March 2009

3-30-09 McKechnie Field, Bradenton FL

My dad and I headed to our last Spring Training game on this short trip: Reds vs Pirates at McKechnie Field in Bradenton FL. 
100_0449.jpg
We got to the field around 10:20 AM and the Pirates were already half way through their round of batting practice.  Luckily, we were once again able to access the spot behind the left field fence.  I was told by a guy on Saturday that during the week the area behind the fence was off limits.  He was wrong.
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FINAL SPRING TRAINING STATISTICS:
Total Balls: 9
Games Attended: 3
Average: 3.0
Hit: 6
Thrown: 2
Device: 1
Total Career Spring Training Balls: 9

Note: I do not count these balls in my totals.  They will be tracked in a separate category and I will not count them in my career ball totals.

3-29-09 GMS Field, Tampa FL

Unfortunately, batting practice was wiped out by thunderstorms that rolled through last night.  When we arrived at the field just after 11AM, the tarp was still on.  My only hope of getting a ball would be to have one thrown to me. 
100_0362.jpgI was sort of miserable during this game due to some severe burning on my hands that I guess came from the sun.  When we went in, 4/5′s of the Yankees starting rotation was warming up in right field: Andy Pettitte, Chien Ming Wang, CC Sabathia, and Joba Chamberlain.    After warming up, they threw their balls to a few little kids in the Tampa Tribune Deck area.  They went over to the bullpen and threw their side sessions. 
100_0369.jpgSecurity was ridiculous for a spring training game.  There is a circular walk way that is above the bullpen.  There were three security guards walking back and forth and enforcing a rule that all fans had to stay at least 2 feet back from the railing.  I mean, seriously?   I didn’t attempt to get a ball from Sabathia or Chamberlain after their side sessions because there were so many fans.  I had also noticed that the Pirates pitchers came out to stretch.
100_0370.jpgThey soon started throwing along the left field line.  I politely asked an usher if I could go down to the front behind where they were throwing.  It was sprinkling, and there was maybe 10 fans in all of the sections along the 3rd base line.  He told me I had to have a ticket, no exceptions.  So, I stood above the Pirates bullpen, along a railing.  Craig Hansen was throwing with some minor leaguer, Denny Bautista was tossing with #83, Chris Bootcheck was tossing with strenghth coach Frank Velazquez, and Sean Burnett was tossing with Jason Davis. 

Hansen finished tossing first.  My dad and I were the only ones along the railing by the Pirates bullpen.  I called down to him, “Craig, could you toss that ball up!”  He looked and me, and threw it with some nice authority.  It was ball #1.  Hansen then ran his sprints.
100_0372.jpgI asked Burnett, Velazquez, Bautista and #83 for their warm up balls, but was ignored.

We left and got something to eat and found our seats.  Before game time, the Pirates came back out and started tossing, so I went back over to the railing.  I noticed bullpen catcher Heberto Andrade had a few balls in his glove.  He looked up at me and tossed one up. It was ball #2.    There was many more fans along the railing now and some of them looked puzzled, “How’d you know that guys name?” 

Zach Duke then started throwing his bullpen session before his start.  I was waiting for him to get finished so I could ask for the ball.  However, a security guard appeared and told everyone to go to their seats.  The game wasn’t going to start for another 15 minutes.  He didn’t care.  Don’t the Yankees get that this is Spring Training?  Is there really a need to be that strict?

Among signs I saw posted were No Standing (posted everywhere), No Loitering, No Diving from the Railing, No throwing objects from the pedestrian walkway, etc.  If Spring Training was this military style in enforcing rules, I’d hate to see how strict they will be at the new Yankee Stadium during Batting Practice.

A side note:  had there been batting practice, I was planning on going into the right field Tampa Tribune Deck to chase home runs.  However, you can’t get in there without a ticket (of course).

