Results tagged ‘ BP ’
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, 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:
A sign to help out the visiting team:
A sign to help the umpires, photographers, and 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:
Then to my right:
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).
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
8/17/09 White Sox vs. Royals
My fourth Royals game this vacation, this time at US Cellular Field.
I arrived to the game 20 minutes before the gates opened. I went to the gate closest to right field and saw “The Happy Youngster” Nick Yohanek at that gate.
I stopped to talk with him and he let me go in with him. My goal for the day was 10. We decided that we should try for 20+ combined. But that didn’t happen.
After running up the ramps and showing my ticket to the guard in the 100 level, I ran into the seats. I saw Bob McClure in the bullpen with a non-rubbed up baseball, so I assumed he picked it off the ground. I asked him for it and he tossed me my 1st ball.
After not finding any Easter Eggs in right field, I went to left field and checked the moat.
There were two balls there. Nick went for one and I went for the other. The ball was a bit under the overhang, so I had to knock it out from underneath. When I finally knocked it out from underneath, I lowered my glove over it and reeled up my 2nd ball.
Batted balls were flying all around as I rolled up my string. I saw Nick catch some on the fly, and then one was coming right to me. I moved maybe 2 steps or so to make sure that the ball wouldn’t hit me because it was coming exactly to me, and the ball clanged off a metal bench above me. I didn’t have my glove on, so I waited for the ball to take a lucky bounce. It didn’t bounce, it rolled. It rolled down the steps to me. To prevent it from rolling past me, I stuck my foot out. My foot stopped the ball in its tracks and then I reached down and picked up my 3rd ball. As you can see from the photo below it got scuffed up from smacking the ground:
I tried moving around in the outfield to catch fly balls, but it was crowded. Not New Yankee Stadium crowded, just enough to block off a lot of rows. I was going to look at the bullpen for balls, but before that I asked Luke Hochevar for a ball in the left-center corner while standing on a seat. He saw my Royals gear and threw me my 4th ball.
I got a ball like that later, but more painful, but before that I went to the bullpen to see if any balls were to be glove-tricked.
There were a couple balls, but just as I got there, Rusty Kuntz came into pick up balls that were there.
There was one ball that could be mine in a couple seconds, so I told Rusty:
“Leave it there. I can get it.”
So he stood there and watched, kicked it closer when it needed to be, and laughed as I reeled up my 5th ball.
Now here’s a story. Since the front row had become crowded, I stood on a seat in the second row and waved my arms and John Bale tossed me a ball, but a kid in front of me deflected it into the moat.
No problem, right?
Wrong.
Just as I lowered my glove down to get it, another kid with a glove trick came over and lowered his glove. I asked him if I could try to get it and he raised his trick up, but when I raised mine up to loosen the band a bit he lowered his.
I told him I wasn’t done, but he wouldn’t listen. I tried knocking the ball away from him, but our strings got tangled.
So I raised the glove to try and untangle it. The kid was calling his brother over to get the ball with his device. Not so fast. I gave Nick permission to get it, so he did, and then graciously helped untangle the string for a couple minutes. It probably cost me and Nick a ball or two, and we weren’t too happy. Because of that incident, left field became dead. But there was some action at the dugout. Mitch Maier came in and started signing, and since I was focused on ballhawking at that moment and it was too far away (it would take my minutes to get there and get his autograph) my brother took the baseball and got Mitch Maier to sign it for me, my 1st autograph. Remember, an autograph is not the same as a baseball and has different rules. But now let’s get back to the Ballhawking.
So Nick and I moved to right field. Remember about that painful ball that I mentioned earlier? I was standing on a seat (again) and calling to Joakim (Waa-keem) Soria for a ball that rolled to the center field wall. He saw my Royals shirt and threw me the ball. But it was high. I wanted that ball.
So I jumped off the seat.
I reached up high.
I grabbed the ball out of the air, but then I fell back.
