September 17, 2009

9/08/09 @ Miller Park

Due to many contributing factors, I am now officially waaaaay behind on blogging.

My good friend “Dino” was attending this game with me. You may remember “Dino” from the Chris Coghlan incident back on May 13, 2009.

“Dino” picked me up in his sweet little ride…

We beat all the other die-hards into the stadium…

…the person with the arrow? He’s staring down at his shoes out of pure boredom.
C’mon Brewers fans…go to the games when they’re out of contention, too!

When we were waiting for a table out on the bullpen patio…

…I spotted this through the windows.

A closer look…

In action…

It may not look like I’m very excited…

…but, I am. I just usually keep my emotions in check.

Soon, Casey McGehee would hit me my 2nd ball of the day that I snagged on the bounce.
Not too long after, Ryan Braun hit one that I snagged on the fly. I reached up and caught that one between an older couple right at their dinner table. They were not paying attention, of course (and it scared the **** out of them).

Ball #4 would end up getting caught in the little protective netting that overhangs the bullpen. I just used a mini-version of the glove trick to snag it out of there.

I would not have the glove-trick in my backpack long during this BP.

Check it out…

…first, there was one.

Then, there were four…

…the two wit
h red arrows were glove-tricked.

In action (clockwise)…

And, the second one (clockwise)…

When the St. Louis Cardinals took the field, I was amped at the opportunities that lied ahead.
Pujols, Ludwick, Ankiel, Holliday, Rasmus…

Unfortunately, the Cardinals don’t care what the fans want, they just take a situational/directional approach. Good for them-bad for us.

I did not have a single chance at a batted ball during BP.
Back to the glove-trick.

At the end of BP, I noticed a few baseballs lying in the bullpen. Two to be exact.
So, I went at it. Within a minute, both were reeled in. That includes the time it took to knock them closer. All of Friday’s patio and a bunch of people standing along the railing above in the left field loge gave me a warm cheer. I was so pumped, I took the last one (#8 on the day) and heaved it up to the fan’s cheering me in the loge bleachers. A ton of kids took off after it with a young fan eventually securing it.

As for the game, my two tickets were here…

But, we sat here…

…right in Ryan Braun’s power alley.

You see, “Braunie” was sitting on 99 career home runs. You would know this already if you follow the MILESTONE TRACKER on my website.

Unfortunately, Braun didn’t hit it.
Actually, none of the Brewers hit much-losing 4-3.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

8 total balls 9/08/09

2 batted baseballs

6 device baseballs

ATTENDANCE: 36,172

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

4/7/09   = 5   baseballs
4/8/09 = 10 baseballs
4/9/09   = 10 baseballs
4/10/09 = 3   baseballs
4/11/09 = 5   baseballs
4/12/09 = 5   baseballs
4/13/09 = 11 baseballs
4/14/09 = 6   baseballs
4/21/09 = 5   baseballs
4/27/09 = 15 baseballs
4/28/09 = 9   baseballs
4/30/09 = 4   baseballs
5/01/09 = 7   baseballs
5/02/09 = 4   baseballs
5/08/09 = 11 baseballs
5/09/09 = 1   lousy ball
5/12/09 = 14 baseballs
5/13/09 = 12 baseballs
5/19/09 = 8   baseballs
5/22/09 = 3   baseballs
5/23/09 = 2   baseballs
5/26/09 = 3   baseballs
5/29/09 = 6   baseballs
5/30/09 = 5   baseballs
6/01/09 = 1   baseball
6/02/09 = 9   baseballs
6/09/09 = 4   baseballs
6/10/09 = 0   baseballs
6/11/09 = 2   baseballs
6/12/09 = 9   baseballs
6/23/09 = 6   baseballs
6/24/09 = 9   baseballs
6/26/09 = 9   baseballs
6/27/09 = 4   baseballs
6/29/09 = 3   baseballs
6/30/09 = 5   baseballs
7/07/09 = 6   baseballs
7/10/09 = 3   baseballs
7/20/09 = 7   baseballs
7/24/09 = 6   baseballs
7/27/09 = 8   baseballs
7/29/09 = 3   baseballs
8/04/09 = 4   baseballs
8/11/09 = 7   baseballs
8/12/09 = 6   baseballs
8/15/09 = 4   baseballs
8/16/09 = 3   baseballs
8/17/09 = 10 baseballs
8/25/09 = 10 baseballs
8/26/09 = 4   baseballs
8/28/09 = 18 baseballs (new Milwaukee record)
8/29/09 = 2   baseballs
9/04/09 = 5   baseballs
9/06/09 = 5   baseballs
9/08/09 = 8   baseballs
___________________

344 baseballs (55 games)
6.25 average per game

Only 6 away from career baseball #1000...

September 12, 2009

9/06/09 @ Miller Park

The dreaded day game.

Ballhawk Mike and I were going to the game. I’ve mentioned it before but it bears mentioning again. “Big Mike” is a great guy. To the best of my knowledge, he’s the longest tenured ballhawk in Milwaukee…22 years and counting.

I had to grab my breakfast on the run…

…oops, wrong picture.

Here was my breakfast…

…carbs, baby. A ballhawk’s best friend. Not exactly approved by Dr. Robert Atkins, but, what the hell, right?

As far as BP is concerned, you just never know what you’re going to get when attending day games. Usually, the Brewers take BP on Sundays when they’re playing at home.

On this day, they decided their 66-70 record was good enough. So, the Giants hit instead.
When we ran into the bleachers, the Giants were first starting to show some life.

My 1st baseball on the day came from Giants relief pitcher
MERKIN VALDEZ. After a polite request, he lobbed it up to me. Unfortunately, it was falling short. I had to reach all the way over the railing and risk falling to my death in order to secure the goddamn baseball. Fortunately, I didn’t die (obviously, I wouldn’t be writing this blog if I had). I was able to pin the ball against the concrete facing below the railing. Once the ball was pinned between the wall and my glove, I slowly gained control of it. Voila! One baseball and I didn’t have to make National News or the obituaries.

The things I do for a baseball…I think I may need to have my head examined.

A short time later, Aaron Rowand lifted one high into the air. I was playing Rowand dead-pull. This baseball was WAY to my left. All I could do was put my head down and sprint to the spot I thought it would land. As I was motoring through the bleachers, I looked up to find the baseball. I picked my spot correctly as it appeared to be catchable.
As the baseball made its final descent, I continued to close in on it. Eventually, I would snag that baseball on the short-hop bounce after going down to one knee and leaning over a row of bleachers in a last-ditch effort to snag it on the fly.

For my efforts…

…a bit of a (ballpark) war-wound.

LET ME ASSURE EVERYONE: I’m the only one that sustains injury in my attempts to snag baseballs at major league stadiums.

The action in left soon came to a screeching halt. So, I headed over to right field.
In right field, while bleeding all over myself, I was able to snag a Travis Ishikawa bomb on the fly. Giants pitcher Sergio Romo was beneath me when I snagged it and gave me the shout of approval. That one felt good.

Unfortunately, my knee did not. After BP ended, I headed to the men’s bathroom to wash the damn thing up. (you didn’t think I would do it while BP was still going, did you?)

Before pre-game warmups began, I headed down to the Giants dugout for a tossup baseball.
While I waited for the players to come out, I watched the grounds crew…

…how many people does it take to water the infield?

Don’t get me wrong-I’m not complaining. If it creates jobs for people and prevents them from robbing, stealing and cheating-I’m all for it. Think about it.

