Tagged: Brewers

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

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
___________________

326 baseballs (52 games)
6.27 average per game

Career ball #1000 is quickly approaching…

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

306 baseballs (50 games)
6.12 average per game

…400 baseballs snagged this season is within reach…

“Happy”

August 16, 2009

8/12/09 @ Miller Park

I was watching BP from the crammed confines of Friday’s Front Row Bullpen patio.
As time rolled on, not one-not two-but three glove-trick opportunities presented themselves over the 1st 30 minutes.
That’s two more than usual for those that are scoring at home.
Subsequently, all three were reeled up and all three were given away to smaller Brewers fans.

NOTE: For those out there that say ballhawks take baseballs away from other people (kids, in particular), pay attention. Not only do most of us (ballhawks) give a good percentage of our baseballs away, but we also create opportunities that normally would not be there. For instance, take the glove-trick as an example. Those three baseballs would not have made it into the hands of those kids if not for the glove-trick. Those baseballs would have been picked up and tossed back in, only to end up back in the BP bucket for more use.

The guy pictured to the right is quickly becoming a favorite of mine.
He’s still considered a rookie.
He’s taken advantage of every opportunity.
He has a great attitude.
He treats the fans well.
AND
Most importantly, he’s a great Dad (click here).
His name??

CASEY McGEHEE

Casey ripped one onto the porch that almost hit a teenage girl.
PEOPLE!! You must pay attention. Unless, of course, you like huge welts, black eyes, a deformed face, a fat lip, missing teeth, dizziness, shortness of breath, recurring headaches, loss of hearing or eyesight and hospital/emergency rooms.
I know it’s cool to hang out at the ballpark and all, but, when baseballs are flying all over the place-look the **** out!!

Anyway, the ball went underneath that young girls’ seat. I picked it up on a small bounce and gave that one away, too.
In case you’re wondering…I didn’t give it to the clueless girl. I gave it to a nearby kid.

4 baseballs to 4 different kids. That took care of every kid that was seated in the patio section.

When the Padres came out, I managed to get these two pitchers to each toss me a baseball.

CLAYTON RICHARD

EDWARD MUJICA

Mujica was a tough customer. After I cracked a few jokes, made a few hand gestures and made it clear that I wasn’t going away…he finally tossed one to me.

That was it for BP.

As far as the game is concerned…

…”Big Ballhawk Mike” sat with us for the game.

I was fortunate enough to hear his Tim Naehring home run story for the 1000th time (unofficial count). If you ever run into “Big Mike,” ask him about it. He’d love to tell you.
Or, maybe just ask me when you see me…I’ve heard it a million times over. It’s almost as if I was there. But, I wasn’t. If I was, the Naehring homer would have been mine.
Cocky? Nah. Confident? Definitely.

Check out this close-up…

…of one sweet ketchup stain.
I warned “Big Mike” about the exploding ketchup pumps at the concession stands.
Did he listen??? Nooooooooo.

No homers hit during the game.

Final score:
Padres 6
Happy 6
Brewers 5

Damn…still can’t outscore the Padres!

The two baseballs I took home…

…career #’s 924 & 925.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

6 total balls 8/12/09

1 batted baseball

2 tossup baseballs

3 device baseballs

ATTENDANCE: 38,753

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

275 baseballs (45 games)
6.11 average per game

CHECK THIS OUT!!

A few people told me I was in a picture that’s framed and hanging on the wall in the concourse down the right field line.

Sure enough…

…that’s me!

The picture was taken during the celebration after the Brewers clinched the Wild Card.
Cool stuff.

July 9, 2009

7/07/09 @ Miller Park

Do you remember when I went to Toronto during Opening Week of the season and the Detroit Tigers were using International League baseballs?

More on this later…

My last game was on 6/30/09. A whole week without games.

The baseball portion of my day started with the usual walk…

…with the arrows pointing to two popular Brewers bars located on W. Bluemound Rd.

Long Wong’s Chinese-American Sports Bar and Kelly’s Bleachers.

If
you’re ever visiting Milwaukee and want a great place to hang out
before, during or after ballgames, you have to check out these two
great establishments.
(No, I’m not on either places payroll).

My walk continued to the corner of W. Bluemound/General Mitchell Blvd…

…along Mitchell Blvd. Park.

Eventually…

…down the little pathway.

In the picture above, do you see what the red arrow is highlighting?
That’s a section of Miller Park’s roof peaking through an opening in the trees.

Further down the pathway…

…that parallels Interstate 94.

Finally, putting me into the NORTH General parking lot…
…with the red arrow pointing to the Miller sign peaking above the trees down in the valley at Miller Brewing Company.

Finally, I had arrived.

When
I entered the stadium, Prince Fielder was hitting. So, I took a little
stroll over to right field to see what he could do. It didn’t take him
long to hit a bomb that probably traveled in excess of 450 feet. I
retrieved that baseball after it bounced around a bit.

I
waited patiently for more Fielder bombs but they didn’t come. Earlier,
it was announced that Fielder would be participating in the 2009 Home
Run Derby down in St. Louis. I thought he would be putting on a home
run clinic to tune-up for the event. I was wrong. Not due to a lack
of effort; he was trying, but most of his contact sent the balls on a
line.

I wandered over to left field to try my luck with Ryan
Braun.
After about 5 minutes, “Brauny” sent one into the left field
bleachers that I retrieved on the bounce, as well.

Remember how the Brewers write funny sayings/words on a large percentage of their BP balls??

Well, this particular ball had “KEEP ON SMILING” written on the sweetspot.

That ball was meant for me.

Near the end
of batting practice, I noticed an unusual amount of players’ kids
gathered on the warning track out in left-center field.

I noticed, but thought nothing of it.
Until
I heard a baseball hit the bleachers and make a BANG! about 15 feet
from me. I looked around and did not know where that ball came from.
I looked up. I looked right and left. WTF?!!
I soon realized that a few of the players’ kids were tossing baseballs into the stands out of one of the ballbags.

So, I got in on the action.
All together, approx. 10 of these baseballs were tossed up.

Here’s the one (1) that I snagged…

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an OFFICIAL LEAGUE ball. Huh??

I looked closer and noticed the ball had a logo on it. Yeah!
The BIGS2 video game.

I do not play video games.
Heck, I barely have enough time to blog.
But, this was pretty cool.

Am I counting it toward my season stats?
Damn right.

Here’s why:
1). The ball was obtained at an officially sanctioned MLB event.
2). I did not purchase the ball.
3). I was the 1st fan to obtain possession of the ball.
4). The ball was not obtained through an announced stadium promotion (it’s not like the 1st 15,000 fans received one).
5). It wasn’t just an official league ball. It had a cool logo on it!
6). I skinned my knee snagging it, dammit!

The Brewers left the field. The Cardinals came out.

I don’t know what’s been going on around Miller Park, lately. But, balls being hit into the stands are starting to become a bit of a rarity. Opposing teams have not been hitting many during BP over the last few weeks. Makes ballhawking a bit tough, don’t ya’ think?

Not to mention, I’ve never been a big fan of begging for baseballs, either. I’ve adopted that tactic this season, largely, because of the ballhawk league.

As the Cardinals hitters did their best to avoid any baseball reaching the seats, my frustration grew.
Actually, during this BP, I counted 7 baseballs that were hit down the left field line. All playable for those standing in the front row. Just simply lean over.

Wanna guess how many baseballs made it into the bleachers at this point?
Three.

I didn’t get my next baseball until Cardinals reliever JOSH KINNEY and his sweet fu manchu mustache tossed me one over in right field.

Regretfully, I didn’t take his picture.
But, as you can see by the artistic demonstration to the right, Mr. Kinney’s mustache was, indeed, a sweet one.

The next group of Cardinals hitters contained both Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick.

I sprinted over to left field as if my pants were on fire.
Rumor has it, those two put on a homer display back on Memorial Day.

They both combined to hit approx. 4 into the bleachers. Ooooh.
Major disappointment.

What was even more disappointing??
The fact that I lost one of Pujols’ bombs in the sun. The sun is brutal around 6pm at Miller Park during the summer. Absolutely brutal.
I saw the ball go up. I fluently made my way through the swarms of clueless people. I picked the exact spot it was going to land. I looked back up to the sky and was blinded.
All I could do was cringe like a scared schoolgirl on prom night.
Shakin’ naked in the fetal.
The ball ended up landing about 6 feet away from me.

Of course, nobody else tracked it. Of course, everyone else heckled.

BP ended and I had snagged 4 baseballs. Not the best showing.
But, I always say, if they don’t hit ’em or throw ’em, can’t snag ’em.

Time to wander.
I was looking to waste some time.

That’s when I ran into this big fella…

…Adam “Big” Rygg.

The “Big Rygg” has his own Brewers blog in this network.
It’s called THE BREWER NATION and it’s a well-written/well-informed blog about the Brew Crew. Did I mention that Adam also works for the Brewers??

He’s a great fan of the Brewers and a good guy. So, go check out his blog. Do it-do it now.

I stopped, grabbed a couple hot dogs (relish, please) and made the trek back to my seat.

The 1st few innings were weird.
Allow me to explain:
1). Cards infielder Skip Schumaker was thrown out at 2nd base attempting to tag up from 1st. The fly ball was not deep and the throw utilized the cut-off man. What??

2). The Brewers had the bases loaded and Mike Cameron was hit with a ground ball trying to advance to 3rd base. Baserunner is out. ???

3). Brewers hitting coach Dale Sveum was ejected from the dugout for arguing balls and strikes (Home Plate umpire Bill Hohn had a rough night-more on him later). The weird part was that he didn’t come out to get his money’s worth. ???

4). Brewers bench coach Willie Randolph was then ejected for the same reason in the top 1/2 of the inning. ??

Some things you don’t see everyday.

One thing you do see from time-to-time:
The yellow-shirted fan snagging a home run ball.

Okay, it wasn’t a glamorous snag. But, I’ll tell you anyway.

Do you recall my not-so-glamorous snag of Cardinals phenom COLBY RASMUS’ 5th career homer which just so happened to be my 50th career game home run?
If not, click here.

Do you also remember me saying how Brewers RF Corey Hart has hooked me up time after time over the years??
If not, click here and here.

Well, Corey was at it again.

It was the top of the 5th inning. No outs.
Cardinals stud COLBY RASMUS jacked one that left the yard, striking an advertisement sign positioned at the front of the loge bleachers. The ball ricocheted down to the field and rolled to Brewers RF Corey Hart. Corey attempted to lob it into the visitor’s bullpen to the Cards relievers. The ~~problem~~ good thing was that it fell short and merely bounced off the outfield wall. The ball rolled on the warning track where it came to a rest closer to my location.
This time, though, Corey looked up to my section and lobbed it up. Immediately, I realized it
would be over my head. So, I jockeyed for position while backing up. At the last possible moment, I jumped straight up with my glove stretched as high as I could. I felt the ball hit the pocket as I came down in a small crowd of people.

Career game home run #51.

Like I said-not glamorous, but I’ll take it.

The Colby Rasmus game home run snagged
on 5/26/09… AND the one snagged 7/07/09…

Career HR #5 AND Career HR #11

Toward the end of the game, I made my way down to the umpire well
located near the visitor’s dugout. Fresh off two coach ejections and a
horribly called game, Home Plate umpire BILL HOHN flipped me a game
ball from the pouch to make it 6 baseballs on the day.

I think 2009 might be the year of the mustache. (Giambi-look what you started!)

The 6 baseballs snagged on this day…

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

6 total balls 7/07/09

2 batted baseballs

4 toss-up baseballs

(1 game home run-Colby Rasmus career #11)

ATTENDANCE: 36,557

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

231 baseballs (37 games)
6.24 average per game

June 10, 2009

6/09/09 @ Miller Park

On my walk to the stadium, I couldn’t help but notice the roof was closed.

