I still have no idea why I went to this game.

For starters, my plan going into the week had been to go to Citi Field on Friday, May 23rd, to see the Mets play the Diamondbacks. This fell through when the weather was bad, so I decided to go the following day instead. This also fell through because of the weather, and for some reason, I wanted to go to a Sunday game that would start at 1:10 pm, which meant that there would not be batting practice. To top it off, it was a single admission doubleheader, so there would definitely be no batting practice.

Last year, on 8/28/13, there was no batting practice and I was still able to go down to field level on both sides. Surely fans would be allowed to wander around until, I don’t know, maybe 12:30? I was counting on getting some tossups from the Diamondbacks pitchers before the game.

Well, I was only slightly bummed when I saw that there was no batting practice. But here’s where it gets bad. As I was running towards left field, I saw the lack of batting cage, so I slowed to a jog. I heard an usher say to me, “No batting practice, you don’t have to run.” I slowed to a walk, and when I tried going down to the seats down the left field line, I was stopped by an usher, who said that fans had to go to their ticketed seats. This was two hours before the start of the game! Unbelievable.

At that point, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. I’d never had this problem before, and that’s when I realized that I was probably going to get shut out. It was a real shame.

I saw some Mets on the field beginning to throw, so I ventured over to their side. I reached a staircase guarded by a nice looking lady. I said to her, “Look, is it all right if I go down there and try to get a ball until the Mets leave the field? I promise I’ll leave this section when they’re gone.” She thought for a second and said, “Okay… but you have to come out when they leave.” I thanked her profusely, and I liked the fact that she was able to think for herself and not succumb to the hideous rules of Citi Field. I’m sorry, but fans should be able to go wherever they want for at least the first hour and a half.

By the time I made it down, there was only one ball left, and Dan Warthen picked it up and started walking towards the bullpen. I shouted his name loud and clear, but he ignored me. So much for that. I ran back up the stairs and thanked the usher again, but inside I was fuming.

That’s when I saw D-Backs’ pitcher Chase Anderson long tossing in left field. I headed over there and was surprised when there was an unguarded staircase leading into the left field seats. I ran down it and saw this:

At one point, I shouted his name and tried to get him to look up at me and acknowledge the fact that I was wearing Diamondbacks gear, but he never looked up. This picture was taken as he was wrapping up, because he started out further in left field. When he was done, I shouted his name, but he never acknowledged me. Wow.

This was serious. It was only 11:30, but I was already worried about a shutout.

It was then that I decided to press my luck on the Mets’ side again. I went over to the female usher and I pleaded with her again. I gave her one of my spring training baseballs so that she could give it away to somebody later. That seemed to win her approval, so I made it down to the Mets’ side yet again. Jenrry Mejia finished throwing, and I shouted his name. He saw me but he handed the ball off to a younger kid. Can’t really compete with that.

Opportunities were dwindling. Players were finishing left and right, and yet I was constantly out of position. Finally, when it seemed as if all the Mets were off the field, I saw Mets’ coach Ricky Bones walking from the bullpen towards the dugout, and I noticed that he had a ball in his hand. At this point, I was desperate. I let out a loud, “RICKY!” Nothing. I tried again. “MR. BONES!” To my delight, he looked my way, and after seeing that I had a glove, he let it fly towards me. There was a guy a few feet to my left who made a little effort to catch it, but there was no way that anybody else was going to take this one from me. I reached as far out as I could in order to prevent any deflections and I made the catch. I have to say that this was the biggest relief I have ever experienced at a baseball game. I ran up the steps and I profusely thanked the usher again. She held out the ball I’d given her, but I told her to give it away to somebody later. Words could not describe how I was feeling at that moment.

