May 2010
5-25-2010 Progressive Field
Today would be even more frustrating than yesterday.
Batting practice wouldn’t even begin until 4:45 PM. I stood and watched as the Indians took infield. There was absolutely nothing going on in the outfield. Pointless.
When batting practice did get under way, there were three balls hit into the right field and center field stands from once batting practice began until 6PM. Three balls. That’s both the Indians and White Sox combined!
I luckily got on the board quickly as I asked a ballboy for a ball that he was retrieving in the right field corner. “Aren’t you here everyday?” He asked. “Well, not everyday,” I replied. The ballboy smiled and tossed me ball #1.
In fact this was only my fifth game of the season at Progressive Field.
Not that it mattered since there were three balls hit into the stands, but there were a few groups in attendance, clogging up all of the rows and limiting my range.
STATISTICS:
Game: 4 balls (1 hit, 1 thrown, 2 found)
Season: 143 balls (86 hit, 32 thrown, 9 device, 16 found)
Games: 22 games
Average: 6.50 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career: 721 balls
Streak: 118 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 14,441
Last year after game 22 I had 118 balls, so I’m at least doing better than last year. However, game 22 for me was on May 15th.
5-24-2010 Progressive Field
I didn’t arrive at this game until almost 5PM, as I left after work. The gates had opened at 4:30, so I was operating at a disadvantage from the beginning. Couple that with that fact that only six balls reached the center field/right field seating area from the time I arrived until 6PM, and you have a recipe for a frustrating day.
I got my first ball of the day off the bat of Shin Soo Choo. 
The stadium was pretty empty, so I ran over to the section the ball had landed in and waited for the ball to roll down to me as two guys searched frantically where the ball had hit.
I got my second ball of the day from Tony Sipp. 
STATISTICS:
Game: 4 balls (2 hit, 2 thrown)
Season: 139 balls (85 hit, 31 thrown, 9 device, 14 found)
Games: 21 games
Average: 6.62 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career: 717 balls
Streak: 117 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 10,166
Ballhawk League : Week 7
I’m 2 days late getting this entry up. I went to Progressive Field on Monday and Tuesday which pushed me back.
The winner this week is Zack Hample, who had a huge series at Turner Field. Below he shows off 12 of the 14 snags on his final day at Turner Field, May 19th.
Here’s how the week played out:
And for the 2010 Season so far: (CLICK THE CHART FOR A LARGE EASIER TO READ GRAPH – I suggest opening it as a new window)
2010 Ballhawk League Archive:
TOP BALLHAWK:
Week 1: Shawn B 18 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 17)
Week 2: Nick Pelescak 17 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 10)
Week 3: Nick Pelescak 33 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 24)
Week 4: Erik Jabs 18 (Runner Up: Shawn B 16)
Week 5: Zack Hample 44 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 33)
Week 6: Shawn B 25 (Runner Up: Zack Hample 18)
Week 7: Zack Hample 50 (Runner Up: Nick Pelescak 31)
And, for the heck of it:
2009 Ballhawk League Archive:
TOP BALLHAWK:
Week 1: Happy Youngster 38 (Runner Up: Zack Hample 31)
Week 2: Zack Hample 27 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 21)
Week 3: Zack Hample 30 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 21)
Week 4: Zack Hample 40 (Runner Up: Happy Youngster 39)
Week 5: Zack Hample 31 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 22)
Week 6: Erik Jabs 31 (Runner Up: Happy Youngster 26)
Week 7: District Boy 40 (Runner Up: Greg Barasch 20)
Week 8: Erik Jabs 18 (Runner Up: Donny Haltom 17)
Week 9: Donny Haltom 16 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 13)
Week 10: Zack Hample 27 (Runner Up: Shawn 26)
Week 11: Zack Hample 59 (Runner Up: Donny Haltom 23)
Week 12: Greg Barasch 36 (Runner Up: Nick Pelescak 22)
Week 13: Chris P 24 (Runner Up: Alex 17)
Week 14: Greg Barasch 22 (Runner Up: Chris P 19)
Week 15: Nick Pelescak 17 (Runner Up: District Boy 10)
Week 16: Alex 21 (Runner Up: District Boy 19)
Week 17: Joe Faraguna 18 (Runner Up: Happy Youngster 11)
Week 18: Erik Jabs 22 (Runner Up: Zack Hample 14)
Week 19: Alex 38 (Runner Up: Joe Faraguna 31)
Week 20: Alex 41 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 36)
Week 21: Chris P 35 (Runner Up: Happy Youngster 34)
Week 22: Nick Pelescak 24 (Runner Up: Greg Barasch)
Week 23: Donny Haltom 30 (Runner Up: Chris P 22)
Week 24: Zack Hample 54 (Runner Up: Happy Youngster 14)
Week 25: Erik Jabs 44 (Runner Up: District Boy 37)
Week 26: Zack Hample 43 (Runner Up: Chris P 25)
5-23-2010 PNC Park
It was a dreaded Sunday game. The game last night ended around midnight. Surely there wouldn’t be batting practice.