Take a look…

…I didn’t think there was rain in the forecast.
Was this a feeble attempt by the Brewers to cool off the red-hot Colorado Rockies??

The Rockies had just swept away the Redbirds in St. Louis during their 4-game series. No easy task.

I arrived at the Beer Garden entrance around 5:26 pm. The gates were set to open in 4 minutes (there’s rarely ever a wait in this area for those who don’t like lines).

When the gates opened, I ran up to the left-field loge bleachers. The last pitches of the Brewers portion of BP were being tossed.

Bring out the Rockies.

I headed down to the field level down the 3^rd base side to play for a warm-up ball from one of the pitchers.

Veteran lefty ALAN EMBREE finished his tosses and started scanning the crowd. He had two baseballs in his glove. One went to a fan to my left and the 2^nd one was tossed to me- BALL #1. Which, smelled like ICY HOT.

I headed back up to the left field loge bleachers.

None too many baseballs were being hit into the stands, so, I resorted to asking for them.

Rockies pitcher JOEL PERALTA was shagging BP in deep left-centerfield. I waited for the appropriate moment (when a ball was hit to the wall) and said his name, followed by the polite request.

He turned and lobbed up BALL #2.

I headed to right field.

While I was in right field, the big lefties (Helton, Hawpe, Stewart) were jacking home runs all over the place…except where I was.

I resorted back to asking.

Rockies speedy youngster DEXTER FOWLER fielded one near me and tossed it up for BALL #3.

Soon after, Rockies Bullpen Coach JIM WRIGHT tossed me BALL #4.

When BP was over, I headed over to the Rockies dugout.

When I got there, Rockies stud Ubaldo Jiminez was signing autographs…

Crappy looking autograph by a great young player.

I’m not complaining.

A minute later, I looked over to my right. Rockies OF Ryan Spillborghs was signing autographs.

The signature…

…funny story.

Here’s the exchange between Spillborghs and I…

ME: “Hey Ryan, how ya doing?”

RYAN: no response

ME: “Thanks for the signature.”

RYAN: no response

I thought nothing of it-until he looked like he wanted to say something to me. Finally, he spit out what was on his mind.

In a smug tone, Spillborghs said, “so, how many balls you get?”

I responded, “ahh, you were paying attention.” I told him I had snagged only 4 baseballs.
Laughing, of course.

I decided to hang around the Rockies dugout for awhile…

…not because I was interested in the Cardinals/Marlins score nor was it because I like cowboy hats.

On to the game.

A special person was in attendance this evening. In the 3rd inning, I headed for a visit…

…with my Uncle Marvin (on left) and his friend Russ.

Uncle “Mar” is a great fan of the game. In fact, Mar has made quite the name for himself throughout the state of Wisconsin for his contributions over the last 50+ years to Little Leagues in the Pittsville/Marshfield area.

Mar was awarded a lifetime achievement award honoring those 50 years of dedicated service.
I’m proud of you, Uncle Mar!

Two more special attendees are pictured with me below…

…(from left to right) Brian, Jamie and I.

I met Brian for the 1st time. Brian created one of the most popular Brewers fan sites around.
BREWERFAN.NET

If you’re a Brewers fan, you have to check out this site.

The man in the middle, BrewerJamie, assists with the operations of Brewerfan.net. Jamie is a close and personal friend of mine.

Both true diehard Brewers fans.

Finals…

…4 baseballs
(3 are shown-1 was given to BrewerJamie to give to his 5 yr. old daughter Rachel).

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

4 total balls 6/09/09

4 toss-up balls

ATTENDANCE: 32,464

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

178 baseballs (27 games)
6.59 average per game

June 3, 2009

5/30/09 @ Miller Park

When the gates to the stadium opened, I went up to the loge level bleacher area.
When I arrived, I claimed BALL #1 via the coveted easter egg.

