Tagged: Lucky Bounce

October 1, 2009

9/25/09 Yankees vs. Red Sox

I arrived a couple minutes late to this game. I don’t think I should’ve arrived late because when I entered the stadium there was early batting practice going on.

This was a good thing because I didn’t want to get shut out this day. Not only were the Red Sox in town, but I injured my leg and it required stitches, I’ll spare you the details, so I wasn’t going to be able to move that well.

But I moved a lot. I started out on the Right Field side because that is usually the place to be, but it turned out that Left Field was the place to be, so I hobbled over there.

I noticed that Mick Kelleher had a ball in his hand and a bat in the other, so I called out and asked for a fungo. He wouldn’t give me one, I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but it was something along the lines of:

“I don’t need to hit you one, they will.” Pointing to the batters in the cage. But I didn’t get them to hit me one; I got a translator who had tossed me a ball earlier in the season to toss me another ball, my 1^st ball, who is to the left of the ball in the photo below.

The Yankees pitchers started throwing, so I considered that that was my way to get another baseball. I went back over to the outfield and made my way along the seats in case a ball was hit. I stood above the Legends seats and positioned myself in line with Josh Towers and Mark Melancon, hoping that nobody else would know who they were (the pair on the right).

Nobody else knew who they were, but it would be a difficult challenge to get a ball. I was hoping that the closer person, Josh, would end up with the ball, but Mark ended up with it. He was more than 100ft from me, but I still called out. Mark tossed the ball and gave me a shot, and he threw a perfect throw which I caught for my 2^nd ball.

Normal BP was underway by that point so I moved back out to Right Field. There was only one lefty hitter, Hideki Matsui, so there was no real point to focus except when he was up. He seemed to hit a home run in my direction each time he was up, and one time it deflected off of my wrist. The other time he hit it a little bit to my right. I drifted with it and got in line with it, and a ‘hefty’ man in front of me reached out to grab it, you can see in this photo from afar the I am the yellow arrow and he is the red arrow, the ball is in his hand.

He deflected it, causing it to land in his row. I tried reaching for it, but it was just out of my reach. He was going to get it so I did the only thing I could’ve, I just climbed onto the seats and almost fell into the row. I reached down and barely got it, my 3^rd ball.

I got the ball, and only my chest got scrapped up, my leg was fine (well, as fine as it already was). A-Rod and some more righties were in the same round, so I decided to head over to Left Field for him. After taking a minute or two to get there I walked through the tunnel that lead to the aisle in between the bullpen and the seats. And I am telling you; as SOON as I got there a ball was hit that was coming directly to the seats near me. The ball was coming, and this section was fairly empty, and it hit a seat on the end of the 3^rd row. I was thinking, how cool would it be if the ball went directly to me? Well that is exactly what happened, it bounced off the seat and went right to me. I just reached out and grabbed the ball, my 4^th ball.

It was perfect timing. Had I not had my injured leg I may have not gotten that ball. It was weird thinking that an injury got me a ball, only happened once before. And while I was thinking about my luck, I heard a thud behind me, so I turned around. What I saw behind me was another baseball.

The batter (Nick Swisher) hit home runs to the same aisle on back-to-back pitches. There was nobody around so I walked up the steps and grabbed the ball, my 5^th ball.

That was my last ball for Yankees BP, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira failed to hit home runs. I had to wait for the Red Sox to come out. I got an autograph from a Red Sox…I don’t have any clue who he is. Here is the body:

And here is the autograph:

Who could he be? He didn’t say he was employee or something, so he was a coach? I don’t know who he was, but he was my 1^st autograph.

The Red Sox didn’t have much going in their batting practice. There were a few home runs hit on the Right Field side, but they were near the foul pole. There was one home run hit into the bullpen,

So I stood by the bullpen waiting for someone to get it. I noticed that bullpen coach Gary Tuck was walking towards the bullpen so I waited until he got in. When he went inside I asked him for the baseball. He held up his finger to indicate “one second” and then he went over to put some stuff down. He went back, picked up the ball, and gave me a toss, which fell short and hit the netting. He then just handed the ball to me through a small opening, my 6^th ball, but since the ball was just a bit too small to go through a police officer tossed it over to me.

Remember how I said the Red Sox were dead during BP? The hit a few balls to the wall, none really out. But some of those balls stayed at the wall when BP ended. I positioned myself about the one that was closest to the wall. I noticed that a groundscrew member was walking right towards the ball, and when he got there he reached down and picked it up. He looked right up, and my glove helped me be the longest one to reach down, so he put the ball right in my glove, my 7^th ball, and last one, of the day.