Each Sunday, I head down to the stadium and peer through the gates around 11:15 or so. If the cages are up, I will stay, if not, I just turn around and go home. No big deal.
I hate Sunday games because there’s always kids everywhere, and there’s always some special event bringing throngs of people.
I was floored when I saw this through the gate Sunday morning:
STATISTICS:
Game: 5 balls (4 hit, 1 thrown)
Season: 135 balls (83 hit, 29 thrown, 9 device, 14 found)
Games: 20 games
Average: 6.75 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career: 713 balls
Streak: 116 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 23,045
5-22-2010 PNC Park
I was debating about whether to attend this game, or head to Cleveland with fellow ballhawk Nick. I chose to go to this game because I had ten extra tickets to get Garrett Jones figurines that I could sell for some extra traveling funds.
When I arrived at the park at about 4:20, the tarp wasn’t on the field and the cages weren’t up either. However, by 4:30, the tarp was on. Light rain would arrive just after 4:30 with intense rain beginning around game time.
I was at the end of a pretty long line, so when I finally got into the stadium I made a dash for the foul territory in left field where Brian Burres and Ross Ohlendorf were playing catch.
I was the only one behind them, so it was pretty much guaranteed I would get the ball, I just had to be patient
While waiting, something caught my eye. It was a ball. It was in a puddle of water on the tarp. And it was absolutely soaked.
STATISTICS:
Game: 3 balls (2 thrown, 1 found)
Season: 130 balls (79 hit, 28 thrown, 9 device, 14 found)
Games: 19 games
Average: 6.84 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career: 708 balls
Streak: 115 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 26,519
5-21-2010 PNC Park
Today was a tough day for all ballhawks in attendance at PNC Park. There weren’t too many home runs, and of the home runs that were hit, most were to right field and either bounced back on the field, or were gobbled up by fans in the front row.
I was flat out robbed twice by fans in the front row. One by a 50 year old who was in the front row and jumped to make the catch, inches in front of my waiting glove, and another by a college kid who was a row ahead of me and caught a home run barehanded about two inches in front of my glove. In both cases, there was nothing that I could’ve done differently, as I was behind them.
On to the balls that I did snag.
My first ball of the day was a home run off the bat of Steve Pearce. I misjudged the ball a bit. I moved down a row, and barely made a snow cone catch, as I should’ve just stayed put.
My second ball of the day was off the bat of another Pirate. I’m not sure of the hitter, but they lofted a high fly ball towards left center. I could tell it would be short, so rather than getting into a scrum in the front row, I ran back a few rows to about the fifth row back. The ball landed on the warning track and took a 20 foot high bounce and directly into my glove.
The Pirates wrapped things up at 5:20, a little earlier than recently.
I changed into my Braves gear and managed to get Brian McCann to toss me a ball by the foul pole before he went in to hit. 
STATISTICS:
Game: 5 balls (4 hit, 1 thrown)
Season: 127 balls (79 hit, 26 thrown, 9 device, 13 found)
Games: 18 games
Average: 7.06 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career: 705 balls
Streak: 114 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 22,470
5-20-2010 PNC Park
My first game of the week didn’t go so well. I would come away with a decent number of balls, but I felt out of position on many balls and it seemed like there were at least a half dozen balls that I should’ve had that just bounced the wrong way.
Shortly after entering the stadium, I grabbed a ground rule double and was on the board. Near the end of the Pirates portion of batting practice, Herbie Andrade, the Pirates bullpen catcher, began hitting us pop flies.
However, he was hitting them backwards as he was facing the field. It caused for the balls to have a vicious top spin that would carry the balls back toward the field. One of his hits was a high fly that I camped under. It should’ve been an extremely easy catch, but I underestimated the spin and completely missed it. Embarrassing.
Herbie’s final hit as he was walking off the field fell short of the stands and nestled up against the left field wall, so I glove tricked it for my second ball of the day.
When the Brewers came out, I got Mitch Stetter to toss me my third ball of the day.
Stetter looked at me and said something to Marco Estrada, who turned and looked. I figured that maybe they had seen me changing into Brewers gear under the bleachers. However, he tossed me that ball I had mentioned a few moments later, so maybe he said, “Hey look, there’s an actual Brewers fan in spite of our 9 game losing streak,” rather than something sarcastic.
At 5:30, I found my fourth ball of the day in the center field stands, and it had a phrase on it. It said, “Get R Done.”
The Brewers are known to write witty phrases on their balls every now and then.
Annoying, they kept reading them and passing them around to each other to read rather than toss them in the crowd.