The Redlegs pitchers were warming up in the left field corner.

When he was finished tossing, I asked lefty reliever ARTHUR RHODES for the baseball.

He tossed it up for BALL #2.

BALL #3 came via one of the finer grounds crew members in the National League. It was lying in the Brewers bullpen. If he wouldn’t have tossed it up, I would have glove-tricked it.
I’ll take it the easy way, that’s fine with me.

Reds outfielder CHRIS DICKERSON was shagging BP out in centerfield. When one was hit close to the wall, I asked him for it. Chalk up BALL #4.

I was standing in an area the Brewers call “the point” when RYAN HANIGAN launched one out to deep left-centerfield. I was tight against the railing and caught it on the fly for BALL #5.

That was it for BP.

I wandered over to the Reds dugout where I saw this guy signing some autographs.

That’s Reds 3B Adam Rosales. Adam was extremely friendly with the surrounding fans. He seemed genuine and was signing autographs for about 10 minutes. At one point, a kid (around 10 yrs. old) told Adam, “I have 4 baseballs to sign.” Adam just laughed and signed all 4!

Here’s what I had autographed…
…next time, I’ll use a blue sharpie. Will probably show up better.

Five (5) home runs were hit in this game but nothing within 100 feet.

The Miller High Life guy made an appearance late in the game…
…for a common-sense check.
He had thrown out the 1st pitch (spiked 5 feet in front of home plate).

Finals on the day…
5 baseballs
1 autographed Adam Rosales ticket stub
The Miller High Life-Barrelman logo cooler bag.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

5 total balls 5/30/09

2 batted balls (1 caught on fly)

3 toss-up balls

ATTENDANCE: 44,172

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

164 baseballs (24 games)
6.83 average per game

June 2, 2009

5/29/09 @ Miller Park

Straight to the point.

BALL #1 – Nick Masset toss-up after initial warmups.

BALL #2 – David Weathers toss-up during BP.
ONLY after I yelled, “Roll Tide!” (He’s a huge Alabama Crimson Tide fan)

+ CRIMSON TIDE = BASEBALL

BALL #3 – Aaron Harang tossup during BP.

My favorite Redlegs player.

BALL #4 – Jonny Gomes BP homer on bounce.
BALL #5 – Jonny Gomes BP homer on fly (given to Ethan – see below).

BALL #6 – glove trick out of Brewers pen near end of Reds portion of BP (given to nearby kid).

So, do you remember this little dude…??
…that’s Ethan. He stopped by to say “hi” and was given BALL #5 (Gomes BP homer).

Here’s a few random pics of a sasquatch sighting at Miller Park…
…in the picture above, the hairy mammal can be seen imitating some sort of “safe” sign…

…and below…
…some sort of menacing mating stance…

…finally…
…they’ve gone and multiplied AND they drink beer. Whowouldathunkit?? No harm-they’re just having a good time.

Someone get that man a brassiere.

People say ballhawking is weird? Wow.

Finals…
…6 total baseballs (4 are shown – 2 were given away to kids).

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

6 total balls 5/29/09

2 batted balls (1 caught on fly)

3 toss-up balls

1 device

ATTENDANCE: 42,186

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

159 baseballs (23 games)
6.91 average per game

May 31, 2009

5/26/09 @ Miller Park

This was my 1st game back at Miller Park since the Chris Coghlan fiasco back on May 13th.
I
was a bit apprehensive. I didn’t know what the reaction would be.
Brewers fans had torn me apart (I’ve heard all the arguments) on the radio and
on the internet for a whole week. This was their 1st chance to do it
in person.

Yet, they never did. I’m not getting my hopes up…it was only 1 game.

BP was extremely slow. I felt reserved about asking for baseballs
from the Brewers. I needed time to ease back into it. So, I made no
verbal requests for balls during the Brewers portion of BP.

My favorite player, RYAN BRAUN, did manage to sock one out to
left-center where I was waiting to haul it in. Clean catch…BALL #1.

