If you live anywhere in the Northeast, you've probably experienced some snow in the past few days. 

Here in Western Pennsylvania we got 21 inches.  The snow began to fall on Friday afternoon, and didn't let up for 24 hours.  The meteorologists were way wrong.  They originally called for 4-8 inches for the Pittsburgh area.  Clearly, they botched that call.

Here's how it piled up in my backyard, all 21 inches of it:

A look at my backyard. 

My neighbor's pine tree snapped in half from the weight of the snow and fell into my yard:

I decided to go to Piratefest today with the intention of coming away with a bunch of giveaway items without spending much cash.  Last year, the Pirates were basically giving away the items on Sunday. 

However, 1,200 more fans showed up this year on Sunday than last year.  The crowd was almost double what it was last year on the final day, and I wasn't happy about it.

I arrived at the Convention Center at 12:09 PM, nine minutes after the gates opened, and found an obscene line that wound all around the lobby of the convention center.

I ended up waiting in the slow moving line for twelve minutes before I finally reached the ticket scanner.  Adding to my annoyance was the fact that some overweight guy stepped on the back of my shoe three different times during the ultra slow procession. 

When I got into the Convention Center I decided to go check out the MVP Zone.

Ross Ohlendorf and Lastings Milledge were both signing.  I needed both of them on my team baseball, so I waited for their autograph.

Lastings Milledge was very anti-social and couldn't even murmur a hello when I said "Hi Lastings, would you sign my baseball please." 

Ross Ohlendorf on the other hand analyzed the texture of the baseball and located the impact point where it landed in batting practice.  He's a pretty smart guy.

I walked around for about an hour, but the lines for everything were long.   The entertainment really wasn't doing it for me either.  How many times can you see the Pirates version of Deal or No Deal and still be entertained.  The offers given by the banker are one of five different fabulous prizes such as delivering the lineup card, throwing out the first pitch, watching batting practice on the field, or changing third base with the grounds crew.

After awhile I noticed that Neil Walker and Andy Laroche were in the MVP zone signing autographs.  Needing them both on my baseball, I stood in line.

Walker probably won't make the team out of Spring Training, and likely won't stick with the Pirates unless his position is switched from third base to elsewhere.

Andy Laroche  on the other hand, has about two and a half months to make a big impression on Pirates management.

Pedro Alvarez will be up sometime in June, and LaRoche will be bumped from third base.  I see one of three things happening with LaRoche at that point.  One, he moves to a backup/utility role.  Second, he is traded for a prospect or two.  Or third, he moves to second base, and Akinori Iwamura is traded to open up a starting spot for LaRoche.  If I had to guess, I'd say option #3 is most likely given the Pirates' recent trade history.

Later, I watched Andrew McCutchen face off with fans on the game guitar hero.  It was sort of anti-climatic. 

I noticed Pittsburgh Post Gazette reporter Dejan Kovacevic on the opposite side snapping photos for the Post Gazette.  Later on that day, this picture appeared online on the Post Gazette Website:

Can you spot me?  I'm in the extreme upper left corner.  Standing next to me is fellow PNC ballhawk Nick Pelescak.  Nick by the way, is working on starting his own blog, which I'll link whenever he gets it up and running.

After another hour passed, I made my way back to the MVP Zone and stood in line for Steve Blass and Daniel McCutchen. 

I didn't want to appear rude, so I gave Blass a semi beat up decoy ball to sign.  He signed it real nice, and added 1971 W.S. Champions to his signature.

Daniel McCutchen, a possibility to be the Pirates' fifth starter in 2010, signed my team baseball.

Then, I made my way over to the grab bag station.  I had been waiting for the grab bags to drop in price all day long.  There was no way I was shelling out $20 for a poor quality gym bag that contained two bobbleheads, a give away T-shirt, a mug, and a Pirates hat.  It wasn't worth it.  If they would drop the price to $10 each like last year, I might've taken the chance, just to find some free infield box seat ticket vouchers that had been randomly inserted.

