Tagged: Twins

September 26, 2009

9/21/09 @ US Cellular Field

This was going to be my last trek to Chicago for the 2009 season. Another Milwaukee ballhawk was accompanying me.
Do you remember Kenny from 9/16/09 at Wrigley Field? We decided awhile back that we would hit both Chicago stadiums before the season came to a close.

We arrived at “The Cell” around 5:00pm. We had only 30 minutes before the gates opened, so, we jumped in line outside GATE 5. I could tell the crowds were thinning compared to earlier in the year. No pennant race…no passion. Sad but true.

While we were standing in line, a guy standing at the front of the line asked me,
“are you Nick…The Happy Youngster?”

I said I was and we began to chat it up. He told me his name is Mike and that he ballhawks from time to time in the Chicago area. When he told me he was not particularly fond of the “northside team,” things were all good. It’s kind of like knowing the secret handshake with me. Ya’ know? If you know the handshake (or in this case, you don’t like the Cubs), we have something in common.

We exchanged a few stories, a few opinions and then we went over our game plans. He told me he enjoys my blog and before we knew it, the gates were opening and the fun was about to begin.

As I was running in, I looked to left field. There were people already standing out in the left field bleachers. WTF?! How the hell did they get in already? Oh well…there would be no easter eggs because of this. I also noticed that the Twins were already on the field taking BP. Usually, I catch the last 3-4 minutes of Sox BP…not this time.

After about 10 minutes of wondering what the hell happened to all the glove-trick possibilities, Orlando Cabrera lifted one high and deep to left field. I ran up a few rows and when the ball was just within reach, I jumped as high as I could and caught the ball on the fly. It felt like I really got up there but I’m pretty sure it was all in my head. (I’m convinced the catch inflated my sense of accomplishment just a tad).

After banging my knees on every bleacher/bench/railing in the place over the next 20 minutes, I began to see the writing on the wall.
Of the few baseballs that were hit in the stands, I was not meant to snag any more of them…unless I wanted to spend my offseason rehabbing from reconstructive knee surgery.
“The Cell” is awful for running after baseballs. The rows are long and not spacious. Half of the bleachers are actual bleachers and the other half are actual seats.

A total nightmare scenario.

Disgruntled, I took my Jake Taylor knees over to right field. I took a peek into the visitor’s bullpen. Aha! A glove-trick possibility. It was lying on a rolled up portion of tarp. I could see it was a Metrodome commemorative ball, too. After no time flat, the ball was reeled up.

Would you believe that’s all BP would provide today? Two measly baseballs. Wow.

Look at how thrilled I am…

Kenny snagged two of his own…

…and was a bit more appreciative of the fact.

A group shot taken after BP…

…of me, Kenny and our new friend Mike.

Kenny showing how easy it is to reach into play…

…down the right field line.

Hey! There’s no yawning in baseball…

Here’s where our seats were located…

…Section 161/Row 1/Seats 7 & 8.

Irish Heritage Night at the ballpark…

…do you think they paid him a bit extra to wear that?

Nice backpack…

…”rook.”

My view before the game…

…was a bit exciting.

My view during the game…

…not nearly as exciting.

A t-shirt toss casualty…

…yo Zack-the glove-trick work on those?

The game? No goddamn home runs hit. No worries, though. I was able to see a team (Twins) in the thick of a playoff push. They sure played like it. Bravo.

Twins won 7-0.

After the game, Home Plate Umpire Jim Reynolds was kind enough to hook me up by the umpire’s exit…

…with a game ball straight out of his ball pouch. It had a neat little circular scuff on the sweetspot.

Three baseballs snagged…

…yay.

Hey Nick Punto…

…nice pants.

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

3 total balls 9/21/09

1 batted baseball

1 tossup baseball

1 device baseball

ATTENDANCE: 26,541

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
9/16/09 = 4   baseballs
9/18/09 = 10 baseballs
9/21/09 = 3   baseballs
___________________

361 baseballs (58 games)
6.22 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 23, 2009

5/19/09 @ U.S. Cellular Field

It was getting pretty hot in the kitchen…I had to go to this game.