I was heading for the seat, then Nick, who was behind me, slowed me down, and I barely hit the seats. I wasn’t sure if I still had the baseball because my glove felt right, so I opened it up and saw that the ball was tucked in the very tip of the glove, not going anywhere. So there it was, I had my 6th baseball. I stood up and showed Joakim that I had the ball, and he gave me a thumbs up.
That was my last ball of BP. I made it late to the dugout. So I got no balls and only Alex Gordon’s autograph (my 2nd autograph.).
There’s another story from the game.
In the first inning, a Royal hit a home run into the White Sox bullpen. As soon as it landed, I was off. I got there and the ball was in the front of the bullpen.
Two people that I recognized were already there though, Todd and his son Tim. They write a blog with the URL http://cookandsonbats.mlblogs.com and they were standing in the concourse when they saw the home run land, so they ran down to look at it. A little bit later, Nick came also and we grabbed two seats on the aisle about 8 rows back. Since the seats were wet, I was wiping them down when another home run was hit. Nick and I ran down, but the home run landed in the bullpen, a couple feet from Nick’s glove. Guess what happened? Juan Nieves, the bullpen coach, grabbed the White Sox home run and threw it into the crowd. Guess where it landed? IN the seat I was in before I ran down to the bullpen. And then a security guard grabbed the other home run and gave it to a kid who didn’t know what was happening and wasn’t even asking for it.
First Braun’s homer, then this. And the competition was intense at the dugouts. I only got one more ball, my 7th ball. It was from an unknown Royals pitcher after the game, it was also my last ball of the day.
Stats:
- 7 MLB Balls Today
- 2 MLB Autographs Today
- 152 MLB Autographs in this Season
- 191 Total Autographs in this Season
- 221 MLB Balls in this Season
- 242 Total Balls in this Season
- 4 Thrown, 2 Glove Trick, 1 Hit
- 6 BP, 1 After
- Attendance: 36,703 People
- Competition Factor: 256,921
- 6.14 Balls / 1 Game
- 36 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
- 26 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
- 21 Consecutive Games with at least 4 MLB Baseballs
Oh, and two more cool photos:
8/12/09 Twins vs. Royals
I got to the hotel around 3 today and the bus was already outside. I thought I had missed a bunch of people, but it turns out not many of them signed. Soon after I got there Kyle Davies came out with his iPod. He signed for everyone including me, my 1st autograph, and instead of getting on the bus he got in a cab. Soon after David DeJesus, Willie Bloomquist, and John Buck came out to (again) go in a cab. David wouldn’t sign, and I approached John Buck who signed my 2nd autograph. I tried to get Willie, but he got in a cab before I could get him.
One of the guys I (and about everyone else) wanted was Zack Grienke. Everyone was keeping an eye on where he would be. They saw Zack go into a mall, so the collectors went into the mall to try and get him. He said no and went into a smoothie place. I saw two other players in the smoothie place and they came out to where we were. One was Jamey Wright (who I have) and the other was Ron Mahay. I got Ron Mahay for my 3rd autograph and then went outside. By that point a lot of the players had already left, so then the 9 or so collectors turned in 1. I was waiting until the bus left and while waiting I saw Frank White in the lobby. I got out a new baseball out and approached him as he got out (as did the other collector and my brother).
“Ya’ guys nervous, ain’t cha?” I was a bit. But he signed my baseball on the sweetspot for my 4th autograph. Nobody else came out to get on the bus so we left for the ballpark.
I entered the Metrodome this day hoping for a day like the 11th. The Royals were taking BP again, instead of the Twins. There was one guy that I had befriended last game, he gave ms some tips on the Metrodome. But when an unknown Royal fielded a ball and I asked for it he said:
“He was wearing a Twins hat a minute ago.”
But the Royal still tossed me my 1st baseball.
