Results tagged ‘ Zack Hample ’

The Competition on Mygameballs.com

For the past three years, the top three ballhawks in terms of balls snagged have remained fairly constant.  Zack Hample, Erik Jabs and Nick Pelescak have been at or near the top each year.  In 2009, the year ended with Hample first, Jabs second, and Pelescak fourth.  In 2010, Jabs finished first, Pelescak second, and Hample third.  This past year, Hample finished first, Jabs second, and Pelescak third.

However, with the hobby of ballhawking growing, ballhawks have become more serious.  Many are making multiple road trips to different cities to increase their games attended and thereby inflate their balls snagged total.  It is quite possible that a new ballhawk challenges for the top spot, or the top 3.  Let’s take a look at the candidates (not named Hample, Jabs, or Pelescak)  that could challenge for a top 3 spot (in no particular order):

Garrett Meyer (garrett37):

2011: 324, 4th place in 2011.  Career: 437
Garrett snagged 324 balls in 2011 and put pressure on Nick Pelescak throughout the season for third place before slightly fading in September.  Garrett has a the daunting task of snaggingbaseballs in Kansas City, which features the latest opening time in the major leagues.  Although KC allows paying customers in early for a BP tour, they confine all fans behind the dugouts.  If Garrett plans some lengthy road trips during the summer to ballhawk friendly parks while KC is out of town, he could be a major contender.

 
Rocco Sinisi:

2011:  273, 7th place in 2011. Career: 369
Rocco ballhawks regularly in Cincinnati, and despite his age, he has emerged as Great American Ballpark’s top ballhawk.  Rocco has an advantage of utilizing a BP tour in which he gets earlyentrance into GABP an hour before the general public.  He also finds handfuls of baseballs in the seats that help inflate his overall numbers, and make him a serious contender.  If Rocco continues to improve as a ballhawk, and he has many tricks up his sleeve, a 300+ season is probable.  I have seen him in person in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.  Plus, if I am not mistaken, he is retired, so making it to weekday games even in another city is an option.

 
Dave Stevenson (flavadave10)

2011: 311, 5th place in 2011 Career:  311
Dave emerged as Baltimore’s top ballhawk in terms of balls snagged in2011.  I had the opportunity to see him in action, and although he’s not the top Baltimore ballhawk in terms of snagging hit balls, he does quite well with getting balls tossed to him.  He also has a huge advantage of living in the Baltimore/Washington DC area.  The Nationals and Orioles have an extremely staggered schedule, so when the Orioles are home, the Nationals are on the road and vice versa.  So, Dave could easily attend over 100 games and snag 400-500 balls if he really wanted to dedicate himself.  If he snagged 311 in his rookie season, whoknows what he could do to follow it up?

 
Tim Anderson (gu3)

2011: 235, 8th place in 2011 Career:  323
Tim started off 2011 putting pressure on Nick Pelescak for third place, even passing him up early in the summer but faded as the weekspassed in terms of balls snagged.  He did however garner national attention for snagging nine game home run balls.  The question will be if Anderson strives for total baseballs or game home runs (or both).  Also, since he ballhawks in Baltimore, attending a bunch of extra games in Washington DC is always a possibility.

 
Devin Trone (devoT)

2011:  281, 6th place in 2011.  Career: 421
Devin attended the second most games in 2011 with 88 and has the benefit ofliving in a region where he can attend multiple games.  Since he lives in the Los Angeles area, although Anaheim seems to be his home ballpark, making a short trip to Dodger stadium isn’t out of the possibility.  I also thought I heard that LA is opening 3 hours early for season ticket holders in 2012, which would present Trone numerous opportunities to rack up big numbers.

 
Rick Gold (jqfc)

2011: 224, 9th place in 2011.  Career:  1,241
Gold is yet another Baltimore ballhawk, which presents him with the opportunity to attend many road games by taking a short trip to Washington.  He attended 79 games in 2011, and averaged three per game, so by attending 20 more, he could easily reach a 300+ season.  Gold also seems to pride himself on catching home runs as his main source of balls and doesn’t often seem to call out for balls or use a glove trick- if he starts doing those, then watch out.

 
Ben Weil (piazza)

2011: 214, 10th place in 2011.  Career: 258
Weil attended 84 games in 2011, and snagged 214 balls, an average of 2.55.  He lives in New York, so he has to deal with tough crowds, but could be poised to improve.  He also has the advantage of having piles and piles of jerseys at his residence for each team.

