So i figured i should go to one last Met game this year for 2 reasons. 1) I havent been there in over a month and the tickets are EXTREMELY cheap now because of the Met’s demise. 2) I wanted to attend a game alone so i can focus on snagging as many ball’s as i can without any interuptions from friends/family. No offense to them, i love going to ballgames and enjoying them with my friends and family but i need at least one game to myself where i can just sit back and relax and enjoy my own company. I know it sounds lame but i have my wacky reasons. Anyway lets go to a ballgame but first… i had to go to work.

I work in a pizzeria in Seaford, Long Island and today i was working from 11:00am- 4:00pm. Leaving at 4pm anit exactly what time i wanted to leave but i didn’t have much of a choice. So the 6 hours i spent at work i thought about what i wanted to accomplish at tonights game. I had 3 goals tonight. 

1) snag at least 10 total balls. 

2) Grab at least (1) 3rd out ball from the Braves. 

3) Catch a foul ball and/or homerun ball. 

    1 and 2 were very reachable but my 3rd goal was somthing i wasn’t expecting. But i kept them in mind and soon enough it was 4pm and i was on my w… stuck at work. My coverage was running late and they arrived around 4:20. Perfect. So Citi Field gates open at 4:40pm and i was leaving at 4:20pm and from Seaford it takes about 40 minutes to Citi Field which gives us an approximate arrival time of 5pm (and that’s with no traffic). So i hopped in the Camry and i was off.

Doing speeds that should not be mentioned i arrived at Citi Field around 5:05pm and i rushed into the stadium and into left field. I ran into Greg and we said wats up.He said he had 2 already so i figured there was more to come… or at least i thought. I also notcied Brian was there and we talked for a little bit. About 10 minutes later i got my 1st ball of the day thrown to me by Elmer Dessens. i’m pretty sure he chucked it to me because i asked him for the ball in Spanish. After that…NOTHING! The Mets were hitting no homeruns and most of the toss-ups were to kids. I had to make some moves to fulfill my goal of 10 balls and i did. 

I noticed a couple of Braves players were throwing behind their dugout so i made my move. I quickly changed into my Braves gear and raced to the seats behind the dugout. I Noticed a couple of other Met fans watching them warm up but i knew they had no intentions of snagging a ball since no one had a glove. Shortly after i got Boone Logan to toss me up his warm-up ball. The fans looked at me stunned like they’ve never seen that happen before. About 10 minutes after that the Mets finished a horrible display of BP and the Braves were getting ready to take the field. I noticed Clint Sammons had a ball with him and he began walking out to the outfield. I quickly yelled out his name and he turned around after the 2nd time i called for him. I waved my hands in the air and he threw the ball he was holding from deep shortstop. Unfortunatly, the ball was a little bit out of my reach and it tipped of thge top of my glove and trickled into the row behind me. I quickly made a mad dash for it but realized that no one was even trying to get it. So i took my time and scopped the ball up for #3 on the day. I then went back into left field and tried my luck with the Braves this time. Nothing really in the begining but a couple of more pitchers were still throwing in the outfield. I noticed Peter Moylan was throwing with someone so waited by the wall untiul he was done. I called out ” Big Pete” and he looked at me and fired the ball to me for my 4th ball of the day. I had a very rude guy in his late 20′s start bickering to me about how i was wearing a Mets hat before and now i got Braves stuff on now. Then his girlfriend threw in her 2 cents about how i should move and get out of THEIR area. Oh i’m so sorry sweety i didn’t know that was YOUR area. Stupid broad. Well about 5 mintues after that someone on the Braves smacked a ball that had a chance to clear the wall for a homerun. Greg and Brian were else where so i THOUGHT i had no competition. i ran down the aisle and began to lean over the wall with my glove when an unexpecting hand came into my view and swatted at the ball and caused the ball to fall to the warning track. the unexpecting hand you ask? That same rude guy who was still bitter from before when i got the toss up ball from Moylan. Guess he wanted his revenge and he got it cause that ball wound up being thrown in. Whatever, typical Met fan. Anyway, i stood patiently in the aisle for what seemed to be forever when i finally got some action. A deep fly ball was coming my way. I tracked it perfectly and i made an easy two handed catch in the middle of a row of seats. That was # 5 for the day. I got a nice round of applause from the crowd and got a compliment from an older gentleman who told me that was a great catch and that i was exactly in the right spot. Why thank you kind sir, that’s kind of the point of me running around like a lunatic anit it. Well after that it was more pathetic BP and there was nada coming my way so i decide do make a move. 