Unfortunately, the price never dropped, and they ran out around 3PM, with two full hours of Piratefest remaining.

One positive is that they gave away all of the prizes from damaged bags.  The bags were routinely damaged by people rummaging around in the grab bag bin, and climbing over the bags.  The ripped bags were discarded and all of the items were placed on a table near the entrance of the grab bag bin.  I helped myself to about five or so Ryan Doumit bobbleheads,  several Paul Maholm bobbleheads and maybe seven Pirates mugs.  Also on the table were give away hats and T-Shirts but I have enough of those.

I watched another game of Deal or No Deal because there wasn't much else to do besides stand in long lines.  Andrew McCutchen was the banker.

He was a little more interesting in that he offered random things in addition to the Pirates predetermined offers.  He offered stuff from his wallet like a Subway Card, his Blockbuster Card, and his MLB Players Union ID Card.

At 4PM, I finally stood in line for the Chuck a Luck, as I noticed the attendants had started giving away three prizes for every spin.  I stood in line for twenty minutes for two spins. 

Then, I made my way over to the Pirates clubhouse store.  I had really wanted to buy an Andrew McCutchen T-Shirt on Friday, but restrained, balking at the $27 price tag.  Considering that I barely spent any money today on games, and took most of the prizes for free from the Grab Bag giveaways, I decided to cave in. 

I bought the McCutchen T-Shirt, that you'll likely see me wearing on occasion at PNC Park this summer.

Here's everything I came away with from the final day of Piratefest 2010. 
My next entry will likely be about the Ballhawk League, Season 2.  Stay tuned for that.

I had hoped to get a video and post it here of the much anticipated unveiling of the Mazeroski statue, which will be placed outside of PNC Park, but it didn't happen.  The statue unveiling was for the local media only and occurred at lunchtime.

I arrived at the David L Lawrence Convention Center around 3:15.  There was a substantial line that had already formed.
This was the season ticket holder line, and most of the folks in line were there to get Bill Mazeroski's autograph.  He would begin to sign at 4PM, right when the doors open.

Sure enough, when the gates opened, that's exactly where everyone headed - the autograph line.  I stood in line for almost 45 minutes to get Mazeroski's autograph.
I'm not one for autographs, but I wanted to get Mazeroski's. After all, he is a Hall of Famer and hit the most dramatic home run in World Series history.

A closer look at the autograph participants:
Joel Hanrahan:
Steven Pearce:

Bill Mazeroski:

I got Maz to sign one of my decoy balls.  
His signature was really nice.  Very legible.  He added HOF 01 - (Hall of Fame 2001)

After getting autographs I played a few games.  It's the same basic stuff that's there every year.    Sneakily, the Pirates added a bunch of NOT A WINNER 'prizes' to the $1 prize wheel.  Really?  I spent two bucks and got 'not a winner' both times.  Grand.

After winning a Honus Wagner figurine at the Bucco game (aka Plinko), I headed over to the MVP Zone.  Evan Meek and Garrett Jones were signing. 

Perfect.  I needed to get Jones on my 2010 Pirates baseball.  Since I'd already had Meek sign the ball, I asked him to sign the 2010 Pirates schedule poster that were given away to all fans upon entrance to the Convention center.

Meek immediately recognized me, "Hey man, I see you everywhere!" He said. 

Seconds before I had a chance to get to Jones, he popped out of his chair and left.  He had to go host 'Press Your Buc,' so I literally missed getting him to sign my team baseball by seconds. 

I headed over to watch 'Press your Buc,' hosted by Joe Klimchak (ballpark host) and Garrett Jones. 

It wasn't that great.   They basically took the 90 second ballpark between inning game and tried to turn it into a 45 minute affair.  It got old after a few minutes.    The prizes given away were Rice a Roni, Turtle Wax, Honeysuckle Turkeys, two tickets to a game, Lexus Club Seats, a Garrett Jones baseball, and a CD/DVD Prize Pack.