You’d think that after almost being shut out and after finally getting a ball I’d be content, right? Wrong. My contentment lasted for a good minute until I realized that I had to be behind the Diamondbacks’ dugout. I played it smart, though. I knew that security would be tight behind the dugouts, so I made an attempt to get into one of the sections down the left field line. Here’s where I did most of my loitering:

On field level, in the concourse behind several sections there is a handicapped row. It is chained off, so when a fan comes with a ticket for that section, the usher leaves his post five feet away and goes to un-chain the row. I noticed this happening at the staircase I’d been loitering by, so I made a run for it. Luckily, the usher was heavily preoccupied with the handicapped row, so I was able to make it in unscathed.

I ended up here shortly after:

I made it! Rather than going behind the dugout immediately, I decided to stay past the outfield end for a little bit because I saw a couple decked out in Diamondbacks gear. I sat in their row and we chatted briefly. There was a man near them (also in Diamondbacks gear) who said he was Chris Owings’ cousin. He tried calling out on my behalf to get a ball from Owings when he finished throwing, but to no avail. That was fine because I wanted to save my opportunities for the game itself and I didn’t want to be kicked out before the game even started.

When the game started, I was sitting behind the main dugout entrance. The bottom of the first ended with a groundout by Lucas Duda, and by the time Paul Goldschmidt received the throw at first I was already standing up on the staircase right next to my seat. Well, when Goldschmidt came in towards the dugout, he spotted me and underhanded me the ball. It was coming right to me, but the guy in front of me tried catching it too. My glove collided with his hands, and the ball bounced on the ground. Immediately I looked down and reached for it, and it was difficult because I was looking behind me… between my legs! Anyway, I picked it up. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of this ball.

Then, I moved to the staircase behind the home plate entrance of the dugout. As soon as I got there, I noticed a kid sitting on the other side of the railing sitting with his dad and brother. He had a glove, so I handed him a spring training ball. His dad thanked me, as did some of the people around me. More on that later.

Before the bottom of the 2nd, I noticed that Dave McKay threw the infield warmup ball to a fan. Fast forward to the middle of the third. When the infield warmup ball was thrown back to McKay, I was standing in the front row behind the dugout, and when he turned I said, “Mr. McKay!” He looked up and flipped me the ball. Again, I don’t have a picture.

The row I was sitting in was empty to my left. I figured that if an inning ended with anything but a strikeout, I would cut through the row and stand on the staircase where I’d gotten the ball from Goldschmidt. It was then that I realized I was sitting on 199 lifetime baseballs. The next one would be extra special. There were a bunch of adult men behind me who saw me get the ball from McKay, so I told them that my next ball would be #200. When the inning ended with a 6-4-3 double play, I told the guys behind me that I was going to cut through the row and try to get the ball. I decided not to cut all the way across because Goldschmidt might remember me. Instead, I stood in the row and half-heartedly waved my glove. That’s why I was shocked when Goldschmidt saw me and lobbed me the ball. I made the catch (with no interference this time) and as I walked back to my seat, I shrugged at the guys behind me. Here’s the ball, my 200th ball lifetime:

On 8/3/12 at Citizens Bank Park, Goldschmidt threw me 2 third out balls within the first 3 innings. It was like deja vu. I guess he has a bad short term memory? It’s not like I changed my shirt or anything between innings.

The next few innings were bland. The bottom of the 7th, however, ended with a Juan Lagares strikeout. When I ran down to the front row behind the dugout, I was the only person there! I knew I was going to get the ball, so when Miguel Montero approached, I didn’t even need to say his name. Sure enough, he threw me the ball. It was that easy.

As I mentioned before, this was a single admission doubleheader. Remember the kid I said I gave a ball to who was with his father and brother? I asked the father if they were staying for the second game, and he said no. I asked him if I could please have one of his ticket stubs, and to my delight, he gave me two of them! I only needed one, but this was great. Now I could go to the bathroom whenever I wanted and not have to worry about not being allowed back in, and I could also wander around elsewhere and then return at my own will.

The first game ended, and I headed up to the concourse to meet up with a friend from school who said he was going to this game. During our chat, I noticed that Zeke Spruill and Tuffy Gosewisch were tossing along the left field line. I tried getting the ball from them when they finished, but they held onto it. Bummer.