I ran into the centerfield seats and tried my luck there. I saw a guy with the last name “Carlyle” and he just fielded a ground ball. I quickly checked my pockets for my roster but i couldn’t find it. I had no time to lose so i kept on checking but right when he was about to throw it in i remembered his name. “BUDDY” i called out and he turned around. i jumped up and down like a wild child and he threw that same ball to me for my 6th ball of the day. This ball though came within inches of an older couple sitting in front of me and thank God it was high enough for me to make the catch without them getting hurt. Everyone in the stands though started complaining to Buddy about why he threw the ball to me and not them. His answer ” He’s wearing Braves stuff of course i’m gonna throw it to him”. Let that be a lesson to any ballhawks in the making. Wearing the opposing teams gear does give you an advantage over the home crowd. I then thought about when Zack brought his 4,000th career ball with him to a game and got it signed by Livan Hernandez who threw it to him in the first placee. I figured that would be pretty cool if i could get the ball that Carlyle threw to me and have him sign it. The ball isnt a milestone or anything but i figured if i have the opportunity to get it signed, might as well. So i walked down to the centerfield wall and Buddy was actually already standing their trying to talk Japanese to a Japanese Met fan… ok weird. Well i asked him if he could sign thew ball he gave me and he did. i threw it back to him, he signed it, and tossed it back. 

That did it for BP. I ended up with 6 balls during BP and i was dissapointed that i didn’t end up with 8 or 9. But considering how BP was i can’t really complain.

So gametime was about 30 minutes away and i headed to my seat in section 123 and waited until the players went out to stretch and throw. In the meantime i ate my dinner (a Stromboli roll and a yellow gatorade ) and wrote a more detailed explanation on how i got my 6 balls on the back of my roster. So after that a couple of Braves came out and began streching and only Martin Prado and Yunel Escobar were throwing. 

A couple of idiotic Mets fan were distracting Prado when he caught each throw and he was obviously was getting annoyed. He let one of the throws from Escobar sail over his head in attempt to hit the group of hecklers but instead it took a crazy hop and landed in the the Photographers Box. Some doofy kid taken pictures “of God knows what” scooped the ball up and held on to it. Can’t really blame him, would of done the same thing myself. So that was the extent of pre-game warm-up balls.

GAMETIME- So like i said before, my goal was to get a 3rd out ball and i was hoping to get one ASAP. Sure enough i didn’t have to wait very long after all. Bottom of the first Carlos Beltran grounded out to Yunel Escobar. Adam LaRoche was playing 1st and he started heading in with the ball. I was already down by the dugout waiting alongside with Brian. LaRoche  got his warm-up thrown to him and then he looked up into the crowd, looked right at me, and tossed it to me for my 7th ball of the night. I told Brian that i was done going after 3rd out ball’s. I wanted to give him chance at 1 since i got mine. Here it is

I figured that not many homeruns were going to be hit tonght because most of the hitters on both teams were lefties and i didn’t have a ticket for rightfield or the Pepsi Porch. So i decided to position myself for foul balls. i went up to section 124 where i noticed in past games alot of fould balls went in that general direction. So i grabbed a great aisle seat and sat back with my glove on and waited for my chance…………………………………………………………….

