8/30/09 Yankees vs. White Sox

            I went inside the stadium 3 hours before gametime, waited 53 minutes for BP to start, and then 15 minutes later when Phil Coke was looking to toss a ball into the crowd I asked him for it.

            "You get a ball everytime I see you."

            True, but dissapointing. I had finally been recongized by a Yankee in a bad way. Alfredo Aceves recongized me from the Glove Trick when the Yankees were at Citi Field, and he tried tossing me a ball soon after at Yankee Stadium, but another guy snatched it. David Robertson recongized me one month after he tossed me a ball, but he still gave me another.

            This day was just horrible. Because Right Field was dead I headed over to Left Field. That was also dead. I got nothing for Yankees BP. White Sox BP was just as dead.

            I squeezed my way into the corner spot in Left Field next to the bullpen and I got John Danks to throw me a ball that he retrieved, my 1st ball. Shutout averted, now to try and salvage the day.

            When the White Sox came out to throw I tried getting the attention of BP Coach Juan Nieves so he could toss me a ball. I failed over there, but back in Left Field I had some luck. He had just finished throwing with a White Sox pitcher so I called out his name and he tossed me the ball from 50 feet away. I was in another corner spot next to a camera well, so I only had people to my left, but they didn't even see the ball coming. So there I had my 2nd ball.

            That was it for BP. 2 Balls, the last time I had a BP this bad was Texas. In fact this day was basically June 2nd all over again. But I guess this was worse because I got no autographs at any point while I was inside the stadium. The day was basically just unlucky. One time a ball was coming at me, so I moved down two steps, but the ball ended up sailing 5 rows over my head. I stayed behind the dugout to try for third out balls, but I ended up leaving around the 4th inning. Guess where next inning's warm-up ball was tossed? Right where I was.

            I moved into the bleachers to try for a warm-up ball from Mark Salas, the bullpen catcher, the one in the photo below:

            I went to an area right in line with Mark Salas, took some abuse from other fans because I was wearing White Sox gear, and then in the 7th Inning or so got a ball from Mark Salas, my 3rd ball.

            Game ended. Nothing more. I had one streak end already (25 Consecutive Games with at least 4 Baseballs), but I didn't want another to end (30 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph). So I stayed after the game and headed to Gate 2 to try for autographs, just one. And I got one. Ron Darling came out and I approached him and he signed two for my 1st autograph. Nobody else knew who he was, and with that I left Yankee Stadium.

Stats:

• 3 MLB Balls Today
• 1 MLB Autograph Today
• 186 MLB Autographs in this Season
• 225 Total Autographs in this Season
• 258 MLB Balls in this Season
• 279 Total Balls in this Season
• 3 Thrown
• 2 BP, 1 During
• Attendance: 46,664 People
• Competition Factor: 139,992
• 6.29 Balls / 1 Game
• 41 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
• 31 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph