2009 Stats

I'm sorry that I haven't written on the blog lately, it's just that my mind has been elsewhere this off-season. But now that Spring Training is getting closer I have been looking into a massive trip out to California. And I should be at two more things in the coming week that I will blog about, but now here are my (very late) stats for 2009:

 

2009 Totals:

 

Balls by Month:

April -- 53

May --33

June -- 38
July -- 47

August - 87

September -- 49

Oct/November -- 22

 

Balls by Source:

Thrown - 255

Hit - 39

Glove Trick - 17

Hand-To-Hand - 15

Found - 5

 

Balls by Portion of the Day:

BP - 219

Pre-Game - 40

During - 42

After - 14

 

Balls by Stadium:

New Yankee Stadium - 178

Citi Field -- 45

Oriole Park at Camden Yards - 27

Metrodome - 20

US Cellular Field - 17

PNC Park - 17

Miller Park - 9

Wrigley Field - 9

Comerica Park - 7

 

New Yankee Stadium:

32 Games Attended

178 Baseballs

5.56 Balls Per A Game

 

Citi Field:

7 Games Attended

45 Baseballs

6.43 Balls Per A Game

 

Oriole Park:

4 Games Attended

27 Baseballs

6.75 Balls Per A Game

 

Metrodome:

3 Games Attended

20 Baseballs

6.67 Balls Per A Game

 

US Cellular Field:

2 Games Attended

17 Baseballs

8.5 Balls Per A Game

 

PNC Park:

2 Games Attended

17 Baseballs

8.5 Balls Per A Game

 

Miller Park:

1 Game Attended

9 Baseballs

1 200th Baseball Per A Game

 

Wrigley Field:

1 Game Attended

9 Baseballs

1 Wristband Per A Game

 

Comerica Park:

1 Game Attended

7 Baseballs

1 Foul Ball Per A Game

 

NYC Stadiums:

39 Games Attended

223 Baseballs

5.72 Balls Per A Game

 

Stadiums Outside NYC:

14 Games Attended

106 Baseballs

7.57 Balls Per A Game

 

Season Records:

Most Balls in a game: 15 Baseballs on 4/10/09

Most Balls in a week: 41 Baseballs in 8/17/09-8/23/09

Most Balls in one month: 87 Baseballs in August, 2009

Most Balls in back-to-back games: 21 Baseballs on Sept. 4 and Sept. 8

Most Balls thrown to by one player: Mick Kelleher, 8 Balls

Most Balls in back-to-back-to-back games: 27 Baseballs on Aug. 18, Aug. 20, and Aug. 22

 

Highlights:

1st Lifetime Game Ball: Hit by Mark Teahen on 8/13/09 at the HHH Metrodome

Getting 15 autographs and 15 baseballs on the same day: 4/10/09

Seeing the Yankees play in the first and last games of the World Series on 10/28/09 and 11/4/09

 

Miscellaneous Items:

Erick Fernandez's Batting Gloves on 3/29/09 at Citi Field

Anderson Hernandez's Wristband on 4/25/09 at Citi Field

Manny Acta's Line-Up Cards on 4/25/09 at Citi Field

The Tiger's Bullpen Line-Up Card on 7/4/09 at New Yankee Stadium

Brian Friday's Batting Gloves on 7/15/09 at Mercer County Waterfront Park

Garret Jones' Wristband on 8/16/09 at Wrigley Field

Jason Jaramillo's Bat on 8/22/09 at PNC Park

Dusty Baker's Line-Up Cards on 8/23/09 at PNC Park

 

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.

Spongebob and Patrick

            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.

Railings in Tunnel

            Lo and behold there was a ball sitting there!

Easter Egg in the Bleachers

            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:

Waterlogged Baseball

            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):

Baseball from Phillies Bullpen Catcher (11/4/09)

            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.

Cole Hamels signing

            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 Entering the Field

Mariano Rivera coming into the game.

 

Mariano about to step on the mound.

Mariano Rivera about to step on the mound.

 

Mob on the mound

The Mob on the mound after the victory.

 

Lap around the stadium

The Yankees making a lap around New Yankee Stadium (for the second straight year at the final game).

 

Phil Coke spraying fans with champagne

Phil Coke coming out of the dugout to spray the fans with champagne.

10/28/09 Yankees vs. Phillies

            This was the 2009 World Series, the second straight year I've gone.