Eventually, the Giants players started to surface.
One of the 1st guys out was the Kung Fu ~~Koala~~ Panda, Pablo Sandoval. After he did a few sprints, he walked over to the stands and began to sign autographs. After thinking about it for a minute and wasting precious time, I decided to try to get a baseball signed by him.
As soon as I arrived, he finished signing one last photo and walked into the dugout.
Maybe I should have had some bamboo or eucalyptus leaves with me or something.

I headed back to my dugout spot.

Soon, Ryan Garko and Jesus Guzman emerged from the dugout. They began to throw right in front of the dugout with Ryan Garko directly in front of me. Knowing that Garko is the veteran and would most likely keep the ball, I positioned myself exactly where I started. When they finally finished throwing, Garko tossed the baseball right to me.

Upon further inspection of the baseball…

…it was autographed! Holy hell that’s cool!

After some quick analysis, I deemed the baseball to be autographed by:
San Francisco Giants hitting coach Carney Lansford.

My 1st snagged AND already autographed baseball. How cool.

The baseball “Carney”…

…not to be confused with…

…the circus “carny.”

I would go on to snag only 1 more baseball.

In the top of the 8th inning, Travis Ishikawa lifted one high and deep to center. Brewers CF Jody Gerut camped underneath it on the warning track and squeezed it for the 3rd out of the inning. He was almost directly below me, so, I yelled his name. As he was running in, he turned around to me and fired a seed straight into my glove.

The 3rd out ball…

…and its unique markings on the leather. What could that be from?? Could that be an imprint from the bat’s wood grain?
I would love to hear everyone’s theory.

The game ended up going into extra innings. Around the 10th inning, a young lady (about 8 yrs. old) approached me and offered to buy a baseball. Her offer? Two dollars.
I told her she should keep her money. I would give her one for free. Sweet kid.

The Brewers won in the bottom of the 12th inning on a Prince Fielder walk-off dinger.
Pretty exciting stuff for a team that’s 15 back. At least they gave us something to cheer about.

Sunday’s snags…

…five total with 4 shown (1 was given away).

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

5 total balls 9/06/09

2 batted baseballs

3 tossup baseballs

ATTENDANCE: 36,590

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

336 baseballs (54 games)
6.22 average per game

Only 14 away from #1000…

September 8, 2009

9/04/09 @ Miller Park

I arrived a bit early to Miller Park, so, I decided to take a few
random pictures of surrounding structures, eye-sores, buildings, etc.

The North Docks…

…where employees enter the stadium.

The South Docks…

…where the *other* employees enter the park. Players parking lot shown above.

A lovely protective screen to prevent fans from getting a glimpse of their favorite player…

…and the point of that screen, again??

One of my favorite surrounding structures…

…the “Sausage Haus.”
How many ballparks in MLB have a party shack called that??

This location is called…

…”The Hot Corner.”
It’s located on the Northeast corner of the ballpark.

It’s where you enter the stadium early to get here…

…Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill.

Early BP anyone??

Speaking of BP…

…hooray!
The Brewers may suck this season, but, it’s not for a lack of effort.

When I ran into the stadium…

…the opposing team player pictured above was running in the stands.

Here are a few better looks…

…”The Freak.”

At the same time, another stud was doing some early running…

…the all-time saves leader.

Do you see a correlation?? Do you see the common theme?
If you have the natural ability AND you continue to work hard, you will prosper.

When I was given my table, I peered down into the home bullpen…

…yeah.

Here’s another view holding my camera as far out as I could reach and straight down…

…when I claimed possession of that ball, I turned it over to a smaller and deserving little Brewers fan.

Like they always do, Jesus Colome and Claudio Vargas were hanging out in left-center field…

…I asked Jesus if he wanted anything from Friday’s. A burger maybe? A pickle?
He just smiled and shook his head, “no.”

A few minutes later, he fielded a baseball and tossed it straight to me.
Pays to be nice, eh?

My view on the outdoor bullpen patio…

…moments
before Casey McGehee hit one to my right. I ranged over about 15 feet
and made an easy grab. People clapped and yelled nice grab. Was it
really? No.
When there’s no obstacles or nearby skilled
competitors, catching a baseball on the fly is about as easy as
breathing. But, I appreciated the recognition, nonetheless.

After
the gates to the rest of the stadium opened, I headed over to my season
seat location. I went to go drop off my backpack and check around, if
you know what I mean. You never know where they may be a surprise
waiting.

As I always do, I checked along the railing around the blind corner of the CITGO pump…

…surprise…

…!!
Every
now and then, a ball lands back in that little blind corner and stays
put. It’s only happened to me about 3-4 times this season. To take
the above picture, I had to hold the camera around the corner. To get
the baseball, I had to get on one knee and poke my glove back around
the corner to knock the baseball closer. When it was within a
barehand’s reach, it was scooped up!

The Giants weren’t hitting a damn thing into the seats, so, I resorted to a simple request for one. Giants newbie Alex Hinshaw fielded one near the wall.

When he was directly below me, I quietly and politely asked him by name if he could toss it up. With his back to me and leaning backwards, he lined his body in position with me and lobbed it backwards into the air. I had to take a few steps to my left but safely put it away.

A friendly fan that sits in my section was promised the Hinshaw tossup if he wasn’t able to secure his own.

There would be no more securing this day. The Giants flat out sucked for BP. I didn’t ask anymore and they didn’t hit anymore.
Not even the Kung Fu ~~wooly mammoth~~ Panda hit anything into the seats.

The game?
Who really cares…the Brewers are 14 out of 1st.

I’ve moved on.

Happy 5
Giants 3
Brewers 2

5 total baseballs snagged…
2 given away…
3 shown.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

5 total balls 9/04/09

2 batted baseballs

2 tossup baseballs

1 device baseball

ATTENDANCE: 37,511

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

331 baseballs (53 games)
6.25 average per game

September 4, 2009

8/29/09 @ Miller Park

In case you missed it, I had the best ballhawking day of my life the day prior (8/28/09).
I’ve had *better* days…days where I snagged two game home runs in the same day. But, in terms of total baseballs snagged, Friday the 28th of August 2009 was second to none.

Would my luck carry over to Saturday?

When I entered Friday’s Bullpen Patio, this greeted me…

…an easy glove-trick.

Okay…ball #1 in the 1st minute upon entering. That was easy. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there.

Allow me to prove my point.

Ballhawks:
Have you ever imagined what it would be like to have one of the game’s greatest power hitters up at the plate (during BP) with you as the only fan in the stands? Just you, the slugger and a whole bunch of open space…!

Well, that was the scenario. The slugger was Prince Fielder and I was the only fan (okay, there were 2 other kids standing in the front row) in the entire right field loge bleachers. His homer haven, I might add.

To my left…

…and to my right…

…holy hell!!

Can you believe the *********** didn’t hit one ************’ homerun to the pissing section the entire time!!?!! I had the equivalent of 4 country acres all to myself and Prince decides not to pull the ball deep. Go figure.

Yeah, my luck changed today. I’m not mad-just sayin’.

The Pirates BP you ask?? Total garbage. They hit and tossed me too many balls the day prior. I think they had to conserve a few for Sunday.

One ball snagged in the very 1st minute inside the park. The next 75 minutes? Nada.

A few pre-game photos of the Pirates pen…

…Jason Jaramillo (catcher) and Kevin Hart (pitcher).

