9/10/08 at Shea Stadium
I attended this game with my girlfriend Jona, and as soon as we ran inside, I got my first ball the day. The Mets were about to start taking batting practice. There were two balls lying on the field just beyond the first base coach's box. Carlos Beltran was walking toward them. I bolted down the steps and asked if he could toss me one. He bent down to pick it up with his glove...
...and did such a lazy job of flipping it to me that it fell short and landed in the photographers' box. There happened to be one photographer there (whose head you can see just to the right of my black backpack in the photo above), and he got it for me.
Thirty seconds later, Ryan Church started walking past me, and I wasn't sure if he'd seen me get the ball from Beltran, but he had a ball in his hand and I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask him for it. So I did. And he threw it to me.
BP then got underway, and I headed out to the right field foul line. Pedro Feliciano, who was playing catch with Duaner Sanchez, fielded a batted ball and tossed it to a little kid on my right. The ball fell short, tipped off the bare hand of an usher who tried to catch it for the kid, and landed at my feet. I reached down and picked it up and handed it to the kid. (Even though the ball wasn't intended for me, and even though I only had it in my possession for a couple seconds before giving it away, it still counts.)
Less than two minutes later, a right-handed batter sliced a ball into the second row (of restricted blue seats). It landed about 50 feet to my left, and by some miracle, it hit the seats in such a way that it shot all the way to me through the empty row. In fact, it shot so fast that I wasn't prepared to catch it, and it hit me on the right shin. Luckily it didn't bounce anywhere after that so I was able to reach down and grab it.
Less than two minutes after THAT, Sanchez happened to airmail Feliciano. The ball reached the seats on a fly and landed in the front row, right next to a woman who had ducked out of the way when she heard people yell "Heads up!" The ball literally sat at her feet for a good two seconds, which gave me time to jump over the chain (that separates the orange seats from that skinny blue section) and snag it. Feliciano then asked me for the ball because he didn't have another one to finish playing catch with, and he promised to give it back when he was done. Of course, because he's one of the least fan-friendly players I've ever encountered, he broke his promise and disappeared as soon as he was done throwing. Sanchez was left with the ball and didn't realize that I was the fan who'd returned it, so I basically had to re-snag it. In the four-part pic below, starting on the top left and going clockwise, you can see a) my attempt to convince Sanchez to give it to me, b) Sanchez inspecting the ball, c) the ball in mid-air on its way to me, and d) the ball about to enter my glove.
Wow.
I'd barely been inside the stadium for 20 minutes, and I'd already snagged five balls. That just DOESN'T happen at Shea, so naturally I was already thinking about reaching double digits.
Sensing I'd used up every natural resource along the right field foul line, I ran around the stadium and tried my luck on the other side. Soon after, when Nick Evans walked over to retrieve a ball, I shouted, "Nick! I'm going deep!" and I started running up the steps like a wide receiver.
"Keep going," he shouted, and I didn't quite know what to think. He was either messing with me and making me run for no reason, or he was actually planning to throw me the ball.
I made it all the way up to the cross aisle, which is about 20 rows off the field, then cut toward home plate and looked back at Evans. As soon as I made eye contact, he fired the ball to my right (the home plate side)--and what a throw it was! I kept running, taking care not to run over the few ushers and fans who were standing around, and finally reached over the railing and made the catch.
FUN!!!
Then I snagged another ball, which was hit by a lefty on the Mets and took one bounce off the warning track. Everything was going my way. It was insane. And there wasn't even any competition.
I should probably mention that six of my first seven balls were commemorative. I gave one of them away to that kid. Here are the remaining five (and no, they're not for sale):
Jona then made her case for "Best Girlfriend Ever" by exiting Shea Stadium, waiting near the entrance to the picnic area (which was about to open), and finding two fans who each had an extra ticket. She got one for free (I don't want to know how) and bought the other for $10. Then, after I snagged my eighth ball of the day which had somehow plopped into the narrow space between the rolled-up tarp and the stands, she used one of her two picnic area tickets to re-enter the stadium and delivered the other to me.
Sadly, the bleachers turned out to be dead (relatively speaking). The following photo (with me wearing a red Nationals shirt) was taken during BP:
I still managed to snag three more balls out there, all of which were those awful blue training balls (not to be confused with green training balls which were used in 2006). The first was thrown behind-the-back by Joel Hanrahan in left-center field. The other two were home runs to straight away left. I have no idea who hit them. I caught one on a fly and grabbed the other after it sailed over my head and ricocheted off a metal bench.
And that, my friends, was it.