I went back to my new ticketed seat for the game, and the first few innings were boring. I happened to look at my ticket and notice that I had Delta Club access! I had never been in there, so I wanted to check it out, but I also didn’t want to miss out on any opportunities behind the dugout. I then realized that I had basically exhausted all opportunities behind the dugout, so I left the section to wander.

I got my ticket checked before reaching the inside of the club, which looked like this:

If it appears a little blurry, it’s because I was walking fast. I wanted to make it to the seats quickly because I wanted to make it back to the dugout in a timely manner.

I walked through a tunnel towards the seats and had to open a glass door to get outside. The usher there asked for my ticket, so I told her that I had club access and just wanted to sit for a little while and take a bunch of pictures. She told me to sit in the seat closest to her, which was on the aisle of the last row. This was perfect because there was a small cross aisle directly behind me, and I was prepared to get up and chase any foul balls that flew back my way. Unfortunately, there were none.

Here’s what my view looked like:

Here’s another shot:

Beautiful.

I knew that this would probably be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so I made sure to capture the moment. This was the view to my right:

I finally left and thanked the usher on my way out before heading back to the dugout.

At one point, I noticed a player in the dugout tossing a ball up and down. I went down to the front row and quickly identified the player as Ender Inciarte. Some people were asking for the ball repeatedly, but none of them knew his name, so I shouted “Ender!” He looked up at me and threw me the ball. One lady said “That’s enough.” Some guy was mad that I’d gotten a few baseballs over there already, so I finally asked him, “Who here hasn’t gotten a ball?” I wasn’t trying to be rude, I was simply asking because I’d seen a bunch of the kids down there get balls during the second game, and I was prepared to give a spring training ball away. He pointed to a kid who looked to be about 14 and didn’t have a glove. The guy said, “This is his first game.” I said, “He’s too old. I’m looking for someone younger.” It was then that I looked in the rows behind me and noticed a kid wearing Diamondbacks gear with a glove. I asked the guy, “How about him?” The guy said, “Okay, that works.” I went over to the kid and handed him the ball, prompting happiness from the guy and everybody else around. The ball from Inciarte, by the way, was my 6th of the day, which tied my Citi Field record. I also had 3 game used balls at that point (2 from Goldschmidt, 1 from Montero), which tied my single game record at any stadium.

Later on, Lucas Duda fouled a ball off the screen behind home plate, and it ricocheted towards the Diamondbacks dugout. The visiting team ballboy went to retrieve it, so I ran down to the front row behind the home plate entrance and asked him for the ball. He threw it to me, and just like that I had broken my single game Citi Field record, as well as my single game record for game used balls. Here’s the ball:

I failed to get any more balls, but you know what? That was fine. For a game in which I almost got shut out, I was able to bounce back from my pre-game mindset and snag 7 balls total. It was satisfying.

Here’s a departing photo that shows the Mr. Met dash for kids:

This was undoubtedly the most conflicted game I’ve ever been to. It instantaneously caused me a ton of stress, but in the long run it was my best Citi Field performance. If only there had been batting practice…

Stats-

7 balls at this game

203 lifetime baseballs

I’m hoping to be able to blog about the rest of my 2014 games in the upcoming few weeks. In the meantime, though, I have 27 New York-Penn League baseballs, ranging from poor to great condition. If you have any interest in buying one/more, leave me a comment. I would most likely charge $12 for the ones in good condition and $8 for the ones in poor condition, with the remaining ones falling into that price range, but that is subject to change.

I *hate* going to day games at Citi Field, so as a general rule I just don’t do it. However, I simply *had* to make an exception here. May 11th had a few characteristics:

1. It was a dreaded “day-game-following-a-night-game” and I was certain that there would be no batting practice.

2. I had my AP Physics B exam the next day.

3. It was Mothers’ Day, and there were going to be commemorative baseballs used during and only during the games throughout the MLB.

