Happy New Year everyone. 

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

Snagging Related:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2)  Snag career ball #1,000

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

3)  Snag 500 balls in 2010

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

4)  Snag at least one game home run ball

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

Personal Related:

1)  Continue to work out every day

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

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

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

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

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