Jones didn't do much except for hand out the prizes.

After Press Your Buc, I had something to eat, and then returned for Match Game.
There were two contestants chosen to answer questions such as "Andrew McCutchen is so fast his __ almost fell off when he ran the bases,"  or  "On a recent road trip Paul Maholm became worried when he realized he forgot to pack his ___."

The panel consisted of six Pirates.  On the top row from left to right are Charlie Morton, Neil Walker, and Evan Meek.  On the lower row is Ross Ohlendorf on the left, followed by Joel Hanrahan and Paul Maholm.
I left half way through Match Game when a two or three year old child was called up on stage to be one of the contestants. 

I decided that I wouldn't be able to sit through that.

I walked the floor of Piratefest and played a few games and browsed a few jerseys (none of which were cheaper than $125 (Chris Bootcheck)).

The autograph line at this point was ridiculously long.

Probably because this guy was signing.

Pittsburgh's next star : Andrew McCutchen.

I stopped by and looked at all of the giveaway items that the Pirates will hand out during the 2010 season.

There are going to be six hats:
Out of those three, I like the Stars and Stripes cap the best.

The other three hats:
Of course there's a new style of BP cap this year, after I just bought last year's version about a month ago. 

The hats look very nice, but beware - there are grotesque ads on the backs of each hat.  Also, most giveaway hats don't fit me right.  A lot of them sit real high on my head, leaving an inch between my ears and the hat, which just looks silly.  I rarely wear Pirates give away hats out in public for that reason.

New in 2010 are Photo Canvas wraps.  For those wondering what the heck those are, here you go:

Also set to be given away in 2010 are a beach towel, a hat and gloves set, and a Pirates fleecie (snuggie).

We'll also see a mug, an Andrew McCutchen Bobblehead, and a Garrett Jones action figure.

There'll also be an aluminum water bottle, and a cup/lunch bag for kids.

After checking out the giveaways I went to watch the Question and Answer session for Pirates management.

The most pointed questions were, "How in God's name did you not sign Miguel Sano, and why didn't someone take the fall when it didn't happen,"  and, "How didn't you get a body for Matt Capps."

Neal Huntingdon and Frank Coonelly did most of the talking and gave long, complete answers, which made it boring.  The crowd wasn't spectacularly fired up or anything, so I went to go get a few autographs from the MVP zone.

Or not.  I guess anyone that buys a friggin 8 game plan is allowed in the MVP Zone now, because the line extended halfway across the convention center.  Ridiculous.  How about a seperate line for 81 game season ticket holders.

At 8 PM, I watched some dude beat 8 little kids by eating 18 Pierogies in three minutes.
Gross.

Having pretty much seen everything else, I left. 

Here's the items that I picked up at games or booths throughout Piratefest.

I'll be back at Piratefest on Sunday. 

I made my way to Washington PA to see some of the Pittsburgh Pirates on one of their Winter Caravan stops.

I spent four years of my life in Washington while I went to college at Washington and Jefferson.  Going back there always brings back memories of the time I spent there.  I'd consider moving back to Washington when I'm ready to buy my next house someday.

But anyhow, I arrived about 5:30.  This was pretty early because the Pirates tour bus wasn't even there yet.  I thought about going to one of my favorite restaurants, Old Mexico, but figured it'd be stupid to go solo.  So, I walked to the Target next door and browsed around until 6PM or so.

Soon, the Pirates tour bus would pull into the lot.
When I entered Dick's, I was surprised at how long the line was already.

I ended up standing near the entrance, and entire store length away from the action.  Luckily I went in when I did, because the line ended up snaking around the entire store.

At 6:30, Greg Brown came out after a Pirates 2009 'highlights' video and introduced each player that would sign autographs.  We all had to stand through about 90 seconds of video highlights for each player, which seemed a bit much, especially since I had already been standing in line and wanted the line to get moving.

Once the players settled in, the autograph session began, and the line sporadically inched closer to the players.

