Results tagged ‘ Cubs ’
9/4/09 Mets vs. Cubs
Back at a more generous New York ballpark: Citi Field.
I spent the time outside playing catch with Joe, Gary, Clif and his mom, people I knew from Zack Hample’s blog.
I ran all the way to LF when the gates opened and quickly checked for Easter Eggs. After finding none I saw a player, who looked like Pedro Feliciano, field a ball in CF, about 125 feet from me. Thinking it was Pedro I called out loud “Pedro” and he looked over at me. I opened my glove and he threw me my 1st ball.
But now that I think of it the player was Angel Pagan. Joe thought it was him, so then I looked at him as he got closer and it did look like him. This photo is from far away, but he is the player all the way on the right:
Another ball was hit over to the wall in Left Field, and settled right there, about 2 feet out. I noticed it was an All-Star ball, and since I already had one that I got from a batboy I let Joe go for it and moved over to a regular ball about 20 feet to his left. So soon after a player walked over to my ball to retrieve it, but I didn’t know who it was. But as he bent down to pick it up I noticed that he was Pat Misch.
“Pat, could I have that ball?” I called out. He tossed the ball up to me, but it was short. He gave me another throw,
which this time I got for my 2nd ball.
Then a couple minutes later a homerun was hit. It was to my right, and even thought the seat were still fairly empty, I had some competition; Gary and Joe were there. We all started looking for the ball, which bounced of the ground in a row and skipped into the air, landing in the seats. But none of us knew which row, or seat it was in. We looked everywhere for a couple second, and I saw it. It wasn’t on the ground, or wedged in a seat. It was wedged in the arm rest, as this recreation shows:
There it was. I saw it had multi-colored seams, and I grabbed it, my 3rd ball.
This was my second All-Star Ball from 2008 that I had ever gotten, the first was from a ballboy along the foul line. Getting this ball also made me feel guilty considering that Joe got ignored on the previous All-Star Ball he saw on the warning track. But don’t feel bad for him, Joe got two special balls courtesy of the source of my next ball: Nelson Figueroa.
Nelson and Elmer Dessens were shagging balls and Elmer tossed one to a fan which caused other fans to ask for a ball. Elmer put his finer to his lips to shush the people, so I said:
“Okay everyone has to be quiet now.”
That caused both of them to turn around, smile and then Elmer said:
“Yeah, whoever is quiet for the longest gets a ball.”
So that’s what I did, be quiet. Well at least with my mouth. I slammed my fist into the palm of my mitt and waved my arms to get their attention. It worked, and on the second ball that Nelson fielded after being quiet with my mouth was the one that he tossed to me, my 4th ball. AND it was another All-Star Baseball from last year.
This ball seemed different than the other All-Star Ball. It seemed more out of shape than the other. One logo was bigger than the other and one stamp was mis-stamped on the ball above:
And just for the heck of it here is a photo of Nelson shagging baseballs in Left Field.
Even though Citi Field is much less crowded than New Yankee Stadium I got shutout for Cubs BP. I tried to get some more baseballs, and had a few close calls, but it just that it was I picked the wrong places at the wrong time. I saw a ball on the batters’ eye, and stood there next to it, but then I went over to the bullpen and saw three balls there, so I stayed over there, and then I saw that the ball on the batters’ eye was gone. So it just wasn’t my day.
It was 6:08 and I saw a few people signing near the dugout, so I decided that I should head over there. It turns out that the players were Mets. One of them was Lance Broadway, who I got for my 1st autograph.
I didn’t get the player because I wanted to get to the dugout for the end of BP. I had a lot of time it turned out.
I was able to see a ball about 15 feet out from the dugout, so I asked Cubs’ Coach Matt Sinatro for the ball, but he said “One Minute,” and went to talk to some people. But then a random guy appeared out of the dugout, took the ball and placed it in a random player’s glove. What?
That player turned out to be Mike Fontenot. When he came in he took his glove and noticed something inside of it.
“Mike could I have that ball in your glove?”
He opened the glove, took the ball, and tossed me my 5th ball. You can see me getting the ball at the bottom of the photo, I am inbetween a guy wearing a black shirt and a kid wearing an orange shirt. The acutal ball is two photos down.
