, during which some more players came out to throw also in front of a large crowd with many kids.

Those players were Ryan Perry and a Translator for Tainwanese pitcher Fu-Te Ni, who was throwing with Zach Miner. A loose ball ended up getting away from the Translator, and it rolled to the wall, but somebody scooped the ball from over the wall. And then they finished first and tossed the ball to somebody else. Fu-Te Ni and Zach Miner finished soon after, and since I positioned myself right behind them, they tossed me the ball before they went in (1^st ball).

I went over to the Mariners side where some pitchers were throwing, but I picked the wrong place every time. Although after David Aardsma threw I got his autograph for my 1^st autograph.

Then when King Felix Hernandez (who suddenly became nice this season) started signing a bit further down the foul line a bit later I got him to sign my 2^nd autograph.

There was only one pair left throwing over by the Mariners, but the Tigers had a couple, so I went over there. But before I got to where the people were throwing lets get to some players signing. From the other side of the stadium I could see that Fu-Te Ni, Ryan Perry and Zach Miner were signing on the foul line for an incredibly long time. But by the time that I got over there Zach Miner was no longer signing and Ryan and Fu-Te were in close proximity. I tried getting Fu-Te, but it seemed as though he was only signing for people who had a spot on the wall, so I got Ryan Perry first for my 3^rd autograph.

Then I moved about 15 feet to the right of Fu-Te and grabbed a spot on the wall. I was right and he signed for me, my 4^th autograph.

Then I moved down to where the pitchers were throwing, but no baseballs were to be had, only an autograph, Fernando Rodney. I don’t get why ALL the kids were calling him “Rodney”. Not “Fernando”, not “Mr. Rodney”, just “Rodney”. Well anyway I got “Fernando Rodney” for my 5^th autograph after waiting for a bit.

It was getting right before game time and I only had one ball. It was one of the worst beginnings I’ve had. I had to recuperate and snag a few more baseballs, so when I looked at the crowds on each side I picked the visiting team’s side. It was a good choice; I would’ve had no chance over by the Tigers side, but by the Mariners side? I was the only person there, so I was the only Mariners fan. It was too easy, so when Michael Saunders and Jack Hannahan started throwing where the players stretch the ball was as good as mine. Michael ended up with it, saw my Mariners stuff, and flung me the ball as I ran forward and made the back-handed grab for my 2^nd ball.

There were no more pre-game throwing except at the dugout, where Jose Lopez threw with someone I couldn’t remember. But he didn’t give the ball out. So I was trying to think of how to salvage my day. Should I try for third out balls first before the competition gets too intense? What about pre-inning warm-up balls? Should I go for foul balls? I looked at the area behind home plate and noticed that there were no second, third, fourth, etc. deck seats where foul balls would land, so they would bounce down to field level (or land in little openings). And also there was also a cross-aisle running right through the seats all through the seats. It seemed perfect so I had to go for it. It was a good decision. This was my view for lefties:

And my view for Righties:

And my view to my left:

It was in the Top of the 1^st Inning, the third batter of the inning. Jose Lopez was batting against Jarrod Washburn, who isn’t exactly a flame thrower. Jarrod Washburn was pitching. He loaded the count with a sinker down in the zone and then two back-to-back change-ups in basically the same spot. Apparently Jose wasn’t given the red light because he swung at the next pitch, a sinker on the outside part of the plate and fouled it off, but not back. But on the next pitch, a fastball up and in, a ball, he did. He basically fouled it straight back. It was going in a high arc to my left, so I ran over there. It landed in the second row of the Tigers’ Den (look at the first photo above) right next to a guy sitting down in a red shirt. But luckily it rolled down in the first row. It came into view underneath a seat and it started rolling towards me, so I stuck my arm through some metal bars and tried grabbing the ball. I pulled my arm out and in it was my 3^rd baseball of the day and 2^nd lifetime game ball! I didn’t know what to do, so I just held up the ball for a second and then went back to work. I scrapped my arm a bit from the metal bars, and the ball was a little scrapped from hitting the concrete, but I had the ball. Like I said it was scrapped a bit from the concrete underneath the MLB Player Silhouette and the Rawlings text had a bat mark on it, smudging it.

Even though I got that foul ball 3 baseballs wasn’t enough, but I wanted another foul ball. So I would go for foul balls for the first two outs, and when the second out was made I would head to the dugout of the team that would be coming off the field. I didn’t get any baseballs until the game was official. I ran down to the front row when the out was made for the bottom of the 5^th. Russell Branyan of the Mariners started jogging in with the ball he used to make the out and looked into the crowd. He looked into the crowd, flipped a ball up in the air, caught it back in his hand, and then tossed it to me, my 4^th ball.

