Tagged: fun

April 1, 2010

The 3rd Day of Spring Training – 3/29/10

This was Day 3 of Spring Training, and I was hoping to see an actual game played this time. It was the Blue Jays vs. the Tigers today and we got there about 3 hours before game time. I thought that the gates would open 2 hours before hand, but it turns out that if you have a season ticket you get in 30 minutes earlier than non-season ticket holders.

So I was excited to find out that it was 2 hours and 30 minutes of pre-game time; that would mean that I would see more of Blue Jays batting practice, right? I mean the Blue Jays were throwing right in front of the gates, so they would be taking BP, right? Wrong.

When the gates opened, nothing was going on. The BP cages were set up, so at least the Tigers would be taking BP, but the Blue Jays just disappeared into the bullpens. While just looking around the stadium, I noticed a ball was sitting right behind home plate, inches from the wall.

So when a worker walked by I asked him if I could have the ball. He went over, saw the ball, then tossed my 1^st ball over the net to me.

Afterwards, I had time to just sit around and wait for someone to do something. That someone was Jim Leyland who started signing down over by the left field foul line. You see, at this stadium the Blue Jays all enter, practice, and exit in the right corner because I think that’s where their clubhouse is. It’s the same situation for Tigers, except by the left field foul line.

So I headed over there, but Jim Leyland left before I got there. But luckily the Tigers started coming out bit by bit and some of them signed. One of the people was Adam Everett, who I got for my 1^st autograph of the day.

The next person to sign was Alex Aliva, but I missed him by a few people. More of them started coming out, so more of them signed. My 2^nd autograph was Robinzon Diaz.

And then finally my last autograph from the Tigers was Scott Sizemore, my 3^rd autograph. I got the last autograph he signed, so I only got it on one baseball.

Then BP started, but it was horrible. Not only are you confined to the foul lines, but the foul lines got crowded. And it was even all of the foul lines; the seats stopped about 130 feet past first or third base. Yet I was able to get a ball during BP.

I was sitting behind the dugout because there was basically no chance in getting a ball by the foul lines, but then I noticed that a ball was lying on the foul line dirt over on the right field foul line. So I made my way over there, as there was no point in being anywhere else. It turns out that the ball was further from the wall than I thought, but I was considering using the glove trick when suddenly BP ended and the players came in. Mike Rabelo ran over and picked up the balls, so I simply called out and got him to toss me my 2^nd ball.

There wasn’t much time to kill after BP ended because about 15 minutes later the Blue Jays came out to throw again. They weren’t going to take BP again, so they were just going to throw. I waited over there until someone I could identify finished…and that someone was Raul Chavez, who tossed me my 3^rd ball.

Everyone from the pitchers to the catchers to the outfielders were out and throwing, so as you could imagine some people signed after they were done. I barely missed Aaron Hill, but apparently Aaron told Travis Snyder to start signing, and I was able to get him on one baseball for my 4^th autograph.

Pretty soon after one of the most well known Blue Jays came over to sign–Vernon Wells, who was my 5^th autograph of the day.

Those were the last people that I got for the day, and until game time I walked around and found a good foul ball seat down the line. But I got kicked out of that one, found another seat, got kicked out of that one too, and eventually I just decided to sit in my normal seats. But after a bit of just sitting around I decided to try for a third out ball. I was only going to try one side, and it paid of relatively quick as I got Miguel Cabrera to toss me a ball on his way in, which I caught with ease for my 4^th ball. It wasn’t the game used ball; it was too beat up, so it had to be a pre-inning warm-up ball.

After I got that one ball during the game I just laid back and watched the rest of the game. The game didn’t even come to a win or loss as it was heading into extra innings, but both coaches “mutually agreed to end the game”. I was caught a bit off guard, but I got to the dugout in time and was able to get a random toss up from a Blue Jay, my 5^th ball, and my last one of the game, which is represented by this blurry photo.

May 26, 2009

5/17/09 Yankees vs. Twins

Normally I am lost in the sea of people wishing to get into the Legends Seats, but today, as a present for a special occasion, I was among the chosen ones, sitting in the Legends Seats.

See that white thing in my glove? More on that in a bit.

When we got into the Legends there were only 2 other people in the seats. One of them was a kid who I recognized from last season and he was always in the secluded area behind home plate (and he recognized me as getting a Derek Jeter Wristband from 2 YEARS AGO), and he ran over to the Twins dugouts. I followed him and when I was there, I saw Francisco Liriano walking over to sign. I got him on two for my 1^st autograph so far. Now as in my last entry, I forgot to upload my small camera pictures to the computer, so not everyone or thing is captured on a camera.