On to the game:
100_0373.jpgThe Yankees would go on to win the game 9-8.  They played most of their regulars until the 7th inning.  Zach Duke was shelled by the Yankees, giving up 8 runs in 3.1 innings.  Duke had been looking much better this spring until this start.  Eric Hinske, Ryan Doumit, and Robinson Cano hit home runs in the game.

Here are some action shots:
AJ Burnett vs Freddy Sanchez
100_0375.jpgNate McLouth takes a look at a pitch:
100_0377.jpgRyan Doumit hits a ball to the right side:
100_0378.jpgDer-ek Je-ter
100_0379.jpg
100_0380.jpgTampa Tribune Deck (if going to BP, you’d better have a Deck ticket!) Cano’s home run hit off the blue restaurant roof.
100_0386.jpgHideki Matsui:
100_0390.jpgJorge Posada:
100_0396.jpgStands to my right:
100_0404.jpg“The Boss” George Steinbrenner
100_0423.jpgGeorge was taking in the game with Mr. October, Reggie Jackson:
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“The Sandman” Mariano Rivera
100_0439.jpg
100_0440.jpgBrett Gardner Caught Stealing:
100_0428.jpgEx-Pirate Xavier Nady (The X-man!)
100_0409.jpg

Tomorrow I’m headed back to Bradenton.

3-28-09 McKechnie Field, Bradenton FL

My dad and I left our hotel at 9:50 this morning to see the Philadelphia Phillies take on the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton FL.  The plan was to get there early and attempt to snag some home run balls in batting practice.  Even though McKechnie Field doesn’t have an outfield seating area, there’s a narrow walkway behind the left field fence.  I was planning on standing on this sidewalk and chasing down any home runs that came may way. 

If you notice in the picture below, the wind was blowing straight out to left between 30-50mph.  Little particles kept flying in my eyes and I was kicking myself for not bringing my sunglasses.
100_0281.jpgI soon abandoned my plan to roam the walkway pictured above.  It was too narrow, and I had absolutely no chance of seeing home run balls coming.    I moved a bit more toward left center where there was a parking lot for an adjacent school.  Competition was slim, as you can see in the picture below.  My dad went back to the left field foul pole to watch some batting practice.  I heard him yell, “ERIK!”  Then I heard some crackling branches above my head.  Ball #1 dropped out of the trees and I quickly pounced on it.  Another minute later my dad yelled my name again, and another ball crashed through the trees and I fielded it was it bounced off a root.  It was Ball #2.
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Although I got the first two balls to come out this way, I wasn’t happy that I didn’t see either of them coming.  I couldn’t pick the ball up by standing where I was.  Before, I was standing too close to the fence.  I had no contrast to pick the ball up except the light blue high.  I moved farther back.

My dad came back from the foul pole and decided to patrol the area near the school beneath the trees.
100_0284.jpgThis was my spot for much of BP.  If you’re wondering why I’m wearing a Phillies hat, its because the only Pirate hat I brought was the one Ian Snell threw me on 9-21-08, and I didn’t want to get that one sweaty.

Soon, another Home Run Ball came out.  I had crept in a bit, and that proved to be a mistake.  The ball hit about 10 feet in front of me and took a huge hop over my head.  My dad was in position to make the snag, but the second bounce went over his head too and hit off of the white shed in the picture below.  I ran the ball down, it was ball #3. 
100_0286.jpgBesides the guy in the Phillies jersey a couple pictures up, there were a few entrepreneurial ballhawks in attendance today.  They were rough looking locals who caught balls and sold them on the street for $4 or $5.  Whenever these guys got a ball, they would take out a brush and doctor the balls up.  I was told later by some guy that they bleached the balls to make them look brand new.  They also dominated balls that landed within the fence which you can see in the first picture.  They had 6 foot sticks that they would inch the balls closer to the fence, and then squeeze the ball under the fence.  I could’ve had maybe 2 more balls today if I had a way to get these balls.  There were 3 of these guys and a little kid.  They didn’t hang around for long though.   I continued to wait patiently for my next opportunity.
100_0287.jpgI got Ball #4 a bit later.  It was a home run ball that hit off a palm tree and had lost most of its momentum.  It started rolling towards me in the parking lot with one of the hustler ballhawk bleachers in pursuit.  I charged the ball like an infielder charges a slow roller and got to it just in time. 