There was a light drizzle about a inning later, but soon that light drizzle turned into rain. Rain hard enough to stop the rain and make me wet, but I realized that there would be a baseball that I could get from the Home Plate Umpire coming off the field. The baseballs would be ruined from the game, so he would want to get rid of them, right? But instead of going in through the umpire’s tunnel he went through the home dugout. But he must’ve not been allowed there because he, and another ump, soon came out and headed for the tunnel. I was at the top of the steps at that point, so I ran back down into the seats. He looked up and saw me coming down the steps, pulled a ball out of his pocket and flipped me my 5^th baseball and then went in the tunnel.

The Home Plate Umpire turned out to be Dan Iassonga.

Dan Iassonga.jpg

Even though I had used up the dugouts I still got higher than my average. You see there are these things called bullpens that usually use up a lot of baseballs during the game. In the 8^th Inning I went to one of them, the Tigers’ bullpen. Bobby Seay and Fernando Rodney were warming up in the bullpen.

Bobby was the one to go into the game, but instead of immediately giving the baseball out he put it on the pitchers mound where it laid untouched until I asked bullpen coach Jeff Jones for the ball. He walked over, picked up the ball and tossed it to me, my 6^th ball.

And then I moved over to the bullpen to my left, the Mariners’ bullpen. David Aardsma was warming up there. When they were done I asked the bullpen catcher, Jason Philips,

For the ball, but he said hold on a second and gave the ball to John Wetteland, and then he grabbed a ball from the bag and flipped it to me, my 7^th ball, the last one of the day.

Long story short, never, EVER go to Comerica Park if there is the slightest chance of no batting practice. It’s horrible, not worth you time. New Yankee Stadium is starting to look very good to me.

Stats:

7 MLB Balls Today
5 MLB Autographs Today
163 MLB Autographs in this Season
202 Total Autographs in this Season
238 MLB Balls in this Season
259 Total Balls in this Season
6 Thrown, 1 Hit
1 BP, 1 Pre-Game, 5 During
Attendance: 31,167 People
Competition Factor: 218,169
6.26 Balls / 1 Game
38 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
28 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
23 Consecutive Games with at least 4 MLB Baseballs

August 15, 2009

8/13/09 Twins vs. Royals

Arrived 40 minutes before the gates open to my last game at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. I knew there wouldn’t be BP, but I still wanted to be first on line for this game. Although I wasn’t first on line I was the first one through the ~~gates~~ revolving door.

When I ran in I was correct in that there wasn’t any BP. But a couple Twins were throwing along the foul line, so I moved over there.

Matt Guerrier was throwing with Brian Duesing (pair on left) and Nick Dammann (the Bullpen Catcher) was throwing with Scott Baker (player in follow through on right). I originally positioned myself behind Matt and Brian, but then I saw the Scott and Nick were finishing up first, so I moved two sections over. Since Nick was the Bullpen Catcher Scott was throwing some pitches to Nick while Nick was crouching down, so I had to wait a bit until they were actually done. When they were done I called out to Scott and asked for the ball. He tossed me my 1^st baseball.

I was the only one who called. I was the only one who reached for it. Metrodome logo ball. So I decided not to try and get a ball from Matt or Brian, I instead tried for an autograph from (very) recent call-up Jeff Manship.

He and Jose Mijares started signing (Jeff is #49, Jose is talking to Jeff in the photo below).

I was able to get Jeff on one for my 1^st autograph of the day, but when I tried to get Jose the kid right before me was the last one to get an autograph from him. Matt and Brian were no longer throwing, two guys with pullovers were, so I had no chance to get a ball from them.

I started moving along to get over to the Kansas City side when all of a sudden I saw a ball rolling towards home plate (marked by an X in the photo below). I realized that it was a passed ball thrown by Kyle Davies.

A Twins Employee started walking over to pick up the ball. I asked him for the ball and he pointed to an open space in the protective netting. I moved over there and waited and he tossed me my 2^nd baseball so far.

So after that point I moved over to the Right Field Corner. Some Royals started throwing (John Bale with Luke Hochevar, Robinson Tejada with a Trainer, etc.),

And when Tejada finished the Trainer walked over and kicked out a loose ball that had been lying against the wall.

