5-12-09 PNC Park

The Pirates returned home after an awful road trip and carried an 8 game losing streak into PNC Park.  I arrived at the stadium just after 4, and was first in line.

When the gates opened, I ran into the bleachers and picked up ball #1, a nice Easter Egg.  It was the only one in the bleachers that I saw.

I got ball #2 and ball #3 off the bat of Craig Monroe.  He hit a ground rule double that bounced 2 sections over from me.  As I was walking back to my spot, he hit a home run that I was able to catch on the fly.

There was a good bit of action in the first 10 minutes while the Pirates were still batting.  A right handed batter hit a high fly ball right at me.  I positioned myself in the perfect spot to play the bounce off of the warning track.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw third base coach Tony Beasley streaking toward the warning track.  He was going to try to catch the ball.  Tony caught up with the ball, but he missed it and it hit off of his glove.  Had the ball bounced, it would've taken one glorious hop into my glove.  Beasley picked the ball up off the warning track, and perhaps realizing that he had cost a fan a souvenir, tossed me ball #4.

The Cardinals then came out to bat.  All of the pitchers were still warming up in right field, so no one was shagging in left and center field for a few minutes.  I was waiting for a ball to roll to the wall to use the glove trick.  A few balls came my way, but either died in the outfield grass, or rolled too hard off the wall and back to the edge of the warning track.  (Outside of my glove trick comfort zone).

Meanwhile, a PNC Park regular named Dan spotted a ball in the North Side Notch, up against the outfield wall close to the bullpen.  He pointed it out to me, so I went over and used the glove trick to snag the ball.  Upon inspecting ball #5, it had a blue practice stamped on it right under the MLB logo.  I had to do a double take because it looked like it was part of the official stamping from Rawlings.  The Cards did a nice job in this regard.  Most teams that stamp their balls do it haphazardly on the sweet spots.

I was pretty disappointed with the Cardinals' batting practice. 

The pitchers weren't generous at all.

It seemed like every hitters approach was to hit grounders to the opposite field.  Looking at my roster, I realized the last group would be left handed heavy and went to Center Field.

Chris Duncan was hitting a fair amount of home runs, but I wasn't able to get a hold of any.  One ball that he hit was retrieved by Kyle Lohse against the outfield wall.  I asked him for the ball and he turned and looked at me.  He saw my Cardinals gear and tossed me ball #6.

Batting practice had ended, so I left the seating area to go and buy my dinner (a Primanti sandwich).  I then walked along the PNC Park riverwalk and took a few pictures.

I took a picture of Point State Park,

and then when getting ready to take a picture of the river noticed something....

Look closely at the picture I took looking down at the outer riverwalk area.  Notice the white speck? 

Yeah, that's right, a baseball. 

It wasn't gettable by using the glove trick.  Had I tried, I may have dislodged the ball and it could've rolled down the hill and into the river.  I would have to leave the stadium.

I have 3 full season ticket plans to PNC Park, so I bring all 3 tickets to games regardless if I come alone or not.  The extra tickets then go into an envelope and I turn them in for future games.  Therefore, leaving the stadium wasn't an issue.

I left the stadium and casually walked towards the area of the ball. 

I was real suspicious of everyone I saw on the outer Riverwalk.  Were they going to see the ball?  I walked hurriedly, but tried not to tip my direction or motive to any other pedestrians. 

When I got to the spot, there is was, a fantastic Easter egg ball. 

I picked ball #7 out of the bush.  It has some real nice scuffing on it.  It must've bounced on the PNC Park riverwalk and took a hop out of the stadium.

I walked back into the stadium and waited by the bullpen.  Zach Duke came out and pitched his warm up session before the game.  When he was done, he tossed me ball #8 of the day.

I tried for warm up balls for the first seven innings of the game.  In the 4th inning, I caught ball #9 from Brandon Moss twice.  Brandon threw the ball, and as I was catching the ball, some a-hole grabbed my arm and pulled it down.  The ball popped up in the air about 2-3 feet after hitting my glove.  I recovered and caught the ball a second time.  The guy had lost his balance and was all over me.  He was grabbing onto my arm, and even after I grabbed the ball tried to snatch the ball from my glove.  As soon as he realized that he got pwned, he started throwing a big fit.  "Yeah, Why don't you go back to your own seats now!" He snarled.  I thought that he might actually start crying.  I thought about offering him a Kleenex.  However, I didn't say a word. (He's the guy in the gray shirt sitting on the aisle)
I know his type.  He was going to make problems for me and the other few ballhawks that switch sections each inning to get a ball.  He was going to start complaining to the usher or get a supervisor.  After the fiasco last Sunday, I decided to shut the guy up.  I walked down the stairwell, took a ball out of my bag, and without saying a word, tossed it at the guy. He was absolutely shocked.  He was able to stammer a thank you, but I had already disappeared, but heard it on my way down the stairwell. 

What ball did I give him?  Not one of the ones I caught today.  It wasn't even a ball I had caught ever.  It was a dirty badly scuffed ball that I use to play catch with on the Clemente bridge before the gates open.  Occasionally, I will give tickets away to people in exchange for 2 balls caught in batting practice.  I then use the balls for batting practice when I play baseball, or simply as decoy balls, for situations like these.  What would happen should I blatantly rob a grandma of a home run ball?  I'd have to give her the (decoy) ball.  That's why I always have a decoy ball handy.

After the seventh inning, I went and sat behind the dugout.  I tried to get a ball at the dugout but was shut out by the umpires and bullpen pitchers (as usual).  At least the Pirates came up with the win to break their losing streak.

A couple pictures:
Albert Pujols hits a deep fly ball to the wall in Center Field:
Another of Prince Albert:

A look at today's baseballs:

The sweetspots:

STATISTICS:
Balls:  9 Balls (4 hit, 4 thrown, 1 device)
Season: 107 Balls (47 hit, 48 thrown, 12 device)
Games:  19 Games (16 with BP, 3 without)
Average:  5.63 Balls per Game
Career:  273 Balls
Attendance:  11,718