2009 World Series Logo

            I got there a while before the gates were to open, but somehow another ballhawk arrived even earlier. He was Joe (http://baseballexperiences.mlblogs.com). I didn't mind that he was there, as I knew we weren't going to be making each other loose baseballs. We played catch for a bit, but the Yankees started setting up the gates (yeah, we arrived before they even set up), so we had to get on line. But before we did we asked a worker if batting practice was being set up, it was. We were luckily at the front of the line, which was pretty huge, and our line was about 1 of the 4 lines set up:

 

Long line for World Series

            But I didn't even expect batting practice to start until a couple dozen minutes after. When we ran inside (I got delayed because the worker had to check me again after he did so minutes before the gates opened) batting practice was already in around the second set of swings for the first round of batters. Because I got delayed, there were people who entered the seats before me, and all of the Easter Eggs were long gone. But that didn't worry me, because moments after I entered, Damaso Marte fielded a ball in front of the seats which held very little people. Joe had gotten a ball before me, so he let me get the ball from Damaso, my 1st ball. Surprisingly, it was a commemorative baseball, and unsurprisingly it wasn't a World Series ball. It was a New Yankee Stadium commemorative, which I had dozens of already.

Commemorative Baseball from Damaso Marte

            But the seats got filled up quickly and deeply, so I tried moving to Left Field. But that was a dumb move as ball after ball was pelted into the Right Field seats, while Left Field was completely dead. I had to wait for the Phillies to come up to bat. And since the main sluggers were lefty, and the righty hitters weren't in the first round of BP, I moved over to the foul line where the Phillies players were throwing. As I recall it (yes, it's been so long that I've forgotten a lot of the details of both games) was slightly drizzling, so when I got Mick Billmeyer to toss me a ball from over a 100ft away and it sailed over my head, the ball was wet when I tracked it down and got my 2nd ball.

Baseball No. 324

            By that point the Phillies hitters were finally getting hot in the cage, so I gradually made my way back to Left Field where Joe was there. He would've been having a much better day than me by that point, but I saw him get robbed numerous times by numerous people in the outfield. It really was hectic all of batting practice because since the Yankees started BP before the gates opened, the time when they usually kicked people out (1 hour and 40 minutes after the gates open) was after batting practice had ended. So everybody could see all of BP down on field level. You can see the huge crowd and Joe and me in the next photo, with an arrow pointing to Joe and me.

Alex, Joe and the crowd 

            Even though I am about as tall as some adults I could barely see the warning track from a standing on the stairs position, so when Miguel Cairo went to get a ball on the warning track, I had to stand on a seat to see where he was going. He ended up tossing the ball to me, but because it was a melee my hat fell off and the seat I was standing on folded up, trapping my foot. Now I wouldn't be telling you this story had I not gotten the ball, so yeah I got my 3rd ball. Some people behind me claimed the ball was tossed to them, even though I was the Phillies fan standing out, while they were buried in the crowd.

Ball No. 325

            I wasn't necessarily interested in autographs since I didn't have a streak going, but when I saw a player signing at the foul line, I couldn't refuse. I went over there, saw it was Scott Eyre, and had him sign my 1st autograph.

Scott Eyre Signing

            The outfield was still dead, so the only hot spot to me was the corner spot next to the Left Field bleachers. I was able to get a ball there, from Joe Blanton who is just to the left of my 4th ball, which is in my glove.

Joe Blanton Baseball

            That was my last one for batting practice. Now this is probably the most crowded I had ever seen a concourse before:

Crowded Concourse

            It was ridiculous. They decided to put a lovely patio outside of the Legends restaurant (which provided a lovely view of 10 people, changing every 10 minutes) and a band next to a food vendor. The concession stand, which included a going grill, was pushed back on one occasion, making everyone nervous. In order to get out of there, I had to cut through the Legends patio, and it still took me about 10 minutes.

            Joe and I spent most of the game going to third out balls behind the Yankees dugout, but they weren't being tossed above the Legends seats. The one time that they tossed the ball up above the Legends seats I was sitting in a seat because I had decided not to go down because I wanted to stay put for an inning. So I didn't get another ball, but I did get one more autograph before I headed home.

            After the players had come in after the game ended Joe and I ran out to the Legends exit because some notable people were sitting in there, all of whom I forget except Alec Baldwin, because I got his autograph, my 2nd autograph, and you can see him walking away next to a guard with a bag in his hand:

Alec Baldwin

Stats:

  • 4 MLB Balls Today
  • 1 MLB Autograph Today, 1 Etc. Autograph
  • 211 MLB Autographs in this Season
  • 251 Total Autographs in this Season
  • 326 MLB Balls in this Season
  • 347 Total Balls in this Season
  • 4 Thrown
  • 4 BP
  • Attendance: 50, 207
  • Competition Factor: 200,828
  • 6.27 Balls / 1 Game

 

 

10/17/09 Yankees vs. Angels

I know that while it may seem like I have had a lot of time to blog, I haven't been able to. So, this will be a short entry because of a bad day, I forgot to take any pictures, and of the fact that I went to Games 1  and 6 of the World Series, so I have to blog about thos also:

I got shutout for Yankees BP and much of Angels BP. That shutout finally ended when I got Steve Soliz to toss me a ball that he was using in a bullpen session with a pitcher, my 1st ball.