In the two pictures of Jaramillo, do you see the little target they have set up for Hart? The piching rubber over home plate? Neat stuff.

It didn’t help…Brewers won 7-3.

After the game, Home Plate Umpire Tony Randazzo doubled my day’s snags with a simple gift by the umpire tunnel.

Two balls. Woohoo…

…more like boohoo.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

2 total balls 8/29/09

0 batted baseballs

1 tossup baseball

1 device baseball

ATTENDANCE: 41,773

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

326 baseballs (52 games)
6.27 average per game

Career ball #1000 is quickly approaching…

September 1, 2009

8/28/09 @ Miller Park

According to the “Master of Snag” (aka Zack Hample), he states he once snagged 17 baseballs in his very first trip to Miller Park. Seventeen!
The date was June 11, 2003 (you can see for yourself on his website by clicking here).

I’ve spoken with countless Milwaukee ballhawks (both active &
retired) and 17 seemed to be the all-time Milwaukee single-game record.
A very impressive number.
A number that I’ve been shooting for this
season.

Zack and I have joked that there was no way I could allow a New Yorker to hold the single game record here in Milwaukee. I came close on 4/27/09 (and set a personal high in the process) but no cigar. Would I ever do it??

Much has changed since the 2003 season at Miller Park.

Crowds are no longer 12,000 or 13,000…they’re upwards of 36,000 or 37,000.
Many areas of the stadium that were once wide open have now succumbed to advertisement/corporate bullsheet. Further cluttering room to roam.
The Miller Park stadium staff have ironed out many of the wrinkles that existed in the stadium’s infancy.
Steroids have been taken out of the game reducing long balls.
The manual scoreboard “moat” is long gone (once a great glove-trick area) and has since been replaced by a party area.
So on and so on…

I mention this not to discredit Zack’s 17-ball feat (snagging 17
baseballs in one day is amazing even at a minor league park). But, to
show what a daunting task I would face in topping that number someday.

Well, someday came…

I walked into the stadium and grabbed a table out on Friday’s Front Row Bullpen Patio. When I took my first look into the Brewers bullpen, this is what I saw…

…but those two were both out of reach.

Then, I looked to the left…

…booyah. I quickly lowered the glove-trick over that baseball and began to reel it up. Unfortunately, it didn’t have a good hold and fell back into the bullpen. After a quick adjustment of the rubber band, I lowered it back over the ball and had a better hold. As I was reeling it back in, I took a quick glance to the field (because the Brewers are funny about this kinda stuff) and saw Brewers bench coach Willie Randolph staring at me as I was reeling it up. All I could do was to smile and shrug my shoulders. He shook his head and I continued to reel it up for my 1st of the day. Career ball #957.

Do you see the ball (with the red drawn dots surrounding it) behind that protective netting?
More on that ball later.

After getting a toss-up from Brewers reliever David Weathers, another Brewers player tried to toss one to a fan. Through a combination of uncoordination and poor aim, the ball fell into the protective netting that overhangs the bullpen. After watching a guy struggle to get it for awhile, I offered to try using the glove-trick. It works in that netting-you just have to utilize the weight of the glove a little more. After about 20 seconds, I had it. I then gave it to the couple who were freaking out about getting it in the first place.

Back to the ball (behind the protective screen) pictured above. I noticed that one nestled up against the bullpen wall. After a few swings to knock it out of the corner, I reeled it up for #4 on the day. While I was positioning my glove for #4, another baseball landed in the bullpen. That ball was glove-tricked as well for #5.

As he always does, Brewers 3B Coach Brad Fischer was using a fungo to hit baseballs back to the bucket out in left-center field.

The coach…

So, I yelled down to him,
“Hey coach, mind if I toss one back to the bucket?!”

He responded with a laugh.

To which I said,
“I promise I won’t keep it!”

Coach Fischer yelled,
“yeah right!”

Finally, I convinced him I would not keep the ball.
As he tossed it up to me, he said,
“we’ll see if you’re a man of your word!”

Here was my view…

The objective?? To get the ball in the bucket.

Here’s where it ended up…

…coming to a rest just to the right of the bucket.

The toss (from about 125 feet) was perfectly elevated. It landed just to the right of that red arrow, one-hopped the net and almost came back down into the bucket a 2nd time.
Damn, that was close. The people sitting in Friday’s loved it. Gotta have a little fun.

THAT BALL DOES NOT COUNT IN MY STATS:
I staged its retrieval via verbal agreement. I never intended to keep it.

Whaddya think? Would you guys have counted it? Let me know. It won’t change my ruling one way or the other.

On a side note: do you see the little aluminum bat resting against the protective screen in the picture above? That was being used by the son of David Weathers earlier in the day. Apparently, he was taking a few hacks out on the field. Lucky kid.

Ball #6 came via tossup from this fellow…

…after a friendly request in his native Spanish tongue.

I would retrieve 2 more baseballs in the next 5 minutes off the bat of the “Hebrew Hammer”-Ryan Braun. One was snagged on the fly and the other was snagged on the bounce. I gave the one snagged on the fly away to another fan.
Hotdamn…I dig Ryan Braun.

Ball #9 soon followed…snagged on the fly off the bat of Felipe Lopez.

Nine baseballs and the rest of the stadium hadn’t even opened yet! That’s the kind of start I would need if I wanted the record.

When the clock struck 5:30 pm,, the gates to the stadium officially opened. I dashed up the staircase that leads to the 2nd level of bleachers (loge level). I scanned the rows for any easter eggs. Conveniently, there’s been a cleaning crew that comes through the bleachers to wipe off the benches right before gates open. Anytime there’s a baseball hit up there, it’s pocketed by one of the workers.

But, not this time…

…!!

The above picture was not staged. That’s exactly how that ball was found. I tossed my backpack and glove down and took the picture. Hell, I was so jacked, I didn’t even mind that the ball was lying next to a gigantic dried pile of some drunk college kid’s vomit.

Double-digits and I still had almost an hour left to BP. Holy crap!

The Pirates pitchers were now in left field making their warmup tosses. Three minutes after I changed into my Pirates gear, Pirates pitcher Matt Capps tossed me his warmup ball.

MATT CAPPS———————————–>

The last Brewers group was in the cage. After missing out on a few of Casey McGehee’s bombs by a couple of steps, I was able to secure #12 off the bat of Mike Rivera. When it was hit, I knew it would land a few sections away. Immediately, I started sprinting through the seats to make up some ground. When I felt myself getting dangerously close, I slowed down a tad. BAM! It landed about 15 feet away from me and I quickly grabbed it on the bounce.

The Brewers finished hitting so there was a lull in the action. I sprinted down the staircase back down to the field level and ran all the way over to right field to check out the visitor’s bullpen. There was one AND it was in position for the glove-trick. Just like that…Ball #13.

By this time, I started to realize 17 was within reach. I can only imagine what it’s like for a big league pitcher with 6 perfect innings in the books. Around the 7th inning or so, he starts to really lock himself in. From a fan’s perspective, it felt similar.

Eventually, I made it back to left field. There, Pirates pitcher Denny Bautista tossed me Ball #14.
It certainly didn’t hurt that I asked for the ball in Spanish.

While I was standing in the left field loge bleachers, I noticed a ball that was glove-trickable in the Brewers bullpen. So, back down the stairs I went…sweatier than hell.
After 10 seconds, Ball #15 was reeled in and I was officially locked in.
I had just tied my single-game record of fifteen (15) and I had plenty of time to do some more damage.