There was no other action, so I went back over to the Yankees dugouts. What sucks is that you can’t go into the corner of each dugout at ANY POINT unless you have tickets there. So I waited, along with other, as close as we could get.

There were only Yankees whose autographs I haven’t gotten: Mark Texieria, Francisco Cervelli, and Ramiro Pena. Make it two.

Ramiro came out of the dugout, talked to some people, and then came over to sign. I was able to get him on two baseballs for my 2^nd autograph.

I stayed over there until there was some action in front of the Twins dugout, but I did get some more autographs over there. Robinson Cano came over and signed two for me for my 3^rd autograph that day and my 56^th MLB autograph on the season.

robby cano.jpg1

Now after that, at 10:59, Derek Jeter started bunting. B.P. was underway. That B.P. policy wasn’t only the first hour of B.P. It was the entire Yankees B.P. Well I went over to where some Yankees were throwing in hopes of getting a ball. Even though there were maybe 4 balls in play in the Legends area, and my only competition was a father-son team with a pen, I only got one ball. I got rejected twice by some players, but then the always generous, but not the best, Jose Veras came along.

I asked him for a ball when he finished. He looked at me and wanted to throw it, so I pulled up the netting beneath and stuck out my glove. That convinced him and he tossed me my 1^st ball of the day.

Now nothing else happened Yankee-wise for me because I was over by the Twins dugout. They were dumping balls into the bucket, and I was looking for some twins commemorative baseballs. I maybe saw a couple of them, but what amazed me was the dozens and dozens of Yankees commemorative. Then two coaches took a ball from the bucket and started throwing. While throwing, I could see something on the ball (it was being held by Steve Liddle), it was a NYY commemorative. Here we go…

Steve is the one with the 9 on his back, right next to the bucket.

Well I must’ve blanked out for a bit because when I snapped back into reality Steve wasn’t holding a baseball, but he was still there.

“Steve can I have the ball that you were using?” I asked.

“Where ‘ya from?” he asked me, looking at my Twins hat.

“I’m from New York,” I said while nodding.

He then took a ball from the bucket, looked at it, put it back, and then looked at and picked up another one.

“Take a look at this one,” he said and tossed me my 2^nd ball. When I looked at it,

it was a Yankees Inaugural Baseball. Essentially Flawless. Only 1 small mark. Wow. It was a thing of beauty, but I also wanted a Twins commemorative.

I asked a nearby coach, Joe Varva, specifically for a Twins commemorative. What does he do? He looks at and takes a ball in the bucket and rolls me my 3^rd ball across the dugout roof. It wasn’t a Twins ball, it was a Yankees ball, my 3^rd one of those this year.

This was the worst I could find on this ball:

Do you see it? It is that barely noticable brown mark.

The Twins started throwing, so I went over there. Jose Morales came over to sign, so I took out some baseballs and got him to sign my 4^th autograph.

Melky Cabrera then came over to sign, and I got Melky’s autograph for my 5^th autograph. I got him on one inaugural baseball and two of that day’s give-a-way, bats.

I wasn’t able to get any of the balls being thrown around, so I went back to the dugout. There were a couple people who came and were just standing there trying to get Denard Span’s attention. I got Denard’s attention for them, and they got his autograph, so I tossed Denard a ball also and he signed me my 6^th autograph. That was it for during Twins B.P.

Carlos Gomez is on the right, Denard Span is in the middle, and Jason Kubel is on the right.

At the end of B.P, when everyone was coming off the field, I got 3 more autographs.

The First One: Michael Cuddyer was walking in. I got his attention and tossed him a ball and he signed my 7^th autograph. He took some time to write his good signature, and I got antsy because standing close to him were about to be a former M.V.P. and Rookie signing: Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer.

The Second One: Justin Morneau was just about to go in, but I tossed him only one ball. He signed my 8^th autograph and then went inside. I then ran over to get the last Twin signing, Joe Mauer.

The Third One: Joe Mauer was gladly taking his time, but he was about to go in. Luckily he saw my Twins hat and signed two for my 9^th autograph so far.