Stats:

7 MLB Balls Today
1 MLB Autograph Today
201 MLB Autographs in this Season
240 Total Autographs in this Season
295 MLB Balls in this Season
316 Total Balls in this Season
2 Thrown, 3 Hit, 2 Hand-To-Hand
7 BP
Attendance: 48,449
Competition Factor: 339,143
6.41 Balls / 1 Game
46 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
36 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph

August 30, 2009

8/23/09 Pirates vs. Reds

I wasn’t sure whether there’d be batting practice considering it was a day game after a night game. From the Roberto Clemente Bridge I could see that the nets weren’t set up. It wouldn’t matter if there was no BP when the gates opened, I would only be allowed on the Riverwalk for the first 30 minutes, or as I have heard on Sunday for the first hour. I believe that the Left Field Bleacher area is the only outfield section opened for the first hour, so I waited outside the area that connects the Riverwalk to Left Field. I was standing right above the Pirates bullpen where some pitchers were throwing.

And from that area I could see that BP cages and nets were being put into place:

The first person to throw there was Charlie Morton. He finished his bullpen session and started walking in. I asked for the ball and he tossed it over the fence which was about 2 feet taller than me. But I reached up with my glove (which extended beyond the fence) and grabbed my 1^st ball. It took me a bit to realize that it was my 250th baseball of the season, so when I did I posed for a photo:

That was about 10 minutes after I got there. Another pitcher threw in the bullpen, but Ballhawk Nick from yesterday got that ball. Then Erik showed up a bit later and got a ball from Ross Ohlendorf who came into the bullpen. Every ballhawk had gotten a ball, and a little bit before the gates opened Jeff Karstens finished up his session with Herberto Andrade. I called his name and he tossed the ball over, which bounced off Erik’s head and landed on the ground, which I picked up for my 2^nd ball.

By the time the gates opened BP wasn’t going on. But the Pirates pitchers were throwing at the foul line.

There were about 10 people in the stadium when it opened (as apposed to the about 2,000 people in New Yankee Stadium when it opens). So there was basically no competition where the Pirates were throwing. It was basically a guaranteed ball. There were maybe 5 in use, but I got distracted by watching other players finishing up first. So I got distracted when the pair I was focusing on, Steven Jackson and Chris Bootcheck, finished up. Chris Bootcheck was the player further from me and he ended up with the ball. There was no noise, so I called out and got Chris to throw me the ball from 100 feet or so away. I leaned down, scrapped my ankle, and caught my 3^rd ball.

That was the only ball I got from the Pirates pitchers. A little bit later the Pirates fielders started throwing. I caught up on some notes and then started walking over there. I had taken a couple steps pass the pair of Jason Jaramillo and Brandon Moss when I saw Brandon throw a ball low. The ball hit of the warning track and had an extremely high bounce into the air. It ended up skipping over Erik (who was positioned directly behind them, a bit to the left of the trashcan in the photo below) and landed past the handicap seating and it landed in about 6^th row up.

I was the only one near it so I went over, found the ball and picked it up for my 4^th ball.

After I got that ball the Pirates started taking some cuts, so I went over to the Left Field Bleachers.

And it was dead. There were few balls hit out there during BP. The other Ballhawks pretty much had the area covered, except over by the foul pole, so I played closer to there. Pretty soon a ball was hit over there and I made a nice play on the ball.

Well I guess it was more luck. That ball was hit by Lastings Milledge and it was hooking towards the foul pole. The ball hit off a bench before I got there (I was about 10 feet away) and then it took a bounce towards me, well right towards me. In fact it was heading exactly for my glove. The ball hit off the bench so fast that I barely moved my glove at all and the ball was wedged in my glove. That ball was my 5^th ball and unfortunately that was my last ball from BP, or BP wrap-up. It was incredibly sucky. There was a round of all lefties, so I went over to Right Field, but I couldn’t get anything up there. It is extremely hard to get baseball up there. I went back over to Left Field after that round was finished and along the way I stopped at Manny’s grill and got him to sign a ticket for my 1^st autograph.

Now while I was stuck in the dead bleachers my brother was over at the Reds foul line (where they were throwing) and he got some autographs for me, Daniel Ray Herrera (who is the first major leaguer that I am as tall as), Justin Lehr, and Kip Wells for my 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th autographs respectively. That was it until about 10 minutes before the game started, autographs or baseballs.