Unfortunately, my luck would change. The last 10-15 minutes of BP were a bit slow. A few of the Pirates lighter hitters were in the cage and I felt like I had used up my allotted number of tossups. There were no glove-trick opportunities and I was officially screwed.

Near the end of BP, I took this picture showing how many potential glove-tricks I could have had if not for the grounds crew…

…holy shnikies!!
The Pirates hitters hit more balls into the Brewers bullpen than any two teams combined.

When the Pirates starting pitcher, pitching coach and bullpen catcher began to walk out toward the visitor’s bullpen, I started to make my move out that way.

I was still about 20 feet away from the back of the visitor’s bullpen when Pirates Bullpen Catcher Heberto Andrade looked up toward me. He made a motion and tossed me a ball. WTF??!!

I wasn’t even that close to him and the throw sailed about 7 feet to my right. Luckily, it bounced off a chair and stopped just in time for me to pick it up for #16 on the day.
A new personal high.
But, I needed one more to tie the Milwaukee record and two more to break it.
I needed to get two more baseballs…somehow, someway. I knew I had a good chance for an ump ball after the game, but that would only tie the record. I had to figure out a way to get one before that.

I decided I would try for a pre-game warmup ball by the Pirates dugout. Not many Pirates fans in attendance, it should be easy, right?
Wrong.
Only 1 pair of Pirates came out to throw and Delwyn Young tossed it to a guy down to my right. Okay…no problem. I’ll just stay in the box seats until after the bottom of the 1st inning. Maybe I’ll get a 3rd out ball. Wrong again.
What I ended up getting was a great view of Prince Fielder’s bomb into my section in the bottom of the 1st. No worries…I don’t know if I could have snagged it anyway. It landed in the top row of the Tundra Territory (now you know why I don’t usually roam around the stadium in search of meaningless baseballs…opportunities missed like those).

Concerned about missing further opportunities, I headed to my seat out in right-center field. When I got there, I visited with the fan who ended up with Prince’s home run…#150 of his promising career.
It was a lady in her early 40’s. She tells me she was standing in the top row of the Tundra Territory when it was hit.
According to her, this is how the baseball landed (reenactment using actual HR ball)…

…right in the crease of the cushion! She told me she plucked it right out of there.
Wow.

I was wondering if I could continue MY good fortune when #17 came straight out of the blue.
It was before the start of the top 1/2 of the 6th inning. Brewers CF Mike Cameron came running out to take his position. Like he always does, he warms up with LF Ryan Braun. As luck would have it, for a reason I’ll never know, “Cam” had brought a baseball out with him (the warmup ball is normally supplied by the ballboy/ballgirl down the LF line). He started jogging toward me with the ball in his hand before making his warmup tosses.
I thought to myself, “is this too good to be true?” So, I stood up and flashed my glove. Sure, there were others around me, but I was the only one with a glove. Easy choice. Cameron fired it right to me. I had just tied the Milwaukee record.

Here I am with #17 on the day…
…holy hell!

After signing a baseball for a fellow Brewers fan…

…I patiently sat through the remaining 4 innings.

No more home run chances…I would have to rely on Home Plate Umpire Jerry Layne.
So, in the top of the 9th inning, with the Brewers clinging to an 8-6 lead, I headed out on a mission to establish a new ballhawking record for the City of Milwaukee.

I watched (from the 7th row) as Trevor Hoffman notched his 28th save on the season. When the last out was recorded, I darted down the steps and got into position. Mr. Layne would have to walk right past me to get into the umpire tunnel. I felt my chances were good. Jerry’s ball pouch had just been loaded up a pitch prior to the last out-I knew he had extras.

When he approached, I held out my glove and said, “Mr. Layne, sir, can you spare an extra baseball, please?”
Without hesitation, Jerry reached into his pouch and pulled one out. He then placed it right into my mitt for #18 on the day!

Woohoo! Holy ****!!

A new Milwaukee record…

…with 16 of the 18 snagged shown (2 were given away).

This just proves how good Zack Hample is at snagging. He established the record in his 1st trip to Miller Park. It took me over 200 games to get mine…but, it was well worth the wait.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

18 total balls 8/28/09

5 batted baseballs

7 tossup baseballs

6 device baseballs

ATTENDANCE: 34,438

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

4/7/09   = 5   baseballs
4/8/09 = 10 baseballs
4/9/09   = 10 baseballs
4/10/09 = 3   baseballs
4/11/09 = 5   baseballs
4/12/09 = 5   baseballs
4/13/09 = 11 baseballs
4/14/09 = 6   baseballs
4/21/09 = 5   baseballs
4/27/09 = 15 baseballs
4/28/09 = 9   baseballs
4/30/09 = 4   baseballs
5/01/09 = 7   baseballs
5/02/09 = 4   baseballs
5/08/09 = 11 baseballs
5/09/09 = 1   lousy ball
5/12/09 = 14 baseballs
5/13/09 = 12 baseballs
5/19/09 = 8   baseballs
5/22/09 = 3   baseballs
5/23/09 = 2   baseballs
5/26/09 = 3   baseballs
5/29/09 = 6   baseballs
5/30/09 = 5   baseballs
6/01/09 = 1   baseball
6/02/09 = 9   baseballs
6/09/09 = 4   baseballs
6/10/09 = 0   baseballs
6/11/09 = 2   baseballs
6/12/09 = 9   baseballs
6/23/09 = 6   baseballs
6/24/09 = 9   baseballs
6/26/09 = 9   baseballs
6/27/09 = 4   baseballs
6/29/09 = 3   baseballs
6/30/09 = 5   baseballs
7/07/09 = 6   baseballs
7/10/09 = 3   baseballs
7/20/09 = 7   baseballs
7/24/09 = 6   baseballs
7/27/09 = 8   baseballs
7/29/09 = 3   baseballs
8/04/09 = 4   baseballs
8/11/09 = 7   baseballs
8/12/09 = 6   baseballs
8/15/09 = 4   baseballs
8/16/09 = 3   baseballs
8/17/09 = 10 baseballs
8/25/09 = 10 baseballs
8/26/09 = 4   baseballs
8/28/09 = 18 baseballs (new Milwaukee record)
___________________

324 baseballs (51 games)
6.35 average per game

Written by mlblogsthehappyyoungster 13 Comments Posted in Dailies Tagged with Ballhawk League, ballhawking, David Weathers, Denny Bautista, easter egg, eighteen baseballs in one game, Felipe Lopez, glove trick, Happy Youngster, Heberto Andrade, Holy sheet!!, Jerry Layne, Jesus Colome, Matt Capps, Mike Cameron, Mike Rivera, Miller Park, new Milwaukee record, Nick Yohanek, Ryan Braun, snagged on bounce, snagged on fly, snagging, The Happy Youngster, tossup baseball, Zack Hample

August 30, 2009
8/26/09 @ Miller Park

My wife was running late from work, therefore, I was now running late to the ballpark. I did not get to the ballpark until 5:55 pm. There was nothing I could do to avoid it, so, I had to suck it up and make the best of it. Batting Practice usually ends around 6:20/6:25 pm. That gave me 25-30 minutes.

I’ll describe how I snagged Ball #1 with a few pictures…

…the black wall is approx. 5′ feet high and separates my row of seats from the Toyota Tundra Territory seats. The yellow smiley face depicts where I was standing when DREW SUTTON was taking his cuts. Soon, Sutton would lift one in my direction.

Unfortunately, it would carry over my head and bounce in the front row of the Tundra Territory where it came to a rest.

In my overly zealous state, the following picture shows the route I took to obtain the ball…

…you guessed it. Straight over the top of that wall. I did it from a standing position without a running start and without falling.

I had to or one of these two would have…

…Casey and Matt. Two young ballhawks with similar enthusiasm.

Who says white men can’t jump??

I’ll tell you who-
the usher in my section.

He immediately came marching over and demanded that I throw the ball back on the field. I cocked my arm back to throw it onto the field and then I paused, wondering if he was for real?? He then snatched the ball out of my hand and threw the ball back onto the field himself!! Wow. Take it easy.
I understand he has a job to do, but, c’mon…don’t take it so personal.

I would go on to snag three more baseballs (all on the fly).
Ball #2 was off the bat of LAYNCE NIX (easy grab).
Balls #3 & #4 were off the bat of JOEY VOTTO. The cool thing? They were on consecutive pitches. That rarely ever happens.

BP ended I somehow managed to snag four (4) baseballs in 25 minutes without asking a single player for a ball. Some days I just don’t feel like begging for a baseball. I rarely ever feel comfortable doing it. But, this season I’m doing it for the sake of the Ballhawk League.

During the game, I hung out a bit with two of my favorite Brewers fans…

…”Big Joe” and his cute little niece Madison.

The game went into extra innings for the 2nd consecutive day.
Brewers lost in ten…4-3.

I did not try for any warmup balls. I did not try for any tossups, foul balls, ump balls, etc.
As is usually the case, I only focused on game home runs.

Blahblahblah…the Brewers season has been a major disappointment.

One of the cooler things of the day…

…analyzing the marks on this baseball.

Three staggered green marks across one of the side panels?!

How do you think that got there??

Day’s snags…

only three (3) are shown because one crazy usher tossed one of them back onto the field.

Okay, he’s not crazy, but, he was pretty **********…

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

4 total balls 8/26/09

4 batted baseballs

ATTENDANCE: 35,084

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

4/7/09   = 5   baseballs
4/8/09 = 10 baseballs
4/9/09   = 10 baseballs
4/10/09 = 3   baseballs
4/11/09 = 5   baseballs
4/12/09 = 5   baseballs
4/13/09 = 11 baseballs
4/14/09 = 6   baseballs
4/21/09 = 5   baseballs
4/27/09 = 15 baseballs
4/28/09 = 9   baseballs
4/30/09 = 4   baseballs
5/01/09 = 7   baseballs
5/02/09 = 4   baseballs
5/08/09 = 11 baseballs
5/09/09 = 1   lousy ball
5/12/09 = 14 baseballs
5/13/09 = 12 baseballs
5/19/09 = 8   baseballs
5/22/09 = 3   baseballs
5/23/09 = 2   baseballs
5/26/09 = 3   baseballs
5/29/09 = 6   baseballs
5/30/09 = 5   baseballs
6/01/09 = 1   baseball
6/02/09 = 9   baseballs
6/09/09 = 4   baseballs
6/10/09 = 0   baseballs
6/11/09 = 2   baseballs
6/12/09 = 9   baseballs
6/23/09 = 6   baseballs
6/24/09 = 9   baseballs
6/26/09 = 9   baseballs
6/27/09 = 4   baseballs
6/29/09 = 3   baseballs
6/30/09 = 5   baseballs
7/07/09 = 6   baseballs
7/10/09 = 3   baseballs
7/20/09 = 7   baseballs
7/24/09 = 6   baseballs
7/27/09 = 8   baseballs
7/29/09 = 3   baseballs
8/04/09 = 4   baseballs
8/11/09 = 7   baseballs
8/12/09 = 6   baseballs
8/15/09 = 4   baseballs
8/16/09 = 3   baseballs
8/17/09 = 10 baseballs
8/25/09 = 10 baseballs
8/26/09 = 4   baseballs
___________________

306 baseballs (50 games)
6.12 average per game

…400 baseballs snagged this season is within reach…

“Happy”

Written by mlblogsthehappyyoungster 9 Comments Posted in Dailies Tagged with ballhawk, ballhawking, Brewers, Drew Sutton, Joey Votto, late for batting practice, Laynce Nix, Reds

August 26, 2009
8/25/09 @ Miller Park

Wanna know how early I arrived at the ballpark?

So early,…
…that this guy was still on the clock.

Seeing that is a first.

So was the way I snagged Ball #1. It came via tossup from one of the fine EMT’s (employed by Bell Ambulance) working the game. He and his partner walked into the bullpen and started to pick up the 3 or 4 strays that were lying in the Brewers pen. One of which, found its way into my glove.

Speaking of finding a way into my glove, the big boy pictured to the right has contributed many baseballs to my collection.

To date, I have snagged 3 of his 147 career dingers.
Hopefully, many more to come…I’m due for another one of his.

Balls #2 (on fly) and #3 (on bounce) were both hit by Prince.

I love watching that guy hit.                                                           PRINCE FIELDER


When the rest of the stadium opened @ 5:30 pm, I ran up to the left field loge bleachers (2nd deck) in hopes of snagging a Casey McGehee homer.
Turns out, I snagged two McGehee homers…both on the bounce.

That was it for the Brewers portion of BP.
The time was 5:35 pm…time to change into Reds gear.

I stayed in left field for the first Reds group of hitters.
Below me, these four (4) guys were shagging BP…

…including WLADIMIR BALENTIEN.

For the longest time, I could not figure out who he was. For whatever reason, his name eluded me. Nobody seemed to know who he was. But, it didn’t seem to matter much, as Mr. Balentien soon lobbed a baseball backwards like a hook shot toward another fellow ballhawk named Casey (you can read his blog by clicking here). The ball ended up short and fell back to the field. Balentien tried a 2nd time with the same result. By this time, I had grabbed a spot on the railing where this was taking place. When Balentien tried the backwards hook a 3rd time, I reached way over the railing and managed to pin the ball between my glove and the concrete facade below. I slowly gained control of it and had #6 on the day.

I continued to move around, eventually, snagging tossups from these two dudes…
…I gave this ball to one of my favorite ushers to give to a kid.
MICAH OWINGS

NICK MASSET

The Masset tossup was my 300th baseball snagged on the season.

A quick pose with # 300…

Unfortunately, that was it for BP.

During the game, Reds pitcher Arthur Rhodes spotted these four girls…

…standing behind the bullpen.

He tried to toss one of the girls (red arrow) a baseball. I was talking to a few people and standing nearby when someone said, “hey, there’s a baseball.” When I turned around, a baseball was rolling underneath an empty seat. Surprised as hell, I walked over to it and picked it up. I looked down into the bullpen and saw Arthur Rhodes pointing to one of the girls. So, I pointed to the one with the blue tank-top and he nodded. So, I gave it to her.
That’s when I yelled, “Arthur!” When he looked up at me I gave him the thumbs up.
(No, the ball didn’t have a hotel room # written on it anywhere)

The game ended up going into extra innings.

Check out where all the die-hard Brewers fans went…

…someone forgot to tell those “diehards” that when the game is tied after 9 innings, the teams play extra frames.

The Brewers ended up blowing it…what else is new?
This season has been a disaster.

After the game, I decided I had to go for double-digits. When the final out was recorded, I darted down the staircase for an ump ball.