            Towards the end of Angels BP, in the finally 2 or 3 pitches a home run was hit that landed in my row. I bent down and picked it up, my 2nd ball.

            And that was it.

Stats:

 

  • 2 MLB Balls Today
  • 322 MLB Balls in this Season
  • 343 Total Balls in this Season
  • 1 Thrown, 1 Hit
  • 2 BP
  • Attendance: 49,922
  • Competition Factor: 99,844
  • 6.31 Balls / 1 Game

10/9/09 Yankees vs. Twins

            Playoffs in the Bronx. Would it be insanely crowded, would security be insanely ridiculous, or would the teams be insanely quiet and not notice the fans?

            Well when I entered the stadium, there was nothing going on.

Nothing Going On 100909

But after around fifteen minutes the Yankees started stretching and going out to the foul line to throw. I saw that Damaso Marte was throwing a ball against a wall, but the wall bounce the ball a couple feet over on the ground and Damaso didn't go to pick it up. One Yankee who remembers me and still tosses me baseballs, Alfredo Aceves, picked up the baseball, looked over the Legends seats (where I was standing), and tossed the ball over my head, but I tracked it down for my 1st ball. First Baseball of the Playoffs

            As an added delight the Yankees started batting practice not an hour after the gates opened, but 25 minutes where at least the crowd was small (by Yankee Stadium standards). Small BP Crowd

            But the first round of hitters (Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, Robinson Cano, etc.) was not hitting many balls out, and the ones they were hitting out weren't anywhere near me. I had to wait for the second round for things to get going, one that consisted of Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, and Hideki Matsui. But they weren't the hitters that provided me with my first batted ball of the postseason, it was Melky Cabrera.

            All the spots on the staircase that didn't have railings were taken up, except at the very back of section. So although it seemed way to far back, it seemed as the best spot available. I leaned on the end of the railing and waited for one to be hit out. Melky Cabrera lifted one right towards me, I mean right towards me. I didn't have to move at all, I only had to leap at the last second to catch the ball on the fly, my 2nd ball. In the photo below I am holding the baseball in my hand, moments after catching it, at the top of the step.

Moments after catching a Melky Cabrera Home Run

            By this time the large crowd had formed in Right Field for batting practice, so I moved over to Left Field to try for baseballs with Alex Rodriguez being up. But he failed to hit ANY out. I got one of my least favorite Yankees' autograph, Phil Coke, my 1st autograph.

Phil Coke Autograph1

Why do I dislike him? He recognizes me and won't give me any baseballs, in fact when I got his autograph he pointed to me and said to some others fans that:

            "This guy gets a ball every time I see him."

            Let's just hope he won't remember me in 2010.

            After that encounter I went over to where the Twins were throwing as it seemed like my best shot for another baseball. It was because when Jesse Crain finished throwing with Bob Keppel Jesse scanned the crowd for a Twins fan. I called out "Jesse" and showed him my vintage Twins shirt and hat and that convince him to toss me my 3rd ball.

Ball No. 319

            I went back into the outfield to try my luck, but I was forced to stay closer to the foul pole. It ended up paying off because hated former Yankee Carl Pavano tossed a ball to some fans in the front row, but they bobbled it, dropping it onto the field. He didn't go and get it, as another Twin when to go get it. He was looking up into the crowd like he was trying to find a Twins fan. There was one other person than me wearing Twins gear, but he only had a hat; I had a full Twins' outfit. So the random player took the baseball and flipped it up to me over the first 3 rows, my 4th ball, who is to the left of my glove in the photo below.

Last Ball of the ALDS

            That was my last baseball of the day, but not last of the postseason.

 

Stats:

  • 4 MLB Balls Today
  • 1 MLB Autograph Today
  • 210 MLB Autographs in this Season
  • 249 Total Autographs in this Season
  • 320 MLB Balls in this Season
  • 341 Total Balls in this Season
  • 3 Thrown, 1 Hit
  • 4 BP
  • Attendance: 50,006
  • Competition Factor: 200,024
  • 6.4 Balls / 1 Game
  • 40 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph

10/4/09 Mets vs. Astros

            Final day of the regular season, and I spent it at Citi Field. We arrived early and since there was time to waste before I though anyone would arrive I went to the players entrance. Joe, from yesterday's game, was there and he started waving for me to come over fast. I ran over there and saw that a player (Josh Thole) was calmly signing for everyone. I waited on a line and then he signed my 1st autograph.

Josh Thole Signing

            Joe and I talked for a bit, waiting for another player to come. He was Brian Stokes, he signed my 2nd autograph, and took a photo with me:

Brian and I

            Out next stop was the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. We put our bags down and noticed a big guy coming from the subway, walking in our direction. We both thought it was a player, and after thinking for a bit we realized that it was Jeff Fulchino, who signed my 3rd autograph.