Despite it being Mothers’ Day and the fact that my mom was home all day, and despite the fact that I had my first AP test the next day, my mom was somehow okay with all of this: that is, me riding the train early in the morning to Citi Field and not getting back until the late afternoon.

I had heard that another ballhawk, Demetrius, whom I’d met a few times prior, was going to be at this game, and I found out that he had secured a seat behind the visitors’ dugout. He would have it easy. My mission would be slightly harder because my plan was to get a student ticket for $10, but I had a way around it.

I arrived at around 10:30 and shortly after, Demetrius arrived. He had Mets gear on and I had Phillies gear on. I figured that the Phillies pitchers would be warming up down the left field line upon arrival and that there would not be batting practice. By the time I made it inside and was running towards the third base side, I was shocked to see the Mets hitting! I quickly changed into my Mets gear as Demetrius ran past me and eventually made it out to left field. My goal for the day, in short, was to not get shut out. My goal after that was to snag a Mothers’ Day commemorative ball. This being said, you can imagine how relieved I was when Tom Goodwin threw me a ball soon after I reached the left field seats. It was straightforward. A ball was hit to him, I asked him for it, and he tossed it up to me.

A few minutes later, I saw a player on the warning track throw a fan a ball. I couldn’t recognize him immediately, but I soon realized it was Lucas Duda. The next time a ball was hit to him, I called out to him and asked for it, and he responded with a pretty hard knuckleball that actually hit off the tip of my glove. Luckily, I was in the third row at the time and the ball landed at my feet, where I picked it up.

Then, I saw a different player fielding a ball in centerfield. I immediately recognized him as Bartolo Colon. As he fielded it, I yelled his name, figuring I had nothing to lose. He immediately turned towards me and let it fly. To my surprise, the throw was on the money and it was from quite a distance, easily over 100 feet.

This was my view during batting practice:

Sorry for the glare in the photo above. It was approximately 11:25 am when I took that photo. Anyway, my 3 tossups happened within about 8 minutes of the gates opening, and after about 10 more lame minutes, the Mets jogged off the field. They hadn’t hit any homers into the left field seats, but I dealt with the given conditions. I didn’t think the Phillies would hit, and I was right. Their pitchers came out to throw, but they showed me no love.

This was my view one hour before game time…

… and then this was my view after the game had started:

Sweet view, isn’t it?

I was actually sitting behind the home plate entrance of the dugout when the bottom of the 1st ended with a Juan Lagares strikeout, and I had a feeling that I was going to get the ball from Phillies’ catcher Wil Nieves. However, upon reaching the first row on the staircase, I was told by the female security guard in the picture above that I couldn’t run down the stairs during the game. At that point, I hated everything. I knew that there would be more competition behind the section where I was in the photo above, but I knew that it would be my only chance.

You know what really stunk? The fact that the bottom of the first, second, and third innings all ended in strikeouts. The bottom of the 4th ended in a fielder’s choice, and the ball ended up in the glove of Chase Utley. I bolted down to the front row behind the dugout and tried to separate myself from Demetrius, who had also run down there. I ended up moving as far to the right as I could and I held my glove as far out as I could to prevent anybody from reaching in front of me. Utley threw the ball to me, and I willed myself to reach farther than I had ever reached before, knowing that this could be my only chance ever to catch one of these balls.

I was holding this shortly after:

My day was complete. I couldn’t truly express myself at that moment because I was feeling too good. The picture is a little bright, so if you can’t tell, the ball was in great shape.

Ordinarily, I never give up a chance at a third out ball. Even if I’ve already gotten a ball from the first baseman, I still usually subject myself to potentially getting another. That being said, after I got the ball from Utley, I felt that it was proper to back off until Demetrius got one. The way I saw it was, he had went through the time, effort, and cost to be able to sit there and I didn’t want to invade his turf any longer than I had to. I let him sit in the seat I’d been sitting in, and after the next inning ended, he was able to get one from Dominic Brown. Of course, I still stood up and waved my glove in the 10th row, even though I knew it was hopeless because of the mass amounts of kids who ran down to the front row. Anyway, you can read about Demetrius’ day here.