I went right back to left field after finding my fourth ball and got a home run that landed in a large trash push cart underneath the Left Field Rotunda.
STATISTICS:
Game: 7 balls (5 hit, 1 thrown, 1 found)
Season: 122 balls (75 hit, 25 thrown, 9 device, 13 found)
Games: 17 games
Average: 7.18 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career: 700 balls
Streak: 113 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 13,975
Ballhawk League : Week 6
Shawn B captures the top honors of week 6 with a 25 ball performance.
In other news, Nick Pelescak’s five week reign as the leader has ended with Erik Jabs taking a very slim 3 ball lead into week seven. Right behind the two Pittsburgh ballhawks is Zack Hample, who figures to make up some ground as he attends a three game series in Atlanta.
Here’s a glance at the week 6 standings:
Week 6 Leaders:
Total Balls: Shawn B 25
Average: Greg Barasch 7.00
Games Attended: Shawn B 4
Hit Balls: Shawn B 11
Thrown Balls: Zack Hample 16
Device Balls: none
Found Balls: Nick Pelescak/Greg Barasch 2
Foul Balls: 0
Game HR: Zack Hample 2
BHL Points: Zack Hample 148
And for the 2010 Season so far: (CLICK THE CHART FOR A LARGE EASIER TO READ GRAPH – I suggest opening it as a new window)
2010 Season Leaders:
Total Balls Snagged:
1) Erik Jabs 115
2) Nick Pelescak 112
3) Zack Hample 100
4) Shawn B 59
5) Casey Ward 39
Games:
1) Nick Pelescak 20
2) Erik Jabs 16
3) Shawn B 12
4) Zack Hample 11
5) Casey Ward 10
Average Balls per Game:
1) Zack Hample 9.09
2) Joe Faraguna 7.75
3) Erik Jabs 7.19
4) Greg Barasch 6.50
5) Nick Pelescak 5.60
Hit Balls Snagged:
1) Erik Jabs 70
2) Nick Pelescak 62
3) Zack Hample 29
4) Shawn B 21
5) Casey Ward 12
Thrown Balls Snagged:
1) Zack Hample 61
2) Shawn B 38
3) Nick Pelescak 31
4) Matt Jackson 25
5) Erik Jabs 24
Device Balls Snagged:
1) Erik Jabs 9
2) Joe Faraguna, Peter S 4
Found Balls:
1) Nick Pelescak 19
2) Erik Jabs 12
3) Zack Hample 8
4) Casey Ward 6
5) Greg Barasch 3
BHL Points:
1) Erik Jabs 528
2) Nick Pelescak 467
3) Zack Hample 428
4) Casey Ward/Shawn B 219
5) Matt Jackson 127
Hit Balls Per Game
1) Erik Jabs 4.38
2) Nick Pelescak 3.10
3) Greg Barasch 2.75
4) Zack Hample 2.64
5) The District Boy 2.00
Thrown Balls Per Game
1) Zack Hample 5.55
2) Joe Faraguna 5.00
3) Alex 4.00
4) Shawn B 3.17
5) Matt Jackson 3.13
Device Balls Per Game
1) Peter/ Joe/ Donny/ Tyler 1.00
Found Balls Per Game
1) Nick Pelescak 0.95
2) Erik Jabs/Greg Barasch 0.75
3) Zack Hample 0.73
4) Ian Weir 0.67
5) Casey Ward 0.60
BHL Points Per Game
1) Zack Hample 38.91
2) Erik Jabs 33.00
3) Joe Faraguna 29.75
4) Greg Barasch 23.50
5) Nick Pelescak 23.35
And now for a few photos from week 6:
Winner Shawn B shows off one of his snags and writes “the elusive sticker ball – the only ballhawks documented to have one are (Zack) Hample and I. I’ve got no clue what the sticker meant.”
