I’ll start out by saying the ballpark here is absolutely beautiful.  The brick, the field, the picnic area in centerfield, the warehouse, the huge standing room only madeforhomeruns area…wow.

 

Pics…

…the Legends Museum in front with the warehouse in the background (with arrow).

 

 

…Eutaw St. sign with centerfield picnic area and left field in background.

 

 

…EUTAW STREET GATE H-the centerfield entrance into the stadium.

 

 

…looking through the EUTAW STREET gate and down the stadium walkway from the centerfield side.

 

…looking down the same walkway but from the other side (right field side).

 

 

…a nice shot of the beautiful brick warehouse from down the right field line.

 

…the home plate entrance.

…the picnic area in centerfield with the field (and batting cage!) in the background.

 

…me in front of the EUTAW STREET entrance (sporting my Ripken #8 shirt).

 

…two very special people. 

That’s Todd, his little man Tim and I.  Todd has a really cool blog and is an extremely cool Dad.  Todd comments on my blog from time to time and this was the 1st time we’d met.  His little guy is one cool dude.

You have to go to his blog and read about their travels.  Guys like Todd inspire me!

 

I came to Baltimore to see the stadium. 
Mission accomplished.

I came to Baltimore to catch Matt Wieters 1st career home run.
1 day down…no home run. 
Time will tell.
Mission pending.

 

Besides getting some bad advice from an “expert,” all is well.

Let me tell you…BP was the worst of my life.  I had a legitimate play on 1 ball the entire day.  I did not get that ball. 
All of the players around me stared straight ahead. 
Everywhere I went, the ball went elsewhere.
I’ve had better BP’s with the 1990’s Pirates hitting at County Stadium, a sprained ankle and 40,000 in attendance.

It was JUST one of those days that I can’t explain.

Oh well…I don’t have a precious streak I keep track of.  I don’t HAVE to snag a ball at EVERY single game to feel necessary.  I have nothing to prove. 

50 career game home runs snagged have taken care of that.

I came with the mission to snag Matt Wieters 1st career home run and return it to him without incident. 

I learned a few things from the Chris Coghlan fiasco. 

 

I’ll say no more other than to leave you with this picture I took on my walk back to my hotel…

…that about sums up my day of ballhawking.

When the greatest raw power swinger in recent memory (Russell “The Muscle” Branyan) works on his directional hitting in BP, you know you’re in for a long day.

 

0 baseballs snagged.

Tomorrow is a new day.

 

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

• 0 total balls 6/10/09

 

ATTENDANCE:  12,770!!!!
shameful # for such a beautiful park…

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
___________________

178 baseballs (28 games)
6.36 average per game