My brother told me that Yuniesky Betancourt was signing and I tried to get over there in time, but I couldn’t. I gave my brother the baseball since he would be focusing on autographs, and he was closer to Betancourt and he was able to get an autograph for me my 5th autograph. Some people may not count that, but as a kid I couldn’t make my way to the front of crowds when someone was signing and I ended up handing someone closer the ball and they would get it signed for me, and I counted those as a kid. What I do is if I count something once (I.E. a ball from the Home Run Derby), I always continue to count balls from the type of event. And besides, an autograph is different from a baseball. My autograph collection is very complicated while my baseballs from games collection is different. Well let us get back to batting practice.
I made my way over to the Left Field foul line because I saw a baseball lying against the wall that could be gotten with the glove trick.
I didn’t expect to find was a baseball lying in the front row. I immediately picked up the Easter Egg for my 2nd baseball and then once I had it I put it back down to take a photo of it.
Not only was it unexpected, but it was a Metrodome baseball.
I miss Easter Eggs. I get in a Yankee Stadium 3 hours before the gates open, and the ushers are carefull, so there are no easter eggs.
I was nervous about using the glove trick because of the usher from yesterday, so I made my way back to the RF Corner where I got that ball from John Bale.
John Bale was again running around the outfield warning track and two balls just so happened to find their way to him. John Bale looked at the about 4 other kids leaning on the wall calling for the ball. He tossed the ball towards us, but it fell short and landed in one of the BP nets beneath us. He tossed the other ball to us, but that again fell short, tipped off the very end of my glove and landed in a BP net. He walked into the gap where both balls had fallen, picked one up and tossed it up. I let a kid next to me get that one and then John Bale took the other ball and threw me my 3rd ball.
That was it for the end of BP. The Royals ended 10 minutes early again, and I wasn’t at the dugout so I missed out on getting any balls there. I decided to head to the gap in CF to see if any balls were able to be gotten via the glove trick. There was one ball that was about 6 inches out from the wall; I didn’t have to move it all.
I wanted to use it so bad, but the usher who told me to stop last time was watching me, so I couldn’t use it.
I moved over to where the Royals were stretching to try and get some autographs from them. There was a lot of time and I had down all my wandering the day before so I sat down and waited. I saw that John Mizerock, the Bullpen Coach, had tossed a ball to a kid in the crowd so I moved over there to try and get a ball. John ended up tossing a ball to a lady (seen below standing up and asking for the ball) in the front row that he and the catcher had been rolling back and forth from Center Field to the Bullpen Bench.
I said:
“John!” He shrugged his shoulders. I then pointed to my Royals hat and he took a ball from the bag and tossed it to me, my 4th ball.
Some of the players came out to stretch and two of them, Willie Bloomquist and Mark Teahen threw.
I waited until they were done and called out Willie Blolomquist’s name. He looked at me and threw me my 5th ball.
Alex Gordon was the only player that I needed to sign that was left stretching, but he left and didn’t sign. Everyone left stretching I had already gotten so I headed over to the dugout to try and get a pre-game warm-up ball tossed to me. Alberto Callaspo came out to throw with Yuniesky Betancourt and I noticed the Callaspo brought the ball out, so he’d end up with it. It was also the less-crowded end of the dugout, so I moved over there. While Alberto and Yuniesky were throwing I noticed that a ball had rolled over to Alberto feet from the outfield. I could see that it was a Metrodome ball and Alberto picked it up. He looked at the ball and then continued throwing without giving balls. He would alternate between the original ball and the new ball while throwing. When they finished Alberto ended up with both of the baseballs he tossed me on of them, my 6th ball,
and then tossed the other one to a little girl on my right. Luckily the ball he tossed me was the Metrodome ball.
The game started and I just wandered around a bit not wanting to go for third out balls. I forget what inning it was or who hit it, but a Ground-Rule Double was hit into the gap where the seats start to disappear into the batters’ eye. I went over there a bit later and I saw the ball a bit under the overhang, but able to get with the glove trick.