            That was my final autograph before the game. When we entered the stadium there was no action, and it remained that way for more than an hour. Since there was a lot of time to waste I was able to hang out with a bunch of other ballhawks who were there:

Connor, Joe, Alex, Zack, Alex, Ross, Clif

            From Left to Right: Connor, Joe, Me, Zack, another Alex, Ross, and Clif.

            The first players to come out were 6 Mets players (plus 2 trainers).

Mets1

            I got nothing.

            The first Astros to come out were Samuel Gervacio and a random worker.

Astros1

            I got nothing.

            So I was seriously worrying at game time. It was crowded as hell by the dugouts, this was even worse than that one game at Detroit by now; at least I had a baseball by this point. My second baseball in Detroit was from pre-game throwing, and that is what I waited for, hoping that I would get a baseball there. That hope went away and turned into relief when Jeff Keppinger tossed me my 1st ball, (I'm in the bottom left corner of the photo, Jeff is on the right jogging towards the dugout):

Jeff Keppinger tossing me a baseball

            The game started and I had one ball. I wasn't leaving with just one, I could deal with two, but not one. So I tried for 3rd out balls and warm-up balls. The Citi Field ushers must've said: "Ah, screw it," because there was an insane amount of competition behind the dugout during the game, and by the time Take Me Out to the Ballgame was played, I still only had one baseball. But one inning later I got my 2nd ball, a pre-inning warm-up ball, from Jose Cruz.

            That was the final ball. I didn't get any game-used stuff myself after the game (the main reason I came), but Clif gave me a batting glove that he got.

            Joe, Clif, and I exited and went over to the Astros exit. After waiting for a while, Joe and I (Clif had left) got a random guy to take our hats and baseballs and get them signed by Miguel Tejada, my 4th autograph.

Miguel Tejada signing my baseballs

Stats:

2 MLB Balls Today

4 MLB Autographs Today

209 MLB Autographs in this Season

248 Total Autographs in this Season

316 MLB Balls in this Season

337 Total Balls in this Season

2 Thrown

1 Pre-Game, 1 During

Attendance: 38,135

Competition Factor: 76,270

6.45 Balls / 1 Game

39 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph

 

 

10/3/09 Mets vs. Astros

It's been a long time, I know.

            I arrived at the second to final game of the regular season and had time to waste before I would meet my friend Joe ( http://baseballexperiences.mlblogs.com ), so I decided to head to the player's entrance. Before I could get there I saw that the people were crowded near the fence, so that meant somebody was signing.

            I ran over there and saw that it was Anderson Hernandez, and he signed my 1st autograph.

            Soon after I met up with Joe. We decided to wait for one more player and then we'd go to the Rotunda. That player was Sean Green, and he signed my 2nd autograph.

Sean Green signing

            Apparently the Astros had a different entrance because as we were walking to the Rotunda we noticed a player who looked oddly familiar and he was heading to the first base VIP gate, it was Hunter Pence! He signed my 3rd autograph.

            After playing catch for a bit we got on line and went inside.

            The cages were up, but nobody was on the field.

 

Nobody on the field

            So Joe and I passed the time in the Sterling Club. A little bit later the Astros came out and started throwing. I got a spot on the railing next to the foul line and got Brad Moehler to throw me a random baseball lying on the field, my 1st ball.

Ball No. 308

            Only one pair was left throwing, well trio. They were Samuel Gervacio, Jose Valverde, and Wilton Lopez. I was in the empty Left Field Bleachers, so it was easy to get Samuel Gervacio to throw me my 2nd ball when they were done.

Ball No. 309

            I started playing for home runs after that, so I noticed that a ball landed on the batters' eye in Center Field. I ran over considering to use the glove trick, but I choose not to when I saw that an usher was coming to get it.

            I asked for the ball, and being that there were no other fans asking for it I got my 3rd ball tossed to me easily.

Ball from batter's eye

            I moved to the seats in Right-Center field because Left Field was getting slightly crowded. It turned out to be a mistake. There were a couple home runs hit in Left Field, while where I was there were none. I *did* get Edwin Maysonet to throw me a ball he picked up in shallow Center Field (100ft away or so), my 4th ball. Here is the distance (he is pointed to using the black arrow):

Distance from Edwin Maysonet

And here is the ball:

Ball No. 311            That was the last of baseballs for me during BP. I met Todd and Tim ( http://cookandsonbats.mlblogs.com ), who I had met in Chicago on August 17th. I spent the remaining time with them and Joe before the game started. We started off by the foul pole (where in the photo below Tim is showing off his new baseball):

Tim showing off his baseball

And then we worked our way to the Astros' dugout. We stood there for the end of BP, and while Joe and Todd got baseballs thrown to them, I got none. We decided to head over to the play area for Tim, and after he took some cuts I said goodbye to them for the time being and headed to the dugout because pre-game throwing was about to start.

