Results tagged ‘ Twins ’
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
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
7/18/09 Yankees vs. Tigers
It’s a good sight to see your home stadium, a major league ballpark, for the first time in 12 days. It’s not a good sight to see nothing happening on the field.
That’s what happened when I got there. I had to wait 30 minutes for just two people, Jose Molina and Tony Pena, to play catch, and they kept the ball. BP Started at about 11:05, 25 minutes late. I started off in Left Field for the first two rounds during which a ballboy tossed me a ball, which was ripped out of my glove. Then two home runs landed in the bullpen. I asked an usher who retrieved the first ball for it, but he handed it to a girl. I asked him for the other ball which was hidden by the benches for the players to sit on. He walked over to the ball,
picked it up, inspected the commemorative logo, and flipped it to me, my 1st ball.
It wasn’t a regular baseball. It wasn’t related to the Mets or the Yankees. It was a type of ball used by a Major League Team in the 2009 season for regular season games. What ball was it?
If you guessed a Metrodome baseball, you are correct!
The Yankees had been in Minnesota just before the All-Star Break, and I already booked a trip for 3 games in August to go to the Metrodome.
But thanks to one particular a**hole usher in the right field bullpen I didn’t get anything for the rest of Yankees BP.
I had to go back into Left Field because they kicked people out, so I took a spot near the foul pole,
and asked Tigers Pitcher Brandon Lyon for his ball when he was done throwing.
(Ignore the missing fragment in the ‘N’)
It took a while for him to be close to finishing up, so while I was waiting there I saw a fly ball flow right in my direction. It flew over me and bounced off a lady’s face, breaking her glasses. Edwin Jackson came over there to see what happened and he ended up staying there to shag baseballs. He tossed one ball to a little boy, but then he tossed me the next ball he got, my 2nd ball.
Then I hit a dry spell. There were no more baseballs to be snagged with the crowd of 46,423 largely arriving early to get a ring from ring day. I was able to get Bobby Seay’s autograph for my 1st autograph of the day and my 2000th MLB Autograph of my LIFE. Not a very interesting 2000th autograph, but I’ll take any autograph I could get. I was in the outfield and I saw him signing on the foul line, so I ran over there and got him to sign.
BP ended and there were 3 baseballs in the bullpen. The usher from before picked up one, then two, but he left the third there! I had to get that ball. The first Tiger that entered the bullpen was bullpen catcher Scott Pickens, but he did his best Ronnie Deck impression and ignored me. The next Tiger in was pitching coach Rick Knapp. I got him to hand me the aforementioned baseball, my 3rd ball.
It was a ’09 Yankees Commemorative Baseball, as was the previous ball I got from Edwin.
I didn’t leave that area just yet because a bullpen coach also existed. After Verlander finished, the coach didn’t give me a ball. But Gerald Laird was leaving, and he took a ball from his pocket and flipped randomly into the bullpen where it settled against the back wall. The coach, Jeff Jones, walked over to the ball and flipped it me my 4th baseball, a regular baseball.
4 balls is low for me, so I wanted another ball to make my average not drop as much as it would with only 4 baseballs.
I did that by going to the Yankees bullpen in the 6th. I asked Mike Harkey for the warm-up ball when they were finished. He nodded, but I ended up waiting for a bit.
Finally in the 8th inning he took a ball and threw me and on-target overhand throw for my 5th ball of the day, and 4th bullpen ball of the day.
Tomorrow I will be inside a stadium 4 hours before the game starts, but I expect only 3 baseballs.
Stats:
- 1 MLB Autograph Today
- 5 MLB Balls Today
- 91 MLB Autographs in this Season
- 130 Total Autographs in this Season
- 146 MLB Balls in this Season
- 167 Total Balls in this Season
- 2 BP, 2 Pre-Game, 1 During
- 4 Thrown, 1 Hand-To-Hand
- 5.84 Balls / 1 Game
- Attendance: 46,423 People
- Competition Factor: 232,115
- 15 Consecutive Games with at least 1 MLB Autograph
- 25 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
- 10 Consecutive Games with at least 4 MLB Baseballs
5/17/09 Yankees vs. Twins
Normally I am lost in the sea of people wishing to get into the Legends Seats, but today, as a present for a special occasion, I was among the chosen ones, sitting in the Legends Seats.