Another ball came out soon after that my Dad chased down for his first career batting practice home run ball.  He is hoping to get another one tomorrow for one of his nephews.

Batting practice then ended.  I had got 4 balls, but I wasn’t done yet.  Next to where I had been standing was a school.  The school was directly behind the left field wall.  The roof of the school was completely flat, meaning balls that were hit on the school stayed on the school.  Before leaving, I had looked around for any “Easter Eggs.”  There was one behind the batter’s eye in Center Field, but it was a good 15 feet beyond the fence.  Impossible to get.  I walked over to right center field.  There were a good 7 balls laying on the Pirates infield practice field.  No one was around at all, but the gates were locked.  I waited for a bit and then got an 8 foot long 2×4 off of a scrap heap.

Earlier in batting practice, a ball had landed on the aforementioned school.  I thought I may have a chance of reaching it.
100_0288.jpgLook closely, can you see the ball?

I tried to reach it with the 2×4 board, but couldn’t because the roof was too high and I couldn’t get enough leverage.  I needed to be able to stand on something and I would be able to get it.

My dad had the idea of moving over a wooden picnic table for me to stand on.
100_0289.jpgI couldn’t see the ball, so with my dad telling me “left, right” etc, I was able to get ball #5.
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I was pleased with 5 balls
for my first time snagging in Bradenton.  It was a completely different experience than what I am used to.  Not being able to see the ball until it was landing made it fun to chase the balls down.  It also gave those with some agility an advantage.  There was also a lot of luck involved.  There was some 80 year old guy walking in from the parking lot who got a home run ball that clanked off a branch, took a soft bounce on the concrete and right into his hand.

The Bradenton ballhawk experience is much like the Chicago Cubs’ Waveland Avenue experience.  You really can’t see the ball until the last second, and then you have to scramble to chase it down.  It was fun.

On to the game:
100_0291.jpgThe Pirates gave most of their regulars the day off.  The only regular today was Adam LaRoche.  Many regulars were given off due to the night game yesterday.  I was a little disappointed.  At least the Phillies brought all of their stars.    Ian Snell was on the mound for the Pirates.  The Pirates ended up winning the game 10-4, fueled by Andrew McCutchen’s 5 for 5 day.  There were some towering home runs in the game, including a Ryan Howard shot that cleared the batter’s eye.

I’ll close this entry with some action shots from today’s game:
Shane Victorino:
100_0295.jpgRyan Howard:
100_0303.jpgAndrew McCutchen:
100_0336.jpgBrian Bixler:
100_0308.jpgAdam LaRoche:
100_0316.jpgJamie Moyer vs Craig Monroe:
100_0344.jpgAndrew McCutchen close up:
100_0354.jpgTomorrow I will head to Tampa FL to see the Pirates take on the New York Yankees at George Steinbrenner Field.

3-27-09 Travel Day

I have landed in Tampa, FL after a hectic day of traveling.

My dad and I are planning on attending some Spring Training games this weekend in the Tampa area.  This will be the third consecutive year we’ve come to Spring Training games here.  However, this will be the first year that I attempt to snag anything.

Our plane was scheduled to leave Pittsburgh at 7:36pm and land in Atlanta at 9:20pm.  Then, we would catch our connecting flight at 10:05pm and arrive in Tampa at 11:30pm.  However, upon checking in, we were told that our plane would be delayed, and we likely would not land in time to make our connecting flight.  We were told that if this happens, we would have to stay over night in Atlanta and catch a plane Saturday morning.  Thanks a lot Airtran.  I was pretty mad.