 
Alex Kopp (akopp1)

2011: 168, 14th place in 2011.  Career: 214
Alex Kopp is, in my opinion, likely to have a breakout season in 2012.  Despite placing in 14th place in 2011, he averaged 5.60 balls per game, which was second place among all ballhawks attending at least 30 games.  I met him in Washington DC once over the summer and he snagged at least a dozen balls.  If Kopp attends say, 80 games, he could easily end up in the 400-500 ball range.

 
Ben Huff (bhuff)

2011: 172, 13th place in 2011.  Career: 239
I was in Baltimore for a few games this summer and Huff stood out to me as the most athletic ballhawk.  He seemed to have the best range and catch the most batted balls of the regulars there.  However, he faded throughout the season and eventually dropped out of the top 10 on mygameballs.  Again, he has a huge advantage, as do the other Baltimore ballhawks of living near Washington DC.  If him and another friend team up to take road trips, his totals could be off the charts.

 
Mateo Fischer (fischerm)

2011: 161, 15th place in 2011.  Career:  222
Fischer earned some recognition as a runner up for junior ballhawk of the year.  For only being 17, he is a well-traveled ballhawk, often attending a good deal of road games.  However, he will be limited by his age, as he will have school to deal with – thereby making it tough for him to attend weekday games during the school year.

 
Zac Weiss (wewill1992)

2011: 137, 16th place in 2011.  Career: 205
Weiss was PNC Park’s most improved ballhawk in 2011, and was the only regular to improve upon their 2010 season.  (All other PNC ballhawks suffered a drop off of about a ball per game in their average.)  Weiss’ game consists mostly of using conversation to get balls tossed to him, and using his blazing speed to locate Easter eggs.  Weiss really needs to improve upon his hit ball snagging ability to become a major contender.  He’s spending this offseason bulking up and honing his baseball skills to become a serious threat to the other ballhawks of PNC.  He’s probably also one of the most prepared ballhawks, usually arriving first at the gate and preparing with a lengthy warm routine and throwing.  With a goal of 206 baseballs in 2012, he’s not going to be in the top three, but could break into the top 10 on mygameballs, thereby giving him All-Star ballhawking status.

This list features many ballhawks who have yet to really establish themselves, as only one, Rick Gold, has over 500 baseballs.  There are a handful of ballhawks who didn’t actively compete in 2011 because they either took some time away from ballhawking or simply decided not to update their stats on mygameballs.com.  A list of top 2012 contenders is incomplete without mentioning Happy Youngster (1,143 career balls), Shawn Bosman (1,112), or Greg Barasch (1,099).

Good luck in 2012 everybody.

71 more days to opening day…
(and 71 more entries?!)

8-23-11 PNC Park

I attended only one out of the final five games of the homestand.  Things have been busy lately with a new baby, a tripled workload at work (100 students to 325), and a house to upkeep.

I made sure to attend this game though as Zack Hample would be in attendance.  Hample if you don’t know is a New York City ballhawk on his way to snagging 1,000 baseballs this year.  He has already attended over 100 games this year and is planning on visiting all 30 major league stadiums this year.

Before the gates opened, we got a picture, taken by Ian Weir:

The man on the left is one of Zack Hample’s clients, I believe his name was David (Zack has a business that charges $500 to attend a game with him), Zack is in the yellow shirt, them Nick Pelescak, Zac Weiss, and myself.  The children are David’s.

Once the gates opened, I got on the board early by getting a toss up from Jason Grilli.  He’s been with the team for only a short amount of time, so he hasn’t been made anti-fan by Joel Hanrahan yet.

My second ball of the day was a clean catch right behind Ian Weir here:

Ball #3 was a ground rule double that skipped over the fence quickly and off of Ian.  He slowed it down and deflected it right to me here.

My fourth ball was another clean catch in the second row of section 136.  I had to climb over a bleacher or two to get into position.

When the Brewers came out I got ball #5 off the bat of Ryan Braun.  He hit it to the back of section 135, so I scooped it up as it was rolling under the bleachers down towards the front row.  One of the ushers started heckling me screaming at me “You just stole a ball from that kid!”  and “You’ll get yours.”  The kid had already snagged three balls of his own, and he was two rows below where the ball had hit.  Since there was a sparse crowd, if I wasn’t there the ball would’ve eventually rolled down to him, but you would’ve thought that I ripped the ball from his hand.