I wasn’t going to use it during the game, so I waited until after. But I wasn’t able to get there in time and a security guard tossed it to someone else.
But before the end of the game I was able to get another ball. I headed to the dugout in the 6th inning and a bit later grabbed a seat in the third row. In the top of the 8th a batter hit two grounds balls back to back into the same spot in the Royals dugout. Yuniesky Betancourt grabbed one of them and Alberto Callaspo grabbed the other. I asked Yuniesky for the ball and he tossed it to me, but even though I was 5 feet above him he tossed it short. He got up, took the ball, and basically slam dunked it into my glove for my 7th ball.
So that was the last thing I got in the stadium. Alberto gave his batting gloves to a different kid.
I went to the hotel after the game to try and get autographs as they came back from the game. No collectors were there, so I assumed it would be easy to get them to sign. I was able to get two people.
Miguel Olivo came back by a big white car with Alberto Callaspo and I asked him to sign. He signed my 6th autograph at the door before he entered and then he went in. Then the team bus came. I was only able to get one player, Willie Bloomquist. I was reserving my requests for Zack Greinke, Billy Butler, or Alex Gordon. Of course I didn’t see any of them and Willie was one of the last people of the bus. So I got him to sign my 7th autograph and last autograph of the day.
Stats:
- 7 MLB Balls Today
- 7 MLB Autographs Today
- 124 MLB Autographs in this Season
- 163 Total Autographs in this Season
- 191 MLB Balls in this Season
- 212 Total Balls in this Season
- 3 BP, 3 Pre-Game, 1 During
- 6 Thrown, 1 Found
- Attendance: 30,105 People
- Competition Factor: 210,735
- 5.97 Balls / 1 Game
- 32 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
- 22 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
- 17 Consecutive Games with at least 4 MLB Baseballs
8/11/09 Twins vs. Royals
I woke up and wanted to check the weather for the game, but then I realized that it wouldn’t matter. But before that let us talk about the site of Metropolitan Stadium, Mall of America.
The Mall of America is HUGE. I went in a few stores, but walking around there were more stores than I thought. There was a mirror room:
A water massage place:
An Amusement Park:
And the exact seat where the longest home run (hit by Harmon Killebrew) landed in the old stadium:
Oh, and yes, a huge amusement park. Even though it was designed for kids there were some rides that I could see in Six Flags or such. I even won a huge banana.
Our next stop wasn’t the Metrodome, it was the Royals’ Hotel. I wanted to work on a Royals’ Team Ball because I would be seeing them for 5 games, so I decided to stop at the hotel until we leave for the game.
The first player appeared soon after I got there. He was Mark Teahen and I was able to get him on one for my 1st autograph. I didn’t know who the next player was, but he came out with security and while they had their backs turned I got him for my 2nd autograph. The player was Jamey Wright. So there were also some collectors there (surprisingly) for the Royals. They identified the next player to come out as Gil Meche, who signed for everyone (my 3rd autograph).
A while after that David DeJesus came out with his iPod. I didn’t expect him to sign, but he did (my 4th autograph). Most of the players had left, but a few hadn’t (one guy was marking down who had left and who hadn’t). I waited until the team bus came. Robinson Tejada came out talking on his phone. I tried asking him in Spanish to sign (I rarely need to). Well he came over and signed my 5th and last autograph at the hotel before the game.
The team bus came and of the people who were left, nobody signed.
Off to the Metrodome I went.
When I got to the Metrodome I had two thoughts:
A) Oh my god I’m finally here.
B) The outside is the same
That was my thought when I wandered around the Metrodome. Bland outside design. It isn’t really unique at all.
Well I guess it is unique for not allowing guns:
It has gray wall with red support beams holding up the roof. That’s it. The outside (and the inside) are the most simplistic stadium designs I have ever seen. (Well I do have to admit that I am a bit spoiled with the $1,000,000,000+ New Yankee Stadium as my home park, but still I have been to 16 different stadiums in my life. The only stadium that probably would come close to this would be Olympic Stadium, and I don’t remember much of it.)