            But I got no baseballs at the pre-game throwing, Joe did though. He went into the Sterling club as I recall and I waited for the first inning to try for a third out ball behind the Astros dugout. To pass the time I was sitting next to Todd and Tim, who were sitting in a section directly behind the dugout. I sat to their left because most third out balls end up being tossed to the outfield side. But Lance Berkman is un-predictable. When the third out was recorded, I realized that Lance was going in the home plate end of the dugout. I had to cut across Todd and Tim and run down. The problem was that they were in the 20th or so row, so I could only run down to around the 8th row, but Lance is un-predictable. He ended up tossing the ball right to me, right as I got there. Since it was the first inning, I was able to catch my 5th ball before the other people realized that baseballs do get given away.

            While walking back up to Tim and Todd, Todd took a photo of me:

Getting Third Out Ball 100309.jpg

And then I examined the spekled dirt pattern on the baseball:

Spekled Dirt Pattern on My 5th Ball 100309

            I spent the next while standing behind the plate going for foul balls with Joe, but it was empty. It was raining, and for some reason that I now forget, I went over to the Astros dugout before the rain delay. When the rain delay came, it was POURING. But then I remembered and got an idea.

            I bolted to the umpire tunnel, dodging people to get their in time. This pouring rain would make the baseballs the home plate umpire had be waterlogged. When I got there, Joe followed behind me and we both got baseballs from Damien Beal, my 6th ball.

Ball No. 313, Damien Beal

            Being soaking wet we ran into the Sterling Club to dry off. Everything was fine, except for being wet. After drying off we headed in the Jackie Robinson Rotunda and saw Todd holding a crying Tim. We tried cheering him up, but then found out that he was faking it. After Tim was done fake crying, we were able to sneak them into the Sterling club, which is where we spent the next while, drinking free milkshakes and playing catch in the fancy seats, which we were able to do for a couple minutes. We then wandered around, waiting for the game to start. When they finally started taking the tarp off, we went back behind the dugout to look at the middle-game throwing, during which I got nothing:

During Game Pre-Game Throwing

            Joe and I went back behind home plate to try for foul balls, and it was empty. There couldn't have been more than 20 people behind home plate, but not a single foul ball was hit into the Sterling Club. There was one foul ball that sailed directly over my head into the next tier, and that was all the action I got (Joe was luckier). Eventually I went over to the umpire's tunnel to try for one more Citi Field baseball. What happened next was odd.

            Damien Beal came in and took the baseballs out of his pouch. He handed one to Todd and Tim (also there), a couple other kids, Joe (also there), but not me. Apparently he had one last baseball in his pouch because he stopped, turned around, and tossed the ball in my direction. The ball fell into the tunnel, just beyond my glove. But then a second or two later my glove wasn't on my hand. One of the other umpires, Adrian Johnson, took my glove off of my hand when I wasn't looking. He took a couple steps in, and then turned around and grinned. This was the chance to get the ball! I pointed to the ball lying in the tunnel, and he turned around, placed the ball in my glove, and handed it back to me. And I had my 7th ball.

Ball No. 314, Damien Beal

Stats:

3 Citi Balls 10309

The

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • 7 MLB Balls Today
  • 3 MLB Autographs Today
  • 205 MLB Autographs in this Season
  • 244 Total Autographs in this Season
  • 314 MLB Balls in this Season
  • 335 Total Balls in this Season
  • 5 Thrown, 2 Hand-To-Hand
  • 4 BP, 2 During, 1 After
  • Attendance: 37,578 People
  • Competition Factor: 263,046
  • 6.54 Balls / 1 Game
  • 48 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
  • 38 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph

9/30/09 Yankees vs. Royals

            There was some blue peeking through the clouds above both Yankee Stadiums.

Blue through the clouds

This was the final regular season home game at NYS, and I had a $0 ticket in the Legends, so I knew it was going to be a good day. That day was helped out when BP started a couple minutes after the gates opened.

 

Early BP 93009

        There was going to be a lot of BP; I knew I would get at least 3 balls during the day, so when a ball was hit to the wall and I noticed a kid was asking for it a bit to softly, I spoke up and asked the coach to give the ball to that kid instead of me. It worked out because soon after another ball was hit to the wall and the same guy retrieved it. I asked for the ball, and he gave it to me because I "gave the last one away". It was my 1st ball.

1st Ball 93009

            I guess it was a good thing that I let the kid have that first baseball because during the early part of batting practice the batter, Shelly Duncan, hit a home run that was going to land in the 4th row or so. I got in line with the ball and the home run ended up tipping off the kid's glove and landing in my row. I simply bent down and picked up my 2nd ball.

Ball No. 297

            The early BP, which consisted of Shelly Duncan, Francisco Cervelli, Freddie Guzman, and a couple other people ended and the Yankees came out to throw, so I went over to there.

            I stood in the Legends seats, which had about 3 other people in them, and stood right behind Alex Rodriguez. He was long tossing with someone and there was an extra ball lying on the ground.