(that took like 7 tries to load)

After they left, I went over to the bucket. I asked for a ball from the guy emptying it, but I got nada. I recognized coach Jerry White and I asked him for a ball. He looked up and tossed me a Yankees Commemorative ball for my 4^th ball. Every ball, except the first one, has been a Yankees commemorative, and all the further ones I get will be so also.

And now I break double digits in autographs. I went over to where the Twins were stretching. I asked Matt Tolbert to sign after he was done. He walked over and signed me my 10^th autograph of the day, and then continued to sign for a couple more people. I have now broken double digits in both balls and autographs at the New Yankee Stadium.

Since I thought the Twins side should be reserved for third out balls, I spent the pre-game throwing at the Yankees Dugout’s inner corner. A-Rod came out to throw and I knew who was going to end up with it… Well when A-Rod came in he tossed me his pre-game warm-up ball, and my 5^th ball, a NYY commemorative.

Game Time!

I decided to try for a 3^rd out ball from each side, on the outer corner first. I got a commemorative ball on the Yankees side, but it wasn’t a third out ball, it was most likely a foul ball.

While at the Yankees side, Mark Texieria ended up with the ball, a groundout. He tossed that to someone else, but I noticed a guy beneath me in the dugouts had a ball. I asked him for it, and after pondering it for a bit, he flipped the ball to me, my 6^th ball and 73^rd on the season.

Since it was commemorative, rubbed, and had a big black mark on it, I assumed it was most likely a foul ball rolled towards the dugout. So since I had gotten a ball at both sides of the Yankees dugout, I went over to the Twins dugout.

Time: End of the Bottom of the 4^th.

Location: Outer Aisle of Minnesota Twins Dugout

Person Holding Subject: Justin Morneau.

Subject: A Commemorative Third-Out Groundout Ball Retrieved by Justin Morneau.

When Justin Morneau ended up with the ball I rushed down to the front row. It was easy. Justin spotted me and tossed me my 7^th ball, and my final ball of the day.

Yes final.

I got nothing afterwards because of the unexpected, but enjoyable, walk-off home run by Johnny Damon. He is one the nicest players in baseball, so I am glad he hit it, and not a jerk.

Here is my final haul from inside the stadium:

Inside

But wait! Don’t go! There’s more! Since we had nothing to do, and it was a day game, we stayed after for autographs. After waiting for a while, Paul O’Neil came out. He went to the other side of the barricade almost immediately, but he still signs. I rushed over there and got him for my 11^th autograph of the day.

Then we saw Blyleven. Since I didn’t have the balls out, and the ones that I did weren’t related to him at all, I got Bert on two tickets for my 12^th autograph that day.

“Pull my finger,” he said, finger as in the pen cap.

After waiting a bit more, some Twins players come out. They are Carlos Gomez, Jose Morales, and someone whose name in on the tip of my tongue. After Carlos skipped me (intentionally?) a couple of times, he finally signs me my 13^th autograph. That player whose name I couldn’t remember, I looked it up and it turns out it was Luis Ayala, so I asked, and got him, to sign my 14^th autograph so far.

A lot of people have left, but others, my family included, are waiting for somebody: David Wells. You see, May 17^th, 2009 is the 11 year anniversary of his perfect game. So when people started running off somewhere, it was to David Wells (and Cone).

I got David Wells on the bat for my 15^th autograph and then I got David Cone on the baseballs for my 16^th autograph so far.

That was it for the day. My next game will be a Baltimore Game.

Stats:

7 MLB Balls Today
74 MLB Balls in this Season
16 MLB Autographs Today
69 MLB Autographs in this Season
72 Total Autographs in this Season
90 Total Baseballs in this Season
3 BP, 2 Pre-Game, 2 During
7 Thrown
Attendence: 44,804 people
Competition Factor: 313,628
6.2 Balls/ 1 Game
12 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs

(P.S. Just to tell you, the Legends isn’t much better than the outfield. It’s not really that much of a difference on the average number of balls a game.)

April 2, 2009

4/2/09 Workout at New Yankee Stadium

This is the first ticketed event in Yankee Stadium, so naturally I had to be there. I drive there with my mom, my dad and brother are already in the stadium. But she drops me off far away and I have to basically go to the other side of the stadium. I was dropped off at the River Avenue Parking garage, but I needed to go to the Gate 4 Legends Entrance.

Gate 4 Panorama.jpg

My dad was able to get us Legends Seats for this, and I thought this was going to be relaxed, less than 50 people in the legends seats, probably less than 4,000 in the stadium. But I was wrong. It had more people, wait, way more people than I expected. But the legends seats made it ok for us.