Matt Jackson poses with his 8th ball of the day on 5/14 at Angel Stadium – a new personal best for him:
Zack Hample celebrates his second home run catch (of the day) on 5/13 at Camden Yards:
2010 Ballhawk League Archive:
TOP BALLHAWK:
Week 1: Shawn B 18 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 17)
Week 2: Nick Pelescak 17 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 10)
Week 3: Nick Pelescak 33 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 24)
Week 4: Erik Jabs 18 (Runner Up: Shawn B 16)
Week 5: Zack Hample 44 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 33)
Week 6: Shawn B 25 (Runner Up: Zack Hample 18)
And, for the heck of it:
2009 Ballhawk League Archive:
TOP BALLHAWK:
Week 1: Happy Youngster 38 (Runner Up: Zack Hample 31)
Week 2: Zack Hample 27 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 21)
Week 3: Zack Hample 30 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 21)
Week 4: Zack Hample 40 (Runner Up: Happy Youngster 39)
Week 5: Zack Hample 31 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 22)
Week 6: Erik Jabs 31 (Runner Up: Happy Youngster 26)
Week 7: District Boy 40 (Runner Up: Greg Barasch 20)
Week 8: Erik Jabs 18 (Runner Up: Donny Haltom 17)
Week 9: Donny Haltom 16 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 13)
Week 10: Zack Hample 27 (Runner Up: Shawn 26)
Week 11: Zack Hample 59 (Runner Up: Donny Haltom 23)
Week 12: Greg Barasch 36 (Runner Up: Nick Pelescak 22)
Week 13: Chris P 24 (Runner Up: Alex 17)
Week 14: Greg Barasch 22 (Runner Up: Chris P 19)
Week 15: Nick Pelescak 17 (Runner Up: District Boy 10)
Week 16: Alex 21 (Runner Up: District Boy 19)
Week 17: Joe Faraguna 18 (Runner Up: Happy Youngster 11)
Week 18: Erik Jabs 22 (Runner Up: Zack Hample 14)
Week 19: Alex 38 (Runner Up: Joe Faraguna 31)
Week 20: Alex 41 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 36)
Week 21: Chris P 35 (Runner Up: Happy Youngster 34)
Week 22: Nick Pelescak 24 (Runner Up: Greg Barasch)
Week 23: Donny Haltom 30 (Runner Up: Chris P 22)
Week 24: Zack Hample 54 (Runner Up: Happy Youngster 14)
Week 25: Erik Jabs 44 (Runner Up: District Boy 37)
Week 26: Zack Hample 43 (Runner Up: Chris P 25)
5-15-10 Great American Ballpark
This would be the second most crowded game that I have ever attended. The attendance of this game was 41,326. The most packed game I ever attended was last year at Citizen’s Bank Park when a Reds vs Phillies match up drew 41,538. At that game, I only managed to snag two balls. Would today be different? I was hoping so, since Cincinnati opens its gates 30 minutes early to season ticket holders.
I stayed there for several minutes, but got tired of watching a few balls sail into the lower level seats. I ended up moving all over the place for the rest of batting practice, but it would never lead to any more baseballs.
Batting practice also ended early, as there would be lengthy on field ceremonies to honor Negro League Baseball players and African American ballplayers’ contributions to the Civil Rights movement.
By the way, about that ball in center… It seemed to be a bit too far out to throw my glove out and nudge it closer, plus there was a security guard right there. After batting practice, when he went to get the baseballs that landed in the bat
ters eye, I was going to ask him for one, but I heard him tell another fan, “If I have to give one to you, I have to give one to everyone.”
Apparently, the Civil Rights game is a huge event. I didn’t know this. Had I been aware of the competition I would face, I would’ve headed to Baltimore to see the Indians there.
Some more pictures:
Left field wall:
Field with podiums and chairs for the on-field ceremonies:
Podium:
Tonight’s game would be broadcast on the MLB Network:
A seemingly never ending stream of inner city baseball little league teams circled around the stadium on the warning track:
And continued to the concourse ( and out of the stadium ).
Steam boat wheel:
The game wouldn’t start until about 7:45 PM due to the lengthy on field ceremonies. Had I stayed at the game, I wouldn’t have gotten home until after 3AM.
I left the stadium before the game began.
Here are today’s baseballs:
Sweet spots:
STATISTICS:
Game: 2 balls (1 hit, 1 thrown)
Season: 115 balls (70 hit, 24 thrown, 10 device, 12 found)
Games: 16 games
Average: 7.19 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career: 693 balls
Streak: 112 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 41,326
5-10-2010 PNC Park
It was another great day at PNC Park for me.
There wasn’t a very big crowd, so there was plenty of room to run around during batting practice. 
I would snag five balls during the Pirates portion of batting practice.
Ball #1 was off the bat of Andy LaRoche. It was a ground rule double that I snagged on the hop.
My second and third balls were off the bat of Lastings Milledge. The second ball was a home run that I snagged after it bounced off a handicap seat, and the third was a ground rule double that bounced over the fence right next to the foul pole.
There was no pitchers in the outfield today, which was good. They see the regulars get many home run balls and refuse to toss balls to us. Delwyn Young was patrolling left field today, and I got him to toss me ball #4.
That was it for me. I should’ve stayed as Ronny Cedeno hit a home run that bounced onto the lowest rung of the Left Field Rotunda. I would’ve defi
nitely snagged that ball, as I’m used to running up the ramp from my experience in batting practice.
There was probably less than 5,000 people that actually attended the game as there was a Penguins playoff game.
Here’s today’s baseballs:
And the sweet spots:
STATISTICS:
Game: 11 balls (8 hit, 2 thrown, 1 found)
Season: 113 balls (69 hit, 23 thrown, 10 device, 12 found)
Games: 15 games
Average: 7.53 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career: 691 balls
Streak: 111 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 9,045
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