A-Rod Long Tossing

At one point he took the extra ball and looked at me like he wanted to give it to me. I took a step back and he tossed it over the large net, so I reached up and it sailed straight to my glove, my 3rd ball. Ball No. 298

Thinking that all the other players had seen me I headed back into the outfield to try for balls during BP. It was tough in Right Field, mainly because I and two other ballhawks (Rich and Tony) were standing on the same aisle, in about a total of 4 rows. So I had to think differently. Like while standing in the outfield I noticed that a ball was hit down the line. They now have nets there, so the ball bounced off the net and settled near the wall. I grabbed my sweatshirt and headed over there. When I was heading over there, another ball hit off the net and settled closer to the wall, and when it turned out I could only get the latest hit ball. I looped my sweatshirt through my glove and threw it out, knocking the ball closer. When it got close, I leaned over the wall, but my fingertips just touched the ball, so a person put me over a bit more and I picked up the ball, my 4th ball, which will count as a device ball because I couldn't have gotten it without the device (glove on sweatshirt). It was a very beaten up commemorative baseball. Ball No. Two-Nine-Nine

And that was my 299th ball. My next ball would be number 300, so I paid close attention to who would be the source of that ball. I didn't know the source.

I hadn't gotten my 300th ball and the Yankees were coming off the field to let the Royals take BP. I raced over to the dugout and got their in time to see that there was one person who had a ball, but I didn't know him. I just asked him for the ball and he rolled it to me across the dugout roof, not the way that I wanted to get it, but a ball is a ball, well that one was my 5th ball and No. 300. And there it was.

The 300th Baseball

The Royals were now taking their cuts, so I started heading back to the outfield, but I saw a person signing in the Legends. He looked oddly familiar, like he looked like Jim Leritz, but shouldn't he be in jail? Apparently not, as it was Jim Leritz. I don't know what he was doing there, but I got his autograph for my 1st autograph and continued heading to the outfield. Jim Leritz Signing

But nothing came out of it. I got shut out (mainly because I brought my LA Dodgers clothing, not Royals), and had to wait for the Royals to wrap up on BP and then I started heading to the dugout. I noticed that John Bale was walking to two baseballs lying on the foul line, so I turned my cap around and ran over. I got there in time and asked John Bale to toss me a ball. He picked up one of the baseballs and tossed it to me over the netting, my 6th ball, which I later gave away.

Then I made my way over to the dugout, but before I could get there they started heading off the field, so I started running there (not a good idea with my stitches). I ran and got there in time, but I didn't get any baseballs from the players coming off the field. I saw that the manager Trey Hillman had 3 baseballs in his hand, so I asked him for one, and he tossed me my 7th ball, and then walked off. At Royals Dugout

Here is the baseball:

Ball No. 302

I don't know why but as they were coming off the field some baseballs fell down and were lying against the dugout fence, and none of the Royals players bothered to pick them up.Baseball by dugout

It happened to be that one of the people I know in the Yankees, Tony, picked them up, so I got him to toss one of the baseballs to me, my 8th ball. Ball No. 303

There was nothing to do before the game started. I didn't bother going to try for the Royals' Pre-Game throwing baseballs because I was going to try and get Derek Jeter's, and I had a pretty good chance. I knew that before I even got it. Why?

I have noticed that some Yankees always throw their baseballs to certain spots. Alex Rodriguez throws it to a spot behind the inner corner of the dugout, and Derek Jeter always throws it beyond the Legends, to the seats above the partition, a corner spot right next to the staircase that leads into the Legends. When Derek Jeter came out to throw, I went to the spot and observed the competition. One big guy on the steps behind me, not paying attention. That was it. I stood down and watched Jeter slowly. He was throwing the ball, too long it seemed. I was getting impatient. But then all of a sudden he finished. He started coming in. And looked into the crowd, right at me. He threw the ball to me. In this (extremely) blurry photo you can see the ball in mid-air, pointed to by the red arrow. My glove is pointed to by the yellow arrow: Derek Jeter Tossing Me a Ball

It started sailing to me, but my only competition suddenly saw the people. He reached down for the ball, elbowing me in the face. But I reached out, and kept the ball in my mitt, my 9th ball. It's great when you try for something, and you get it. Derek Jeter Baseball

I knew that I would make double digits, trying for a third out ball, pre-inning warm-up ball, or umpire ball. But it took me a while, around the 7th inning to be exact. I noticed earlier that Francisco Cervelli caught a ball that was no longer to be used in the game, and kept it. I didn't think any of it until I went down for the pre-inning warm-up ball that inning and he looked at me. I waved at him, and he tossed me the commemorative baseball that I assume he got earlier, my 10th ball. Ball No. 305

Then my Yankee Stadium record of 11 came into the photo, gotten on 9/8/09. That was the NYS record, I heard of another kid who got 12 on the same day. So maybe I could tie or break that. I would have to try, but when I got to the 9th inning and I still had 10 balls, I wasn't sure if I could get it. But I got lucky when Rusty Kuntz let the ball sail into the dugout. There were 3 kids trying for the ball, including me. But I was the only one who could see into the dugout, so I was able to get Rusty to toss me the ball, my 11th ball.