Just the Left Field line

I walk in the entrance behind home plate to the left in the legends, and it has changed, the dugouts especially. I went on a tour in December of the stadium, and it’s changed. I see somebody signing in the inner corner of the dugout, so I walk over and it’s Andy Pettitte, so I try to get him to sign 2 baseballs (1 for me, 1 for my brother and I do this all the time), but I only get him on one. That is my 1,896^th MLB autograph. After he leaves I go to the top of the dugout because the people aren’t allowed in the first two rows of the corner unless someone is signing. Also I recognize a lot of the ushers from last season. It looks like they kept the same ushers they used last season, and they are in the same place also, huh.

While at the top of the dugout I see someone, number 48, just leaning against the railing looking out onto the field. I have my cheat sheet, but I don’t use it. I remember it is Phil Coke (a-cola). I call his name out, he turns around, I toss him 2 balls, and he signs both of them, and then disappears. Cool, 1897 MLB autographs. And then I see Shelly Duncan. I call out his name, flip him the balls and he signs them. 1898 MLB, nice.

After this autograph somebody says “backpack” from behind. I am wearing a Knicks backpack. It is a woman asking me to get her an autograph. I say I’ll try, but 3 autographs is going to be hard. I feel sorry for them. Even though I am in the Legends Seats, I feel this is unfair. They are cutting off the real fans who want to meet their favorite players. They make the first 9 rows for people who pay $600 dollars a game ($100 food credit included). After a while, and no more autographs, I think that this is too much, so I give her the ball back.

By the way, my mom talked a reported into interviewing me, so apparently I will be on 1010 wins in the morning to 7:05 tomorrow, yeah!

So now the workout has officially started, and all the players are out stretching including C.C. and A.J. This reminds me of 9/21/08 when we could watch Yankees BP. Andy Pettitte started signing again down the line, so I got him for my brother. And now I get baseballs. First comes Jose Veras, who I ask in Spanish for it. I get it right over the dugout when he is done throwing. Nobody tries to snatch. In fact, that is the way for each ball.

And then I get Nick Swisher, who I remember getting on the White Sox last year. Same player, two different teams.

And finally I get another ball from a staff member who I see has it in his hand. At first I think he isn’t going to give it to me, but he flips to me right before he goes into the dugout.

Then after that, Johnny Damon comes into the dugout, stands on the steps and signs balls. I only get him once (my 1899^th MLB and my 2,307th overall autograph). But I don’t care about getting him once because I have him before. I would say either he and Mariano are the nicest Yankees. Mariano once signed in the rain for 30 minutes or so and usually always signs when asked, and Johnny Damon was told he had to go once, but he kept on signing until he got everyone. Who do you think is the nicest player in the Major Leagues from experience?

And on a side note, the Yankees want NOTHING on their precious dugouts. You can’t lean on them, put bags on them, and sit on them. The Mets on the other hand, have bubbles on their dugouts. And their dugouts are peeling after 1 game. Another thing between the Yankees and Mets, it costs $3.75 for a water at Citi, but $5.00 for a water at the New Yankee Stadium.

Back to the autographs. Joba starts signing so I go over there, but then Nick Swishers starts signing for a group of guys. Nick has a lesser crowd, so I go over to him first, and get him on 1 baseball, which is my 1900^th MLB autograph! After I get him, I get Joba for my 1901^st autograph, 1 for me and 1 for my brother. I didn’t get anything else while I stayed by the dugout until the end. Afterwards, I went to the bullpen to see if there were any balls to get with my glove trick, but the Yankees had an obnoxiously large flower bed blocking my view. It was at least 4 ft wide, so I couldn’t see the balls, so I couldn’t get any.

I don’t really know what to think about the New Yankee Stadium. I like the old one because it has more opportunities to get stuff there, and I had figured out all the tricks of the trade, but the new one has all this space to explore and my new seats are in the perfect spot, other than the Legends, for autographs. I heard that they had 2 ushers, one at the top of the aisle, and one at the bottom, so I am not sure if I will even be allowed to the front row! I would say I like the old one better for now…

P.S. It took about an hour to get from the garage to the highway. 3 cheers for Yankee Stadium parking!

6 MLB Autographs in This Game (1,901 Total MLB, 2,309 Overall Autographs)
6 MLB Autographs This Season
8 Total Autographs This Season
3 Workout Baseballs
10 Total Baseballs This Season