I asked him for the ball in a generic request and he tossed me the ball, but it fell short, into the gap! I am not sure how many throws have landed into the gap, but there’s another. Luckily since he had two balls he took the other one that he had and tossed me my 3^rd baseball.

1^st Round Pick Luke Hochevar finished up and I walked over to where he was going to try and get him to sign. Luke walked over to the people at the foul line and started signing. He signed my 2^nd autograph so far, and the team ball was getting pretty full.

That was my last autograph of the day. I didn’t get any autographs where the Royals stretched. Willie Bloomquist ended up with the ball where the Royals stretch after he threw and he tossed me one the previous day in the same spot. Billy Butler ended up with a ball over by where they stretched and he was going to use it for the before inning infield warm-up ball. One of my goals for the day was to get a foul ball during the game, but before I headed over there I went over to the Twins dugout to try and get a Pre-Game warm-up ball. Orlando Cabrera came out to throw with Nick Punto, and since Cabrera is more experienced he’d end up with the ball. I was right and when they were done he ended up with it and Orlando showed the ball to the crowd and then he tossed it to the people. I just half-heartedly stuck my glove out and my 4^th baseball went into my glove. It was a Metrodome ball (yes).

After that I went into my foul ball spot. This photo shows the location of it:

It was a great spot. To my left was about 4 empty seats and then a cross-aisle right in front of some seats embedded into the wall that was about 20 feet long.

To my right was a cross aisle about 50 feet long with some handicap seats.

And directly in front of me was just a plain old aisle.

So I pretty much had about 85 feet of space to run back and forth between. But at times the aisle to my right got really crowded.

If a foul ball was shot back over the screen then it would either:

1) Go into the Upper Deck.

2) Fly straight into the seats without striking anything.

3) Bounce of the rim just below the Upper Deck and ricochet 4 Rows from the back or

4) Bounce of the back wall and land in the cross-aisle.

The problem was that the two starters, Gil Meche and Carl Pavano, weren’t, but if so, BARELY hitting 90. In other words, there wouldn’t be many foul balls. And that was exactly what happened. One foul ball did what #3 above was, and it was in the first third of the game. That was the only foul ball during that point that came anywhere close to me. I had already decided that in the 8^th I would go over to the Royals dugout to try and find a seat for the end of the game since they were winning. So there were 4 innings for foul balls to land near me, and even then there wasn’t that good of a chance of me getting one. The majority of batters were left-handers though, and I stood up for them. Whenever they hit a foul ball I would flinch. But one time I had to flinch.

Top of the 4^th. First batter of the inning. The Left-Handed Mark Teahen steps up to bat. Carl Pavano delivers one pitch to Mark Teahen. On the outside wall, borderline call, it is called a ball. 1-0. Carl Pavano throws the second pitch of the at-bat. It is outside, a ball, but Mark swings at it anyway. He fouls it off, back. It goes over the netting about 15 feet to my right. As soon as he makes contact I was off. I had a few seconds to get there. I bolt over to my right, the ball flies over the heads of the people sitting in the handicap seats. It bounces off the wall, specifically a banner, specifically a giant Twins symbol right in the center of said banner. I bounces off the wall heading back towards the seats, but I get there in time and I am able to get my 5^th baseball and my 1^st lifetime game ball. Wow.

It was awesome. The ball felt slick, it left a mark on the banner and the banner left a mark on it.

The bat left a nice smudge on the ball.

I sat back down and that was the second (and last) ball to reach that area the entire night. So it was my last foul ball of the night. And my last ball of the night. I tried to get something from the Royals, but to no avail.

But I’m not complaining. Many people have said that the Metrodome is a tough, really tough place to ballhawk. I was somehow was able to milk the Metrodome for all that I was worth. Maybe it was the low attendance due to the Royals. Maybe it was luck. I had gotten 20 balls in 3 games, and I’m not really sure how it all worked. I guess it may’ve been because I didn’t focus on staying in left field to catch home runs, I wandered all over the place throughout the games. But whatever it was, it was just a good time.

Stats:

5 MLB Balls Today
2 MLB Autographs Today
126 MLB Autographs in this Season
165 Total Autographs in this Season
196 MLB Balls in this Season
217 Total Balls in this Season
3 BP, 1 Pre-Game, 1 During
4 Thrown, 1 Hit
Attendance: 32,373
Competition Factor: 161,865
5.94 Balls / 1 Game
33 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
23 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
18 Consecutive Games with at least 4 MLB Baseballs