            I tried for a ball from the people coming off the field, but I came up empty. I thought all hope was lost for a ball, when I forgot, the bullpen! I saw the players coming in from the bullpen, so I looked carefully to see if any of them had any baseballs. I looked and saw that a Hispanic player, with his first number being 5, was pulling a baseball out of his jacket. I saw and started calling out to him, and when he came in, he tossed me my 12th ball, tying the record.

Carlos Rosa Tossing Me A Ball After The Game  

 

                                                        Stats:

 

Haul from 9/30/09

  • 12 MLB Balls Today
  • 1 MLB Autograph Today
  • 202 MLB Autographs in this Season
  • 241 Total Autographs in this Season
  • 307 MLB Balls in this Season
  • 328 Total Balls in this Season
  • 10 Thrown, 1 Hit, 1 Glove Trick
  • 6 BP, 3 Pre-Game, 2 During, 1 After
  • Attendance: 46,956
  • Competition Factor: 563,472
  • 6.53 Balls / 1 Game
  • 47 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
  • 37 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph

 

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.

Early BP 92509

            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 1st ball, who is to the left of the ball in the photo below.

Translator and baseball

            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).

Yankees Throwing

            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 2nd ball.

Ball No. 290

            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. Me tracking a Matsui BP HR

            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 3rd ball.

Ball No. 291

            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 3rd 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 4th 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.

Ball in tunnel

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 5th ball.

Balls No. 292-293

            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:

 

Unknown Red Sox Coach             And here is the autograph:

Unknown 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 1st 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,

Ball in Red Sox 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 6th ball, but since the ball was just a bit too small to go through a police officer tossed it over to me.

Ball No. 294

            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 7th ball, and last one, of the day.

Groundscrew Handing Me a Baseball

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

 

9/14/09 Yankees vs. Angels

It's been about two weeks since the game happened, so I am sorry for the delay. A lot of stuff has been making me busy, so I'll try to get the next game I went to (9/25) up soon also.

           This was one day where I knew that I may not be getting a baseball. But I wasn't worried. I was excited for this day. Because I would be going on the field for Yankees BP.

            It's a long story, but I'll shorten it. Since I know some people in the Yankees organization we were able to participate in a "feedback" session where ticket holders would go to give feedback on the New Yankee Stadium. Then for giving feedback, you'd get a prize. The prizes were like: $200 gift card to team store, $200 gift card to Hard Rock Café, watch Batting Practice from the field, and etc. Of course we choose watching BP from the field, and this was date.

            But I was going to try for a baseball, and autographs. I had to go to a place at 4:30 to be allowed on the field, so I had 30 minutes to snag. I thought that I wouldn't get anything, but I was excited and a bit annoyed when I saw the Yankees only stretching at the foul line.

Why must the Yankees stretch?

            Why, of all days, did they have to stretch when the gates opened? Couldn't one or two people be hitting? Couldn't one person be throwing? So anyway right at the time they started throwing I had to report to the entrance. They gave me a field pass, and then they led me down an elevator to underneath the stadium. The only other times I was down hear was when I was in the Legends and on the field for the clinic, but I only saw a fraction of it. So now I saw a bunch more things while we were led to the field. This is a blurry photo of the concourse:

Blurry Workers' Concourse

            A sign to help out the visiting team:

Help for the visiting team

            A sign to help the umpires, photographers, and us:

Help for us

            We walked down the hall which had the umpires room, took a right, and then a left, and I could see light. Pretty soon I saw light, dirt, grass, and baseballs, I was on the field.

            I took a look to my left:

Look to my left1

            Then to my right:

Look to my right1

            And then walked over to the designated standing area.

            I was amazed to be standing on the field, incredibly happy. I was there mainly to get autographs and to finally stand on the field when BP was going on, and not get in trouble (when I was younger I fell on the field at Wrigley, they just made me get back into the seats). But I was nervous about asking players for autographs. They told us that we couldn't call out to players, but then, how would they know that we were there for autographs? So after calling out quietly for a couple players I finally got Eric Hinske's attention. He came over to sign for me, because nobody else really knew he was signing (my 1st autograph).

Eric Hinske Signing1

            By then it was about the 2nd round of batting practice, so Derek, Johnny, Brett, Melky, etc. were gone. But A-Rod, Mark T, and Matsui were out now. But I saw Jose Molina was done with batting, so I called out to him as he was heading back to the dugout. He came over to the area, stopped, and signed my 2nd autograph.

