Results tagged ‘ Early BP ’
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
And here is the 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,
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.
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.
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
9/8/09 Yankees vs. Rays
I haven’t been caught up my blogging lately, I have been busy with school. But I have had some great days recently. And this was one of them.
You know how I got 10 baseballs at Citi Field on September 4? One of the things that makes Citi Field easier than Yankee stadium is that BP is usually started when you enter. This day Yankee Stadium was like Citi Field for a bit.
There was the crowd at the Great Hall:
There was early BP!
The first thing I did was look for easter eggs. I entered the furthest section in RF from home plate and then looked to my left. I saw a baseball lying in a row, just sitting. An usher was walking towards it so I just said:
“I got it.” He stepped back and let me pick up my 1st ball, and also my first easter egg at NYS.
And then I went on a snagging rampage.
I got 4 more batted balls in the span of 9 minutes. It was so quick that I forgot how I got each baseball. None of them were caught on the fly, but I do know that at least for 2 baseballs were ground-ruled doubles and the others were baseballs that landed in the seats and I got them. There were only 2 hitters in early BP; Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera, but I don’t know who hit each one. All I know is that my 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th balls were batted balls not caught on the fly. I would’ve had more had another ballhawk named Steve not been there, and he would have had more balls had I not been there. We each snagged around the same amount of baseballs. In the photo below he is the person standing to the left of me, talking on the phone:
And here are the baseballs, numbers 2-5 (Top Left: Ball #2, Top Right: Ball #3, Bottom Left: Ball #4, Bottom Right: Ball #5):
That was all I got in Right Field because after 10 minutes they switched to righty batters. So I moved over to LF.
And also I know the source of my next ball.
I was standing Left Field trying for home runs. One was hit to my right, un-getable, but I followed its path hoping for a lucky bounce. I didn’t get the bounce, but on the pitch after that one, the batter, Melky Cabrera, lifted a high one that was going to land in the section I was in. But it was going a couple rows over my head. I ran up the steps, and it landed in a seat in the second to last row, a bomb, maybe 410 feet. I went over to the seat and looked in.
It landed in a seat and with its force it went out the bottom and it stayed on the ground. I picked up my 6th ball and checked out the ball to see if it had any unique markings.
It did, and the marking was most likely caused by going through the seat with it’s force:
Early BP ended soon after. The coaches/players/ballboys picked up the balls lying around, and I saw the big Mike Harkey pick up two balls in shallow CF. I called out to him and he tossed me the ball, but it fell short. I leaned way out and down. He gave me another throw, but it was the exact same result as the previous attempt (FYI I am in the corner spot, reaching very low down).
There were no more balls around me, so he walked towards me and picked up another balls. The next throw was high. I had to step back and leap, but I still caught my 7th ball, pointed to by the red arrow below.
Early BP ended had already ended and there were no more baseballs to be snagged, so I posed with my haul:
After early BP it was Old New Yankee Stadium all over again. I got no more balls until around 45 minutes later.
Some Tampa Bay Rays came out to the row while the Yankees were hitting. And only a couple Rays, not the whole pitching staff. One of the pairs of players was Lance Cormier and Randy Choate. I positioned myself above a ball that I could’ve gotten with the glove trick, hoping that when they finished they would pick it up. I didn’t get that ball, but I called out to Lance when he was done. Surprisingly instead of tossing the ball to foul territory he tossed it to me in fair territory. My 8th ball.
I was thinking double digits. It was very likely. But my record of 15? It was possible, unlikely, but I had to try.
By then I figured out that the Rays would not be hitting, only the Yankees. So my record of 15 was more unlikely.
I went back to deep Left Field hoping for a homer from regular BP. I waited and waited and waited until they started kicking people out. It got a bit emptier, good. And pretty soon a fly ball was lifted in my direction. I took a couple steps down and got ready for the ball. I timed my jump and reached out for the ball. There were a couple of people going for it, but somehow I was able to catch my 9th ball on the fly in the tip of my glove.
There was a new usher who was telling me that I could catch a ball. When I caught the ball he congratulated me, asked where I was sitting and made me over to foul territory. He is indicated by the blue arrow in the photo below.
Some Rays were still throwing at the foul line, and a couple baseballs were lying against the wall. I figured that when they were done they would toss the baseballs up, so I put my Rays’ cap on and waited for them to finish. But one of my favorite Yankees was nearby also, Alfredo Aceves. He was talking to someone, so when he finished he walked over to pick up the baseballs. I took off my Rays’ cap and asked him for the baseball in Spanish. Even though I think he has recognized me, and he has seen me get multiple baseballs throughout the course of the year, he still tossed me the baseball, my 10th ball, which broke double digits for the day.
BP was ending and I didn’t have an autograph because not really anyone signed. But I saw a Ray sitting on the wall down the foul line, right next to the corner spot. I ran over there and took out a baseball. I saw that he was number 38, so after looking at my roster I saw that it was Fernando Perez. So I went up to him and got him to sign my 1st autograph, and took a photo with him.
I entered the game with no more autographs and baseballs. I had never gotten 10 baseballs during BP alone at New Yankee Stadium, so I figured that I would be able to get at least one more baseball. So I tried at the dugout, and got nothing. When it was getting late in the game I headed out to the bullpen to try for a baseball. I saw Bobby Ramos, who I had gotten a ball from each time I was at New Yankee Stadium. I shouted his name and asked for a baseball, but he disappeared. I sat down, and then saw a baseball being tossed up and down in the air, almost to tease the fans. But it was too close to the wall. Was it Bobby Ramos trying to give me a baseball? I don’t know, but I tried reaching out and grabbing the baseball. I was unsuccessful, but eventually the ball landed on top of the billboard, so I just reached out and grabbed it, my 11th baseball.
And then people started chanting throw it back. Really? A baseball that I got in the bullpen that I was asking for? Whether or not they were being serious it turned into a big thing, with about 75 people chanting “Throw it back!” and another 50 people chanting “Keep the ball!” I did the obvious and kept the baseball, photographed it, and then went away.
And that would be my last baseball of the night. 11 baseballs set my record at the New Yankee Stadium, but I heard that another person, most likely Steve, got 12 baseballs today. So does anyone know if anybody has gotten more than 12 baseballs at New Yankee Stadium? Who else has gotten double digits at New Yankee Stadium?
Stats:
- 11 MLB Balls Today
- 1 MLB Autograph Today
- 188 MLB Autographs in this Season
- 227 Total Autographs in this Season
- 279 MLB Balls in this Season
- 300 Total Balls in this Season
- 6 Hit, 4 Thrown, 1 Found
- 10 BP, 1 During
- Attendance: 45,350 People
- Competition Factor: 498,850
- 43 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
- 33 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
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