Tagged: Nick Masset

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

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