Joe Nelson is the bottom one. Just don’t look at the top left-hand corner. ; )

            It was then that the security guy came over. Apparently there were some complaints (Don Zimmer?). We think it was the 3 kids who were roaming in and out of the building every couple of minutes. The only people who would’ve/could’ve complained are Pat Burrell and Don Zimmer. We have to stop, but I’m fine with that, after all I did get 8 autographs. I just sit down, and wave to the player’s as they go. A minute or two after we stop, guess who sits down right across from us? Joe Maddon. It’s tempting, but I hold it back. When Bobby Ramos comes in though, I say a bit out loud “Bobby!” He turns around, sees me, I wave, and he comes over to shake my hand. I don’t think he’ll complain.

That’s Bobby with his foot on the chair, and this is a photo of the later game.

            I decide to head into the mall to see if anyone is there, since it’s not hotel property. After a minute of two, Carl Crawford comes in. I ask him to sign, but he says he will when he’s done. A couple minutes later he comes walking down the escalators I ask him to sign, and he does sign one, my 9^th autograph of the day and my 2344^th Total Autograph of All-Time. Also, a random thing, he signed my autograph while riding down the escalator.

            I head back into the lobby and wave to players as they leave, and they nod like J.P. Howell and Jeff Niemann. The Rays are relaxed and most of them are nice.

            After the bus leaves, we head to the ballpark. When we get there, we see some people we have seen around the past couple days. They have season tickets to this game, so I one of them if I can borrow it to get in, and they are at the front of the line.

Except for that guy in the corner who tried going in front of us, but me and the other guy were able to make it in first. We walked/ran to the area that seperates right field from foul territory.He says just follow me and I’ll say you’re with me. But when we get to the moment of truth…

We pass. That’s me about 15 rows up, black sweatshirt, red shirt.

There is one guy who keeps getting all the home run balls, but he’s ok about it. One home run ball he gives up to a little kid in the front. He is in the Gray jerset, 7 rows up or so.

      A minute two after I get there, a ball is hit to the wall. A player wearing a black shirt covering his jersey retrieves it. So I just say:

            “Can you toss that ball up please?”

            And he does toss up my 1^st ball of the day. Based on the way he looked, I would most likely say that he was Nick Markakis. After he gives me the ball, he walks back over to some other player’s standing around. One of them is Ryan Freel, who gets a ball a bit later that bounces off the wall. I ask him for the ball, and he tosses me up my 2^nd ball today.

         Anyway, my next ball I didn’t think I’d get. It was a ball that bounced off the wall near the bullpen in left-center. The new pitcher Koji Uehara retrieves it. Normally, Japanese players aren’t that friendly. One time, my brother and I stayed after a game near the visitors’ entrance inside Fenway Park. They must’ve thought we were the family of a player. Anyway, after some people walk out, Ichiro walks out. I must’ve been 8 at the time, and I was the only person. I followed him for about 50 steps and he didn’t sign for me even though I was a little kid, and the only one following him.

            So back to Uehara. When he gets the ball I say “Koji, can I have the ball?” He tosses it to me, but the throw is low so it bounces off the wall. He raises his hands up and says “Ohhhhhh!” But he gives me another try and tosses me my 3^rd ball today.

         Did I mention I didn’t have my backpack? I had to give it to my mom to carry so I could go to the shorter line instead of the longer bag check line. I had 5 different pockets. Two of them were already filled up with my camera, my phone, some money, a notepad, a little ID holder, and a pen. I had two deep pockets. I could stuff 3 balls in one, so I did instead of spreading them out 2 and 1. So while running for a ball, I see a ball lying in the seats. BP has been going on for 15 minutes or so and I have already been checking the seats for Easter Eggs. I feel my pockets, but I count 3 balls. This must be a ball nobody noticed. Cool.

Note: That is a recreation of the event.

I pick up my 4^th ball, mark it, and put it in my other empty deep pocket. It’s my first ball that hasn’t been thrown or gotten with the glove trick, nice.

            My next ball is a hit ball. The ball is hit over people’s heads onto the aisle. It bounces about 3 times on steps. I don’t go after it because I am waiting for a bounce to me, but it then bounces into an aisle. I run ahead of the other people and pick it up for my 5^th ball today.