At the dugout Kevin Barker started signing, so I got his autograph for my 5^th autograph.

And about as soon after he signed that autograph for me Jonny Gomez started signing over by the foul line, so I ran over and got him for my 6^th autograph of the day.

From the spot that I got Jonny’s autograph I could see that Paul Janish had a ball that he was going to bring out to play catch. I asked him for the ball when he was done and he said “Sure”.

He kept his promise and he tossed me my 6^th ball. I turned around and saw a little kid that I almost bumped into. He had a glove and couldn’t have been more than 6, so even though I got the ball tossed to me I gave him the ball thinking I would get another baseball during the game, it would give me 80 for the trip, a number that I was shooting for.

But just my luck I didn’t get another ball during the game or after the game. I did get three more autographs where they were stretching: Scott Rolen’s signed my 7^th autograph.

Paul Janish signed my 8^th autograph. And Brandon Philips signed my 9^th autograph.

I was mad, mostly at myself for giving away the last ball that I got on this trip. But at least I got the line-up cards from Dusty Baker after the game…

Stats:

6 MLB Balls Today
9 MLB Autographs Today
185 MLB Autographs in this Season
224 Total Autographs in this Season
255 MLB Balls in this Season
276 Total Balls in this Season
5 Thrown, 1 Hit
5 BP, 1 Pre-Game
Attendance: 21,209 People
Competition Factor: 127,254
6.375 Balls / 1 Game
40 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
30 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
25 Consecutive Games with at least 4 MLB Baseballs

August 26, 2009

8/22/09 Pirates vs. Reds

This was just an amazing day all around. I could tell you just the highlights right now, but I think that it is better to start from the beginning.

My first stop for this game wasn’t inside PNC Park, it was the walkway outside the stadium. Some balls land there, maybe 5 or 6 during the entire batting practice, and most of them land in the Allegheny River. The walkway is in front of the river, then there is a grass hill, then a part of the stadium known as the “Riverwalk”, and then the seats. There were 3 other Ballhawks out there, Erik, Nick, and Bryan (Nick is a member of the Ballhawk League and Erik is the founder).

Nothing came over so with 10 minutes to spare we went to the gate.

I was the 6^th one inside and all the ballhawks had either the foul line or the Lower Bleachers covered, so I decided to go into the Upper Bleachers. And lo and behold in the first row was an Easter Egg, which I took a photo of it before I picked it up:

And then I picked up the very scuffed ball for my 1^st ball.

Then I went down to the un-crowded Lower Bleachers. If you ever want a sure fire ball then a scenario would be:

A) The seats are fairly empty

B) It’s still early.

C) A ball is caught right in front of you on the warning track.

D) You know the (unknown) guy’s name.

That was about the scenario for when Joel Hanrahan caught a ball in front of me. There might be another person who would know the guy’s name, so then you have to hope Joel picks you out. Another kid asked for it also, and Joel turned to throw it to him, but then he turned back to me and tossed me my 2^nd ball.

Two balls landed on the warning track, and I could’ve done the glove trick on them, but Denny Bautista retrieved them. I said to Denny:

“Leave it there, I can get it!” But he didn’t. He started walking back towards the bucket, so I thought that all hope was lost, but then he randomly turned around, looked at me, and threw me my 3^rd ball, which had an incredibly off-center practice stamp.

I guess part of this “amazing day” was due to the fact that I could get anywhere in the stadium for all of BP, while on other days I would be confined to Left Field. I used that to my advantage when I noticed a ball lying on the dirt at the third base foul line (which I neglected to take a photo of because I was in a rush).

I thought that I could glove trick it, so I ran out of the left field bleachers, up the escalator, down some steps, into a cross-aisle and then down some stairs into the handicap seating area. I took out some string from my glove and tossed it out, but I realized that it was too little string. So I pulled my glove back and threw it out again. It landed beyond the ball, so I pulled the ball closer a bit. I pulled the glove back once more and this time I got it right behind the ball and pulled it back as hard as I could. The ball rolled right to the wall and I reached down and grabbed my 4^th ball.

Now I wanted to maximize my total baseballs for the two games at PNC because I wanted to get 80 for the trip, so I gave my brother baseballs to get autographs when I couldn’t. And he did, he got me three Reds: Jared Burton, Carlos Fisher, and Drew Stubbs for my 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd autographs respectively. And I will say this every time he gets me an autograph to avoid complaints; an autograph is different from a baseball.