One downside of the wait was that I had little kids behind me and in front of me who would not stop messing around with the balloons they were given.  It was really annoying.  Luckily, I passed the time with various apps on my IPhone.

Eventually I got close enough to see the players.

I took pictures when I was a few feet away from the autograph table.

On the far left there was Evan Meek:

To his left was Andrew McCutchen:

Seated in the center of the table was manager John Russell:
and Kevin Hart and Bob Walk sat on the far end.
When I got up to the line I just took one of the free player photos that Walk and Hart had pre-signed. 

When I got to Russell I asked him to sign my 2010 Pirates baseball.  Of course Russell took the sweet spot, just like last year.  He then inspected the ball and asked, "Is this a gamer?  Where'd you get it?" 

He must have noticed that the ball was well rubbed up.  "Yeah," I said.  "I caught it in batting practice." 

I had Andrew sign the ball next. 

Finally, I had Evan Meek sign a separate ball, since he had already signed my 2010 Pirates baseball.

"Hey man, I recognize you," he said.

We had talked on Sunday at Seven Springs about Dave Matthews Band for a bit.  We also had a similar conversation at the Pirates batting practice event about a month ago.

Meek asked if I'd be at Piratefest this weekend and I told him I would be.  It'd be nice to make friends with a Pirate.  It could lead to a few extra balls being thrown at batting practice.

After getting the autographs, I spun the prize wheel and won an umbrella (like I don't have six of the exact same ones already) and left.

Next up is Friday Jan 29, which will be Piratefest and the expected unveiling of the new Bill Mazeroski statue.

Today was the kickoff of the Pirates 2010 Winter Caravan.  I made the trip to Seven Springs with a couple fellow Pirates fans and got there just as folks were being let in.

Upon entering the room I was shocked by the amount of people that had crammed into this somewhat small convention hall.  The autograph line snaked around the entire room and out the door. 

I decided just to walk around and check things out.  There wasn't too much more to see.  On one side of the room there was a 'Chuck-a-Luck' wheel, a Guitar Hero station, and a raffle for various (that you had to pay $2 per entry).  On the opposite side of the room there were two more video game stations featuring a baseball game for Wii, a radio booth where Rocco Demaro set up, and a face painting station.  On one side of the room was a stage for Pirates Deal or No Deal, and the autograph line on the other.  In the middle there was a kiosk for season ticket sales.

That was about it.

I spun the wheel, which was being manned by Garrett Jones and Kevin Hart.  I came away with a Pirates Reusable Grocery Bag.  Garrett Jones and I are about the same exact size.

Later on, Evan Meek was working the booth.  On my second spin I won an umbrella and he said, "Just take whatever you want dude."  I grabbed a Paul Maholm bobblehead.

Meek looks kind of p*ssed in the photo above, doesn't he?

In the meantime, I got Ross Ohlendorf's autograph on a ball that I'm trying to get all the players to sign.  I'm not a big autograph hound by any stretch of the imagination.  I just get one ball signed by all of the players each year, and that's enough for me.  I'm not like some of these guys that run around with their baseball card books all game long chasing after players. 

Soon, the Pirates' Trivia contest hosted by Greg Brown and Steve Blass was to get underway.

I was armed with a secret weapon : my Iphone.  I would be able to look up the answers as we went along if I needed to.  Cheating?  Yes.

Each member of the audience was provided with an answer sheet and pencil.  Ten questions were read and then corrected by members of the Pirates Cannonball Crew.

I ended up double checking about three of my answers on my iPhone.  Those were questions about the 1960 Pirates that I needed to look up, such as who hit the home run prior to Mazeroski's in Game 7 to make the score 9-7.  I also looked up Harvey Haddix's 1960 World Series ERA (2.45).  However, I only got a 9/10.