Before i knew it, it was the 9th inning… THE NINTH INNING and still not 1 ball in my area. Just my typical luck. Every other game i go to, there are plently of foul balls hit in that direction but tonight, NADA! So i figured that my only chances for another 3 balls were from Umpire balls and the relievers walking in from the dugout. Just then i got my chance. Daniel Murphy was up and he lifted a foul ball in my area. It wasn’t a pop up and it wasn’t exacltly a line drive either. It was kind of in between that so i didn’t have much time to react. I jumped out of my seat and instantly made a decision whether to go up or down the aisle. i decided to run up the aisle. i ran up one row and darted to my left (towards homeplate). along the way i ran into a guard rail (Gotta love those guard rails) and i felt a brief moment of pain but i just shrugged it off. As i running through the rows of seats i looked up and saw the ball. At the last second i put my glove up, leaned over the railing,  and made the catch. I looked in my glove just to make sure and it was there. My second career foul ball but more importantly, my first career foul ball caught on the fly. I have always wanted to catch a foul ball on the fly and tonight i finally did it. I was congratulated by a nice round of applause from the crowd and Greg and Brian came over and congratulated me as well. 

This is where i caught it (right above my hand)

So after the 3rd out was recorded i ran over to the tunnel where the umpires exit. I had no luck there so i ran over behind the dugout. Again no luck but thats ok. I caught a foul ball tonight including 7 other balls giving me a total of 8 for the day. That’s my new Citi Field record. Hopefully next year i’ll be able to break it.

Catch ya lata

Today was a day of remembrance. A day to look back on those
horrible attacks on 9/11/01 that left New York and America scarred forever. But
as we remember those who have fallen, we play baseball to pay tribute to those
brave men and women. And tonight’s game was being played in the Bronx only a
couple of miles away from where America was hit the hardest.

The Baltimore Orioles vs. The New York Yankees. September
11, 2009 at 7:05 PM Yankee Stadium. The only problem with that was that we did
not start playing at 7:05 PM. It was raining…a lot and we had no idea if
baseball was going to be played tonight. I had season tickets tonight with my
Dad and I specifically remember telling him in March when we got all of our
tickets that “we had to be at this game, that night is going to be special”. So when I woke up this morning I had
3 things on my mind.

1)   
See Derek Jeter pass Lou Gehrig on the Yankees all time hit
list eclipsing the 2,721 mark that Lou had held for over 70 years!

2)   
Get on TV with my sign that I made for Jeter.  I had already gotten on TV this season
by holding up my Mariano Rivera sign that I made when he came back to Yankee
Stadium for the first time after he got his 500^th sign. 

3)   
Snag my 100^th ball of the 2009 season. I don’t know
how many more regular season games I would be attending this year so I NEEDED
to get #100 tonight.

 

Out of all of those things, #1 was
most important. I’m sorry but Catching baseballs and getting Major Leaguers to
throw them to you are great and all but tonight was all about a once in a
lifetime opportunity and I did not want to miss it. My Grandfather saw Joe
DiMaggio play, my father saw Mickey Mantle play, and I saw Derek Jeter play.
For every Yankee fan across the Country, Derek is the modern day DiMaggio and
Mantle. I had to focus on the game. But until the game started I had a plan to
get #100. Plain and simple: wait next to the Orioles bullpen and try and get
Chris Tillman’s warm-up ball. So that’s what I did.

I arrived at the
Stadium around 6:45 PM. Naturally I would be panicking and rushing inside the
Stadium but with all of this rain coming down I had plenty of time to spare. I
entered the Stadium and made my way into Section 136 where you can stand right
next to the visiting team’s bullpen. 