The man hooked me up.

He kept trying to find a worthier recipient than me. After scanning the crowd about 5 or 6 times, he half-heartedly underhanded me one.

Thanks Jimbo.

Double-digits, baby.

JIM JOYCE

Eight (8) of the ten (10) baseballs snagged…

…two (2) were given away.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

10 total balls 8/25/09

4 batted baseballs

6 tossup baseballs

ATTENDANCE: 29,481

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

4/7/09   = 5   baseballs
4/8/09 = 10 baseballs
4/9/09   = 10 baseballs
4/10/09 = 3   baseballs
4/11/09 = 5   baseballs
4/12/09 = 5   baseballs
4/13/09 = 11 baseballs
4/14/09 = 6   baseballs
4/21/09 = 5   baseballs
4/27/09 = 15 baseballs
4/28/09 = 9   baseballs
4/30/09 = 4   baseballs
5/01/09 = 7   baseballs
5/02/09 = 4   baseballs
5/08/09 = 11 baseballs
5/09/09 = 1   lousy ball
5/12/09 = 14 baseballs
5/13/09 = 12 baseballs
5/19/09 = 8   baseballs
5/22/09 = 3   baseballs
5/23/09 = 2   baseballs
5/26/09 = 3   baseballs
5/29/09 = 6   baseballs
5/30/09 = 5   baseballs
6/01/09 = 1   baseball
6/02/09 = 9   baseballs
6/09/09 = 4   baseballs
6/10/09 = 0   baseballs
6/11/09 = 2   baseballs
6/12/09 = 9   baseballs
6/23/09 = 6   baseballs
6/24/09 = 9   baseballs
6/26/09 = 9   baseballs
6/27/09 = 4   baseballs
6/29/09 = 3   baseballs
6/30/09 = 5   baseballs
7/07/09 = 6   baseballs
7/10/09 = 3   baseballs
7/20/09 = 7   baseballs
7/24/09 = 6   baseballs
7/27/09 = 8   baseballs
7/29/09 = 3   baseballs
8/04/09 = 4   baseballs
8/11/09 = 7   baseballs
8/12/09 = 6   baseballs
8/15/09 = 4   baseballs
8/16/09 = 3   baseballs
8/17/09 = 10 baseballs
8/25/09 = 10 baseballs
___________________

302 baseballs (49 games)
6.16 average per game

Written by mlblogsthehappyyoungster 9 Comments Posted in Dailies Tagged with #300, Arthur Rhodes, ballhawk, ballhawking, Bell Ambulance, Casey McGehee, Jim Joyce, Micah Owings, Nick Masset, Nick Yohanek, Prince Fielder, The Happy Youngster, Wladimir Balentien

August 24, 2009
The Curse of Coghlan

Remember this photo?

It was taken 5/13/09 after I snagged Chris Coghlan’s 1st career home run.

I snagged 12 baseballs that day.
That was the last time I would reach double-digits…that is, until this past Monday 8/17/09.

I had ten or more baseballs snagged in seven (7) of my 1st eighteen (18) games this season.
The next twenty-nine (29) games…nada.

Finally, I reached the coveted double-digit plateau in the 30th game since Coghlan.

Is the Curse of Coghlan over??
I think so.

To commemorate the event…

…I thought I would send Chris a little gift…

…whaddya think??

The note reads:

Chris-

“Hard feelings aside, congrats on a fine rookie season!
Good luck down the stretch.”

“Happy”

Of course…all in good fun.

Written by mlblogsthehappyyoungster 12 Comments Posted in Dailies Tagged with ballhawking, Chris Coghlan, Curse of Coghlan, Florida Marlins, Happy Youngster, Nick Yohanek, The Happy Youngster

August 20, 2009
8/17/09 @ US Cellular Field

Remember the Carlos Quentin home run hit back on 8/04/09 that bounced off the metal roof and landed on top of the shrubs at U.S. Cellular Field??

Does this refresh your memory (photos taken August 4th, 2009)…

…???

How about this…

…???
(check out the links above for a quick refresher)

More on this later…

Radar showed a massive green blob of rain heading straight toward Chicago. After monitoring the green blob for around 7 hours (with no change), I left work at 1pm and headed to Miller Park.
At Miller Park, I was going to meet up with two good young ballhawks named Casey & Matt. They’re regulars at Miller Park and they’re both cool dudes. Casey has his very own ballhawking blog that you can check out by clicking here. From there, we were all going to pile in my truck and head down to the Waukegan train station.

After approx. a 1hr. drive, we arrived at the train station. Unfortunately, we missed the 2:10 train because the drive-thru at White Castle took WAY too long. Oh well…we would catch the 3:10 train.

There was about an hour to kill…

…so, we played some catch.

Followed by…

…more catch.

If there was an errant throw or an overthrow into the high grass…

…no worries. I brought a few extra.

Finally, we were on the train to Chicago…

After a quick ride on the Red Line subway, we arrived at US Cellular Field.
We wasted no time before grabbing our spot in line…

That’s when a young man approached me and said, “Nick?”

I turned around and quickly realized it was Alex from the Ballhawk League.
Alex is 13 yrs. old and has a great ballhawking future ahead of him.
Check out Alex’s blog by clicking here. He’s one cool kid.

The aforementioned future ballhawk star…

…and I.

When the gates to the stadium opened at 5:30 pm, all four of us sprinted up the long concourse, flashed our 100 level tickets to security and entered the seating area.

Would there be BP??

YES!! The BP GODS have spoken!

When I saw the field was occupied by numerous Sox players, I discovered that I had an extra gear. I ran all the way down the 1st baseline, around the rightfield foul pole, behind the batter’s eye and eventually, made it to the left field bleachers.

The 1st thing I did was to scan the moat for any glove-trick opportunities. I spotted one out in left-center. After about 10 seconds, I reeled up Ball #1. As I was reeling it up, an unknown Sox player hit one directly
to me. My glove was dangling in the moat at the time, so, all I could do was stick out my barehand. It ended up bouncing off the warning track and then bouncing off my barehand…ending up back on the field. Luckily, White Sox reliever Randy Williams took notice of my effort and rewarded me with the baseball via toss-up for #2.

When I removed the baseball I had just glove-tricked, things took a turn for the worse.
The rubber band was dangling from one side of the glove…it had snapped. Oh no!!

As luck would have it, the White Sox were finishing up with BP and were running off the field. I knew I would have about 2-3 minutes before the balls would be flying once again.

Quickly, I removed the old rubber band and grabbed a new one from my backpack. I bit it to make one long rubber string (I have to do this so I can string the rubber band through and around the stringing in my glove) and tied it through. After a 3-4 minute delay, I was back in business.

Things started to happen really fast from here on out.

Ball #3 was snagged on the bounce off the bat of Miguel Olivo.
Ball #4 was then glove-tricked out of the moat.

Here’s a blurry shot of me reeling in #4…

A few minutes later, a ball was hit out to deep center. Royals coach Rusty Kuntz (cool name, huh?) waddled out to retrieve it.

I said, “coach, any chance I could get that or do I have to earn it?”
Rusty responded, “you have to earn it!”

Just when I let my guard down for a second and looked away, I saw the Rusty ball descending down toward me. In a defensive reaction, the ball clanked off my glove and fell into the moat. Dammit!!! I looked a little foolish missing that ball. Whatever, I would glove-trick it. Or so I thought. Out of nowhere, came two brothers with a glove-trick of their own. They were quicker than me to get their glove-trick lowered, so, I let them go for it. After they fumbled with it for 4-5 minutes, I told them I would take care of it. After about 30 seconds, I reeled up Ball #5.