See that white thing in my glove? More on that in a bit.
When we got into the Legends there were only 2 other people in the seats. One of them was a kid who I recognized from last season and he was always in the secluded area behind home plate (and he recognized me as getting a Derek Jeter Wristband from 2 YEARS AGO), and he ran over to the Twins dugouts. I followed him and when I was there, I saw Francisco Liriano walking over to sign. I got him on two for my 1st autograph so far. Now as in my last entry, I forgot to upload my small camera pictures to the computer, so not everyone or thing is captured on a camera.
There was no other action, so I went back over to the Yankees dugouts. What sucks is that you can’t go into the corner of each dugout at ANY POINT unless you have tickets there. So I waited, along with other, as close as we could get.
There were only Yankees whose autographs I haven’t gotten: Mark Texieria, Francisco Cervelli, and Ramiro Pena. Make it two.
Ramiro came out of the dugout, talked to some people, and then came over to sign. I was able to get him on two baseballs for my 2nd autograph.
I stayed over there until there was some action in front of the Twins dugout, but I did get some more autographs over there. Robinson Cano came over and signed two for me for my 3rd autograph that day and my 56th MLB autograph on the season.
Now after that, at 10:59, Derek Jeter started bunting. B.P. was underway. That B.P. policy wasn’t only the first hour of B.P. It was the entire Yankees B.P. Well I went over to where some Yankees were throwing in hopes of getting a ball. Even though there were maybe 4 balls in play in the Legends area, and my only competition was a father-son team with a pen, I only got one ball. I got rejected twice by some players, but then the always generous, but not the best, Jose Veras came along.
I asked him for a ball when he finished. He looked at me and wanted to throw it, so I pulled up the netting beneath and stuck out my glove. That convinced him and he tossed me my 1st ball of the day.
Now nothing else happened Yankee-wise for me because I was over by the Twins dugout. They were dumping balls into the bucket, and I was looking for some twins commemorative baseballs. I maybe saw a couple of them, but what amazed me was the dozens and dozens of Yankees commemorative. Then two coaches took a ball from the bucket and started throwing. While throwing, I could see something on the ball (it was being held by Steve Liddle), it was a NYY commemorative. Here we go…
Steve is the one with the 9 on his back, right next to the bucket.
Well I must’ve blanked out for a bit because when I snapped back into reality Steve wasn’t holding a baseball, but he was still there.
“Steve can I have the ball that you were using?” I asked.
“Where ‘ya from?” he asked me, looking at my Twins hat.
“I’m from New York,” I said while nodding.
He then took a ball from the bucket, looked at it, put it back, and then looked at and picked up another one.
“Take a look at this one,” he said and tossed me my 2nd ball. When I looked at it,
it was a Yankees Inaugural Baseball. Essentially Flawless. Only 1 small mark. Wow. It was a thing of beauty, but I also wanted a Twins commemorative.
I asked a nearby coach, Joe Varva, specifically for a Twins commemorative. What does he do? He looks at and takes a ball in the bucket and rolls me my 3rd ball across the dugout roof. It wasn’t a Twins ball, it was a Yankees ball, my 3rd one of those this year.
This was the worst I could find on this ball:
Do you see it? It is that barely noticable brown mark.
The Twins started throwing, so I went over there. Jose Morales came over to sign, so I took out some baseballs and got him to sign my 4th autograph.
Melky Cabrera then came over to sign, and I got Melky’s autograph for my 5th autograph. I got him on one inaugural baseball and two of that day’s give-a-way, bats.
I wasn’t able to get any of the balls being thrown around, so I went back to the dugout. There were a couple people who came and were just standing there trying to get Denard Span’s attention. I got Denard’s attention for them, and they got his autograph, so I tossed Denard a ball also and he signed me my 6th autograph. That was it for during Twins B.P.
Carlos Gomez is on the right, Denard Span is in the middle, and Jason Kubel is on the right.
At the end of B.P, when everyone was coming off the field, I got 3 more autographs.
The First One: Michael Cuddyer was walking in. I got his attention and tossed him a ball and he signed my 7th autograph. He took some time to write his good signature, and I got antsy because standing close to him were about to be a former M.V.P. and Rookie signing: Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer.