Then it goes dead for a bit. Nobody throws ball, a lot of balls are being hit towards right field. I ask Jeremy Guthrie for a ball that rolls to the wall, but he says “Don’t worry you’ll get a homer soon.” I realize that the warning track isn’t normal dirt, it’s rubber. So, if it hits off the track, it’s gonna bounce into the seats. I go to first row, expecting to catch a ball.

I see a home run ball off to the left, so I track it. It barely goes into the bullpen. I was expecting it to go into the same spot that the Eaton ball went to yesterday, so I was hoping to get it with my glove trick. But it takes the most amazing bounce ever. It has enough force to bounce off the concrete bottom, off the concrete wall, and then into the first row. I barely missed it, by like a hand. And after another crack of the bat, and I move a bit to the right. This is either going into the first row, or bouncing of the wall. I jump and lean out and it goes straight into my glove. My hand stings, but it is a good feeling knowing that I just got my 6^th ball of the day and my first hit ball caught on the fly ever.

            Jeremy Guthrie says: “There you go; now you all have homers.” The Orioles batting practice ends about 4 pitches later. That’s when the fans from right field make their way to left field. It gets crowded, and the Rays are bunting now, so I go up an aisle to see if any balls have fallen into the gap. Nope, nothing. When the Rays pitcher’s come out and warm up, I go to them stretching, but I get nothing there. I make my way back to seats in fair territory where a group a pitchers are standing around.

             One of them gets a ball at the wall. I easily recognize him as Grant Balfour, so I ask Grant for the ball. He tosses it to me, my 7^th ball today. Another ball rolls to the wall, but Joe Nelson gets the ball. He tosses it to a crowd of people to the right off me, but they bobble it and it falls back onto the field. Then I call out Joe’s name, he sees my Tampa hat and he walks over and hands it to me, my 8^th ball.

 I realize that this ball is my 20^th ball on this trip. My goal for the trip was 20 baseballs and 30 MLB autographs, and my 30^th autograph was Melky’s at the Intercontinental. I go over to the corner spot next to the bullpens in left-center. Two players, Shawn Riggins and Jamie Shields, are out there. After a while I call out Shawn’s name. I say:

            “Next ball, here,” while holding my glove out. He nods, and about two pitches later, he gets a ball, and tosses it to me, my 9^th ball. The first try missed, but he tossed it to me again and I got it.

Then I see J.P. Howell putting a ball on the dirt and kicking it. What do I see? A glove trick. Later I learn that he learned it from Zack Hample’s site. He doesn’t get the ball because Scott Kazmir kicks the ball away, so I call out Grant’s name. He comes over here and says “What do you have?” referring to signing autographs. I say not that and show him the glove and the string. I say I can do it, so he gets a ball from Dan Wheeler and puts the ball on the ground. It’s a bit to far out, so I move it closer with the glove by throwing the glove.

 Then when it’s close enough I pull it up for my 10^th ball today. Grant is surprised and tells J.P. and Nelson to look at it.

            A bit later I get J.P. to put a ball down. He gets another ball from Dan Wheeler and says:

“Anywhere?”

            “Anywhere, but put it on the dirt,” I reply.

            “Okay,” he says while dropping the ball. “But I’ll be watching,” and he runs away. I don’t need to move it closer so I just reel up my 11^th ball. When I look at J.P.  He is busy talking to Balfour and watching the hitters. After BP ends, I ask a policeman for a ball he has. There are two in the bullpen. He hands one to a guy who asked him earlier and then goes into the wall. I think he forgot about the ball, but he comes out later and tosses me my 12^th ball. That ball doubled my total for the past 3 games combined. Wow. 12 balls in 3 games previously, and then 12 balls in one game. But it doesn’t stop there.

            I see people pointing to something in the gap so I rush over there. But when I get over there my rubber band breaks! So I have to rush back over to left field to get one rubber band and then run back, but by the time I get there, a policeman is in the gap. He picks up both balls and tosses one to a kid and then takes the other with him. Great. Andy Sonnastine warms up with the bullpen catcher, but they take the balls back to the bullpen.

The players’ start stretching, so I get my autographs baseballs and go over there. Most of the player’s walk by and ignore us, but one guy, Gabe Kapler, comes over. I say “Tampa, Tampa, Tampa!” while pointing to my hat and he walks over and signs two for my 10^th autograph today.