That was it for the Brewers BP…weak.

The Cardinals began to wander out to left field for their warmup. I
spotted Cards reliever CHRIS PEREZ standing down the left field line.

When he finished throwing, I yelled down, asking him for the ball.
When he looked up and saw the Cardinals hat, he gave me a nod of
approval and tossed up BALL #2. A fan standing directly to my left
then asked for a ball. Perez looked up, noticed he had on all Brewers
clothes and shook his head (while signaling thumbs down). Funny
stuff. Gotta do what you gotta do.

The Perez tossup…

…with “PRACTICE” stamped on the side instead of the sweetspot.

I had heard from fans that attended the Memorial Day game that
Pujols and Ludwick were putting on a home run derby Monday afternoon.
So, when those two came up in the same group Tuesday, I was camped out
in deep left-center.
Do you think they hit anything? Of course not. BP ended without further incident.

When the game began, I had two very special guests with me…

…my Uncle Gary
and Aunt Sandy.

They took the drive down from Northeast Wisconsin and sat
with me. I’ve always been close to those two. It was awesome to have
them at the game with me.

Gary has been a lifelong Cardinals fan. Born and raised in
Wisconsin, Gary was in his adolescent years when the hometown team, the
Milwaukee Braves, left town. Like many kids during this time, their
allegiances went elsewhere. Can’t blame them for that.

Since the game was to be nationally televised on ESPN, I accurately
predicted the Brewers would lay a stinker. Why do the Brewers always
play like crap on national TV?? The nation must think we’re the worst
team in baseball. That is, if they don’t read the box scores or check
the standings.

In the top of the 4th inning, with 0 on and 0 out, Cardinals CF
COLBY RASMUS launched a deep shot to center off Jeff Suppan. The ball
left the yard, striking the ivy-covered hitter’s eye. The ball then
caromed back onto the field, coming to a rest in centerfield. Brewers
RF Corey Hart picked up the ball and turned toward me. We made eye
contact, I held up my glove and he lobbed the game home run ball right
to me for BALL #3 on the day.

GAME HOME RUN BALL #50 of my career was in the books. It wasn’t a
flashy way to snag #50 but I’ll take it. I’ve never had second
thoughts about counting home run ball tossups.
If you are the 1st fan to obtain possession of it, why should it not count toward career totals?

A closer look at Career HR Ball #50…

…you can see the green stain over “Selig” where the ball struck the ivy.

I
was thrilled to get a game home run ball from one of baseball’s future
stars. But at the same time, I was bummed it put the Brewers down even
further.

The Cardinals continued to spank the Brewers until both teams had had enough.
Cardinals 8 Brewers 1
Boohoo.

As he walked off the field, Home Plate Umpire Paul Nauert gave a
game ball from his pouch to everyone who was standing near the ump
exit…except me.

Oh well. He must be a Chris Coghlan fan.

Finals…

…including the Rasmus game home run ball.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

3 total balls 5/26/09

2 batted balls (1 caught on fly)
(1 game home run-COLBY RASMUS)

1 toss-up ball

ATTENDANCE: 37,404

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

153 baseballs (22 games)
6.95 average per game

May 29, 2009

5/23/09 @ HHH Metrodome

The game was at 6:05pm.
We were still at The Mall of America at 4:00pm.
I would not be attending BP today…time was short.

We ended up getting to the Dome at 5:30pm. When I ran in, the cage was being taken down and the field was empty.

I
went down to the only area of the Dome where the glove trick is
“do-able.” It’s a large open section closest to centerfield on the
left field side. It’s a spot where the seats start to disappear into
the hitter’s eye.

When I looked down into the big gap, there was one ball lying down there.
I glove-tricked it for BALL #1. I was relieved that I would not be shut out on the day.

Upon closer inspection of the ball…
…and…
…hmm. The Brewers were scribbling all over the Twins commemoratives, too.
(As I discovered back on 4/27/09, the Brewers write words and sayings on most of their BP balls)

The game you ask?? Nothing to write home to Mom about.
The Twins spanked the Brewers yet again.