I later went up and confronted the usher (who’s not a regular in left field) and explained that I didn’t steal a ball from anyone.  The ball was on the ground when I picked it up.  I further pointed out that I gave my sixth ball of the day, which was glove tricked in left field to a young fan in the front row nearby who hadn’t gotten one yet (in the light blue).

The family was ecstatic.  The usher, who I guess was upset that I had already gotten too many baseballs possibly realized he overreacted and was happy that I gave one of mine away.  I typically always give the glove trick balls away if I have to ask someone to let me in to the front row for access to the ball below.

Anyhow, my seventh ball of the day was thrown by Frankie De La Cruz here:

I was making my way over to center field, and De La Cruz was retrieving a ball.  I was above the bullpen and just held my glove up and he threw me a perfect strike.  Here he is over in center field.

After BP was over, I took off and went home, stopping off at GetGo later that night to get 27+ gallons of gas for free.

My next game will be 9-5-11.  Yeah, it’s basically a 2 week break.  I thought about attending 9-3 with Nick in Washington DC, but heard from him that there wasn’t batting practice due to a concert.

I don’t know if I’ll get to too many more road games.  I’d like get to most of the few remaining home games at PNC Park and then possibly a playoff game in October.  We’ll see.

My goal is 413.  I have 11 games left (3 of those are day games – which I’ll leave if there’s no BP).  So I need to 57 balls in those 11 games which is 5.2 a game.   My average this year is a tad over 5.3.  Should make it somewhat challenging.

Statistics:
Game: 7 balls (4 hit, 2 thrown, 1 device)
Season: 356 balls (149 hit, 75 thrown, 84 device, 48 found)
Games: 67 games
Career: 1,478 balls
Attendance: 21,411

10-10-10 Great American Ballpark

I came into today needing just six baseballs to break the single season record of 543 baseballs snagging in one season.  After a dismal performance at my last game on September 29th, I was determined to bounce back.

Amy and I arrived at Cincinnati around 3PM, in plenty of time before the 5:07 gate time.
100_4561.jpgWe parked a ways a way and made the walk along the Ohio River, but had fun goofing around on the way to the stadium:
Amy was along to keep me company and take pictures to document today’s possibly record setting game.

Coming into the game, I needed six balls to break the all time single season record of 543 set by Zack Hample in 2008.

We killed some time before the gates opened by walking around Great American Ballpark, including wandering around the team store.

Here we are outside of the main gates:
I was able to secure a ticket through my Baker’s Dozen Partial season ticket plan.  Since I only had one seat in the plan, we went to Cincinnati hoping to buy an extra ticket for Amy.  Since the game was sold out, we had to turn to scalpers.  The cheapest ticket available was $250, and Amy refused to let me pay that.  She insisted on sitting outside Great American Ballpark while I went in and did my thing.  I reluctantly agreed and rushed inside when the gates opened.

Upon entering the stadium, the Reds were warming up.

Including Aroldis Chapman, the 105 mph throwing rookie.

I tried to get one of them to toss me a ball but failed.  And since BP was getting underway, I darted out to the left field seats to get to work.

There, I caught ball #1 on the fly off the bat of catcher Corky Miller here:

I was to chase down my second ball soon after as it rattled around a seat in the same general area.

I used the Cleveland stick to prod a ball on the batter’s eye close enough to reach for ball #3.

And returned to left field to snag a Jonny Gomes home run here:

That was the last ball I got during the Reds portion, and the seats were really starting to fill up when the Phillies came to bat.

After getting shut out by the first group, I headed over to right center field in hopes of snagging a Shane Victorino, Ryan Howard or Chase Utley home run ball to tie the single season record.  It happened, and I happened to be video taping when it did.  The ball hit behind me and ricocheted down towards me, and I was able to smother it just as several other fans reached for it.  Here’s the video evidence!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTdHPeEtoug

So, at the very least, I would finish the 2010 season tied for the single season record.

In the meantime, I didn’t get anything else from that group, and my hope rested on the final group of bench players.  Since they were mostly right handed, I headed back to left field.

That’s when this guy:

I don’t know who:

Launched a deep fly ball.  It was going over my head, so I started running up the stairs in the open aisle.  I was able to make the catch as I headed up the stairs in a reaching back hand fashion.  It was a great catch, and it set the single season record at 544 balls in a single season!