            Even though I have 12, I’d like another. Jason Bartlett starts warming up in front of the visitors’ dugout. When he finishes he starts walking into the inner corner looking for someone to give the ball to. I am standing at the other end of the dugout, so when he sees me, he does a fake throw to see if I’m ready, and I nod, so he flips the ball across the dugout to me, my 13^th ball.

Jason Bartlett was a bit in front of the on-deck circle.

Now I have MORE than doubled my previous games combined. I figure why not get another since our seats are on the inner aisle of the dugout, so I figure that if Carlos Pena or Dioner Navarro gets a ball, I’ll try to get it.

            The first time he flips it to a glove-less teenage girl with orange all over her, and in the bottom of the 5^th, the final out is a strikeout, so I rush down and Dioner flips me the ball, my 14^th ball of the day and my 26^th baseball of the season. One kid asks me for the ball, but instead of giving it to him, I let him wear my Tampa hat for 3^rd out balls and tell him the names of the players. Eventually, he gets a ball by the 8^th inning.

            Remember earlier when I said hi to Bobby Ramos, the bullpen coach, in the hotel? Well I decided to pay a visit to the bullpen to see if he would remember me. I also go because I see J.P. Howell warming up. When I get over there, J.P. finishes up and the bullpen catcher gives the ball to another fan further away from me. Then Bobby Ramos tosses a ball to a (probably drunk) fan in the area above the bullpen. The first try the guy drops the ball and nearly hits Grant Balfour in the head. The next throw is on the money. Then I ask Bobby Ramos “Da me la bola por favor?” He hold up his index finger to indicate 1 minute, then goes into the bullpen catcher’s bag, gets a ball, and throws it to me…my 15^th ball!

There’s Bobby talking to fan above the bullpen.

           I go to the dugout after the game to try stuff, but I get nothing. So after the game, I make my way along collecting ticket stubs again. This time, since we are leaving tomorrow, we decide to go to the home plate gate to get some autographs after the game.

          The first person to come out is Matt Garza, but he only signs for a little kid who followed him for a bit. The next guy comes out, but I don’t know who he is. A woman says it was tonight’s pitcher, Andy Sonnastine, so I go over there and get him for my 11^th autograph today.

          There are people at two different places trying for autographs, so I go over to the other place to see if they have gotten anyone yet. They haven’t, but I see the people by the gate fidgeting and stuff, so I rush back over there to see Dioner Navarro and Willy Aybar leaving. I get Dioner Navarro first, sort of in the parking lot, for my 12^th autograph today. I say “Mr. Aybar can you sign?” so he stops, but Dioner is using my pen so he keeps walking. After Dioner finishes I rush back over to Willy, and get him on 1 for my 13^th autograph today.

It’s dark but Willy is the one with the white sweatshirt and Dioner is right next to him.

I go back over there to see if anyone came out while I was gone; they haven’t, so I head back over to the Home Plate Gate.

            After a bit, Jamie Shields and Akinori Iwamura come out. I get Akinori first on two for my 14^th autograph and then Jamie Shields on two for my 15^th autograph. They were really nice. They signed for everyone, and although Jamie wasn’t taking pictures, Akinori was glad to.

Japanese players are stingy, but Akinori Iwamura was incredibly nice, and I was surprised. We see the player’s bus leave, so we decide to head back to our hotel.

            I jokingly say to the cab driver “follow that bus.” The bus left about two minutes before us, but we get back to the hotel before them. There were some people waiting outside the hotel for autographs and I saw Scott Kazmir and Joe Maddon signing autographs. I said “Good Game” to Scott and he said “thanks.” We head inside the hotel where Carl Crawford is standing there. There are a bunch of high school girls there for a volleyball tournament and they are like:

            “Do you play for Tampa?”

            “Do you seriously play for Tampa?”

            “Are you a player?”

            “Can I you take a photo?”

            And Carl Crawford couldn’t be less interested. He looks down to check his phone, and when he looks up he’s surrounded by 6 high school girls taking photos of him. It was ridiculous. So after we made our way up to our floor in the ‘non-V.I.P.’ elevator, we see Don Zimmer on our floor. We learn that he is lost and forgot which room he is staying in. 

            So that was a good great day at the ballpark and the hotel. All I was hoping for was 8 balls today, and I thought that that was far fetched. But the luck I had with the guy with season tickets, I’m just shocked. This is probably one of the best days in my collecting life, with 15 autographs and 15 baseballs. Good day in the Ballhawk League.

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