I sat in Pittsburgh International Airport and watched the minutes tick away.  I got on the internet and listening to the Pirates and Blue Jays game on mlb.tv.  Eventually our plane arrived.  We had to wait for everyone to disembark from the plane and for the plane to be serviced.  Our plane ended up taking off over an hour late.  One positive to come of the situation was that the plane was half full, so we were able to move our seats so we could have plenty of room.  When I boarded the plane, I heard, “Hey Jabs!  What’s up!”  It was Audell, who as a high school kid I used to play basketball with every day at the YMCA and Welty Street School.  Back in the day, I used to be a great basketball player.  I had a mean inside game and could easily dunk.  I didn’t recognize him at first, but it was cool to see an old friend after 10 years.

Our plane landed in Atlanta around 10:35ish.  Our connecting flight was due to take off at 10:05.  We rushed off the plane and found that our connecting flight was at gate D4.  Luckily, gate D4 was only 2 gates away from where we disembarked.  However, not a soul was to be found.

The plane had already boarded, and I guess they were waiting for us.  As we were hustling to the desk by the boarding entrance we heard them paging “Customer Jabs to D4″ over the loudspeaker.

We had made it.  Our time in Hartsfield International Airport:  maybe 2 minutes.

We arrived in Tampa around midnight, picked up our rental car, and got to the hotel at 1:16am.  It is a Days Inn and it’s kind of dumpy.  There are cigarette burns in my blanket.  It doesn’t matter though.  I’m here to see some baseball games and snag some balls.

By the way, spring training balls do not count in my season totals. 

Ballhawk League

One of the highlights of being a ballhawk is keeping track of your stats and seeing how you stack up against other ballhawks.  At PNC Park after every batting practice, I usually make my rounds and see many of my adversaries.  The question that is always asked, “How many did you get today?…Really?….How many is that for you this season?”

With many people joining fantasy baseball leagues, I got an idea to start a Ballhawk League.  Basically, its a competition between us home run chasers from all parts of the country.  You would be able to track your progress throughout the season and chase other actual ballhawks in the standings.

To join this competition, simply leave a comment or email me.  You should:
1)  Regularly attend batting practices, as I’d like this to be a competitive league
2)  Maintain a blog or a website to document each ball you snag.  (Don’t have one?  Now is the perfect time to begin).  Documentation of each ball is a must!  Pictures would be nice, but are not necessary.
3)  Email me an update of your stats each Sunday night or update your blog daily so I can post updated standings each Monday.  I will send you a template for you to fill out.  All you have to do is plug in your numbers for the week and send it to me.  I will then plug the numbers into a spreadsheet and update the standings.

I’m hoping that this will make ballhawking more fun this season.

Example of what the standings may look like, using current Pirates players:
Example Standings.jpgKey to the standings:
1)  Ballhawk: A list of all ballhawks entered into the competition.  Ballhawks will be sorted by
2) Total Balls, which is the most important stat.  However, even if you can’t attend many games, you could still win in another category, which are:
3)  Average balls per game:  Total balls/games attended.
4)  Games:  A total of ALL games attended.  Not just batting practices.   (Includes games without batting practices)
5)  Hit:  Total of batted balls snagged.  Includes home runs caught on the fly, ground rule doubles, foul balls, etc.  These balls were hit, and required you to do all the work to get them. 
6)  Thrown:  Total of balls thrown by players/coaches.
7)  Device:  Total number of balls retrieved using a ball contraption device, such as Zack Hample’s glove trick a cup trick, a fish net, etc.
8)  Competition Factor (CF): A statistic invented by Zack Hample.  This stat will be calculated by multiplying…so the higher the number,
the better. It is attendance times balls caught.  If you catch five balls at a game with 10,000 fans, the
Competition Factor is 50,000. Two balls at Fenway? The Competition
Factor will be about 73,000.  To keep it as simple as possible, we will track a ballhawk’s average Competition factor. 
9)  Average Attendance:  I will calculate this stat by dividing Total Attendance by Games.
10)  Total Attendance:  Ballhawks will need to also email the total number of fans in attendance at their games each week. 