After making the catch, I asked a nearby fan to take a photo for me with the ball.

I left after batting practice to meet Amy, I didn’t want her to be alone for too long.  I showed her the record setting ball:

She was really happy for me:

Re-enactment of the catch of 544:

It was getting late, so I bid farewell to Great American Ballpark,
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and the 2010 season, as this was my final game.
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Today’s baseballs:
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Sweet spots:
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STATISTICS:
Game:  6 balls (5 hit, 1 device)
Season:  544 balls (261 hit, 131 thrown, 75 device, 77 found)
Games: 88 games
Average:  6.18 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 6
Career:  1,122 balls
Attendance: 44,599

5-1-10 Progressive Field

5-1-2010 (54).JPGI wasn’t sure if I was going to go to today’s game at Progressive Field.  After continuously checking the weather forecast throughout the morning, it looks like rain that had been moving through Cleveland would be gone.

I left my house a little before 1PM and was first in line at 3PM.  When I peeked through the gates, I saw this:
5-1-2010 (1).JPG5-1-2010 (51).JPGand an even better picture, with a clear view of the Target Field Balls:
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Afterwards, we would all go our separate ways.  I chose to go to the Twins bullpen area.  I had noticed a ball laying in the bullpen.
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It was a little too far out to do the glove trick, so I elected to wait and see if I could get the ball tossed up to me.

Pitching coach Rick Anderson made his way into the bullpen,
5-1-2010 (56).JPG
and tossed me up ball #8 of the day.

During the game, I started in left field foul territory,
5-1-2010 (66).JPGbut eventually started playing the outfield for home run balls.

For lefties, I sat over in right field.
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And I stayed on the home run porch occasionally for righties.
5-1-2010 (76).JPGI stayed until the very end of the game – the 11th inning.
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And watched the Indians win in exciting walk off fashion:
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Also, this was likely the last game that I’ll have the #1 game on mygameballs.com, as Zack Hample is poised to remove me from the top spot on Monday.
progressive leaders.jpgHere are today’s baseballs:
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And the sweet spots:
5-1-2010 (79).JPG

STATISTICS:
Game:  8 balls (5 hit, 3 thrown)
Season:  69 balls (43 hit, 13 thrown, 7 device, 6 found)
Games: 10 games
Average:  6.90 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career:  647 balls
Streak:  106 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance:  13,832

Pirates Season Ticket Holder Batting Practice

Recently, the Pirates invited their season ticket holders to come and take batting practice on the field at PNC Park.

This was the second year that the Pirates have done this, and the second year that I would participate.  If you’re a long time reader of this blog, you may remember this entry from last year.

I had asked my dad if he’d like to go hit again, but he indicated that he wasn’t interested.  So, I decided to ask Zack Hample, winner of the ballhawk league in 2009, if he’d like to come to PNC Park as my guest.  Hample enthusiastically obliged, and brought along his mother and his friend Brandon.

Zack, two fellow ballhawks and friends, Nick and Bryan Pelescak, and I met at the stadium at 9AM.  We promptly entered through the right field player’s garage door and walked down towards the field.
3_heading_to_field.jpgThis was the view at the end of the tunnel.
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And that, was that.

See you April 5th 2010, PNC Park.

8-10-09 Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Since the Pirates are out of town for a week, and I’d like to snag my 500th career ball sometime in 2009, I decided that I needed to make a road trip or two this week.  My first stop would be Camden Yards in Baltimore.

I attended this game with two friends, one of whom is in the ballhawk league (Andrew). 

We arrived at 3:30 and got our tickets.  There are two gates that open at 5:00.  The Eutaw Street gate near the Babe Ruth statue…
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And the one on the opposite end, nearest to the right field foul pole. 
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Which didn’t happen.

We stayed l
ong enough to watch all of the batters from each team hit, and then left the game early.  We had a four hour + drive, and made it back home a bit after midnight.

Here are today’s baseballs:
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And the sweet spots:
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STATISTICS:
Game:  3 balls (3 hit)
Season:  263 balls (137 hit, 84 thrown, 42 device)
Games: 56 games (5 of which didn’t have BP)
Average:  4.70 balls per game
Career:  429 balls
Streak:  71 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance:  14,688

Ballhawk League : Week 18

Week 18 wasn’t a very active week for ballhawks, as we cumulatively snagged 91 balls. 