The question I missed was: "Andrew McCutchen was named the National League Rookie of the Year by which publication?" My friend said Sporting News before the multiple choice answers were read, so when Blass gave the option D) Sporting News, I wrote it down.    It ended up being Baseball America.  Some guy behind me got a perfect score and won 2 Box Seats to a game.

Oh well.  Deal or No Deal would be up next.  Maybe I would be selected for that.  Or not.

Tim Neverett killed Deal or No Deal.  He was an awful host.  All three contestants were little kids, chosen by Neverett.  The oldest of the kids is in the photo above.  He was like eight, and ended up winning the 20 game plan (grand prize).

When the third and final contestant was chosen, a little girl that was maybe six, I got up and left along with several other adults.  I hadn't been informed that this was Deal or No Deal Junior Edition.

I walked around for a bit more, but there wasn't much to do because the entertainment was frustrating (Deal or No Deal), and the autograph line was ridiculously long (still)

I was hoping to bump into Andrew McCutchen, but he was always busy talking to someone.

I left around 7, coming away with one Ross Ohlendorf autograph, a Paul Maholm bobblehead, a Pirates Grocery Bag, and several 2010 Pirates pocket schedules.

Next stop for me:
Tuesday January 26th - Dick's Sporting Goods in Washington PA.

I snapped a few more pictures with my Iphone on the way out:


By the way, I read on Pirates.com the following earlier today:
PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates kicked off the organization's week-long Winter Caravan with record-setting attendance at Sunday evening's gathering at Seven Springs Mountain Resort.

I think most folks were after Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones' autographs.  They're a step up from last year's signees.

I am now a season ticket holder for three different MLB teams.

I've been a full 81 game season ticket holder since November 2006 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and will continue renewing my tickets as long as they have the early entrance perk for their season ticket holders.

Recently, I wrote about the possibility of becoming a partial season ticket holder for the Cincinnati Reds.  The Reds as you may remember will welcome their season ticket holders into the park an extra 30 minutes early, just like at PNC Park and Camden Yards. 

I decided that it would be well worth it to invest $81 for 13 games just for that perk alone.

Here's an email I got from my Reds' rep:


I didn't stop there. 

As I compiled my master 2010 list of the games that I'd like to attend, I noticed that there were about 22 or so Cleveland Indians games listed at Progressive Field.

I started browsing the Indians' site and decided that it would make sense to buy a 20 game plan.  I chose the 20 game Flex plan and picked out 20 of the games that I planned on attending in 2010.

There were several times in 2009 where I passed Gate C and there was nobody in line.  By the time I walked around and got my ticket, a person or two would be there, thwarting my ability to be the first one into the stadium.  Now, I'll have my tickets ahead of time.

The season ticket price for the 20 game plan?  $140. 

By the way, the Indians' invited me to a STH only event:

I doubt I'll drive two hours just for that though. 

In other matters, next week will be pretty busy.  I plan on attending two Pirates Caravan stops and attending two days of Piratefest next weekend.  So, keep an eye out for those entries.

In February, I want to open up a discussion about the Ballhawk League and discuss possible rule changes and recruit more members.

I've booked my Spring Training trip for March.  I will attend four Spring Training games.  Can't wait for that.  It's been awhile since I've been to a game.

(Update)
A couple folks were curious about Pirates' season tickets.  The Pirates haven't raised ticket prices since after the 2001 season.  The last time they did, it followed a 100+ loss campaign and was met with public fury.  Season ticket prices have remained the same ever since.  I doubt they will raise them until they finally manage a winning season.

Here's a snapshot of the Pirates' prices for all 81 games (full season):

The prices pale in comparison to a large market team.  Like the Mets....
So, Western Pennsylvania may not be a great area to live to see winning baseball, but its a great place to see affordable baseball.

The big news today in baseball is that Mark McGwire has admitted to using steroids throughout his major league career.