I grabbed the corner spot where I had
gotten Jarrod Washburn to throw me his warm-up ball on June 30^th.
Unfortunately the genius architects who built this Hotel/5 Star
restaurant/Shopping Mall/and a baseball field forgot to put drains along the
aisles so I was standing in about 4 inches worth of water for over an hour.
Lovely. So around 7:55 PM, the Yankees PA announced that baseball will be
played and the start time was 8:20 PM. Excellent! Just then I saw a couple of
Oriole Coach’s emerge from the visitors dugout on the 3^rd base side
and made their way to the bullpen. Then Chris Tillman and Chad Moeller walked
out to centerfield and began stretching. I called out to Chris and wished him
luck tonight and he gave me a nod. By this time I had already switched into my
Orioles hat and I was just trying to grab the attention of whoever was on the
field so I had a better chance at a ball. With this crappy weather I was
willing to grab a ball from one of the coaches if I had to. Anyway, Tillman and
Moeller got done throwing in the outfield and began making their way into the
bullpen. I called out to Tillman and try to get his attention again but no
luck. He didn’t turn around at all. He just proceeded to go into the bullpen
and began throwing again. So I repositioned myself behind Tillman as he was
throwing to Moeller. I would of stayed in the corner spot but NYPD made me
move. Whatever, at least they didn’t make me go to my seat. So, Tillman who has
been throwing for a good 10 minutes by now finally gives the sign to Moeller
for ” one more pitch” and done. So I got my glove up and waited for the last
pitch. Tillman threw it, Moeller caught it, Moeller threw it back to Tillman,
and Tillman threw it to…NO ONE!  He
kept the ball that was completely useless to him. I mean he bounced it like 5
times and it had plenty of water in it now. Why would you keep the ball? So
that was it and as far as I’m concerned, I wasn’t getting a ball tonight. I
just wanted to sit with my Dad and witness history.

So I ran all the
way to Section 113 where my Dad and I had tickets for the night. Top of 1^st
went by and the Yanks were up and so was Jeter. Everyone was on their feet,
cameras out, signs up, waiting for history. History would have to wait for
another at bat for Jeter struck out. Before the inning ended Alex Rodriguez
smacked a 3 run homer to deep left field that put the Yankees up 3-0. Fast
forward to the bottom of the 3^rd inning. Derek Jeter steps up to the
plate for the second time and this time he would not disappoint. Jeter took
Tillman’s outside fastball and lined it down the 1^st baseline past
the diving Luke Scott! And with that hit Derek Jeter now stands alone as the
all time New York Yankees Hit King with 2,722 and counting! 

So I sat there for
another inning and when Jeter came up I held up my sign again. During Jeter’s
at bat I get a phone call from my buddy Mike. I looked at my phone and I said
to myself “you gotta be kddin me, I’m not picking up the phone now!” So I let
it go to voicemail and I continue holding my sign up. Jeter then strokes
another single to right field but the inning ended when Bret Gardner overran 3^rd
base and got tagged out to end the inning. So I put the sign down and I feel my
phone vibrating AGAIN! It was Mike again so I picked up this time. Before I
could even say wat up he started blurting, ” you got on you got on TV”… O
YEA!!! He asked me if I was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and my NY Home
jersey. I told him yes and he said that it was defiantly me. I look around me
and people around me were on their cell phones all looking at me. They must of
gotten calls from their family or whoever was watching the game and they must
of scene them in the background.

 I high fived a couple of people and I then
thought to myself what my goals were this morning. I saw Jeter get the hit, I
got on TV…and what was the last one…oh yea, get 100^th ball of the
season! I knew I could do it if I made an attempt at it so that’s what I
focused on. Before I knew it I had an opportunity to get it. A foul ball came
my way in the 5^th inning and I made a mad dash for it. I was holding
up my sign for whatever reason so I had to throw it down and make my way down
the aisle about 5 rows. I came up just a bit short though. A man SITTING DOWN
in the first row grabbed the ball before I could and that really got me angry.
I did however get a lot of praise from the fans in the section. They said they
liked my hustle and determination. Thanks…I guess. Anyway after that I hung
around for another inning and then I decided to make my move. I noticed a lot
of empty seats behind the Yankee’s dugout and I could maybe snag a 3^rd
out ball since everyone began leaving because it started raining again. Well
things just didn’t just go that go for me again because Edwar Ramirez got to
quick outs then imploded and couldn’t get another out. Joe Girardi had to pull
him and Sergio Mitre was called upon to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately the
rain kept on coming down and much harder now. I carefully watched the umpires
as they got together and then they finally gave the signal for the tarp to come
on and the players off the field. Typical luck, I got a great spot behind the
dugout and rain has to spoil it. Mitre wound up giving the ball away to some
rich kid behind the Yankees dugout. Don’t get me wrong. I love when little kids
get baseballs but I just don’t like it at Yankee Stadium because of those damn
Legends Seats. They are only affordable if you own a major corporation and/or
you are insanely hot and you married that major corporation owner. So the game
was in another rain delay and this one looked like it was going to cease play
and the game would be over. So I ran up for some shelter underneath the
overhang and met up with my dad. I thought that all my chances of snagging a
ball tonight were gone…. but wait. I looked towards the Yankee’s bullpen and
saw a couple of relievers still inside just standing and sitting around.
“That’s it!” I thought to myself. I told my dad I’d be right back and to wait
here. 