Notice the strange purple marking on the ball:
The end of the dugout I was at barely had any players come in it, they all went in the outfield end. Matt Sinatro was still talking to the people. I also noticed that a bucket of baseballs was out. Hmmm…
I position myself behind the bucket (along with Joe and Gary). When Matt Sinatro was finished I got his attention and pointed to the bucket. He walked over, took 2 baseballs out, tossed one to me (my 6th ball) and tossed the other to a little girl, in pink in the photo below.
I moved to the left side of the tunnel to be prepared in case the players throw where they stretch. I noticed Sam Fuld brought his glove to the foul line, indicating he was going to throw there, so when he started signing I asked if I could have his pre-game throwing ball. He said yes, but there was some other people before him.
A translator for who I assume Kosuke Fukudome started throwing with Jeff Baker. When they were done I started asking for the ball, but they tossed it to Aramis Ramirez. Bad, no wait, that meant Aramis would be throwing! Sure enough he did, also with the translator. And when they finished I waved my arms and got the translator to toss me my 7th ball.
Luckily I noticed that when I got that ball Sam Fuld was not looking, so when he finished throwing a couple minutes later I got him to toss me my 8th ball. Two more balls until double digits.
I had gone to only 4 games prior to this one at Citi Field without double digits, but I got double digits at my 2nd regular season game ever at New Yankee Stadium (well 4th game overall), and New Yankee Stadium is much harder to get baseballs at, so I figured that it was due time for it to happen at Citi Field.
And I got some help in the bottom of the third. Third out baseballs usually have a bunch of competition, but the pre-inning warm-up ball barely has any, if there is competition at all. So that was the case in the third. Alan Trammel got the ball tossed to him from Micah Hoffpauir. I called out for it and he tossed me the ball in a hook shot, which I caught for my 9th ball. One more ball…
Clif and Gary had the outfield end of the Cubs’ dugout, and the infield end of the dugout was used up because Alan Trammel thought Joe was me, and Geovany Soto (who gave Joe a ball) thought that I was Joe. So Joe and I decided to head over to the Mets dugout.
We got there in time for the 7th Inning. We both went for the pre-inning warm-up ball, but Luis Alicea ended up tossing it to a college girl in the front row. So for the third out ball, we worked out a plan. Joe would run down to the front row and try for it, and I would stand back and try to stand out to see if he would toss it to me.
Bobby Parnell picked the ball, which was rocketed back to him, and then he 
jogged over to first base and tossed to the ball to Daniel Murphy. By the time he started jogging over Joe and I were in place. I was standing on a chair in the partially-empty third row and started waving my arms to get his attention. I could see Daniel Murphy was looking around to find someone to toss the ball to. He saw me, with nobody near me. There were some adults in the row in front of me, but he didn’t care. He tossed the ball to me. The ball cleared the people in front of me (who were also trying) by about 1 foot and then kept heading towards me. I reach out and started slipping off the chair. I got the ball in my glove, but then I started falling. I fell to the ground, momentarily losing my balance, and the ball was no longer tucked inside my glove. Would it pop out? Nope, it was resting barely in my glove, my 10th baseball.
Stats:
- 10 MLB Balls Today
- 1 MLB Autograph Today
- 187 MLB Autographs in this Season
- 226 Total Autographs in this Season
- 268 MLB Balls in this Season
- 289 Total Balls in this Season
- 9 Thrown, 1 Hit
- 4 BP, 4 Pre-Game, 2 During
- Attendance: 37,953 People
- Competition Factor: 379,530
- 42 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
- 32 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
8/16/09 Cubs vs. Pirates
I almost didn’t want to go to the Pirates hotel this day even though it was on the same block and around the corner (the hotel is the Westin. EVERY baseball (and I believe sports) team in Chicago stays at that hotel, except two: The Yankees and The Cardinals because one of their pitchers, Darryl Kile, died in that hotel). I wanted to stay in MY hotel and just sleep. But that would’ve been a horrible mistake.
The first people to come out where three players. I approached one of them randomly and got him to sign, and he signed he stupid autograph on the sweetspot for my 1st autograph and then I went over to the next player who after looking at some person’s cards was Charlie Morton. I got him to sign my 2nd autograph.
The first player after some confusion was Steven Jackson. Then I saw a very tall player about to come out through the main entrance. He was Donald Veal and I got him to sign my 3rd autograph.