So I got on line and a line started forming at around 40 minutes before the gates open (for anyone who wants to know). And I ran in. I’ve only been in 1 truly domed stadium for a game (Olympic Stadium) so when I ran in I paused to take it all in. The sound of the bat made an echoing noise throughout the whole stadium. The Royals (not the Twins) were batting. There was nobody in the seats when I got in, so it was the first time when I had the whole stadium to myself for batting practice, so I immediately got underway.
I ran down the steep steps and almost tripped a couple times. When I got to the third row I started looking for Easter Eggs. A bunch of baseballs were in the hands of an usher who was walking towards me, so I gave up. I shouldn’t have. I saw a couple guys pick up about 5 baseballs one section to my right. I was p*ssed but I had to keep going.
There was one Royal in Left Field shagging baseballs when I got in. He was wearing a pullover so, and since all Royals look the same I couldn’t identify him. But when a ball was fielded I just asked him for a ball and held open my glove. He surprisingly tossed me my 1st baseball,
when there was still only about 20 people.
. I was wearing a Twins shirt and a Twins hat when I entered because according to a normal BP schedule the Twins would be batting for about 20 minutes. But the Royals started and ended early. So a little bit after I got that ball a wave of fans started pouring into the seats (probably from other gates?). That didn’t stop me.
I moved over to left-center field to try for baseballs. Bruce Chen had now come out to Left Field to shag, and since he was to the left of the previous Royal who tossed me a ball, he would be getting all the balls hit to Left-Center. I was right and when Bruce Chen fielded a ball and I called out Bruce as he slowly walked over to field it. He tossed me my 2nd baseball, probably due to the fact of my Royals shirt and hat.
Then Mike Jacobs signed my 6th autograph. I was in such a rush because of all that happened that I didn’t know the details. I can barely remember the details of the balls I previously snagged because I was in such a rush to head over to the gap in Center Field. I wanted to do the glove trick at least once (at most 4 times) here at the Metrodome. The gap was perfect. And sure enough there were about 7 balls that with a lot of effort I could get. I had read and heard previously that the glove trick was incredibly easy to do at the Metrodome. At the Gate that I went in there was a season ticket holder who had a device that he used to retrieve home runs that landed in the gap. He told me that security would have a problem with my device, that they would take the string, and even my glove to teach me a lesson. But I had to go for it. I am doing the trick at least once in every park (except Wrigley) on my trip. I was going for it.
One ball was too easy to snag by using the trick. Here is a (very) blurry shot of the ball (I was in a rush):
Right underneath me, hidden from view of the usher on the Lower Deck (they have two decks, Upper and Lower. An Upper Deck ticket won’t get you to the Lower Deck, but a Lower Deck ticket would get you into both decks), about 2 feet out from the wall. Problem was that it was about a 30 foot drop. I lowered the glove that incredible distance. It hit the floor. I moved it over to the ball, it was on the ball, but the ball fell out. I knocked the ball closer, and by doing that it got stuck on a towel or something on the ground. I wasn’t sure whether to be happy that it wouldn’t be moving or sad that it wouldn’t be moving, but I went for it. Sure enough I was able to get to ball inside the glove. Then I pulled the glove slowly up to make sure the ball didn’t fall out. Pretty soon I had gotten my 3rd ball using the glove trick. And an usher in the Upper Deck cheered when I got it.
I was thinking that nobody would have a problem with it so I used to glove trick to get a ball on a platform one section down. I had to knock it off the platform closer to me. I threw my glove out to try and pull it back. Not the first time. The second time it moved back a little. Before I could do it a third time and usher on the Lower Deck got my attention and said “No way” while giving me a glare. He proceeded to stare me down while I rolled up my string.