McGwire went on the hit 583 career home runs, the eighth most all time.  At the time of his retirement, McGwire was considered a possible unanimous pick for baseball's Hall of Fame.  Since he has been eligible for election, he has failed to ever garner more than 24% of the vote. (75% is needed to be enshrined)

Mark was recently hired as the hitting coach for the St Louis Cardinals and has decided to come clean so as not to be a distraction or burden to the team.  Questions about his steroid use would've lingered throughout the season.

I'm glad McGwire apologized and came clean.  I always had a sense that McGwire had done steroids along with Sosa, Bonds, and Palmeiro.  At least McGwire never lied about taking steroids, or mysteriously forgot how to speak English when asked about his steroid use (Sosa).

Therefore, when McGwire and the Cardinals make their several trips to PNC Park this summer, I will not boo.  I will not taunt.  I will welcome McGwire back and cheer him. 

From a ballhawking perspective, this is a fantastic thing.  The Cardinals had an extreme opposite field approach last year and yielded very little home runs during batting practice.  Hopefully Big Mac can get them to go long ball a little more often in batting practice.

As for his Hall of Fame bid, I don't think McGwire will ever get into the Hall of Fame.  He is forever tarnished.  If I had a vote, even though I would want to vote for him, I couldn't.

From those players who began their careers in the early 1990's the only true sluggers that I would vote for when they would retire would be Jim Thome, Ken Griffey Jr, and Chipper Jones.  Recently retired Frank Thomas would also get my vote.

McGwire is an admitted steroid user and may now become the litmus test for the steroid era.  If he doesn't get close to being inducted into the Hall of Fame, I don't see how Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez or Alex Rodriguez can get in.

The home run crown has lost it's glitter.  Some baseball purists refuse to recognize Bonds as the best home run hitter of all time.  I just hope that Albert Pujols one day hits #763 to surpass Bonds so we have a true home run king of all time.  And I hope McGwire is the first one to congratulate him at home plate when he does.

One of the more interesting things to do as a ballhawk or baseball fan in general is travel to a new stadium for the first time.  There's nothing quite like taking in a brand new stadium, especially from a ballhawking perspective. 

I'm planning to visit at least two new stadiums for the first time in 2010.  I figured since I have some time now in my evenings, that I would see how far it is to the various 29 other major league stadiums in terms of miles as well as drive time.

Without further delay, here's the list (distances and drive times are from Google Maps):
The next five closest stadiums that I've never visited:
Comerica Park (Detroit) 4 hours 27 minutes
Rogers Center (Toronto) 5 hours 0 minutes
Yankee Stadium (New York) 6 hours 0 minutes
Citi Field (New York) 6 hours 9 minutes
US Cellular Field (Chicago) 7 hours 4 minutes

Of those five, Toronto shows up on my tentative schedule of possible games the most amount of times.

Anyone else planning any 2010 road trips?

There's not much to write about during the offseason, so I'll try to blog about any little thing that I can that is related to baseball.

I got the mail today and saw that there was a white envelope from the Pirates.  Inside there were several papers.

The first was a letter from my season ticket representative that outlined several benefits for season ticket holders, such as early entrance to PirateFest, an opportunity to buy tickets before the general public, and the MVP Zone (a season ticket holder only area at PirateFest).

There was a small pamphlet also included with the following information:

STH Referral Program:
"Season Ticket Holders are encouraged to utilize their relationship with the Pirates and their personal account representative.  The following incentives are available for Season Ticket Holders to earn by submitting referrals to the Pirates:

$7,000+ Game Day Suite for 19 people, Replica Gold Glove Autographed by Bill Mazeroski

$2,000-$6,999 Four Tickets for the Lexus Club + Autographed Andrew McCutchen Bat

$250-$1,999 Four Tickets for the Club Level + Autographed Garrett Jones Baseball"

So, has anyone been thinking about buying season tickets?

If you are, I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have about being a season ticket holder.  This will be my fourth season as a full season ticket holder.

If not, then when you buy your season tickets, mention my name, if this blog has in any way motivated you to buy them.

Thank you very much.