As you can see, even though Nate McLouth has a nice lead in balls snagged in this example, he’s not exactly dominating the league.  Some would argue based on the statistics, that even though Nate has a 38 ball lead, Matt Capps is the higher skilled ballhawk.  I will also post a Leader Board in each Monday’s Update.  From our example standings:

LEADERS – May 18, 2009
Total Balls:  88, Nate McLouth
Average:  4.55, Matt Capps
Games:  25, Freddy Sanchez
Hit:  32, Adam LaRoche/Nate McLouth
Thrown: 56, Nate McLouth
Device:  17, Matt Capps
Competition Factor:  142,737, Matt Capps
Average Attendance:  42,423, Paul Maholm

If we have a lot of interested people, we can divide the league into divisions so you’re up against ballhawks in a similar region.  (Example: Mets/Yankees/Red Sox/Orioles/Phillies ballhawks could be in one division)

Again,  if you’d like to sign up, just leave a comment.

-Erik

So far, here are the contestants (click the contestants’ names to view their blogs):

1)  The Happy Youngster
His name is Nick but people around the ballpark call him “Happy.” He is 29 years old and is a fanatic about Milwaukee Brewers baseball. Current Brewers TV announcer Bill Schroeder tabbed him as “The Happy Youngster” back in the summer of 1999.  He has been tabbed by multiple media personalities as the Milwaukee Brewers #1 fan. He has attended hundreds of games over the years and enjoys catching baseballs at the ballpark. He has caught over 700 baseballs over the last 10 years before, during and after actual Brewers games.  His focus remains catching game home runs-career total currently standing at 47…and counting. He has been featured on CNN, Baseball Tonight, SportsCenter and This Week in Baseball to name a few.

2)  Erik Jabs
Erik has caught 166 balls through 2008.  A relative new comer to ballhawking, he managed to snag 128 balls in 2008.  Erik would like to snag 300 balls in 2009, adding a few road trips to his schedule in order to give him an outside chance.  He lives near PNC Park and is a three year full season ticket holder.  In addition to attending Pirate games, he enjoys playing baseball, coaching volleyball, and attending Dave Matthews Band concerts.

3)  Andrew McDonald
Andrew, age 18, began attending Pirate games and became a regular ballhawk in late May of 2008.  He managed to snag 98 balls in 60 games, but averaged over 4 a game from late August-September.  McDonald would like to snag over 200 this year if his schedule works out.  He is most famous for interfering on a Mark Reynolds HR ball on June 9, 2008.  The ball was originally ruled a Home Run, but the umpires reversed the call and gave Reynolds a double, citing that McDonald had reached over the railing to make the catch.  Soon after, MLB adopted instant reply for disputed home run calls.  Besides entering his first full season of ballhawking, Andrew patrols center field for his high school baseball team, and also is the web master/team captain of the Franklin Hockey League.  Andrew has caught one home run ball, Juan Pierre’s first homer of 2008.  In a bid to raise more money so that he can afford a season ticket plan, Andrew has decided to sell the ball.  It can be bought HERE.

4)  The Rockpile Ranter

The Rockpile Ranter aka “D” is a 42 year old Army Veteran, father of three, grandfather of 1 who been snagging baseballs at Coors Field
since April 2008 and attending games since the Rockies inception. The
Rockpile Ranter was born out of the lack of support for the Colorado Rockies during the 2007 World Series. The
Ranter attended 30 Rockies batting practices last season (38 games) and
managed to snag 44 baseballs. He is fond of getting the baseballs he
catches signed by the players. So far this season he has snagged 13
baseballs at 5 games and caught one live home run ball hit by Rockies
David Ortmeier. The Rockpile Ranter and his kids are a regular site at
a Rockies home game. WWW.ROCKPILERANT.COM

