I saw Brett Gardner come out of the dugout, but Swisher was nowhere to be een. Turns out that he was scheduled to appear at an event as part of HOPE week at the same time.

            But there were also three Yankee Alumni: Oscar Gamble, Mike Torrez, and Joe Pepitone.

            The first thing I did was field grounders and catch fly balls with Oscar Gamble. Here are some photos:

Oscar Gamble talking:

Me catching a fly ball:

Me throwing a ball:

They were using real MLB baseballs, including this:

A 2009 New Yankee Stadium commemorative baseball (you can zoom):

            Then I pitched to Mike Torrez and Brett Gardner at a point. One of the pitches was a sinker which caught Brett off guard. He smiled and Mike Torrez said “Nice Sinker.” Here are some photos from that:

Mike Torrez talking to a kid:

Me pitching to Brett Gardner:

My sinker:

            Then I hit baseballs off a tee, aiming for the short porch in Right Field. I almost hit one out. It hit the very top of the Sony sign in Right Field. Here are some photos from that:

The Sony sign in Right Field and a kid batting:

Me hitting (the ball is to the right of the dugout in the top left hand corner):

Me hitting again (the ball is above the tee, it’s easy to see):

And here are two shots that I like:

            So after the clinic we had lunch at the Bleacher Café above the Batter’s Eye.

The gift bag had a towel, keychain, and a crystal with some dirt.

            They gave us the option of going outside and coming back later or a 30 step head start.

            I choose the head start even though nothing was going on on the field. I decided to head to Left Field because there were some players in the bullpen.

But they gave me nothing. I waited until the Yankees came out to throw and I went over there. I decided to focus on the duo of Phil Coke and Mariano Rivera throwing. When they finished, Mariano got the ball. I stood up and shouted his name. It worked and he threw me my 2^nd ball over the partition and nobody inside of it.

A ball from Mariano Rivera! I didn’t thing that I’d ever get a ball from him.

            So BP started and I stayed in Right Field again, and I saw Andrew again. He would be at the New Yankee Stadium for the ENTIRE week because he flew in from California for one big trip. I let him stay in the aisle between sections 104 and 103. I stood in the aisle between 103 and the bullpen. In the photo below 103 is the section below the two Modell’s signs. 104 is off to the right.)

            There were two lefties hitting bombs. One of those bombs was hit 3 rows over my head, but un-getable. I still watched the shot and the aftermath though, and I heard someone yell: “Heads Up!”

            I looked up and a ball smacked off the wall separating the seats from the bullpen. It rolled slowly right between my legs and after realizing what happened I bare-handed my 3^rd baseball off the concrete floor and because of the ball hitting the wall it got pretty scuffed as a result:

            That was the same aisle where I got my 4^th ball. Another long, un-getable shot was hit, but I didn’t want it to turn out like last time, so I didn’t watch it. I turned back towards the field and sure enough on the next pitch the batter, Hideki Matsui, hit one right in my direction. Everyone else had watched the previous hit, so I yelled “Heads Up!”

            But I got the ball. I drifted down a couple rows and made a back-handed catch on the fly right in front of another, glove-less person.

            I thought that I was all set to have a monster Yankees BP getting two or three more balls in Yankees BP alone, but the Yankees started winding down, so Andrew and I ran over to where the A’s were throwing.

            When we got there the Yankees had finished hitting, so nobody was in the cages, and the A’s kept throwing while the ushers were kicking people out.

            It got gloriously empty. I got a ball easily when the A’s finished throwing. Michael Wuertz and Russ Springer had been fooling around with grips on a baseball. When they stopped I asked Wuertz for the ball and he side-flipped me my 5^th ball, a NY commemorative baseball (why are the A’s using them?)

            Most of the A’s finished throwing a bit later, but I didn’t get anything from them. The bullpen Ron Romanick went over to pick up some cones and there were also two balls lying there. I asked him for the balls, and even though he looked sour, he was nice enough to throw me my 6^th ball, another commemorative ball (again why are the A’s using them?)

            There were only two pitchers left throwing on the foul line, so we went into the outfield (during which I neglected to take any photos). I asked Andrew where he wanted to be. He wanted to be two aisles from the foul pole, so I went to the third aisle.

            It took a while, but I realized the second righty in the group taking their turn in the cage was blasting bombs into the seats. He hit one of those bombs to me. It was a high fly ball two rows down and one step to my right. I moved the distance, got ready, and caught my 7^th ball on the fly right in front of a clue-less, eating family, in which someone would’ve been seriously hurt had I not been there. The ball has part of the Rawlings logo faded:

            So I put that ball in my pocket and went back to my spot, but right after I got the ball I saw a thrown ball about to land in the row I was just in. I ran down into the row, the ball landed, and I grabbed my 8^th ball.

I wasn’t sure if it was tossed to anyone or not, but people protested “That’s two!” I promised Andrew the next ball I got, so I called him over and gave him the ball, which then caused people to cheer.

            During the next time the guy who hit my 7^th ball came up he hit another ball towards me. I could see it coming, and so did some other people. We judged it, but the ball was closer to a guy next to me. Luckily he didn’t have a glove and he dropped it and I was able to snatch it off the ground for my 9^th ball. That caused people to say “That’s THREE!” Nope, that’s nine.

            I sat down to label the ball and take notes, but before I could finish BP ended. But two A’s went over to sign at the foul line. Andrew and I ran over there. The first autograph I got was Vin Mazzaro’s for my 4^th autograph. My 5^th autograph was Trevor Cahill.

            I had to photograph the balls first, and then we went over to where the players stretch. We basically went to the same spot as where I got the Orlando Cabrera ball yesterday.

            We were discussing what out plan would be when Mark Ellis finished throwing with Adam Kennedy. Andrew didn’t have his glove on, so I went to the first row and shouted Mark’s name. He spotted me and threw me my 10^th ball over the partition and everyone in it, another NY commemorative (for the third time, why are the A’s using them?).

Double digits had been achieved TWICE at the impossibly hard New Yankee Stadium.

            After that we went over to the same section yesterday. But we grew tired and hungry so we left in the 4^th inning.

            That Mark Ellis ball was my last of the day, and the ball I gave to Andrew was his last. A great day at the New Yankee Stadium…

Stats:

• 10 MLB Balls Today
• 5 MLB Autographs Today
• 105 MLB Autographs in this Season
• 144 Total Autographs in this Season
• 171 MLB Balls in this Season
• 192 Total Balls in this Season
• 9 BP, 1 Pre-Game
• 6 Thrown, 4 Hit
• Attendance: 46,086 People
• Competition Factor: 460,860
• 5.90 Balls / 1 Game
• 29 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
• 19 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
• 14 Consecutive Games with at least 4 MLB Baseballs