7/1/09 Yankees vs. Mariners
Summer. School's out, camp's on. I had to leave camp early to get to the gates before the open, and it was worth it.
Whenever I get to the game with some time to spare, I take a long route along the stadium. The path starts at Gate 8, passes all the other gates, and stops at Gate 2. Well I saw Zack at the Great Hall Entrance, so I got in line with him and I went in there.
So the first thing I saw was a couple Mariners in the outfield, and B.P. was set up. But nothing was happening at the cages, so I went over to the Mariners. When I got there one guy was starting to walk away, so I asked him to sign, and he walked over to me.
"Sorry, I just got here. I don't have the baseballs out."
So when I got them out, he signed two for my 1st autograph of the day. Another guy started to walk away, and I was about to ask him to sign, but he was too far along for me to ask him. It's a good thing I didn't; the guy who signed it on the Sweet Spot had the #34:
After that the Yankees started appearing from the dugout, so I moved from the foul line to over there. The clouds appeared dark, the grounds crew went to the tarp, and some B.P. screens were rolled off.
But pretty soon light appeared, a bucket of balls appeared,
and the screens were rolled back into place.
Tony Pena (the coach on the left side of the bucket and 4 Time Gold Glove Winner) took a ball from the bucket and walked to the dugout. I got his attention and asked for a ball. He responded by tossing a ball over the Legends. I thought that it was falling short, but I reached out and caught my 1st baseball.
Lucky right? I realized that Tony tossed that ball to me in front of the entire Yankees pitching staff. Three Yankee ball boys started throwing along the foul line. I didn't get that ball. The entire Yankees pitchers started throwing. I didn't get anything their either. Alfredo Aceves recognized me and tossed me a ball, but a dad reached out and caught it. He insisted I have it, I said no, but after he kept asking me I took the ball from him and handed it to his son.
Before I arrived I checked the starters for the game. They were Jarrod Washburn and Andy Pettitte, both Lefties, so a majority of the hitters would be Righties in B.P So with that said I moved over to Left Field. Quickly after I arrived I got two balls. One ball was hit off the wall and a translator got it. I thought that they were told by the teams to only give balls away to people who dropped them on the track. But this guy was different and he looked up into the stands and tossed me my 2nd ball, which I originally thought was tossed to a girl in pink.
The next ball was a hit ball. It took a bounce of the track, then off a metal pole supporting the net that protects the bleacher, and then went into my glove; my 3rd ball.
Towards the end of Yankees B.P. Brian Bruney fielded a ball. He tossed it to me, but it hit off a metal pole perpendicular to the previously mentioned pole and landed in the bullpen. That was the last thing from the Yankees, nothing more from them. But I got one more ball during the Yankees' B.P. How? A ball was hit near Section 129, but it was too far out to reach over and get, and it laid on the grass. I don't know why, but all the Mariners started running from the dugout to the wall. I asked one of the only Mariners I recognize by sight for the ball, David Aardsma. At first he ignored it and ran to the wall, but then he came back a second time. There were two teenagers next to me who looked like a threat and could reach out. But luckily a ball landed in the Legends and they were distracted by it right when Aardsma returned. He took the ball and threw it a good
That photo is off Brandon Morrow's glove. He came over to talk to someone and I asked to see his glove. He was nonchalant about it and let me hold it and try it on. I was surprised when I saw that MY glove was bigger than his (12 ½ inches to
By the time Morrow came over the Mariners started hitting and throwing. There was one Righty wearing glasses who kept pulling the ball, and one ball landed in the glove of #12 on the Mariners, right in front of me. I didn't ask for it because I didn't know his name (it is Ryan Langerhans, recently acquired Mariner. I learned it from Wikipedia, but not from the Mariners' web site. Way to go Mariners, Wikipedia knows more about your team than you do), but he still tossed me my 5th ball, without my asking whatsoever.
I tried scooping up grounders, but a cop kept blocking them, so I didn't get anything else as B.P. ended. I wandered with Zack to show him the bleachers, and as a result, missed pre-game activities.
I had to wait until the game started. And also, while wandering I round a spot great for asking for bullpen balls from the visitors. It provides a view of each pitcher warming up and doesn't block anyone's view.
Miguel Batista warmed-up in the 7th, and when he went to go in I asked John Wetteland for a ball. He gave ma a throw, but it was somehow
He took another ball and walked into the other end of the bullpen and looked at someone in the crowd to get their attention, but he couldn't. He walked back to me and gave me another throw, in which I caught my 6th ball.
At the end of the game I asked John Wetteland again for something, this time the bullpen line-up card. He seemed to have no clue what it was, said "no", and looked at me like I was from outer space. A typical day at the New Yankee Stadium.
Stats:
- 6 MLB Balls Today
- 1 MLB Autograph Today
- 85 MLB Autographs in this Season
- 90 Total Autographs in this Season
- 130 MLB Balls in this Season
- 146 Total Balls in this Season
- 5 BP, 1 During
- 5 Thrown, 1 Hit
- Attendance: 45,285 People
- Competition Factor: 271,710
- 12 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
- 22 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
- 7 Consecutive Games with at least 4 MLB Baseballs
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