I took the train down to Chicago. When I finally made it to the park, I walked down 35th St. to see if my hot dog stand was still there. It had been almost 10 years since I made it to a game on the Southside.

After I passed through the tunnel, I was pleased to see this…
…my little dog stand was still going strong.

After I ate my pre-game meal consisting of a Polish sausage and fries, I walked back to the stadium for a little sightseeing.

My view walking back toward the Cell…
…just like I remembered it.

As I got closer…
…that’s the home plate main entrance.

I continued walking a bit further. Just moseying around-wasting time. I was walking around to the right field corner when I heard a voice.
“Are you ‘The Happy Youngster’?”

Now, I must admit, I was a little reluctant to answer at first. Until I peered over and read the look on the gentleman’s face.
(You know when you can tell someone is about to argue/fight/be an ***-even before they say anything?) The same is true when someone is about to agree/get along/be cool.

It was obvious-this kind fellow was making a friendly contact. So, I told him I was him and we began to talk about everything baseball.

He told me his name is Richard, he’s from La Palma, California and he was in town on business. He said he loves reading my blog and that he’s a Dodgers fan.

Here’s a picture of Richard and I outside U.S. Cellular Field…
…Richard told me he enjoys casual ballhawking coupled with a bit of autograph collecting. Two great hobbies. Richard: it was a pleasure to meet you. Good luck hawking!

The gates were about to open and Richard was kind enough to invite me to join him at the front of the line.

When I ran into the left field bleachers, I spotted this…
…what a lovely little easter egg. BALL #1! Yeahbaby.

Twins pitcher KEVIN SLOWEY was shagging balls in left field. When he
fielded a ball, I asked for it. He turned and lobbed me BALL #2.

I then told him I thought his blog was cool. Laughingly, and a bit embarrassed, he said, “thanks.”

BALL #3 was hit by an unknown player. When I opened my mitt to inspect the ball, I found it to be brand spankin’ new. Not one mark, not one scuff, not one blemish whatsoever. One pitch, one swing, one catch-bingo!
I will use that ball for an autograph at some point down the road.

At this point, I heard my first name being called. Again, I was a bit reluctant to answer. I didn’t know if it was going to be some crazy fan that hated my guts out to get me. So, I looped around the person saying my name, sized him up and said, “who wants to know?” It turned out to be a fellow ballhawk named Adam. I had met Adam on April 21st when I was down at Wrigley Field. Adam’s a cool guy with a similar passion for ballhawking.

Here’s Adam and I…
…by the White Sox bullpen.

I told Adam I would catch up with him after BP was over. I wished him luck and resumed snagging.

BALL #4 was snagged on the bounce hit by an unknown player. The sun makes snagging in left field at this park difficult. It also makes player identification pretty hard, too.

I glove tricked a ball out of the White Sox bullpen for BALL #5.

BALL #6 was retrieved on the bounce hit by JOE CREDE.

I felt left field was becoming a bit “used up,” so, I headed over to right
field. When I arrived, I noticed stud closer JOE NATHAN was shagging some
BP. Joe fielded one in my vicinity. The ball looked like it had an
extra-large logo on one of the side panels. Taking a shot in the dark,
I yelled to Joe Nathan, “hey Joe, can I get that commemorative ball you
got there?” He looked down at it, turned without hesitation and
fired it into my glove for BALL #7.

Both the Yankees and Twins commemorative baseballs…
…both firsts for me. The Yankees commemorative ball was gorgeous. The Twins commemorative was a bit stained.

BP concluded.

When Scott Baker came out to the pen to start his warmup, I joined in watching him from above the visitor’s bullpen.

After Baker was finishing throwing, Twins pitching coach RICK ANDERSON flipped me BALL #8.

Here was my view of the game…
…in Section 103/Row 1.

The only ball hit close was a long fly by Justin Morneau that was caught on the warning track.

White Sox 6 Twins 2.

I was shut out after the game down by the Twins dugout.

Finals…

2009 BALLHAWKING STATS

8 total balls 5/19/09

4 batted balls (1 caught on fly)

3 toss-up balls

1 device

ATTENDANCE: 26,696

2009 TOTAL BASEBALLS

145 baseballs (19 games)
7.63 average per game