Our winner this week is Erik Jabs.  Erik had several things that attributed to his snagging 22 balls in six games during week 18.  The Pirates had seven home games in week 18.  Erik attended six of the seven, sitting out the Sunday matinee contest.  Also, Erik’s chief competitors at PNC Park for batted balls, Nick and Bryan Pelescak, were absent this week.  Finally, a balky back had nagged at Erik all week, causing him to be more agressive in asking for balls and going for glove trick balls.

Below, Erik is shown with his 250th ball of 2009.  The ball was snagged from the top of the All You Can Eat Seats building using a collapsible ruler.  Erik also sports the back brace that he used to help him get through five of the six games attended.

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Some notes:

  • Happy
    Youngster
    hangs on to second place for another week.  Happy and Erik both have a lot of ground to make up if they want to catch Zack Hample.  They also both have a slim chance at 400 balls. 
  • Nick Pelescak was absent from all seven Pirates’ home games, attending military training.
  • Zack
    Hample snagged 14 balls at Citi Field this week (in one game, nonetheless), and caught up with Livan Hernandez, having him sign his 4,000th career ball.  Hample also has raised $8,500 with his snags this season.
  • Besides the battle for second place, there is a showdown looming for 4th place in the division.  Alex currently is hanging onto fourth place with 176 balls snagged, while Greg Barasch (175), and Chris P (171) lag just a tiny bit behind.
  • In total, participants in the ballhawk league have snagged just a shade under 2500 balls this year.  Could we snag 4000?  Maybe.

How the week played out:

week 18.jpg
2009 Season Leaders:

Total Balls Snagged:
1)  Zack Hample 346
2)  Happy Youngster 262
3)  Erik Jabs 260

Games Attended:
1)  Erik Jabs 55
1)  Nick Pelescak 50
2)  Chris P 46

Average Balls per Game:
1)  Zack Hample 8.65
2)  Donny Haltom 7.38
3)  Greg Barasch 7.00

Hit Balls Snagged:
1)  Erik Jabs 134
2)  Nick Pelescak 99
3)  Happy Youngster 98

Thrown Balls Snagged:
1)  Zack Hample 181
2)  Alex  150
3)  Happy Youngster 126

Device Balls Snagged:
1)  Zack Hample 69
2)  Erik Jabs 42
3)  Happy Youngster 38

Competition Factor:
1)  Zack Hample
2)  Alex
3)  Greg Barasch

Last week I broke down competitors ball percentages by hit/thrown/device.

This week, we’ll take a look at how many balls per game per category each ballhawk averages.
per game 18.jpg

Week 17 Photos
Ballhawks were given the option to submit a photo for this and future
ballhawk league updates.  The photos could be of them making a catch,
posing with a ball, a picture of a ball snagged, or something strange
or interesting that they saw at a game.

Submitted by The Happy Youngster:
Happy wants to know who gave the drunk guy a microphone?
8_04_09 Angels vs White Sox @ US Cellular Field 033.jpg
Submitted by Zack Hample:The Ballhawk League Archive:
Zack Hample poses outside the Mets’ parking lot at Citi Field with a homemade sign and his 4,000 baseball. He had just gotten it signed by Livan Hernandez, who had thrown it to him on May 18th at Dodger Stadium.
4_zack_with_sign_for_livan_hernandez.jpg

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:  The 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)

USAToday Article

I was interviewed recently by Alex Prewitt, a sports writer for USAToday.  He came across this blog, and was intrigued about the Ballhawk League and ballhawking in general.  I spoke with him by telephone for 40 minutes Sunday afternoon.  He had lots of great questions, so I was really looking forward to the article.

The print version is a bit shorter than the online version. 

To read the entire online version, click HERE.

Here is a screen shot of the online version:
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counting baseballs article 2.jpg

7-6-09 Citizens Bank Park

The Pirates are out of town until July 17th, which would mean 17 days without a baseball game for me.  I decided to break up the drought by attending a game in Philadelphia.

I’d never been to a baseball game in Philly before, so I was interested to see what Citizens Bank Park had to offer.

I got to the stadium at 2:35, almost 2 full hours before the gates were to even open.  I figured that I would give myself some extra time to account for traffic and to stop for lunch.  (I ended up not stopping because my GPS directed me to a non-existent phantom Wendy’s.  Frustrated, I decided to eat at the stadium.)  I was there so early, that the parking attendant thought I worked at McFadden’s.