While rolling up my string a couple balls landed on the track. Joakim Soria retrieved one of them. I called out “Joakim!” and pointed to the kids beneath me because I wasn’t ready. But Joakim looked at my Royals stuff and threw me the ball over everyone’s head (my 4th baseball). Since I wanted to have one of the kids beneath me get a ball I immediately picked one out and tossed him the ball.
After that I knew that Left Field was used up, so I moved over into the Right Field corner to try and get a ball. My spot is circled in red in the photo below:
There was a guy there who was running poles and a ball rolled to him. He picked the ball up and I was able to catch a glimpse of his last name, Bale. I didn’t know his first name so I just said “Bale” to try and get his attention. He turned around, saw me, and threw me my 5th baseball from a good distance.
I decided that since the Royals were finishing up I should move over to the Royals dugout to try and get baseballs when they are coming in.
When I got there I saw another kid in the Ballhawk League Aaron, aka District Boy. We talked for a bit and when they came in I moved to the spot in the front row with my brother and watched for anyone who had a ball. I spotted John Buck with a baseball in his hand and when he crossed the foul line I started calling his name. He looked up, saw me, took a few more steps and tossed me my 6th baseball.
I was only aiming for 6. I knew the Metrodome was incredibly hard so I decided to aim for 15 for the three games there. That was still my goal though.
There were a couple people still over at the Right Field foul line so we moved over there. John Bale (Ball No. 5) was still there so I moved over to him while he was signing. I waited for him to make his way over to me, and when he did I got him sign my 7th autograph. Then I saw Bob McClure (who I recognized by his mustache) and called his name. He walked over and signed my 8th autograph. Then Manager Trey Hillman was talking to some people a bit over to my right and when he finished talking he started signing along the foul line. I was able to get him for my 9th autograph. Wow.
Remember how I said that there were about 7 baseballs out in Center Field? The Royals hit more there, so I just decided to see how many there were. When I got out there I saw a rubbed up baseballs on top of a seat (most likely a game home run ball) and a guy picking up all baseballs within reach.
He was putting them in a bag (either to be sold or re-used) and I asked him for a baseball. He shook his head without even looking up. So he looked the whole area for any visible baseballs and when he was finished he started walking off. He missed one baseball and when I asked him again for a baseball he shook his head. Then I told him he missed one. He looked up at me and said where. I told him that it was wedged in a seat on a platform. After a puzzled look on his face he got on the platform and looked for the ball. After he looked a bit he found the ball
And instead of keeping it he tossed me my 7th baseball.
I wanted to wander around the stadium after that and I did. After talking to my parents I made my way out to where I got the ball from John Bale.
And photographed the batting cage:
Then I walked through the concourse from Right Field to Left-Center.
Photographed the view from Center to my Right:
The usher in red leaning on the wall is the one who made me stop using the glove trick. Watch out for him if you plan on using it.
I didn’t have time to make it to the Upper Deck because the players were already stretching. 
I moved down to the foul line and sat down in the first row waiting for a player to sign. Josh Anderson finished running and started making his way in when we called his name and he walked over. He signed for everyone who wanted an autograph and including us for my 10th autograph.
I tried for pre-game throwing, but I picked the wrong end of the dugout and Billy Butler kept his baseball. I kept switching dugouts because I wanted a nice game-used Metrodome baseball. In the top of the third inning I got my wish. Billy Butler grounded a ball to Alexi Casilla who threw the ball to Justin Morneau to get the 3rd Out. I ran down to the bottom of the aisle and waited for Justin Morneau to come in. He caught the third out ball, looked up and tossed me my 8th baseball, and perfect Metrodome ball with a scuffed up surface.
After getting that ball I decided to head to the Upper Deck. The Metrodome is so simple. The architects must’ve just said “We need some entrances/exits, a lower concourse, a Lower Deck, an upper concourse, and an Upper Deck” and built on that motto because the Metrodome is only that. But the upper deck has big patches of empty seats, which I visited, hear are some photos from the Upper Deck.