Ball #6 came off the bat of
BILLY BUTLER.

When it was hit, I hurdled three rows of bleachers, ran over about 5 feet and put my glove up as high as I could reach.

Smack…on the fly.

A new group was taking the cage. So, I scanned all the moats…nothing. I had a weird feeling about the gap behind the centerfield fence. Nobody was paying any attention to that area.
When I peered over the railing, this is what I saw…
…mwahaha!!
Ball #7 took about 7 seconds to reel up.

When I was putting #7 in the backpack, the dude pictured to the right lifted one high into the air. I ran through a few aisles, jumped over a few rows of bleachers and made the grab on the fly.

I was locked in.

                                                                                                                JOHN BUCK

A bunch of lefties were now hitting for the Royals, so, I moved to right field. It was crowded.

That’s where I met a really cool guy named Ben.
Ben asked if I was “The Happy Youngster.” I told him I was and we began to chat like we knew each other for years. Ben was wearing this really slick Dan Quisenberry Royals jersey. Oh yeah, Ben has a collection of jerseys that would blow your mind. According to “jerseyboy” (his handle on the mlblogs network), he has over 1500 jerseys!! Holy crap! I told Ben I would catch up with him after BP (picture to follow).

After about 6-7 minutes, MIKE JACOBS launched one in my direction. I scrambled through the aisle like my *** was on fire. I found my spot and made the snag on the fly.

Booyah…#9.
As an added bonus, it was an HHH Metrodome commemorative baseball.
Woohoo!

I *needed* to get to double-digits to break the Coghlan curse.
(if you don’t know by now, don’t ask)

Unfortunately, BP soon ended.

As BP ended, the rain began to fall.
There truly is a BP God…I swear.

As the majority of the stadium attendees sought refuge, I relished in it.
I’ve mentioned before – roofs are overrated. I enjoy an occasional rain delay.

A rain delay is what I got…

                                                                                    &
nbsp;
During the delay, we wandered around the stadium.

That’s when I saw *it*

SweetMotherofGod…

!!! (these pictures above were taken August 17th, 2009)

Do you see it? Holy ****!!

The Carlos Quentin home run hit on August 4th was still lying out on the batter’s eye two weeks later! Same spot…same ball. EXACTLY the same ball.

I had to get that ball for the following reasons:

it would make a cool story

it would give me double-digits for the 1st time since 5/13/09

it would give me 52 career game home run balls snagged

I just *had* to figure out a way to get that ball.

After about an hour rain-delay, the weather began to clear.
That’s when a rainbow appeared above US Cellular Field…

In the top of the 2nd inning, Yuniesky Betancourt hit a home run into the White Sox bullpen. Would it be glove-trickable?? Alex (who was sitting next to me in the 2nd row above the Royals dugout) and I were about to find out. So, we raced out to left field to take a look.

When we made it to left, we grabbed a couple seats in about the 7th row. When the time was right, we made it down to the railing of the Sox bullpen.

Here was my view…

…see the home run ball?

If that would have stayed at the rear of the bullpen, it would have been glove-tricked.
No doubt about it.

Alex and I stayed in the 7th row behind the bullpen. When the Sox 1/2 of the 2nd rolled around, JAYSON NIX launched one straight in our direction. I started to dart down the staircase. A fat guy in the 5th row acted like it was coming straight at his head. He just froze in the aisle and put his arms out. After I maneuvered around Fat-Man, I made it down to the front row. As I extended my glove-hand all the way out over the railing, the home run ball bounced off the bottom of the rear wall of the bullpen and bounced back toward the front of the pen, coming to a rest about 1 foot away from the Betancourt home run. I had just come about 6 feet from a game home run. Damn.
Immediately, Sox Coach Juan Nieves ran out and grabbed the Nix home run. In the process, he kicked the Royals home run and made a gesture with his hand, pinching his nose as if something stunk. Alex and I were both in the front row waiting for the toss-up. Nieves launched it over our heads.
Where did it land, you ask?? Directly in the seat Alex vacated in the 7th row.
Double-damn…the kid took it hard but I told him he made the right decision by getting to the front row. There’s just no way of knowing that ball would have been tossed 7 rows up.

After more on-again/off-again rain…

…the White Sox defeated the Royals 8-7.

After the game, I tried for an ump ball from Chad Fairchild…with no luck.

I wandered over to the Royals dugout for a toss-up ball…with no luck.

That’s when I met back up with Ben (aka-jerseyboy).
Here’s Ben and I after the game by the visitor’s dugout…

…Ben, I hope we cross paths again soon. It was a pleasure meeting you.

I said my goodbyes to Alex (and his Dad) and told my friends I was determined to end the Coghlan curse.

BEGIN MISSION CARLOS QUENTIN HOME RUN BALL:

For various reasons (that should be obvious to most), I cannot provide exact details.

I can say this:

I was alone and unassisted.

I did obtain the home run ball directly.

It was, without a doubt, the home run ball hit on 8/04/09 by Carlos Quentin.

It was partially waterlogged.

I was the 1st fan t
o obtain possession of it.

While unorthodox, it counts toward my career home run stats.

I did have a few witnesses (from afar) for the majority of the ball’s retrieval.

If you see me, ask me about it.

Here I am with Career Game Home Run Ball #52…

An injury incurred along the way…

As for the ball…

…it was starting to deteriorate and had a few brown spots on it.

But, at least the sweet-spot was clean…
…I’ve gone completely nuts.

The ten (10) baseballs snagged…

…with the game home run ball in the front.

What a day…

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

10 total balls 8/17/09

5 batted baseballs (including 1 game home run hit by Carlos Quentin on 8/04/09)

1 tossup baseball

4 device baseballs

ATTENDANCE: 36,703

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

4/7/09   = 5   baseballs
4/8/09 = 10 baseballs
4/9/09   = 10 baseballs
4/10/09 = 3   baseballs
4/11/09 = 5   baseballs
4/12/09 = 5   baseballs
4/13/09 = 11 baseballs
4/14/09 = 6   baseballs
4/21/09 = 5   baseballs
4/27/09 = 15 baseballs
4/28/09 = 9   baseballs
4/30/09 = 4   baseballs
5/01/09 = 7   baseballs
5/02/09 = 4   baseballs
5/08/09 = 11 baseballs
5/09/09 = 1   lousy ball
5/12/09 = 14 baseballs
5/13/09 = 12 baseballs
5/19/09 = 8   baseballs
5/22/09 = 3   baseballs
5/23/09 = 2   baseballs
5/26/09 = 3   baseballs
5/29/09 = 6   baseballs
5/30/09 = 5   baseballs
6/01/09 = 1   baseball
6/02/09 = 9   baseballs
6/09/09 = 4   baseballs
6/10/09 = 0   baseballs
6/11/09 = 2   baseballs
6/12/09 = 9   baseballs
6/23/09 = 6   baseballs
6/24/09 = 9   baseballs
6/26/09 = 9   baseballs
6/27/09 = 4   baseballs
6/29/09 = 3   baseballs
6/30/09 = 5   baseballs
7/07/09 = 6   baseballs
7/10/09 = 3   baseballs
7/20/09 = 7   baseballs
7/24/09 = 6   baseballs
7/27/09 = 8   baseballs
7/29/09 = 3   baseballs
8/04/09 = 4   baseballs
8/11/09 = 7   baseballs
8/12/09 = 6   baseballs
8/15/09 = 4   baseballs
8/16/09 = 3   baseballs
8/17/09 = 10 baseballs
___________________

292 baseballs (48 games)
6.08 average per game

Written by mlblogsthehappyyoungster 18 Comments Posted in Dailies Tagged with ballhawk, Ballhawk Alex, Ballhawk Casey, Ballhawk League, ballhawking, Billy Butler, Carlos Quentin, Carlos Quentin home run ball, Chicago White Sox, double digits, glove trick, jerseyboy, John Buck, Kansas City Royals, Miguel Olivo, Mike Jacobs, Nick Yohanek, rain delay, Randy Williams, River Avenue, Rusty Kuntz, The Happy Youngster, U.S. Cellular Field

August 20, 2009
8/16/09 @ Miller Park

It was Sunday. I was anxious.
A day game you say?
Just this once.

