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:
Key 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
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
.
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!
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:
Key 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 HampleZack 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!
I'm in...go Brewers.
"Happy"
http://thehappyyoungster.mlblogs.com/
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You may want to comment on other ballhawk's blogs to inform them of this opportunity first hand.
"Happy"
http://thehappyyoungster.mlblogs.com/
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Happy,
Thanks for joining. I'll go around and see if I can find some ballhawks to sign up. We have until April 5th to get more people in this. If you know any ballhawks that are interested, link them to my blog.
I took some bio info from you off of your website, hope that is ok.
Thanks,
Erik
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What a cool idea starting a Ballhawk League. I'm not a ballhawk, but I'll enjoy watching you guys scramble for balls during the season. Good luck!
- http://janeheller.mlblogs.com
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I'm in...D
http://baseballsnatcher.mlblogs.com/
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Hm. Now this is something I don't think I could ever do. Mad props to ya'll.
--Jeff
http://redstatebluestate.mlblogs.com/
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Ballhawking will probably see a downcline in future years, since the economy is so bad and less and less people can regularly attend games. I don't want to do this (I've never gotten a single major league ball) but check out Zack Hample's blog at http://snaggingbaseballs.mlblogs.com and ask him to join. He is the king of ballhawks. He has almost 4000 balls.
Bobby,
http://metsmainman.mlblogs.com
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Andrew, if you listen to Hootie and the Blowfish fine, but making it a statement in your bio...creepy...D
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Bobby,
I just emailed Zack. He'd be a great addition to the league. If he has another year like he did in '08, he'll crush us all. But about the economy... I think it will actually help us ballhawks. Attendance is supposed to be down 15-20% at games this year due to the recession. In theory, that means they'll be 15-20% less people at batting practice, which translates to 15-20% more balls for the faithful ballhawks. The ballhawks that may struggle this year will be the New York City ones. They'll be a lot more people going early to games to scope out the new stadiums. The more people there are, the harder it is to get balls, because they get in the way and reduce your range.
D,
Let the trash talking begin.
--Erik
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Hey, everyone (and especially Erik)...Zack Hample here. I love this idea, and I'm totally in, as long as there are no hidden membership fees. :-)
If you'll allow me to make a suggestion, it would be for the league to break down the total number of snagged balls into three categories: 1) batted balls, 2) thrown balls, and 3) balls that are retrieved with a glove trick or cup trick or any other type of reach-extending contraption. That way, different ballhawks might be able to lead the league in various categories, while it's possible that one of us will win the coveted triple crown. (Of course there would still be a "total balls" category.)
Another thing to keep in mind is that some ballhawks focus on catching batted balls, so their overall numbers might be lower, but they should still be eligible to compete in certain categories.
In addition, I would like to humbly suggest the inclusion of a stat that I created a couple years ago called "competition factor." It's pretty simple: you take the number of balls you snag at a given game and multiply it by the paid attendance. So, for example, 10 balls at a game with 50,000 fans = a very impressive 500,000. The point is...it should be slightly easier for you guys in Pittsburgh (no offense to your impressive ballhawking skills) to snag half a dozen balls in a single game than it'll be for us NYC guys to snag half a dozen at the new, sold-out stadiums, so this would be a way to even things out a bit, or at least indicate who was facing the most competition. If "competition factor" isn't adopted by the league, I would at least suggest keeping track of the average attendance for each ballhawk's games.
Finally, I think we can only allow people to participate who document all of their snags. If they don't have a blog, that's fine, but they should then be required to write a detailed report in the form of a comment on this blog. Erik, as the founder of the league, it would be your call to determine if people's ball-snagging claims are legit. It would be too easy for someone to invent stats for themselves, so we need some type of narrative proof.
I think that's it for now. I'll email you a bio shortly, and I might just have to mention this new league on my own blog.
-Zack
http://snaggingbaseballs.mlblogs.com/
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Zack,
I agree that every ball must be documented.
I also like your idea of the triple crown. I remember last year that a majority of my balls were batted because I was too quiet/afraid of being dissed to shout out for balls until late in the season.
The competition factor is a bit tricky, but we could have maybe an average competition factor. We'll multiply average balls by average attendance to get an average CF.
We need to think of a template that members will need to fill out so that I can plug the numbers into a speadsheet.