The Second One: Justin Morneau was just about to go in, but I tossed him only one ball. He signed my 8th autograph and then went inside. I then ran over to get the last Twin signing, Joe Mauer.
The Third One: Joe Mauer was gladly taking his time, but he was about to go in. Luckily he saw my Twins hat and signed two for my 9th autograph so far.
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After they left, I went over to the bucket. I asked for a ball from the guy emptying it, but I got nada. I recognized coach Jerry White and I asked him for a ball. He looked up and tossed me a Yankees Commemorative ball for my 4th ball. Every ball, except the first one, has been a Yankees commemorative, and all the further ones I get will be so also.
And now I break double digits in autographs. I went over to where the Twins were stretching. I asked Matt Tolbert to sign after he was done. He walked over and signed me my 10th autograph of the day, and then continued to sign for a couple more people. I have now broken double digits in both balls and autographs at the New Yankee Stadium.
Since I thought the Twins side should be reserved for third out balls, I spent the pre-game throwing at the Yankees Dugout’s inner corner. A-Rod came out to throw and I knew who was going to end up with it… Well when A-Rod came in he tossed me his pre-game warm-up ball, and my 5th ball, a NYY commemorative.
Game Time!
I decided to try for a 3rd out ball from each side, on the outer corner first. I got a commemorative ball on the Yankees side, but it wasn’t a third out ball, it was most likely a foul ball.
While at the Yankees side, Mark Texieria ended up with the ball, a groundout. He tossed that to someone else, but I noticed a guy beneath me in the dugouts had a ball. I asked him for it, and after pondering it for a bit, he flipped the ball to me, my 6th ball and 73rd on the season.
Since it was commemorative, rubbed, and had a big black mark on it, I assumed it was most likely a foul ball rolled towards the dugout. So since I had gotten a ball at both sides of the Yankees dugout, I went over to the Twins dugout.
Time: End of the Bottom of the 4th.
Location: Outer Aisle of Minnesota Twins Dugout
Person Holding Subject: Justin Morneau.
Subject: A Commemorative Third-Out Groundout Ball Retrieved by Justin Morneau.
When Justin Morneau ended up with the ball I rushed down to the front row. It was easy. Justin spotted me and tossed me my 7th ball, and my final ball of the day.
Yes final.
I got nothing afterwards because of the unexpected, but enjoyable, walk-off home run by Johnny Damon. He is one the nicest players in baseball, so I am glad he hit it, and not a jerk.
Here is my final haul from inside the stadium:
Inside
But wait! Don’t go! There’s more! Since we had nothing to do, and it was a day game, we stayed after for autographs. After waiting for a while, Paul O’Neil came out. He went to the other side of the barricade almost immediately, but he still signs. I rushed over there and got him for my 11th autograph of the day.
Then we saw Blyleven. Since I didn’t have the balls out, and the ones that I did weren’t related to him at all, I got Bert on two tickets for my 12th autograph that day.
“Pull my finger,” he said, finger as in the pen cap.
After waiting a bit more, some Twins players come out. They are Carlos Gomez, Jose Morales, and someone whose name in on the tip of my tongue. After Carlos skipped me (intentionally?) a couple of times, he finally signs me my 13th autograph. That player whose name I couldn’t remember, I looked it up and it turns out it was Luis Ayala, so I asked, and got him, to sign my 14th autograph so far.
A lot of people have left, but others, my family included, are waiting for somebody: David Wells. You see, May 17th, 2009 is the 11 year anniversary of his perfect game. So when people started running off somewhere, it was to David Wells (and Cone).
I got David Wells on the bat for my 15th autograph and then I got David Cone on the baseballs for my 16th autograph so far.
That was it for the day. My next game will be a Baltimore Game.
Stats:
- 7 MLB Balls Today
- 74 MLB Balls in this Season
- 16 MLB Autographs Today
- 69 MLB Autographs in this Season
- 72 Total Autographs in this Season
- 90 Total Baseballs in this Season
- 3 BP, 2 Pre-Game, 2 During
- 7 Thrown
- Attendence: 44,804 people
- Competition Factor: 313,628
- 6.2 Balls/ 1 Game
- 12 Consecutive Games with at least 3 MLB Baseballs
(P.S. Just to tell you, the Legends isn’t much better than the outfield. It’s not really that much of a difference on the average number of balls a game.)
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