After looking back at the play-by-play, I realized that Nieves ended up with the ball a lot, and that had I been allowed to go for third out balls behind the home plate end, I almost definitely would have gotten one. That being said, I won’t complain because I had an elaborate scheme to get a ball from the home plate umpire Tim Welke, and I had a good feeling that it would work.

The game was rather exciting. It went into extra innings and was ended on a Ruben Tejada walk-off single. I bolted down to the front row by the umpire’s entrance, ready to utilize my plan. I neglected to take a picture of it, but I had “beautifully” constructed a sign at home before the game that said, “CAN I HAVE A BALL PLEASE, MR. ______?” There was no underline, but I had left a blank for the last name of the home plate umpire. When the umpires for the game were announced, I took out my sharpie and wrote “WELKE” in the blank. Sure enough, he gave one ball away. Here it is:

It was a perfect ball. Plain and simple. After that, I ran to the Subway and caught a train back to my house before going out to dinner.

Stats-

5 balls at this game

196 lifetime baseballs

Well, it’s been a good season so far. I haven’t been able to blog about my games, but hopefully at the end of the season I’ll be able to. Last night I had a record night at Citi Field by snagging 12 balls. At the beginning of the night, I had 79 balls for the season, so I did not have my sights set on 100. However, after reaching 91 by the end of the night, I realized that it is within reach. I probably won’t go to any more Mets’ games, but if I can make it to 2 Long Island Ducks’ games, I’ll probably reach 100. My stats for the season so far:

14 games attended

91 baseballs

22 game used baseballs

1 foul ball

Last year, I went to a day-night doubleheader at Bethpage Ballpark. This year, I saw a similar opportunity, so I went again. This time the Ducks were playing the York Revolution. My plan (actually, it was a combination of my grandparents’ plan and mine) was to go to the first game, go to Friendly’s for dinner, and then go to the second game.

We got to the first game at around 11:45 and got our tickets. The gates were due to open at 12:05, and when I looked inside from outside the gate, I was surprised to see that a few players on the Revolution were still throwing. In the past, this has occurred several times, and in each of these cases, I’ve gotten a ball. I anxiously waited for the gates to open while hoping that the players would stay out there.

For some odd reason, luck worked in my favor and the players were still throwing when I reached the seats near them:

They threw for a few more minutes, and then the player closer to me stopped to talk to the coach (the guy in the yellow hat) for a few minutes. When they were done talking, I politely asked the player for the ball, and he flipped it to me. Here’s the ball:

I was glad to get my first one out of the way.

Usually at Ducks games, the players don’t come out until 20 minutes before the game starts, or somewhere in that general time frame. I refer to the time before this as “pre-pre-game”. Anyway, there was a pitcher warming up on the Ducks’ side of the field, and it was still pre-pre-game! Look closely in this photo and you can see a bunch of players on the other side of the field:

I hustled over there and completely forgot to take a picture. When the pitcher finished throwing, I asked him for the ball. He put the ball he was using in his bag, searched around in his bag for a different ball, and ended up throwing me a fairly dirty ball, which obviously was no different to me.

After that, some groundskeepers threw the ball around:

I asked them for their ball, but they said they weren’t allowed to give it away.

That was it until pre-game, so I hung out at my seat until players came out. On the Revolution side, I got Johan Limonta to throw me his warmup ball. I forgot to take a picture from there, so take my word for it. I hustled over to the Ducks’ side:

I didn’t get anything there, though.

During the game, I stayed down the leftfield line, except with two outs, when I would stay near the dugout of the team in the field to get a third out ball. In the middle of the game, Brandon Chaves of the Revolution hit a foul ball and it rolled to Ducks’ leftfielder Adam Bailey. I was prepared for this situation. I got up out of my seat, stood in the aisle, and waved my glove (It also helped that I was wearing a bright pink shirt to stand out). He threw it right to me over a few little kids in the middle of the section. It was beautiful.