Since it was the final game of the series all the players would have to check out before they leave for the game. I saw one player sign out, carry some luggage, and he just looked like a *star*. So one of the other collectors told me that he was Ramon Vasquez, and he signed my 4th autograph. And while getting Vasquez another player sneaked past everyone and was walking along the sidewalk. But since I saw that most of the players were tall, and this guy was, I ran over to get the guy (Kevin Hart) for my 5th autograph.
Matt Capps had been taunting everyone by just sitting inside for an extremely long period of time. Some people were getting impatient, but I knew that he was waiting for someone. That someone was Joel Hanrahan. They both came out together and I got Matt Capps first for my 6th autograph and Joel second for my 7th autograph.
. A guy that I recognized as Denny Bautista came out and I got him for my 8th autograph. I noticed his Colorado Rockies ring and said “Nice ring.”
All of the people at that point had exited through the main door but after a while two people exited for the door to get on the bus. Those two people were Brandon Moss and Zach Duke, who signed my 9th and 10th autographs respectively.
Then two more players went to get on the bus: Luis Cruz and Delwyn Young. I went for Cruz first and got my 11th autograph and was worried that I would miss Delwyn, but I didn’t, and he signed my 12th autograph.
Jesse Chavez came out after getting a Starbucks and signed for everyone (my 13th autograph) and then he got on the bus and Ryan Doumit and Jeff Karstens came out in quick succession, not together and I got both of them for my 14th and 15th autographs respectively.
All of this had happened so fast that I needed to stop for a moment to take notes, but it was hard to get a break on that. When I started taken notes Jason Jaramillo came out and started signing and I was unprepared and only got him on one for my 16th autograph. So I tried to catch up on about the previous 5 or so people, but I only got 3 done because Paul Maholm came out and I got him for my 17th autograph. Since most of the players had already left there finally was time for a break to take notes on what had happened. After I finished with the notes I noticed that Garret Jones, who had been talking to people inside for a while had stood up and started making his way for the door. He came, was incredibly nice, and signed my 18th autograph.
The next person was my last person, and everyone else’s at the hotel (Milledge and McCutchen wouldn’t sign). He was Andy Laroche. He came out and signed for everyone even though he was in a rush. He signed one ball for my 19th autograph because I accidentally called him the wrong name.
He got on the bus and as soon as he got on the bus left for Wrigley Field and so did I.
I went outside onto Sheffield Avenue before the gates opened to try and snag some baseballs.
None came to me, or over onto Sheffield. The game time was 1:20pm which confused me a lot in that I wasn’t really sure about the schedule. After the Bleacher Season Ticket Holders got in early they let everyone else in, including the about 15 people on line for the Bleacher Box. I rushed over to the Left Field, general admission bleachers for the first while. It got crowded quickly because people wanna get a good seat since it’s general admission.
The wind was intense, really intense. At one point my Cubs hat got blown onto Waveland Street (I got it back) and it was so crazy there also. One guy pulled down my backpack, forcing me to fall, while going for a home run ball and I lost my Cubs picture roster. Luckily before I lost it I was able to identify some unknown players like #36 Randy Wells. Since I thought that nobody knew his name I asked Randy for a ball when it rolled to him. He tossed me my 1st ball in the insanely crowded Left Field, which got even more crowded and forced me to move to Right Field.
I knew another unknown player’s number and name who was shagging over there, Justin Berg, and when a ball rolled to the wall I got him to toss it to me, but it fell short and hit of the railing. It was his fault, he retrieved the ball, and tossed it to me again, which this time it made it on the mark for my 2nd ball and people actually applauded. I don’t know why. I got the ball tossed to me once, it fell short (his fault), he picked up the ball again and tossed it to me a second time, and I caught it as one of the easiest catches ever, and people applauded. Was there something that I didn’t get???
But then I retreated after that to the foul line where the Pirates were throwing.
I didn’t see the Pirates give out any balls; they just threw them back to the bucket. So then I retreated to my Bleacher Box section which surprisingly had about 15 people including 6 or so kids. The Pirates hit no home runs into the bleacher box section except one. It was coming about 3 seats wide to my left and about 3 rows up. It was hit on a line so the ball traveled farther faster. I ran up the steps to get in position, turned around, and the ball clanged off the seat right next to me and ricocheted back onto the field. I was mad about that, I should’ve been more prepared. I did ask Chris Bootcheck for a ball that rolled to the ivy and he flipped up my 3rd ball.