So I quickly made my way around the field from 1^st base into
the right field seats in Section 103. On the way I found a blue umbrella that
came EXTREMELY handy. Me being the clown that I am, was wearing a Yankee’s wind
breaking that wasn’t very water resistant. So with out that umbrella I would
have been soaked so if anyone is reading this and you left a blue umbrella at
the game, Thank you! Anyway, I finally made my way next to the netting wear you
can watch the players in the bullpen. I immediately recognized Phil Hughes and
Phil Coke who were both tossing a ball up in the air for fun. Their was also
another reliever inside the pen with them as well. I looked closely and noticed
that it was the rookie Michael Dunn. So I patiently stood there in the pouring
rain waiting for some type of opportunity to present itself. I must have been
standing there for over 15 minutes when I found myself staring at the big
screen. They were showing the grounds crew and how they took care of the field
before and after the games. I know really intriguing stuff right. I then look
down and I see that someone was walking towards the bullpen door to come
outside. I immediately gathering all my attention towards whoever it was and
got my glove ready just in case. Turns out that it was Michael Dunn and what
did he have with him…. A ball! Was that ball for me? Was he going to throw it to
one of the fans in the bleachers? Was he just looking at the field and just
happened to have a ball in his hand? Before I could answer any of these
questions I see him gesturing to me to put my glove up. He wanted to throw the
ball to me! So I threw the umbrella down and put my glove up. He lofted the
ball up and I made the easiest one-handed catch of my life and it may be the
most gratifying ball I’ve ever snagged. Whoever said patience is a virtue is a
genius because tonight my patience paid off and I was handsomely reward with my
100^th ball of the 2009 season and my 106^th of my career. 

After that I ran back over to my Dad showed him the ball and we had to leave
because he had to get up early for work. I NEVER leave games early but tonight
was an exception for I got everything I wanted to accomplish.

So the Yanks eventually finished the game around 1am and they lost. No big deal considering what happened to night. Not all stories can end on a good note but this story does. I saw history tonight and made some of my own tonight. 

catch ya lata

September 11^th, 2009

         People
across the country and even around the world know what this date means in
American history. This is a date that will never be forgotten and is still
brought up everyday in daily conversations. People in San Francisco talk about
it, People in Europe read about it, and people in Australia read and talk about
it as well. But as much as they talk or learn about that day and what it means,
most do not know what it felt like when New York and the rest of America was
devastated by the terrorists attack of September 11^th, 2001. I did
though. I live on the south shore of Long
Island about 50 miles away from where the Towers used to stand.               

     I first found
out about the attack on the Towers when I was sitting in my 7^th
grade English class. Teachers started running around from room to room alerting
one another. Now most of us sitting there were dumfounded by the whole scenario
because most of us were unfamiliar with the Twin Towers and what they stood
for. All we knew was that an airplane crashed into one of them and shortly
after that, a second plane came crashing into the other one. We had no idea
that it was a terrorist attack. The next thing I knew was we were all being
sent home and for the next 6 hours I sat in front of the television and watched
the events unfold as they happened. I would look outside from time to time and
look towards the sky and what did I see…smoke. Even a 7^th grader
could comprehend what that meant.

            So
every year since that unforgettable day, we pay tribute to the brave men and
women who sacrificed their lives to protect the lives of others. And one way we
pay tribute is by playing America’s National Past Time: Baseball and on
September 11^th, 2009 that’s exactly what we did in the Bronx, New
York.