Another Close Call for #100 - 8/28/08 Angels vs. Rangers - Angels Stadium - Anaheim, CA
Here we go with another near miss for me on Game HR #100 of my illustrious Ballhawking career. This is going to be a long post but it has a few cool stories.
It all started around 1:15 when I arrived at the stadium. My hopes were to get Josh Hamilton to sign a ball. After being there about 20 minutes a Doubletree bus pulled up and 4 Rangers coaches got off of the bus. Usually right after this the bus turns around and goes back out, however this time it went all the way to the back of the stadium. Obviously there was someone else on board. It turns out that someone else was Hamilton. A guy came over a few minutes later showing off his Home Run Derby Gold Ball signed on the sweet spot by Hamilton that he got signed at the hotel just a few minutes before he left to go to the stadium. I even went back to the hotel on Friday and still no luck as the driver of the "short" bus kicked 2 guys out and was standing there as Hamilton got came out for the bus so there was no chance of getting him.
Shortly after I found out that Hamilton was in I walked around to the Angels parking lot. I had a Home Run ball from a minor league game that was hit by Howie Kendrick. It would havfe been nice to get it signed but her drove up, waved and did not sign for anyone. That was the case for most of the Angels on Thursday except for one!
Tori Hunter drove up and say the 5 or 6 of us holding up pens and balls and he did stop. He rolled down his window and started signing and also had an interesting conversation with one of the fans there.
The fan said something to Hunter about how he was going to have a great game and go 4 for 4. The guy then got a little crazy saying he would hit for the cycle nad some other stuff. Tori came back and said to us, "I tell ya what, if I go 4 for 4 I will buy you guys a beer!" After Hunter left we all just laughed it off thinking that it was unlikely. We could not have been more wrong! Hunter ended up 3 for 3, the only thing that held us back from our beers was the fact that he walked in his first at bat. The worst part is that Vladdy mad the final Angels out of the game killing the chance of Tori going 4 for 4. If Tori had gone 4 for 4 you can be that we all would have shown up by the Angels parking lot the next day.
So after all of that I headed back around to the front of the stadium. Once I was up there I noticed a guy with a young kid who looked very familiar. I could not figure out if I knew him from Angels games in the past or if maybe it was someone I had met while working for the Rangers in Port Charlotte, Florida in 2000. It turns out that the boy with him was his grand-nephew and that I knew him from going to Angels games back in the late 80's / early 90's. Back then he brought his son, Brandon, to the games to get autographs and occasionally chase baseballs. It is always cool to see some of the people that used to hang out at the BIG A back when getting autographs was really fun!
Just before it was time to get in line to go into the stadium I ran into a MLBlog readers PadreLeigh and TC who is better known as TracyCollinsBecky in the comment section.
I was first in line and the first into the stadium! I ran out to what used to be my favorite spot down the right field line. It's a spot where most of the balls that are hit down the line funnel to so there is a good chance to get more than one ball. As I got down there a ball was headed towards the wall rolling very slow. It stopped right at the wall and I leaned over and picked it up. I am one of the few that can actually lean over the wall without falling onto the field. The ball itself was basically brand new with a few grass stains.
As I was looking at my latest addition to my collection I hear the security guy telling me that I have to give it back and as he is saying that Scot Shields is yelling the same thing at me holding up his glove. The security guard come over and says to me, "Man you got to give it back, it's too early for this (leaning over the wall?)"
My response was "There is NO WAY I am giving a ball back, I didn't do anything wrong!" Shields was still telling me I had to give it back as well. The security guard kept saying that he was going to call security to take me out. I just laughed at him and said go ahead, and when you talk to them tell the head guy I said HI! I am pretty sure that he knows who I am.
Shortly after that Shields said, "I'm just kidding man, you don't have to give it back." I told him I obviously knew that and he knows I am there way to much to think otherwise. The security guy laughed and walked back to his crappy minimum wage paying job. Give a guy a radio and a shirt that says SECURITY and he thinks that he can be funny when he is actually being an idiot! I am guessing that had I been some stupid kid the security guy would have taken the ball and thrown it back in.
That was my first ball of the day, about 2 minutes after that a ball was hit into the seats down the right field line. There was no one around and I ran about 3 sections over to chase it. It was hit about 10 rows up but I knew that it would roll down to me and of course it did. Ball #2, another ball that was almost a pearl.
As batting practice went on several balls were hit into the center field area with no seats. The usher from the left field family section gets those and gives them away. Thankfully my friend JOE was the usher working that section and I talked him out of one of the balls that Josh Hamilton hit out there(ball#3) Hamilton put on an exhibition of hitting when he was in the cage. One his massive blast was a 450 ft shot that landed in the first row of the second section of seats in right field! These seats are about 27 rows up from the outfield wall. It was the longest ball I had ever seen hit to right field! Hamilton also hit several balls to the center field back drop and rock pile that stayed and got hung up on the Rocks. After BP I went around and asked one of the TV guys for one of the balls and he glady went over , picked on up and handed it to me! (ball #4)
Ok so onto the game now, I was sitting in the right field corner where there was a decent chance that if a home run was hit I would have a shot at it. In the 3rd inning of the game Mark Teixeira came up and hit a blast right towards the section next to me. As I watched the ball I tried to get into position for whatever direction it might bounce. Unfortunately there was no bounce at all. I still tried to make my way around the seats to the little side aisle along the fence to get down to it but by that time it was too late. A guy that was sitting down front got up to it and it rolled down a row right to him. DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!
Another close call for game home run #100. Here is a screen shot from TV showing me and where the ball hit and the guy picked it up!
Overall it turned out to be a decent day with me getting 4 baseballs that are good enough to get autographs on at future games. I saw old friends and met knew ones and just had a good time!
4 BALLS - 1 Autograph