There was no other action on the foul line, and the other ballhawks pretty much had the outfield covered, so I moved down to the dugout. What I saw was about 9 balls lying within 15 feet from the dugout’s top step. Here’s a bit to the right, 5 are on the tarp:

Here’s to the left, 3 baseballs are RIGHT there:

This is a time where I wish I was at the Metrodome, the seats were on top of the dugout. Some players picked them up, like Tony Beasley. He picked up a ball at one end of the dugout and I was at the other end of the dugout. I called out his name and he tossed me the ball, my 5^th ball. It had an odd black mark going from one section to another, and it’s speckled a bit. I had gotten other balls similar to this, but it was a solid, darking black line, so I have no idea what gave the ball this.

I forgot how long this happened after Ball No. 5, but I saw one guy walk a couple rows back and look in the seats for something. I also saw Ballhawk Nick running towards my area. I asked the guy what happened and he said:

“A ball was hit into the seats.” He looked for about 10 seconds and then he gave up, but I looked until I found the ball, which was resting on the ground about 2 sections over. I went over and picked up the ball, my 6^th ball, an unexpected baseball acquisition.

No here is one of the weirdest baseballs that I have ever gotten. I asked Brandon Moss (who was batting) for a ball that he was near. He picked it up and tossed it to me, which I easily caught for my 7^th ball. Now this is where it gets weird, I didn’t noticed this until later that it had a commemorative logo. A very faint and scuffed up logo, not from this year.

But before I tell you, how often is it that you get a ball from a year ago? Maybe it common at Citi Field, but not so in other places. How about a ball from two years ago? Maybe once in every thousand or so balls given out. Five years? Maybe in every 20,000 balls given out this year. What about 7 years ago? I’d say that is extremely unlikely. The ball I got was from 2002. And this is where it gets weirder, the ball wasn’t even used by this team, or any team that the Pirates or Reds ever played. It wasn’t even used by any Major League Baseball team, Minor League Team, or Independent League Team. Heck, it wasn’t even used on this continent, or any piece of land connected to North America (I.E. South America and Central America). The only way you could get to this island is by air or sea. Know what ball it is yet?

It was a baseball from the 2002 All-Star Series, held in Japan! Ohmygod. I didn’t even know that these even existed, let alone were still around. This is like getting a ball from the All-Star Game in 2002, wait it’s even rarer than that. It’s like getting a ball from the 1996 All-Star Game. The commemorative logo says: “All Star Series {MLB Hologram} 02” in case you can’t read it in the photo above. In the photo below I can barely read it:

“*Official Ball*

2002 Japan {something} Series

{Somebody’s unknown signature}”.

Can anybody get me a photo of this ball that you read what I can’t? And have you ever gotten a ball this random? I was clueless when I first read it. I thought it was a promotion for a video game, and then I thought it was for the All-Star Game, and then I knew it was from Japan. So crazy stuff, back to BP.

I got one more ball at the dugout before the end of BP, it was from Gary Varsho. It was too easy. There was not a single other person asking for baseballs. I called out for it, and he tossed me my 8^th ball.

I did catch one more thing at the dugout before the Reds started hitting, when the Pirates were coming in. Don’t blame me because it hit the dugout before I could get it. Jason Jaramillo came in, made the “are you ready to catch it” symbol by faking a toss, and then he tossed it to me. It hit the dugout roof because I wasn’t prepared, but I still got my 1^st game used item of the day, his bat.

Jason Jaramillo BP Bat. This was one part of the amazing day, and the most amazing part of it! I was expecting not to get a ball this year, the first year since 2004. It was luck, and so is most of the bats I got. Remember how I wrote that bat entry earlier? 4 of the times I didn’t ask for a bat, and one time I knew he was giving it to me. But on the other 3, the best tips I can give you are to:

1) Be at the dugout, especially the visiting team’s dugout.

2) Remember who breaks their bat.

3) Use past experiences. Who have you heard stories of being incredibly nice?

4) Focus on getting one late in the season when they no longer need as many bats, and a few broken ones may be lying around.

At first I couldn’t figure out why he would give me the bat. There were no obvious signs of disrepair, but after a little while I saw that one piece of the bat splintered a bit.