Also in the packet was special pricing on World Series Suites, but since most of us aren't millionaires, I won't write about it, (do you really have $3,400 laying around and want to go to a game with your friends?).

Additionally, there was a PNC Park seating chart with a pricing breakdown of each seating category.  There was an included order form so that season ticket holders can buy additional tickets.

I am thinking about buying seats in center field on Sunday afternoon games at the season ticket holder price of $12.  If you remember, the center field ushers like to hassle us ballhawks on occasion, especially if we don't have a seat in that section.  (Even when there are a dozen people in the entire section).

Finally there was information on Piratefest.
(Can you spot the typo in the picture above?
No?  Saturday January 30th 10:00 PM - 8:00 PM.
Someone's going to get reprimanded for that one.)

Anyway... Apparently, the only day with early entrance for Season Ticket holders is Friday.  Last year, we were also allowed in an hour early on Sunday. 

Pirates in attendance at Piratefest will be Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones, Ryan Doumit, Zach Duke, Paul Maholm, Ross Ohlendorf, and 'many more.'

Tickets will be $12 for adults and $4 for kids 14 and unders.  If I'm not mistaken, it was $10 last year for adults. 

That's about it. 

Happy New Year everyone. 

It's time to set some New Year's Resolutions.

Snagging Related:

1)  Attend 90 games (which would set a mygameballs.com season record).

Last year I attended 81 games, which was well short of the 100 that I scheduled myself to attend.  There were quite a few days where I simply stayed home due to rain, or didn't feel like taking a road trip to Baltimore.

This year, I've made a schedule of games that I'm planning on attending.

The breakdown looks like this:
April
13 possible games (13)
9 likely to attend (9)
11 attended in 2009 (11)

May
18 possible games (30)
11 likely (20)
17 attended in 2009 (28)

June
24 possible games (54)
19 likely games (39)
17 attended in 2009 (45)

July
21 possible games (75)
19 likely games (58)
4 games attended in 2009 (49)

August
25 possible games (100)
20 likely games (78)
20 games attended in 2009 (69)

September/October
15 possible games (115)
13 likely games (91)
12 games attended in 2009 (81)

I've included my 2009 games attended for perspective.  It looks like I'll likely get off to a slow start in April and May, but should start putting up big numbers come June.

2)  Snag career ball #1,000

I'd like to get ball number 1,000 in 2010.    Ball #422 of 2010 will be the one thousandth of my career.  Considering that I snagged 412 in 2009, I think that snagging 422 is feasible.    When will it happen?  I'll offer a Nostradamus like prediction of Saturday September 11, 2010 in Cleveland, and it will be a Target Field commemorative ball from the Minnesota Twins.

3)  Snag 500 balls in 2010

Lots of IFs involved in this resolution.  If I attend 90 games, I'd need to average 5.56 balls per game, almost a full half ball per game above my 2009 average.  There's only been one other ballhawk to achieve this plateau, and that's Zack Hample (twice).

4)  Snag at least one game home run ball

I should be able to snag at least one home run ball if I make a concerted effort to stay through the games in home run territory.  Especially at Cleveland in their Toyota Home Run Porch that is a standing room only area in left field.

Personal Related:

1)  Continue to work out every day

I started this mid way though 2009, and plan to keep it as part of my routine.  I may have to do it in the mornings during the summer if I'm going to stay at any of these baseball games.

2)  Rep 300 lbs on the bench press (5 sets of 10 reps)

Since I lift alone, I don't focus on 'maxing-out' since I don't have a spotter.  I focus on lifting a weight that is manageable to bench press.  If I can do 5 sets of 10 reps with 300 lbs, I'll be very happy.

3)  Be more frugal with my money at baseball games / on baseball trips.

Remember that last game of the season in Cincinnati?  Yeah, I spent $100 for that front row seat behind the Pirates dugout.    My goal this year is to keep the expenses way down.  In fact, I'm thinking about adding a $ spent stat to each game and tallying up how much money I spent on baseball during the 2010 regular season.