5)  Zack Hample
Zack Hample has snagged 3,820 baseballs at 44 different major league stadiums since 1990. In 2006, he caught Barry Bonds‘ 724th career home run in San Diego. In 2007, he caught the first homer of the Home Run Derby in San Francisco. In 2008, during the final week at Yankee Stadium,
Hample caught game home runs on back-to-back nights and followed it up
11 days later by catching the last Mets home run ever hit at Shea Stadium.
In 2009, he’ll be snagging baseballs to raise money for Pitch In For
Baseball, a charity that provides baseball equipment to needy kids
around the world. Hample, a New York City native, has written two books
– How to Snag Major League Baseballs
(1999) and Watching Baseball Smarter (2007) — and has been interviewed
dozens of times by the national media. When not snagging baseballs,
Hample spends his time playing competitive Scrabble, obsessing over his
music collection, hosting parties that rarely end on the day they
begin, bragging about his Arkanoid world record, overeating in
Chinatown, running a laid-back writing group, taking photos of everyone
and everything, and tricking his elders into thinking he’s a nice young
man.

6)  Mike In Detroit
Bio forthcoming…

7)  John Witt
Major League
Ballhawk, John Witt, joins the Ballhawk League with over 33 years under
his belt. Since grabbing his first baseball in 1977 he has grabbed over
2,850 balls at Major League Regular Season games which includes 99 game home run balls. John has grabbed 4,869 baseballs at professional baseball games (MLB & MiLB) over the past 33 seasons. In 1998 John caught Sammy Sosa‘s 61st Home Run on Waveland avenue outside of Wrigley Field. Now John is looking for his 100th game home run this season and expects it to be a Manny Ramirez blast at Dodger Stadium.
John has been featured in numerous articles, newspapers and he was even
in a 1990 Levi’s 501 Button Fly Jeans commercial titled “501 Home Run Kings“. At the end of 2008 John wrote his first book titled “Taking Home A Piece Of The Game” which is currently available through his website www.mlballhawk.com (use the link and coupon code that is one of his past MLBLog entries and get it for $3.95)

8)  Puck Collector
Brian is not allowed to disclose his age, but enjoys going to baseball
and hockey games. along with the 123 baseballs he has collected at
Major League games, he has 136 pucks from NHL games, including 29 game
pucks.

9)  Bob Fox
My name is Bob Fox from Minnesota.  I am
currently on tap to go to 37 games at the dome this year.  I have only
ballhawked for one season once I got up and running I averaged about a
ball a game.  This year I am looking to improve greatly on my numbers
and keeping track of my stats will motivate me to get more baseballs.

10)  Aaron
Aaron is a baseball-obsessed kid in the nation’s capital. He goes to around 40
games a season, and tries to collect as many autographs and baseballs at
those games as possible. He follows every team in the majors and uses his blog to talk about everything baseball.  Aaron is quite talented, snagging 179 balls last season at the age of 13.  He has been snagging since June 2007.

11)  Joe Faraguna
My name is Joe Faraguna, i’m 14 years old and live in New York. I
started snagging baseballs in June of 2008, and have 28 lifetime. I
went to 11 games last year, and snagged about 20, i had 8 previously.
My most in a game is four, which i’ve done twice, once down in
Washington when i went to a game in July, and once at Shea in early
August. I am an avid Yankees fan, but I live two 1/2 hours away so its
hard to get to games. Im going to 17 game this year, 6 yankees, 5 mets,
3 diamondbacks, 2 nationals, and a baltimore game. If not for stumbling
upon Zack’s site when I was bored one morning, I would have never
started snagging.

12)    Shawn
On June 15th, 2002, LHP Ron Villone tossed Ballhawk Shawn (as he
is affectionately known) his first major league baseball. Shawn did not
have a glove that day, nor did he plan on getting a baseball. The rush
he got made him return only a month or so later, this time with a
glove. Shawn snagged but 5 baseballs that season, however the summers
to come held bigger, better things.  He holds the current Milwaukee
record with 14 baseballs snagged in one game, and can also add 2
homeruns in one game to his resumé.  Just because he snags in
consistently sold-out (and consistently fan unfriendly) Miller Park
doesn’t mean you should sleep on him. You can expect big things from
this up-and-coming ballhawk star.