It was his BP bat, he could’ve just taped it up, and I mean it was a small break. But I guess he did want to risk injuring anyone in batting practice. So here are some photos of the bat, a “C271” bat:

Apparently it is the 125th Anniversary of Louisville Slugger:

And apparently this bat became the property of Jason on March 26 of this year:

I got my bat and then set my sights on double digits, but I didn’t care if I got that because it was amazing to get a bat. But when the Pirates came in a couple started signing, so I got there autographs. The first person I got was Brian Bixler. He started signing towards the home plate edge of the dugout, so I waited until he pointed to me and he signed my 4^th autograph. Then Princeton graduate Ross Ohlendorf started signing down the foul line where some players and coaches go in through a tunnel. I got over there and had him sign my 5^th autograph.

And then Joe Kerrigan was called over and he started signing. I got him while he was standing in the tunnel for my 6^th autograph. Here are the three Pirates’ autographs:

Top Left: Brian Bixler. Bottom Left: Ross Ohlendorf. Bottom Right: Joe Kerrigan.

I headed back towards the outfield and gave my brother back the baseballs and then got an amazing bounce on a ball hit out there. I was standing in the middle of a row when a ball was hit to my left. I knew it was going out, so I ran to my left through the row that now has a kid walking with a red shirt and jacket on his shoulder:

The ball was going into the bullpen, specifically a part of the bullpen that forms a triangle.

I was about 1 ½ sections from where the ball landed, and by the time it land I was ½ a section from where it landed. Most of the people had given up because they saw it land in the bullpen, but I was running full speed still and I kept running. The ball bounced off the floor, off the back wall and back into the seats. (“Never has a ball bounced out of the bullpen,” Ballhawk Nick said). It landed right where I was, and I caught it on the move and on the fly for my 9^th ball of the day.

I wouldn’t have gotten the ball had I not had the empty row to run through (which in the photo below has a kid walking through it):

That ball was my last of BP. I failed to make it to the dugout for the end of BP, but I was in RF and saw some Reds signing at the foul line, so I ran over there.

As I got there I got a couple autographs:

Jay Bruce signed my 8^th autograph at the line (I neglected to get a photo of him)

Laynce Nix signed my 9^th autograph closer to the dugout (I got a photo of him):

Chris Dickerson signed my 10^th autograph in the camera pit (another photo):

And Finally Adam Rosales signed my 11^th autograph a bit to my right (I got a photo of him):

There was nothing to do, so I waited until there was some pre-game action. I had seats at the dugout because I didn’t know how crabby or strict security would be (they were). But that allowed me to get the autograph of one of my favorite pitchers who was signing at the dugout: Micah Owings. I got him for my 12^th autograph of the night, but it wasn’t my last.

I went over to the foul line and got Wladimir Balentein to sign my 13^th autograph when he came over to sign for some college girls.

I also got a baseball tossed to me.

Paul Janish brought out a baseball to play catch with Adam Rosales at the foul line. I have been noticing recently that sometimes the baseballs used to play catch with belong to the player it was brought out with. But that didn’t happen. Adam was farther away from me and he ended up with the ball. But that didn’t stop me from getting it as I easily got him to toss me my 10^th baseball, the one that broke double digits for the night! The 5^th time this season.

Remember how I said security was extremely strict? I had seats in the middle of the row on the wrong end of the dugout, so I couldn’t go for baseballs over there, and the competition was intense as it seemed that about 15 little kids had aisle or first row seats. So yeah it was extremely difficult. I was shut out or the first third of the night. The kids at the other end of the dugout ended up with the balls. Then I was shut out for the second third of the night. Billy Hatcher ended up giving up about 12 balls through the night, but I didn’t get a ball from him. And then the final third of the night came. What did I get? A ball!

Jared Burton struck out Garret Jones (strike out a meaner person next time) and then Craig Tatum walked in with the ball. He pointed at me, flipped the ball in the air to his other hand and threw me a strike for my 11^th ball.

That was my last baseball. I was hoping to get another, but it wasn’t meant to be. 7 of the 11 baseaballs had a practice stamp on the sweetspot.

I did get enjoy KC & The Sunshine Band for longer than an hour.

So the night ended with a little music at a baseball stadium, the second time this year for me.

Stats:

11 MLB Balls Today
13 MLB Autographs Today
1 Game Used Item Today
176 MLB Autographs in this Season
215 Total Autographs in this Season
249 MLB Balls in this Season
270 Total Balls in this Season
7 Thrown, 2 Hit, 1 Found, 1 Glove Trick
9 BP, 1 Pre-Game, 1 During
Attendance: 32,570
Competition Factor: 358,270
6.39 Balls / 1 Game
39 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
29 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
24 Consecutive Games with at least 4 MLB Baseballs