Then another ball rolled to the wall, but this time the Hispanic Denny Bautista retrieved it. I asked him “Da me la bola por favor?” And he flipped up my 4th ball.
Even though just about every kid had gotten a ball in the Bleacher Box AND they continued to ask for more I could hear some people start to grumble, so I gave the ball to a little girl with a glove who hadn’t gotten a ball (the one in the the pink to the right of me with a glove).
And finally I got one more ball during batting practice. Bullpen Catcher Herberto “Herbie” Andrade retrieved a ball that rolled to the wall. I called out “Herbie, Herbie, Herbie!” And when he looked up I opened and closed the flap of my glove and said: “Da me la bola por favor?” And Herberto tossed up my 5th ball.
I decided at that moment to head over to the dugout to get ready for the end of BP when I saw Andrew McCutchen signing. At Wrigley they only let you down to some sections if someone is signing. Since someone was signing the ushers let me down with no hassle whatsoever and he signed my 1st autograph.
Then I made my way over to the dugout. Remember how it was a 1:20 game? Well BP went on for another 20 minutes, but I saw that I wouldn’t have gotten any balls out there, so I waited for everyone to come in. And as I was sitting there a miracle happened right before BP ended: It rained. Not hard enough to force all the players to run in immediately, but hard enough that most of the people in the field level seats ran for cover. BP continued as normal and when they started coming in only 10 people were in the seats beneath me.
I was looking at the players coming in to see if anybody was carrying a baseball. Jason Jaramillo who was batting picked up a loose baseball that was lying near the cage and he started walking in. I waved my arms and yelled his name to get him to throw me the baseball. He took the ball and threw it to me, but it fell two rows short and rolled into an empty row. I climbed over the rows to get to the ball and grabbed my 6th ball and climbed back into the cross-aisle. Then I saw a player (possibly Paul Maholm) walking in from the outfield with a baseball and I got him to toss me my 7th ball (clean catch).
And then I saw Jeff Karstens (who is easily recognizable) walking in with about three baseballs. I called him out and waved my arms and he tossed me the ball. It was falling short, so I leaned over the back row of seats and reached way out. I put my other hand on a seat to prevent me from falling and I reached out and caught my 8th ball in the tip of my glove. That was when a security guy remarked:
“Three is enough.”
Everyone other Pirates pitcher had gone in, so all I could do was wait for the game to start. But the game didn’t start. It rained all the way through and just when it started becoming extremely light and clear a guy from the Cubs dugout came out and made the “It’s Off!” sign with his hands. I was sitting in the third row right next to the dugout. All the Pirates players in it started walking off, but Garret Jones lingered a bit. I saw that he had a wristband, so I asked him for it. He walked over and tossed me my 1st game used item of the day! And then he ended up tossing the guy next to me his batting gloves. I went back up to put some stuff away and they had cut all the ushers off their jobs so I was able to walk freely down to the dugout again. I saw a guy coming from the Pirates dugout with 4 baseballs in his hand. I asked him for one and then he tossed me my 9th baseball, the final one at Wrigley for this year.
My Next Destination? Chicago. More specifically: US Cellular Field.
Stats:
- 20 MLB Autographs Today
- 9 MLB Balls Today
- 150 MLB Autographs in this Season
- 189 Total Autographs in this Season
- 214 MLB Balls in this Season
- 235 Total Balls in this Season
- 9 Thrown
- 5 BP, 3 Pre-Game, 1 After
- Attendance: Rainout (1)
- Competition Factor: Rainout (1)
- 6.11 Balls / 1 Game
- 35 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
- 25 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
- 20 Consecutive Games with at least 4 MLB Baseballs
Not Pictured: Steven Jackson on the sweetspot.
4/3/09 Yankees vs. Cubs
This time, instead of taking the long, scenic route, I take the short, less-scenic route around the parking garage. We arrive about 30 minutes late (4:30), but it is ok because the tarp is on the field, so no BP and no players are stretching. It is still drizzling so I am the only one in my section. I realize that anyone who brings the glove trick, you probably won’t be able to do it because they have an usher at the bottom of almost every aisle.