I approached the stadium and took a walk around the exterior. 
photo(117).jpg
It had a nice facade, nice landscaping, and was in a decent enough area. 

The first matter of business was to find an open ticket window and buy a ticket for today’s game.  I walked past the first base entrance
photo(118).jpg
then realized that the Reds had many more righties than lefties, and I’d have a better chance back in the packed left field seats.

Brandon Phillips put on a show in batting practice.  One of his home runs came right to me, I was camped underneath it, ready to make the catch, when at the moment the ball was several feet from my glove, about 5 people’s arms slammed into mine.  My arm moved, and the ball tipped off my glove.  I didn’t get the ball.  Fans in Philadelphia are much more agressive when it comes to going a
fter home run balls in batting practice than in Pittsburgh or Cleveland.  In Pittsburgh, us ballhawks spread out and have our own little zones that we tend to stay in.  We never run into each other or rob each other of home runs when another is camped under one.  Next time I go to a game in Philly I’ll be prepared.

I was shut out for the rest of batting practice and ended with 2 baseballs. 

I walked around the concourse.  I liked how the Phillies post their line up on a large brick wall at the entrance to the left field gate:
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The Phillies top 2 stars for my money:
photo(130).jpgThe Liberty Bell (which gongs after a Phillies player goes deep):
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Here was my view from my seat:
photo(125).jpg
photo(126).jpgThe Phillies would go on to knock out starter Johnny Cueto in the first inning and score an amazing 10 runs in the first inning.  They would go on to win the game 22-1.  I don’t think I’ve ever attended such a lopsided game.

I made my back to my hotel in Philadelphia.  (Which didn’t have Internet). Ran a few miles on the treadmill in the fitness center, did 31 floors on a stairmaster, and went to bed.
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I then disappeared for the next week (which is why its taken me a week to get this entry up) to the shore.
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Today’s baseballs:
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Sweet spots:
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STATISTICS:
Game:  2 balls (2 hit)
Season:   226 balls (119 hit, 75 thrown, 32 device)
Games:  46 games (5 of which didn’t have BP)
Average:  4.91 balls per game
Career: 392 balls
Attendance: 41,548

Ballhawk League : Week 7

We have a first time winner of the ballhawk league this week, and its the District Boy.  Congratulations.  With the Washington Nationals having a horrible attendance, and a great park to snag in (with early gate times), watch out for the District Boy as he moves up the standings.

Other notes:
*Zack Hample snagged his 4,000th career ball in Los Angeles this week.

*Greg Barasch and Connor joined the league.  (Barasch has over 650 career balls snagged)

*The Happy Youngster is back and snagging again after last week’s craziness.  Good to see him back in action.

*Last week’s top ballhawk, Erik Jabs, attended 0 games along with 10 other ballhawks in the league.

For the complete stats, have a look below:
week 7 pic.jpg

WEEK 7 LEADERS:

Total Balls:
1)  District Boy 40
2)  Greg Barasch 20
3)  Mike In Detroit 17

Balls per Game (Average):
1)  District Boy 13.33
2)  Greg Barasch 10.00
3)  Puck Collector 7.00

Games Attended
:
1)  Mike In Detroit/Leigh Barratt 4
2)  District Boy/Happy Youngster/John Witt 3

Hit Balls Snagged:
1)  District Boy 7
2)  Mike In Detroit/Zack Hample/John Witt 6
3)  Happy Youngster/Greg Barasch/Leigh Barratt 5

Thrown Balls Snagged:
1)  District Boy 33
2)  Greg Barasch 14
3)  Mike In Detroit 11

Device Balls Snagged
:
1)  Happy Youngster 3
2)  Greg Barasch 1

Competition Factor:
1)  Puck Collector
2)  Greg Barasch
3)  Alex

Game Balls:
1)  Greg Barasch 1

On to the season totals…

*District Boy jumps into the top 5 with his dominating week.
*The top 4 stay the same, in the same order.
*Hample keeps his top spot, with a 40 ball lead over the closest competitor.
*Collectively, we have snagged 1,142 balls.  Could we snag over 5,000 this year?

Here are the complete season statistics for 2009, through Sunday 5/24:
season 7 pic.jpg
The 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:  The Happy Youngster 26)
Week 7:  District Boy 40 (Runner Up: Greg Barasch 20)

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