Final score: Twinkies 6 Brewhahas 2.

After the game, I headed
down for an ump ball. No luck. Charlie Reliford had called a pretty
poor game. He put his head down and darted off the field.

There
was nothing happening on the Brewers side, so, I headed over to the
Twins side for a possible batboy game ball. I really wanted a rubbed
up Twins commemorative ball for the collection. The BP commemoratives
were nice, but, I wanted the real deal.

So, I waited above the ballbag as the ballboy/batboy gathered the equipment down in the bullpen area.
About 10 minutes passed. Then, I was approached by a familiar face holding a gigantic oversized glove.

It was BIGGLOVEBOB!

We made a quick acquaintance before the ballboy returned. When he was
directly below me, I politely asked for a game ball from the bag. The
ballboy blew me off.

That’s when Big Glove Bob stepped in and used his Twin Cities celebrity
pull. He said, “hey Adam, he came all the way from Milwaukee.”

Adam reached into the ballbag and grabbed out a beautifully rubbed game ball and flipped it up to me for BALL #2.

Even though I had missed batting practice, getting that game ball made it all worth while.

I couldn’t have done it without the help of Big Glove Bob. Thanks Bob!

The commemorative game ball…
…rubbed up and game used. You can see why the ball made it to the ballbag. There’s a scuff from hitting the dirt directly above and to the right of the commemorative logo.

So long Metrodome…I won’t miss you.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

2 total balls 5/23/09

1 toss-up ball

1 device

ATTENDANCE: 40,547

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

150 baseballs (21 games)
7.14 average per game

May 12, 2009

5/12/09 @ Miller Park

I had some unfinished business.
If you recall, I only managed to snag 1 lousy baseball (game foul ball) on 5/09/09.

It was time to shine. The Marlins were in town.

I arrived at the ballpark early (as usual) and wandered around the stadium. I didn’t want to get a table at Friday’s and pay $15 for a sandwich and coke, so, I went elsewhere.
Besides, the Brewers are running a promotion May 12-14. It’s called “Spring Madness.”
All tickets $28 and less are 1/2 price and hot dogs and small cokes are just a buck.
More on the hot dogs a bit later.

My 1st ball of the day was via the glove trick in the Brewers bullpen.

Ballhawk Shawn and his awesome Mom had a table reserved out on the Friday’s patio. When I went to say “hello” he told me he had tried to use the glove trick on the ball but to no avail. He said, “go for it…you’re the pro.” Or something to that effect.

So, I went to work on it and soon had Ball #1.

Ball #2 arrived (caught on the fly) off the bat of Brewers CF MIKE CAMERON. I really dig Mike Cameron. He’s awesome to the fans and has one helluva golden glove in centerfield.
Thank the Dear Lord we didn’t trade him to the Spankmees.

Brewers bullpen catcher MARCUS HANEL started walking out to the Brewers bullpen with starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo. It appeared as if they were about to do a bullpen session. When Marcus noticed me standing above him, he tossed me Ball #3. Then, he yelled up to me, “hey Happy, stop switching.” (He was referring to me switching out of my Brewers gear and into the opposing team’s gear for BP). I asked Marcus if he was trying to pay me off (tongue in cheek). He responded, “you wouldn’t wear Bears stuff to a Packers game!” To which I responded, “if I was chasing footballs, maybe!”

Funny stuff.

I started wandering a little further than I should have and noticed a baseball lying in the visitor’s bullpen over in right field.

So, I sat down in the bleachers and readied my equipment.
The ball was about 2 inches off the side wall of the pen. So, I had to actually nudge it away from me and the wall. When it was in place, I dropped the glove on it and had Ball #4.

The Brewers portion of BP ended with a Bill Hall BP homer snagged on the bounce for
Ball #5.

Near the end of the Brewers BP, a guy came up to me and asked me if I was the guy always on ESPN for catching baseballs. He said he recognized my shirt from “THE CATCH.”