The Upper Deck’s concourse:
The view from behind the big banners of former Twins:
The view of the seats behind the banners:
The view from the furthest seat out in Center Field with a view of the field:
After the game I went to the Royals dugout to try and get something, but the guy who got the final ball, Alberto Callapso, tossed it to a guy wearing Royals gear who caught in one hand with his other hand holding a baby wearing Royals gear. Couldn’t compete with that. I may have exhausted all of my resources, but I am not sure. I’ll see today…
Stats:
- 8 MLB Balls Today
- 10 MLB Autographs Today
- 117 MLB Autographs in this Season
- 156 Total Autographs in this Season
- 184 MLB Balls in this Season
- 205 Total Balls in this Season
- 5 BP, 2 Pre-Game, 1 During
- 7 Thrown, 1 Glove-Trick
- Attendance: 32,121
- Competition Factor: 256,968
- 5.94 Balls / 1 Game
- 31 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
- 21 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
- 16 Consecutive Games with at least 4 MLB Baseballs
4/21/09 Yankees vs. A’s
Thank you AccuWeather! You predicted numerous thunderstorms throughout the day in the Bronx! You were…not correct.
Because of AccuWeather, we arrived 1 hour after the gates opened, about 20 minutes into BP or so. Because of rain, we thought there would be no BP. So I have to rush into fair territory. AccuWeather should be called SometimesAccuWeather.
I didn’t even have time to take out my stuff so I take a seat and take out my glove and Yankees hat. But an usher comes and sends me back to foul territory. Which usher might you ask? The usher from Saturday who took the ball from me. What a wonderful day so far!
It is sort of O.K. though. I talk with the usher in the foul pole aisle, and he lets me go into that aisle. And then after a while Phil Coke starts fielding other than just a ball boy. They talk with for a bit, and I think Phil is showing him some throwing mechanics. Then they start throwing. When they finish throwing I call Phil out, and he gets ready, and fires the ball at me. It is low and to the side, like the Dave Eiland ball in Baltimore, but I reach down in time and get it easily with no pain, my 1st ball today.
Then a couple minutes later, Johnny Damon goes out and starts fielding balls from 75 feet away. The coach hits them one after another, and he fires them back.
Johnny Damon is the nicest Yankee I know (possibly Mariano also). If you ask him for something like an autograph or a baseball and he says later, he means it. If the whole team can’t sign for you, and Johnny Damon can’t either, then they are telling the truth. So after a bit I call out Johnny and ask him for the next ball. He looks around and shrugs his shoulders.
“The next ball.” I yell. He nods.
He gets a couple more baseballs, but they are too far away. He gets a close ball, and then he tosses the ball towards me from 75 feet away. Towards. The ball sails over my head and into the 3rd row. When I move back, I see it go down into the second row, so I grab it and claim it for my 2nd ball.
That’s a long way.
There’s a close call also. A ball is hit to foul territory. I rush over there as quick as I can, but it is snatched inches away from my finger tips. I don’t like when that happens. But soon after that, the A’s start throwing.
I position myself near the corner spot because I saw a ball off in the distance. I can’t tell who picks up the ball, so I don’t ask. Then I move over to where some of the A’s are throwing and walking in. Santiago? No. Brett? Nope. Curt Young? Nope. Finally a former Yankee finishes up.
“Dan.”
He twirls around looking for who called him. “Mr. Giese could I have that ball?” He sees me and gladly tosses me the ball.
But a kid next to me tries to get it, but I get it, my 3rd ball today and 43rd on the season.
Remember that usher from earlier and yesterday? He is gone now. Fair territory. I move back over there near to some players who are running and stretching. I look at my sheet to see who is who. I see #53 Travis Cahill, #53 Josh Outman, and #49 Brett Anderson.