Jose Molina Signing

            Remember how I said that A-Rod was out batting? I have had (heard also) of bad experiences with Alex, but this time he went right over to a person on my left and started signing.

A-Rod Signing?

            So when I saw that it was A-Rod I went over there and tried to get him. It may look like in the photo above that the crowd was intense to get him, but it wasn't. So I was able to get Alex Rodriguez to sign my 3rd autograph, right under the commemorative logo.

            After getting A-Rod, I moved back over to the right edge of the area and waited for other people. But I guess I should've stayed over there because Jerry Hairston Jr. started signing. But again, it was easy to go over there and get him for my 4th autograph, and then my brother and I got a photo with him:

Jerry Hairston, my brother, and I

            I saw a player in the Yankees dugout, Number 47. I looked at a list of numbers of the players that I don't know. There was no 47.

            "It's Freddie Guzman." My brother said. Apparently he was just called up, and nobody knew him, so when he heard somebody calling his name, he was more than glad to sign my 5th autograph.

Freddie Guzman Signing1

            In the photo below you can see two people standing near the designated area, the far one is Francisco Cervelli, and the closer one is Mick Kelleher. I went over to Francisco first and got him to sign my 6th autograph.

Francisco Cervelli and Mick Kelleher Signing

Then I went over to Mick. Not wanting to get shut out I was going to ask him for a baseball when batting practice was winding down. He was talking to people, and when I asked him he said:

            "I'll see what I can do."

            But before I could see what he was going to do, Rob Thompson started signing right where Francisco Cervelli was, so I went over there. He was talking to some people (people who seemed to know each and every Yankee) so I had to wait until he was finished. And then when he was I got Rob to sign my 7th autograph.

            Then Mick Kelleher showed me what he could do. He came back over to my with a glove full of baseballs. He only handed me one (my 1st baseball) and started walking away, but then he turned back and gave me two more, my 2nd and 3rd baseballs.

3 Baseballs courtesy of Mick Kelleher

            "Give some to your friends."

            I was shocked I noticed that they were all Yankee Commemoratives, but I didn't care. I gave one of them (ball no. 2) to a little kid who was also on the field, and my dad captured me giving it to him.

Giving Away a baseball

            He kept throwing the ball away, on the ground, so it got dirty, but it was his ball. At one point his dad told me to give him another baseball and watch what he would, so I did. Apparently he didn't do what his dad thought he was going to do because he kept both ball and refused to give them up. So his dad handed him a camera case and the kid dropped both balls. I gave the second baseball to his dad to hold onto.

            I had three baseballs, so at least I knew that my streak of 3 baseballs a game would live to see game 45, so I felt the pressure was off.

            The next autograph I got was John Flahrety, who was just wandering around the area behind home plate. I called him over, got his autograph for my 8th autograph, and got an out of focus photo with him.

Foto with Flahrety

            Oh, I forgot to mention, Batting Practice was close to wrapping up. Some of the batters were coming in, like Ramiro Pena. I got him for my 9th autograph.

Ramiro Pena Signing

            By the time I got Ramiro Pena's autograph, we had been on the field for around 50 minutes, so there'd only be about another 10 minutes left before we had to go. Most of the good batters had done, a lot of the good pitchers were still in the outfield. So I waited for them. One of them was Jon Albaladejo. He came into the dugout and started heading for the clubhouse. I called his name and he looked up. I tossed him the baseballs and he signed them right there in the dugout, my 10th autograph.

Jon Albaladejo Signing1

And that was my last autograph before BP wrapped up. They let us stand on the field for a couple of minutes of Angels BP, so I had a bit extra time. I noticed that about 4 Yankees were looking at a life-size photo of some sort down at the other side of the dugout. They were looking at it for a couple minutes. "They" were Alfredo Aceves, David Robertson, Phil Coke, and CC Sabathia. We had to start leaving, but I lingered while everyone else left before me. And it paid off. Right before I HAD to leave the pitchers started coming in, one at a time. The first one was Alfredo Aceves. When he got close enough I called out and he motioned for me to toss him the baseball. I tossed it to him and he signed my 11th autograph. After that we had to go, so we left. Alfredo Aceves Signing1

            It was an once-in-a-lifetime experience, so I was incredibly happy afterwards. I didn't care that I got shutout for Angels BP or for the rest of the game. I was satisfied with the 3 balls, 11 autographs, and with standing on the field a few feet from some of the best players in the game.

Stats:

  • 3 MLB Balls Today
  • 11 MLB Autographs Today
  • 200 MLB Autographs in this Season
  • 239 Total Autographs in this Season
  • 288 MLB Balls in this Season
  • 309 Total Balls in this Season
  • 3 Hand-To-Hand
  • 3 BP
  • Attendance: 44,701 People
  • Competition Factor: 134,103
  • 6.4 Balls / 1 Game
  • 45 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
  • 35 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph

 
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