We could have them send me:
WEEKLY TOTALS:
Balls:
Games:
Hit:
Thrown:
Device:
Total Attendance:
YEAR TOTALS:
Balls:
Games:
Hit:
Thrown:
Device:
I can track the total attendance in a speadsheet and type in a formula to get the average attendance. I would have them report Weekly and Yearly totals each week to make sure all the numbers check out.
Ballhawks should also include updated info after each game in their blogs at the very end of each entry. (or comment in my blog) You do it, and I copied it because like you, I'm a stats guy.
I could also divide the standings into weekly and yearly.
Any other categories? Maybe game high?
How should I display the standings? Take a screen shot of the spreadsheet. I'm afraid that if I just type them into the blog, the columns won't be aligned, and that is really annoying.
-Erik
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Erik-
I just posted a blog entry about the league. Here's a direct link...hope it works:
http://snaggingbaseballs.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/03/ballhawk_league.html
I think this is a great idea, and I'm hoping to send lots of people your way.
One thing to consider is...will there be a deadline by which people need to join? Can someone join at the All-Star Break? Or during the last week of September? What if someone holds out because they don't have confidence in their own stats? And then they decide at the last second, after checking out the standings, that they want in? Is that fair? Is there going to be a prize? Bragging rights? Maybe that's all we need. After all, we're in it for fun above all else.
If you're going to determine the standings by the average number of balls per game, that could get tricky if someone only attends small number of games and puts up huge stats. Maybe just rank people according to the total number of balls?
I suggested a couple other stats on my blog. Check it out. I'm sure people will leave comments here and there with suggestions.
I really think that everyone involved should create their own MLBlog. No need to mess around with links and photos and all that stuff. MLBlogs is now FREE, so if someone is going to take the time to write up the details about their snags in a mega-comment, they might as well just start a blog and type it all up there. It wouldn't even matter if these blogs don't get many comments. The point would be to document everything for sake of the legitimacy of the league.
-Zack
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I am all in.
Mike in Detroit
(This gives me motivation to re-start my snagblog page this year).
Mike in Detroit
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Hey Erik! This is John Witt, aka Major League Ballhawk! This is a pretty cool idea. You could set up something similar to league leaders with each of the categories.
I don't know how much I will get to Ballhawk this summer because I currently work a job that kills my nights. Either way it is a great idea and I am definitely IN!
Now if I can only get game home run #100 this season!! I am using Twitter this season to give a ball by ball description of every game that I go to and it looks like Monday's WBC Championship will be game 1 of the year!
John
http://ballhawk.mlblogs.com
http://twitter.com/mlballhawk
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On a side note .... this is for Zack and all Ballhawk's ........... What if we all jumped on board with the same Charity that Zack is working with "Pitch In For Baseball" and make it the Pitch In For Baseball Ballhawk League. Then every single ball that is caught by a Ballhawk would provide money to PIFB. What do you guys think?? Zack??
John
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I'm not interested on donating the baseballs at this point. I save them and use them to get autographed at the games...D
http://baseballsnatcher.mlblogs.com/
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Mike and John :
Email me a paragraph about you (bio). Also let me know what you want your display name to be in the competition. Thanks for signing up.
Thanks,
Erik
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Wow,
This is so cool, though-- I am not a ballhawk. I love the baseballs that I get though, and I use them to get autographs! lol.
-Elizabeth
http://redsoxgirl46.mlblogs.com
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Erik,
I've added my two cents in how I would like to see it run. Ultimately, it's your decision. Either way you choose, this thing's gonna be a blast.
"Happy"
http://thehappyyoungster.mlblogs.com/
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Great idea, count me in. 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.
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I'm all in. As you know, my blog doesn't really relate to my snagging journeys, but i did manage 179 balls last season. I basically only go to Nationals Park for games, but they open the gates two and half hours early. :D
BTW, this was an awesome idea.
Aaron
http://districtboy.mlblogs.com/
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Aaron - Thanks for joining. Let me know if your bio paragraph is ok. I took it from your blog.
Bob - Welcome. Do you have a blog I can link?
--Erik
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Erik- i comment on zacks blog alot, ill join the league, but i only started ballhawking last year in june, have 28 lifetime. Only going to 14-17 games this year. Joe
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That's fine Erik, but if you want you can add when I started snagging (June of 2007) and my age (13) if you want.
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Now I figure out how to work this nonsense. IM IN! I can have a bio paragraph ready for you whenever, just let me know. I'd love to get in on this.