Two balls are hit, almost consecutively, near them. One is caught by a player who is unidentified and the other is caught by Josh Outman. I call Josh’s name and he does a twirling crow hop and tosses me my 4th ball.
Nothing else really happens to me for the rest of B.P. I see Nomar doing exercises near the wall, and we think he is going to sign, but nope. One thing about Nomar, if he is starting and doing pre-game stretching with the rest of the line-up, he ALWAYS signs in the same spot, about right in a straight line from when he was running. Remember that…
I also see 3 players standing around near left-center. I see Dan Giese, Sean Gallagher, and someone I don’t know. I hold up a pen, but they don’t sign. Sean said:
“After.”
Liar!
(unknown), Gallagher, Giese
At the end of B.P., I do see someone signing, but there is also a ball in the bullpen. Do I choose the ball in the bullpen or the person signing? Which one do I choose…
When I get to the player, I see his signature. It is #40, Andrew Bailey. He signs one for me, my 1st autograph today. I try to get him to sign another ball.
“Mr. Bailey could you sign this one for my brother?” Since I used his name he obliges.
“Alright, two more.” I am the first.
I head back to the bullpen, and the ball is still there. An usher comes over to me, and he’s not the bad one. I tell him that there’s a ball in the bullpen and that I’ll head to my seats, on field level, after it is gone. He lets me. Finally a sensible usher in the outfield.
Two ball boys come into the bullpen. They skip the ball and ignore my calls and head into the bullpen glass doors. When they come out, they take the ball and toss it into the bleacher. I thank that usher and go on my way. This usher is the nice one:
I make my way back towards my section by cutting through the rows because it is fun. But, I see the usher. Not the good one, the bad. I turn my head off to the concourse and head up the steps. He sees me. He yells at me and sends me back to where I was going anyway. Because of the empty seats, I was thinking about going back there tonight. Not going back there tonight.
Here is the good usher:
Picking up his stuff.
And this is the usher you should avoid. I talked with some of the other ushers, and they had no problem with me there. So avoid this one:
I head to my convenient seat and when the starting pitcher starts warming up, I go to the first row. I ask the pitching coach, Curt Young, for a ball. He nods and holds up a finger to indicate soon. Dana Eveland warms up with the bullpen catcher while Kurt Suzuki warms up with the bullpen coach Rob Romanick. When they get close, I call Rob out. He tosses the ball on the ground, and after a bit, Curt Young picks up that ball and tosses it to me, my 5th ball.
In the 2nd inning after some really fast in-seat service, I tour the stadium. Here are some photos:
A really good view from the elevator.
A nice H-Definition Screen in the Great Hall
A mis-leading sign on the main level.
The view from the highest, farthest corner in right field.
The Facade. MUCH better than the same view from Citi Field.
In the 7th inning I try for some stubs. I don’t need Legends because as from Zack’s blog, I’ll need a wristband also. So I just need seats behind the dugouts to get there attentions. After asking for some stubs from people who are in the perfect section, I get a stub. I get it on the first try. Good asking.
It is mainly for an ump ball, so I stand at the inner corner to follow him to the exit. But too many Yankees are screaming, so Home Plate Ump Brian Gorman can’t hear me from 7 rows back. No ball. How about the people coming from the bullpens? Nope, nothing. I got 5 balls today, and spent 60 minutes getting out of the garage. That’s 12 minutes for each ball. Yay!
- 1 MLB Autograph Today
- 5 MLB Balls Today
- 42 MLB Autographs in this Season
- 45 Total Autographs in this Season
- 45 MLB Balls in this Season
- 61 Total Balls in this Season
- 4 BP and 1 Pre-Game
- 5 Thrown
- Attendance: 42,065
- Competition Factor: 210,325
- 6.43 Ball/1 Game
- 7 Consecutive Games With 1 Autograph
- 7 Consecutive Games With 3 Balls
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