Today wasn’t a good day.  I was first in line at the stadium.

But there were no Easter Eggs.

Luckily, as soon as I walked in, Ian Snell was picking up a ball and tossed me ball #1.

Then, the cold spell began.  I didn’t get any more balls during the Pirates portion of batting practice.  The Cardinals came out.  Still nothing.  It was  5:50 and I headed to center field for the last part of batting practice.  Chris Duncan is the Cardinals best home run hitter in batting practice, so I was there waiting.

He hit a few home runs that came close to me.  One landed in an empty chair.  I was the only one running for it.  Some random guy sitting 2 rows behind the ball saw me running, and lazily got up and picked up the ball.

It was 6:00 PM, and I had only one ball.  I was thinking to myself, “You really suck.  You’re the worst ballhawk in the entire stadium.”  Moments later, Duncan hit a ball into the 5th row of section 139.  I was in Section 141 and took off running.  Myself and a legendary ballhawk named Jim were both after the ball.  We both arrived at the same time, however I entered the row that the ball was in, and he was one row up.  I was able to snag the ball just in time to get ball #2.  A few seconds later, Duncan hit a ball to the same spot, except another row up.  Jim and I were off to the races again.  Again, I got to the ball a split second faster and got ball #3.  Walking back to my seat, I found an easter egg ball wedged between the cement and a seat back.  There was a lady sitting close by, so I casually walked over and picked up ball #4.  As soon as I picked the ball up, the Cardinals ran off the field, ending their batting practice.  Not a bad finish after being stuck on 1 ball for almost an hour.

I tried to get a ball from Karstens,

STATISTICS:
Game:  5 Balls (3 hit, 2 thrown)
Season: 113 Balls (50 hit, 50 thrown, 13 device)
Games:  21 games (18 with BP, 3 without)
Average:  5.38 balls per game
Career: 279 balls
Attendance: 12,347