Shawn
aka
http://realtalk.mlblogs.com
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This is shaping up to be fun. What category would easter eggs or balls given to you by an usher or an ump go into?
I don't have a blog and am not really that computer savvy. There are so many variables to consider when ballhawking such as the stadium you are at and the rules of that stadium and whether or not you are a purist or not.
Are we just counting major league baseball games or will Pirate and Mariner games count as well?
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I don't think I'll ever be a ballhawk. Maybe, if I actually snagged my first one, I would catch the bug. : ) Happy hunting!
-Kathy
http://redbirdchatter.mlblogs.com
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Hey Erik (and everyone)-
I wasn't able to check in for a few days. Busy weekend. But I'm back. I like how this whole thing is taking shape. I think "easter eggs" should go into the "batted balls" category because most likely, any ball that's lying in the seats before anyone arrives was hit there during BP. If an usher (or any other stadium personnel) hands you a ball, it should go into the "thrown balls" category. That's just my two cents.
Maybe the way to get more people involved with Pitch In For Baseball is for each ballhawk to try to get his (or her) own friends and family members to pledge money for their balls. It could be really unofficial. Just ask your parents if they'll give a dime per ball, and then at the end of the season, if you've caught 123 balls (or whatever), have them send a check for $12.30 to Pitch In For Baseball...in your name.
Two weeks 'til I'll be at a game in Toronto. Woo-hoo!
-Zack (aka "The Baseball Collector")
http://snaggingbaseballs.mlblogs.com/
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Can i use Minor League games?
http://thewrightway.mlblogs.com/
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I'm in. I'll be starting a blog documenting my expieriences, so you could there to see. It's already set sorta set up so you can take it from my bio.
Alex
-riveravenue.mlblogs.com
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My name is Alex, not andy.
riveravenue.mlblogs.com
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Alex-
Welcome to the League
GoMets-
I'd prefer it to be a major league ballhawk league... what does everyone else think?
Zack-
Good thinking on the easter eggs and usher balls. We should keep Hit/Thrown/Device as our only 3 categories. It looks like you and Happy may get out to an early lead in Toronto. My first game will be April 10th and I'm counting the days too.
Shawn and Puck Collector-
Please email me your bio or post it here as a comment.
ERIK http://countingbaseballs.mlblogs.com
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Hey, its Shawn. Here's my bio:
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.
thanks. http://realtalk.mlblogs.com
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I'm in too. I'll email a bio / press release later.
Donny in Houston.
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Open Invitation to ALL BALLHAWKS -
Come join the Ballhawk Fantasy League on Yahoo
http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/bflbaseball
FREE
League password = ballhawk (all lower case)
20 team max so sign up early
John
http://ballhawk.mlblogs.com
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I would like to join
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How can I email you a bio and everything
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I just started my own blog even though I already have a website here is my bloghttp://phillieswschamps.mlblogs.com/
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My names Matt and I'm definately in. I have a collection of about 10 balls from major league game but havent really deicated myself like you guys. But I'm definately in for this new adventure. See you at PNC Park all summer long.
http://pittpeas.mlblogs.com
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Awesome, I'm in. Good times, good people. I can't wait to begin my regular season April 15!
- Donnie
http://donnieanks.mlblogs.com/
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Ahem, I'd just like to point out that the single-game record in Milwaukee is at least 17 balls. I snagged that many at Miller Park on June 11, 2003.
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Erik,
This ballhawk league is really taking shape. Nice work.
Yo Zack,
17, eh? That's a great single-day number...guess I"ll have to snag 18, then :)
"Happy"
http://thehappyyoungster.mlblogs.com/
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Zack,
I bet you have a lot of individual stadium records. Some kid named Matt Gori has you beat at PNC Park though. He got 12 balls on the last Saturday of the season. You'll have to come back sometime and try and beat that.
Happy,
I'm liking the ballhawk league too. Its cool to stay connected and compete against fellow ballhawks
-Erik
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Zack,
I bet you have a lot of individual stadium records. Some kid named Matt Gori has you beat at PNC Park though. He got 12 balls on the last Saturday of the season. You'll have to come back sometime and try and beat that.
Happy,
I'm liking the ballhawk league too. Its cool to stay connected and compete against fellow ballhawks
-Erik
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Is it too late to join up? I won't be a factor of finishing in the top 20, but I just find this fun. I'm not even a real ballhawk, I try to grab a few before I have to start working at the ballpark.
Greg
http://thevendahhh.mlblogs.com
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