If you haven’t seen “THE CATCH,” check it out…

The Marlins were now stretching on the field. So, I headed down the left field line to snag a warm-up ball.

Marlins CF CODY ROSS was finishing up his warm-up throws and underhanded me the ball. It was one of the worst tosses I had ever seen. Needless to say, someone else claimed the ball.

To his credit, Cody was sincere in his apology, saying, “sorry, man. That was a bad throw.”

He started signing autographs. When he got to me, I put out my fist and said, “no problem. Next one.” He responded, “I got you, man.”

He ran out to centerfield to take some fungo practice. So, I went to centerfield as well.
He fielded one and I asked for it. He looked up at me, recognized me from a few minutes earlier, and lobbed it to me for Ball #6. If I would have waited too long, I would have lost my opportunity.

Ball #7, ironically enough, came off the bat of the above pictured CODY ROSS. That ball was caught on the fly.

Ball #8 was snagged on the bounce off the bat of JORGE CANTU.

Ball #9 was tossed up to a group of fans near me. None of them had gloves and they muffed it. The ball bounced away and I ran it down. I have no idea who threw this ball.

Shortly after, I heard a voice yell out to this guy—————————>
Marlins relief pitcher KIKO CALERO.
It was Ballhawk Shawn and he was standing nearby. Kiko looked up at me, so I waved. Shawn was standing back and behind some railings. It was hard for the players to see him standing in this position. Shawn claims that spot is gold for him, so, more power to him.

A minute later, Kiko fielded a baseball. Shawn, once again yelled to him-this time, asking for the ball. Kiko looked up at me. So, I held up my glove. He lobbed the ball to me for #10 on the day. Shawn did all the work…I didn’t say a word. I just don’t think Kiko could easily see Shawn where he was standing.

I moved back to right field.

Marlins pitcher BURKE BADENHOP was fielding BP. When he fielded the next baseball, I yelled, “Burke, ball please!” He snapped his head toward me and fired me Ball #11.

It was definitely a reward for knowing his first name. Anyone can read a name off a jersey back. You have to know the first names!!

The Marlins were winding down their portion of BP. So, I headed over to their dugout. I snagged Ball #12 via an unknown rapid fire dugout roll. You know the one…where out of nowhere, a ball comes popping out of the dugout and onto the roof.

I headed back to my seat. On the way, I picked up three (3) dollar dogs and one (1) dollar coke. Ugggghhhhh…extra pickle relish. No condiments.

Right before the game was about to begin, my wife and kids arrived.

My view of the game…
…I love that seat.

Two homers by Prince Fielder (neither playable for me) propelled the Brewers to a 6-3 win.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, I relocated to the Marlins dugout (6th row). I tried to get Home Plate umpire Angel Campos to toss me a ball but he just ducked into the umpire well and out of sight. It seems I never have any luck with the ump when the Brewers win. It’s just too loud in the stadium for me to get their attention.

The Marlins relievers were now exiting the field.

I noticed that LEO NUNUZ had a baseball tucked away in his glove. When he got close enough, I asked him for it.

Ball #13!

About 20 feet behind him, there was another group of relievers. When they approached, one of them flipped me Ball #14.

I’m not positive who threw the ball to me. I was a bit surprised.
I think it might have been this fella.

Marlins closer MATT LINDSTROM.

Me at the dugout after the game…
…with my fourteen (14) baseballs and my extra-small 1990’s Marlins BP jersey.

After the game, on the walk to my vehicle, I ran into this lovely little lady sporting a very familiar shirt…
…her name is Allison and she’s a nursing student. Allison officially rocks.
Sorry boys, Allison is dating a med student. But, for supporting “The Happy Youngster,” she was given a baseball.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

14 total balls 5/12/09

5 batted balls (2 caught on fly)

7 toss-up balls

2 device

ATTENDANCE: 29,331

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

125 baseballs (17 games)
7.35 average per game

Back with a vengeance!