At 4:35, 2 Yankees start throwing, but guess where it is. It is in the $2,650 Legends Seats. Then the waiter brings and tells us that we have waiter service. Apparently all of field level has waiter service, and guess some of the prices for food. $6 for a cracker jack, $8 for a medium popcorn, $8 for a small (smaller than 2 baseballs) kids pizza pie and here is something $9 for a cheeseburger. Wow.
And also, the largest popcorn has 2,473 calories, 1/5 of the Michael Phelps diet. You can get your daily dose of food with this, and 13 ½ tic-tacs.
Since no Cubs are throwing, I take some field level photos, here:
The Old Yankee Stadium through the New’s Windows
The Meat Carving Station:
The Great Hall, or something, in Left:
It’s a pain to upload photos.
That thing that only people with field level tickets can be on field level, yeah, not true, unless they build a 50 ft wall of Yankees Ushers at the entrance, or this:
Oh wait, they already have a couple, but they guard the seats.
Finally 2 Cubs start throwing, in the Legends Seats. But all the Cubs come out to throw at 6, 1 hour before game time. First I ask Carlos Marmol, in Spanish, but nothing. Then I ask Luis Vizcaino, and he tosses one, in between a group of people, and I barely miss it. And at last I get a ball, from David Patton, my 1st ball. Nobody else knew, or had a clue to who he was; except me and my cheat sheet.
Now I get some autographs. First Rich Harden walks over, but it is too big a crowd. Then Luis Vizcaino walks over and signs to a smaller crowd. I walk over there and get Luis Vizcaino on two (my 1902nd MLB Autograph), my 1st today. Then I walk over to Rich Harden and get him on 2 (my 1903rd MLB Autographs), my 2nd today. One good thing about the New Yankee Stadium policy is they send you back to your seats about when the National Anthem starts, not 45 minutes before hand.
Top Left: David Patton Ball. Top Right: Luis Vizcaino Autograph. Bottom Right: Rich Harden and Me. Bottom Left: Rich Harden Autograph
I usually go to the players stretching, but the Legends block them off, so I do something I could ne-he-ver do at the old Stadium (miss it still), go to the bullpen for the pitcher’s warm-up ball.
I ask someone next to me who the bullpen coach is, its Lester Strode. I ask him for a ball, but he says wait. He is watching Ted Lilly warm-up. I am trying to get Ted Lilly’s warm-up ball. When Ted finishes I ask him, but he puts his glove down because it is the National Anthem. When it finishes I ask him again, but Lester takes the ball and hands it to me. Problem is, the ball won’t fit under the fence, so I have to work it to the edge and pull it around, which I do. And I get my 2nd ball today.
Afterwards I try to catch the 1st Home Run, like I did in Citi Field. Aaron Miles’ shot in 2nd got me out of my seat, but Cano’s Home Run in the second was the real deal. It lands in the very corner of the bleachers; no way could I get that. I walk up there to see the ball, if it is special. When I get up there, nothing has been done yet and the ball is regular. Security comes a couple minutes later to pick him up and take him off. Some of the fans are yelling “You are a sellout!” If I were him I’d see what they have to offer.
I travel back to my seats until the 5th inning, where I go to Yankees bullpen to try and get a warm-up ball. I ask Mike Harkey, the new Bullpen Coach for one, but he waves. Jose Veras is warming up, so when he finishes I call his name. But Mike Harkey is looking at me and pointing to the catcher, codeword for you will get his ball. Thanks to the obnoxiously large flower bed and Ad blocking my view of the bullpen, I can’t see anything. Mike Harkey tosses up my 3rd ball, but I am not sure if it is Veras’ warm-up ball. It has interesting G-O-O-K (they censored that?!?!).
After that, I give the ball to my mom to hold onto, so I can try to sneak to the dugouts for after the game stuff. I learn that Paul Simon is sitting near the Home Dugout, but I get a ticket about 5 minutes after the game ends, so I get nothing. That’s it. 3 Balls, 2 Autographs. I wonder how tomorrow will be…
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3 MLB Autographs in This Game (1,903 MLB, 2,311 Overall Autographs)
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9 MLB Autographs in This Season
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11 Total Autographs in This Season
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3 Exhibition Game Baseballs
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13 Total Baseballs in This Season
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