I didn’t get any third out balls or foul balls by the bottom of the 9th, so I headed near the umpire’s tunnel in preparation for the end of the game. When the game ended, I shouted “Tony!” (the umpire was Tony Senia) and he nodded. He placed a ball in my glove as he left the field. I was the only person he gave a ball to.

After the umpires leave, I usually wait by the tunnel in case a player on the visiting team happens to have an extra ball. This is never the case, so I almost decided to leave before the players walked out. I’m glad I stayed, though. I happened to see a coach walk out of the dugout and into the tunnel with a ball in his hand. I figured since his team won, why not ask for the ball? I said, “Coach, can I have that ball please?” He tossed it up to me, and then it was time to leave.

Dinner was good.

We went back to the ballpark for game 2. Nothing was happening during pre-pre-game, so when an announcement was made that Casey Barnes, one of the Ducks’ pitchers, was signing autographs in the autograph booth, I went there. Rather than asking for an autograph, I asked him if there was any way he could get me ball when he got back onto the field. He said yes, and then he and the employee standing with him agreed that the employee would get it for me. I thanked them and waited by the Ducks’ bullpen. 15 minutes later, the employee was walking in the aisle with a ball so I went and got his attention. He handed it to me and told me that Barnes had signed it for me as well. I thanked him again and took a look at the ball. The stamping was very faint, but it was indeed an official Atlantic League ball, so it would undoubtedly count in my collection, and it would be my first of the game.

During pre-game, Wilson Valdez was throwing with another player. When they finished, the other player threw it to me after I asked. I sat back down, and Valdez said something along the lines of, “You got what you wanted. Now go.” I sat there looking at him like “What did you just tell me?” He said to the other player “He was here earlier and got everything.” I walked over to the Ducks’ side after that because I didn’t want to be near him anymore, but I didn’t get anything.

I didn’t get any more baseballs, but I did get something cool. Midway through the game, I noticed a piece of a broken bat in the Revolution’s dugout garbage. I saw Steve Bumbry walking back into the dugout from the tunnel so I shouted his name and when he turned to me I asked him, “Is that a broken bat?” He walked over to it, pulled it out of the garbage, and gave it to me. I didn’t care where it had been. My night was officially made. Here’s the bat, my first ever:

That was taken after the game. Yes, I know it is broken, but it is a fairly big piece. Wow.

Stats-

8 balls in two games (6, 2)

191 lifetime baseballs

 

This game was extremely boring. There was batting practice, but it was uneventful. I got inside and took a picture of the field:

I lied. This picture was taken midway through the Cardinals’ batting practice session, at which point I had 2 baseballs already. My first came from Kyle Farnsworth during the Mets’ portion of batting practice, and my second was a little more interesting. Trevor Rosenthal and Carlos Martinez were long tossing in left field and I stationed myself behind them in order to try to get their ball when they finished. It turned out that Martinez, who was by center field, overthrew Rosenthal and it was heading towards me, but there were tons of fans in the front row so I knew somebody would catch it. It goes without saying that it ended up traveling *right* to me, and I gloved it. Rosenthal motioned for me to throw it back to him, so I did. I asked, “Can I please have that when you’re done?” He shook his head, so I exclaimed, “What?!” He then laughed and threw the ball back to me to keep.

I got my third ball while standing close to where I took the above picture from. Trevor Rosenthal fielded a ball in left-center and apparently didn’t recognize me, so he hooked me up. And that was it for BP.

I made it here before the game:

 

My ticket was for section 125, so in the worst case, I would have gotten thrown out and sent back 3 sections to the left, which would not have been a huge deal. This never happened though, and I’m happy to say that when David Wright struck out to end the bottom of the first, Yadier Molina threw me the ball. It just so happened that a kid in the front row, who the ball was *not* thrown to, tried reaching in front of me, and the ball bounced back into the dugout. When the ball was tossed back up, I reached as far out as I could to catch it, and I did. Don’t feel bad for the kid, though. He snagged a third out ball later in the game.