Without further ado…my 1st home day game of the 2009 season.
(Opening Day doesn’t count)…

I walked up to the stadium and noticed the roof was closed…

…roofs are overrated.

I did not have a ticket for the game. So, I utilized an extremely cheap ticket option…

…it’s called “The Uecker Line.”

On the day of each and every home game, exactly 108 tickets are sold to the first 108 people who stand in line at Window 12. Each ticket can be had for the modest price of $1.
Yeah, just a buck. The seat location?? Named after beloved Brewers radio announcer Bob Uecker, the seats are located on the terrace level (top deck) behind home plate.
The catch?? Of course there’s a catch…the seats are obstructed view seats that are located behind two gigantic green support pillars. But hey, it gets you in the stadium. Hardly anyone who buys “Uecker seats” actually sit in those seats, anyway. So, who really cares, right??

Be advised: If you want to purchase four (4) Uecker tickets, all four people in your group need to be in line or standing close-by. If you want to purchase six (6) tickets, all six people need to be in line, etc, etc. Also, tickets don’t go on sale until the gates to the stadium open. Which, as you all know, is bad for ballhawking. Who wants to be standing in line for tickets when others are already snagging baseballs??

But, as I already mentioned, it was Sunday. I knew BP would not start until 11:30ish.
The gates were opening at 11:00am, so, I had time.
You see, on Sundays at Miller Park, only one team takes BP. Of course, the home team Brewers get first chance at it. If they decline, they offer it to the other team.

Here’s my buck…

…and…

…here’s my ticket…

…!!

Not a bad deal, eh??

Okay, so, technically speaking…I could attend every home game at Miller Park for the grand sum of $81!!

That’s if I had a ton of extra time to stand in line to buy a ticket for every single game.
A good option for many…just not me.
(Remember, these tickets are not sold in advance)

When I FINALLY got my ticket (on game day, window 12 is *usually* just used for the sale of Uecker tickets-but not this time. I swear two guys were applying for jobs at the window it took so long), I entered the stadium and observed a BP prepared field. The only problem was that there were no players. No problem, I thought. Soon enough.

In the meantime, I noticed Astros pitcher WANDY RODRIGUEZ was signing autographs down by the Houston dugout.

So, I joined the crowd and eventually, I handed him my ticket stub. Wandy was signing a baseball card with a blue sharpie at the time he grabbed my ticket.

When he was finished signing the card, I said, “You can sign with the same marker if you would like.”

What does he do?? He hands the kid his signed card and the marker and grabs another fans’ baseball and ballpoint pen. He signs the ball and then signs my ticket stub with the same pen. That’s great. Just great.

Here’s the stub…

…oh well, no big deal.

I’m used to it by now.

When BP finally got rolling, I was up in the left field loge bleachers.
I ended up snagging a Mike Rivera bomb on the bounce for Ball #1.
I was relieved that I was on the board.

When Brewers slugger Prince Fielder started to hit, I exited the left field bleachers and found myself standing right in big Prince’s home run alley in right field.

I wanted to snag a Prince Fielder BP homer for the little lady pictured below…

…seated in the middle.

Her name is Lexi and she’s pictured above with her sister (left) and friend (right).
Lexi was celebrating her 11th birthday with her family at the ballpark (no better place to be).

As you can see by the picture, I DID manage to snag her a Prince Fielder ball.
Happy B-Day Lexi!

My 3rd and final ball on the day came via a tossup from Brewers 3B Casey McGehee.
Casey is one cool dude. If you see him, be good to him…he’s one of the good guys.

Near the end of BP, check out who stopped by…

…that’s Todd (Pops) and Tim (son) Cook.
They are easily one of the coolest Father/Son duos I have ever met in my entire life.
I met Todd & Tim for the very 1st time back on 6/10/09 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
I just can’t find enough good things to say about those two…they rock!

After we chatted it up for awhile, we parted ways. We would be seeing each other the following day down at US Cellular Field in Chicago. Yay!

I had made an agreement with my wife that I would leave after the 3rd inning to take care of a prior commitment. No questions asked…no problemo.

Baseball Is Life…for sure. But, sometimes there’s other things, ya’ know?

Two (2) of the three (3) baseballs snagged…

…one (1) was given to Lexi.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

3 total balls 8/16/09

2 batted baseballs

1 tossup baseball

ATTENDANCE: 41,863

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

4/7/09   = 5   baseballs
4/8/09 = 10 baseballs
4/9/09   = 10 baseballs
4/10/09 = 3   baseballs
4/11/09 = 5   baseballs
4/12/09 = 5   baseballs
4/13/09 = 11 baseballs
4/14/09 = 6   baseballs
4/21/09 = 5   baseballs
4/27/09 = 15 baseballs
4/28/09 = 9   baseballs
4/30/09 = 4   baseballs
5/01/09 = 7   baseballs
5/02/09 = 4   baseballs
5/08/09 = 11 baseballs
5/09/09 = 1   lousy ball
5/12/09 = 14 baseballs
5/13/09 = 12 baseballs
5/19/09 = 8   baseballs
5/22/09 = 3   baseballs
5/23/09 = 2   baseballs
5/26/09 = 3   baseballs
5/29/09 = 6   baseballs
5/30/09 = 5   baseballs
6/01/09 = 1   baseball
6/02/09 = 9   baseballs
6/09/09 = 4   baseballs
6/10/09 = 0   baseballs
6/11/09 = 2   baseballs
6/12/09 = 9   baseballs
6/23/09 = 6   baseballs
6/24/09 = 9   baseballs
6/26/09 = 9   baseballs
6/27/09 = 4   baseballs
6/29/09 = 3   baseballs
6/30/09 = 5   baseballs
7/07/09 = 6   baseballs
7/10/09 = 3   baseballs
7/20/09 = 7   baseballs
7/24/09 = 6   baseballs
7/27/09 = 8   baseballs
7/29/09 = 3   baseballs
8/04/09 = 4   baseballs
8/11/09 = 7   baseballs
8/12/09 = 6   baseballs
8/15/09 = 4   baseballs
8/16/09 = 3   baseballs
___________________

282 baseballs (47 games)
6.00 average per game

Written by mlblogsthehappyyoungster 10 Comments Posted in Dailies Tagged with ballhawk, ballhawking, Casey McGehee, Mike Rivera, Miller Park, Nick Yohanek, Prince Fielder, The Happy Youngster, Todd & Tim Cook

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