The first ball I caught on Saturday's game - the top of the 4th inning - Melky Cabrera was playing in center - he made the last out of the inning and tossed the ball right to ME! It wasn't difficult to catch considering he threw it right to me... and there was nothing but drunken idiots in my section who were more interested in spitting game at the what I guess passes for good looking in the Bronx... I'll take California or Southern girls any day...
Anyway, this is my FIRST game-used ball - I didn't catch it outright, but it was still game-used, so it totally counts! I don't actually have a picture of that ball because my phone ran out of juice right after I took this picture of me in my seat (that yes, you've seen before...)
The second ball was the next day, Sunday's game when I was actually able to go to batting practice (more on why I couldn't Saturday later) - the Yanks had just started BP - here's my view from the right field wall:
The wall is only 314 feet down the line, so you know we were going to get a ton of chances... and the first crack we heard was while Derek Jeter was hitting - and there was a line drive coming directly to my right... I lunged about five feet to my right, on top of the wall, scuffing my shorts and knocking over (not really, but kinda) two dude to my right... but the ball ended up in my glove, so those guys can SUCK IT! I kid, I kid... but not really... I was able to take this picture after I got to my regular seat:
I actually got two more balls during BP, but I was so happy in catching them (and really, one per game is all I need) that I ended up giving the other two away - one to the daughter of the dude I befriended on the wall, a union carpenter and lifelong Yankee fan from Jersey named Rico - no, I'm not making that up - and the other to a kid who MAY have had a chance to catch the ball that I caught from Jeter... And yes, to answer your question, it felt awesome and it made their day, and yes, I was hoping for some Karma from it, which came last night...
The Giants were playing the Rockies, and since it was going to be my last night at AT&T Park, I decided to splurge on the best seats in all of baseball... so close I could literally touch the warning track right next to the third base side... I could see all the way into the Giants dugout, was right next to the bullpen and saw Randy Johnson warm up from ten feet away, after he walked 18 inches in front of me on his way to the bullpen...
At any rate, I wanted to get two balls tonight at least because it was Mel's first ball game, and I wanted her to have a good experience - we tried getting some home run balls during BP, but I wasn't really into that and didn't really try that hard, so I moved around to the left field seats to try to get a ball that I saw laying on the ground...
This is the glove trick in action - that's not me, but you get the idea - you basically get a rubber band around your glove, then lower it with string onto the ball... the weight of the glove causes the ball to expand the rubber band and then it contracts again after the ball has passed, and then you haul it up...
Well that would have worked fine except a stupid security guard literally came out of the groundskeeping tunnel and KICKED my glove so the ball flew out, then told me that it was illegal to do that, even though there were a half dozen other guys doing the same thing along the outfield fence - when I pointed that out to him, he told me that that wasn't his jurisdiction... are you kidding me? What kind of pompous jackass are we dealing with? The ball wasn't being used, it was just sitting there and he feels the power-trip necessity to KICK it out of my glove? How about communicating your feelings of sexual inadequacy using words instead of letting your Napolean complex run your meaningless little life?
No, I'm not bitter at all...
Anyway, after that we decided to get to our super-awesome seats and start talking players, who were warming up along the foul lines, into getting us some balls... during Rockies BP there was a ball tantalizingly close, but about five feet out of reach... luckily it stayed there long enough for a groundskeeper to toss it to us (word of advice - always be nice to everybody, because you never know when something like that's going to happen - I had a mini conversation with this groundskeeper and I told Mel that if he had a chance, he would get me that ball, because he liked me and I was nice to him... yep... score one for niceness...)
After a half dozen close calls, when balls would be hit foul then creep along the fence, me just waiting for them, only to take a bad bounce and head back onto the field, I finally got one thrown to me by Buster Posey, a top catching prospect and someone who should make a dent in the league in the years to come...
So that was number two... which makes six balls in three games, even though Mel kept one and I gave two away to kids on Sunday...
I love getting balls at games, but I've vowed to not let it run my life to the point that I can't enjoy the game unless I get one - it was like that a little bit at Yankee Stadium, and I was tense last night the whole night until I got two in the bag... I am headed to Angel Stadium the weekend after this one and I'd like to be able to get one there, too - but if not, oh well...
Oh, and if this were my little girl I don't know what I'd do... let this be a lesson to all fathers out there... HOLD ONTO THE BALL UNTIL YOU GET HOME!!
Although I have to say that his reaction is great... No hard feelings, kid - he's a better man than I am...
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