Here’s a picture of the ball:

I’m pretty sure the ball bounced in the dirt and then Molina tagged Wright for the out.

That concluded my day at Citi Field.

Stats-

4 baseballs at this game

183 lifetime baseballs

This was my first game of 2014. The weather forecast looked great from the start, so I was hoping for a decent batting practice.

I got to Citi Field at around 4:15:

Not too many people were there yet, as you can see. I got my ticket, and then got on line. Some other ballhawks were there too, so I was going to have some serious competition ahead of me.

The gates opened, and I ran out to left field. I promptly got Mets’ coach Tom Goodwin to throw me a ball. He’s very generous with throwing baseballs to fans.

My next ball was a home run hit in deep left-center field. It bounced around and I picked it up. At the time I didn’t know who hit it, but Greg later identified him as Evan Gattis.

My third ball came in the same place, and it was a tossup from an unidentifiable Braves pitcher.

I caught my fourth ball of the day, a tossup from a Braves’ pitcher, on the ledge of the party deck staircase. That was it for batting practice.

After batting practice, I was able to defeat the system and make my way behind the Braves’ dugout:

Actually, that picture was taken when the game started, but you get the idea.

In one of the early innings, Aaron Harang hit a weak foul grounder, and it was retrieved by the Braves’ ballboy. By that time, I was already in the front row. I asked him for it, and he threw it to me. An adult male who looked about 30 years old tried to reach in front of me and catch it, but I outreached him and it bounced on the dugout, where I was able to snatch it.

This is a picture I took during the game (because of the lack of batting practice pictures):

 

Later in the game, Curtis Granderson struck out to end the inning, and I got Evan Gattis to throw me the ball. The only problem was that some guy tried to reach in front of me *again*, but it ended with the same results, as the ball bounced up and I caught it. A few spectators knew that I had gotten 2 baseballs behind the dugout by this point, and a few of them were telling me that “I had to give one away.” Gee, thanks. Maybe if you caught 2 baseballs you’d know the feeling.

Well, that concludes my first game of 2014. Since I’m writing some entries now, I will probably write the ones for the games I’ve gone to this year.

Stats-

6 baseballs at this game

179 lifetime baseballs

Lately I haven’t been able to post any detailed entries of games I’ve been to. So far I’ve been to Citi Field twice this season. Hopefully I will be able to crank out those entries sometime soon.

In any case, I have a fairly complex goal for this season. Since I don’t know how many games I will attend, rather than setting a numerical goal for baseballs, my goal is to snag a game used ball from every game I go to. I’m 2 for 2 so far, so I’ll look to continue my streak throughout the rest of the season. Also, I’m 17 away from 200 career balls and 4 away from 100 major league balls.

Currently, I am in Florida blogging from my phone. Today I will be attending the St. Louis Cardinals’ full squad workout. I did this a few years ago and counted the baseballs I caught in my collection. However, this year I won’t because:

1. It’s not a game
2. I’d rather just catch baseballs and keep them today rather than trying to document everything.

That being said, I’ll make my best effort towards taking pictures of my life experience. Hopefully things are the same as they were 2 years ago in that the timing is similar and fans are still allowed to keep all the home run balls, and with any luck I won’t have much competition, similar to my last time here.

 

*UPDATE*

Rather than posting a separate entry, I’ll summarize my time in Florida at spring training. I went to the Cardinals’ spring training one day and then went back two days later, and since the Marlins had an afternoon workout the second time, I stayed late for that. I snagged 6 baseballs the first day, and then the second day I snagged 2 at the Cardinals’ workout and 10 at the Marlins’ workout for a total of 18 at Florida this year. These baseballs are the ones I’ll bring to games in case I need to give a ball away for whatever reason.