13)  Alex
My name is Alex, and I have been a season ticket holder for the Yankees
for 12 years. I have more than 1800 only MLB autographs, and counting.
I have traveled to many different stadiums, 15, and have seen every
major league team play a game at least once. Some of my favorite items
are: David Ortiz game used bat from 9/1/07, Final Ball used in Game 4
of the 2008 World Series, a Derek Jeter game used wristband and a 2008
Cubs team signed ball. I hope to get many more momentos to come!

14)  Donny Haltom

My name is Donny and I’m an industrial sales manager and part time attorney from Houston, TX.
 Now that law school is done and I can actually go to games in the
evenings instead of sitting in class, I’m ready for some serious
action.  I’ve been going to batting practice and actively hawking for
about 4 years but have never kept track of my efforts.  I’ve gotten as
many as 18 balls in a single game and have never been shut out when
making a conscious effort to hawk.  I usually give the balls away to
kids in the stands near me who have gloves, but this year I’m going to
take more home and start a collection with my kids.  I usually attend
around 25-30 games per season and avoid days with no BP.  Minute Maid Park
is my home field with maybe one or two road trips tossed in as my
schedule allows.  The tools of my trade are my Rawlings Vise, a Nokona
1st baseman’s mitt from high school, and a “Big Glove”.  I’m ready to
get the season started and look forward to whatever this year brings to
my team.  The only down side is that my hook up in the Astros’ front
office is no longer with the team and to make matters worse, my company
no longer has season tickets due to budget cutbacks so I’m going to
have to be creative this year.  


.

15)  Jeremy Evans
Hi my name is Jeremy I am a HUGE baseball fan. I am 13 years old and
live near philadelphia. But my first beloved team was the Orioles since
I began loving baseball when I lived in Baltimore. But since then I
have moved to Philly and have become a die hard fan of the Phillies. I
usually go to about 5 to 10 games a year, but I finally convinced my
parents to get more tickets so this year we are going to share partial
season tickets with 3 other families. Which means I will be going to
about 15 to 20 games. Maybe more because there has been talk of going
on a West Coast road trip to stadiums. I collect lots of autographs and
batting practice and game used balls.

16)  Matt
My names Matt and I’m definitely in. I have a collection of about 10
balls from major league games but havent really dedicated myself like you
guys. But I’m definitely in for this new adventure. See you at PNC Park
all summer long.

17)  Gary Kowal
Hey everyone, I’m Gary. Live in New Jersey, senior in high school and ready to have fun at Monmouth U. next year. I got my first ball July 8, 2006, foul ball by Jose Valentin
on a fly (he had 7 rbis that day.) Anyway, the next season, I found
Zack’s blog. I finished 2007 with 15 balls, totaling 16. Last season, I
grabbed 91 balls at Shea, Yankee, Citizens Bank, Camden, and DC,
including multiple Shea, Yankee, and Nationals park commemoratives and
a few all star balls.
This year I can finally drive myself to games so I’ll go a lot more,
and that has already paid off as I snagged 54 balls in 7 games this
past March in Florida. I have 2 brothers, 14 and 10, and a sister. My
10 year old brother has 29 lifetime balls, also. When I’m not at games,
I snowboard, watch hockey and football, and relax. Go Mets, Giants, and
Islanders!

18)  Donnie Ankudovich
My name is Donnie, I am 20 years old, and a friendly resident of the greatest state in the country, New Jersey! I am a diehard New York Mets fan and was introduced to MLBlogs via The Baseball Collector himself, Zack Hample. Most of the games I attend are in New York,
being without transportation, and having my team located an hour away
from me by train. I snagged my first major league baseball from Oliver
Perez after a half an hour bullpen session during a rain delay
in May 2008, and this season will be the one I consider my Rookie Year
of Ballhawking. Good luck to all, as I shall be wishing myself the best
of luck, competing with some of the greatest ballhawks in the league,
I’m gonna need it! Let’s do this dance baby!

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