This game was so uneventful that I decided to just wait 3 months before I blogged about it. The “day” itself began with me going to sleep after the previous night’s game. Then it consisted of me sitting through classes in school unable to participate because of the fact that I had lost my voice the previous night. Then we had our homecoming pep rally, and luckily, it ended 10 minutes before school usually ends. I say luckily because my plan was to run/walk home from school, put down my school backpack, pick up my backpack for the game, and walk/run to the train station to go to Citi Field. Basically, I had to cover approximately 2.5 miles with a short break in between each walk. Usually, I would only have 45 minutes, but I had an additional 10 minutes so I knew I could do it with some breathing room.

Fast forward to the gates opening. I ran out to left field, where I snagged my first ball. Tom Goodwin threw a ball to a younger boy, but it fell short and landed on the Party City Deck, where an employee picked it up. I went over to where the employee was and I asked her for it, even though I expected her to throw it to the boy, but to my surprise she threw it to me. The kid was not upset, though.

Shortly after, I spotted Vic Black in left-center field. I knew that calling out players’ names would be a struggle, but I also knew that I would have to try my best in order to get the attention of players who were turned away. When I saw Vic Black, I “shouted” his name and said, “You tried throwing me a ball yesterday but I got robbed!” I think he heard me, because when the next ball was hit to him, he threw it to me.

Oh yeah. I neglected to take photos during batting practice. Sorry.

Anyway, my third ball probably should have been caught by somebody else. It was a home run hit towards me in left-center field. I knew that it was approaching my area, but I have difficulty judging fly balls, so I awkwardly lifted my glove even though the ball sailed about 10 feet above my glove. Luckily, it landed in a seat 2 rows behind me and I was able to pick it up before anybody else could.

I turned my attention back to the field, and I noticed a kid fielding batting practice hits. He made a few nice plays, and I noticed at one point that he threw a ball to a kid on the Party City Deck. Five minutes after this, I took off my hat and waved it around to him and I shouted random things to try and get his attention. Finally, he either got sick of me or amused, because he threw me a ball. More on this later.

That was it for batting practice, so I went to get food. After lingering in the concourse for about 10 minutes, I finally attempted to enter the seating area down the left field foul line in pursuit of catching a foul ball. The guard had his back turned, so that wasn’t the issue. The issue was that nothing landed anywhere close to me within the first 3 innings, so I cautiously made my way towards the visitors’ dugout, where I ran into a fellow ballhawk and his friend. We chatted for a few minutes, when all of a sudden I was approached by a younger boy who asked, “Were you the one I threw the ball to?” Turns out that he was the one who threw me the ball on the field earlier, and he is the cousin of Brewers’ shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt. I realized right then that I really wished I had my voice because I could have asked him millions of questions, but I was only able to ask a few. He asked to see the ball he threw me, so I showed him.

A few innings later, I caught my 5th ball of the day, a third-out ball thrown by Brewers’ pitcher Brandon Kintzler. Betancourt’s cousin was impressed. By the way, here is a photo of me and him:

Cool dude. I hope he makes the big leagues one day.

The game finally ended, and I got my 6th and final ball (of the game and season) from umpire Dale Scott. I can honestly say that 2013 was a pretty good season, but it is disappointing that in 2012, when the Mets were using 50th anniversary baseballs, I failed to snag a single game used ball at Citi Field, but the next season, I can snag 3 game used baseballs. I guess that’s the way life works. In any case, I’ll redeem myself eventually. Peace out 2013, and I hope I can improve in 2014.

Stats-

6 balls at this game

173 lifetime baseballs

2013 season statistics-

2 stadiums visited

9 games attended

39 baseballs snagged

1 foul ball

8 game used baseballs

Single game high- 6 baseballs (achieved 4 times)

Next year, I hope to blog about my adventures, mainly at Citi Field, where I hope to attend more games at. My goal for next year is 100 baseballs.