Jona and I spent the first half of the game in the bleachers (where I came closer than I should've to Elijah Dukes' second-inning homer) and the second half in the Loge Level behind home plate (where I would've snagged a foul ball if not for a hot dog vendor who happened to be blocking the narrow aisle at the exact moment that I needed to be running through it).
The game itself was crazy. The Mets batted around in the third inning to take a 7-1 lead, but the Nationals chipped away and tied it in the sixth. The Mets scored four runs in the seventh to go on top, 11-7, but the Nats answered with three in the top of the eighth to make it 11-10. In the bottom of the frame, David Wright (who finished 4-for-4 with four runs and three RBIs) capped the scoring with a two-run homer. Jose Reyes stole two more bases, the first of which (No. 282 in his career) moved him past Mookie Wilson for most in Mets history.
I went to the Mets' dugout at the end of the game, and the only thing I got was a five-dollar bill that I found crumpled up under a seat. Oh well. No complaints here.
STATS:
• 11 balls at this game (10 of which are pictured on the right because I gave one away)
• 453 balls in 59 games this season = 7.7 balls per game.
• 555 consecutive games with at least one ball
• 334 consecutive games at Shea Stadium with at least one ball
• 92 lifetime games with at least 10 balls
• 19 double-digit games this year (extends my personal record)
• 3,730 total balls
...and did such a lazy job of flipping it to me that it fell short and landed in the photographers' box. There happened to be one photographer there (whose head you can see just to the right of my black backpack in the photo above), and he got it for me.
Thirty seconds later, Ryan Church started walking past me, and I wasn't sure if he'd seen me get the ball from Beltran, but he had a ball in his hand and I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask him for it. So I did. And he threw it to me.
BP then got underway, and I headed out to the right field foul line. Pedro Feliciano, who was playing catch with Duaner Sanchez, fielded a batted ball and tossed it to a little kid on my right. The ball fell short, tipped off the bare hand of an usher who tried to catch it for the kid, and landed at my feet. I reached down and picked it up and handed it to the kid. (Even though the ball wasn't intended for me, and even though I only had it in my possession for a couple seconds before giving it away, it still counts.)
Less than two minutes later, a right-handed batter sliced a ball into the second row (of restricted blue seats). It landed about 50 feet to my left, and by some miracle, it hit the seats in such a way that it shot all the way to me through the empty row. In fact, it shot so fast that I wasn't prepared to catch it, and it hit me on the right shin. Luckily it didn't bounce anywhere after that so I was able to reach down and grab it.
Less than two minutes after THAT, Sanchez happened to airmail Feliciano. The ball reached the seats on a fly and landed in the front row, right next to a woman who had ducked out of the way when she heard people yell "Heads up!" The ball literally sat at her feet for a good two seconds, which gave me time to jump over the chain (that separates the orange seats from that skinny blue section) and snag it. Feliciano then asked me for the ball because he didn't have another one to finish playing catch with, and he promised to give it back when he was done. Of course, because he's one of the least fan-friendly players I've ever encountered, he broke his promise and disappeared as soon as he was done throwing. Sanchez was left with the ball and didn't realize that I was the fan who'd returned it, so I basically had to re-snag it. In the four-part pic below, starting on the top left and going clockwise, you can see a) my attempt to convince Sanchez to give it to me, b) Sanchez inspecting the ball, c) the ball in mid-air on its way to me, and d) the ball about to enter my glove.
Wow.
I'd barely been inside the stadium for 20 minutes, and I'd already snagged five balls. That just DOESN'T happen at Shea, so naturally I was already thinking about reaching double digits.
Sensing I'd used up every natural resource along the right field foul line, I ran around the stadium and tried my luck on the other side. Soon after, when Nick Evans walked over to retrieve a ball, I shouted, "Nick! I'm going deep!" and I started running up the steps like a wide receiver.
"Keep going," he shouted, and I didn't quite know what to think. He was either messing with me and making me run for no reason, or he was actually planning to throw me the ball.I made it all the way up to the cross aisle, which is about 20 rows off the field, then cut toward home plate and looked back at Evans. As soon as I made eye contact, he fired the ball to my right (the home plate side)--and what a throw it was! I kept running, taking care not to run over the few ushers and fans who were standing around, and finally reached over the railing and made the catch.
FUN!!!
Then I snagged another ball, which was hit by a lefty on the Mets and took one bounce off the warning track. Everything was going my way. It was insane. And there wasn't even any competition.
I should probably mention that six of my first seven balls were commemorative. I gave one of them away to that kid. Here are the remaining five (and no, they're not for sale):
Jona then made her case for "Best Girlfriend Ever" by exiting Shea Stadium, waiting near the entrance to the picnic area (which was about to open), and finding two fans who each had an extra ticket. She got one for free (I don't want to know how) and bought the other for $10. Then, after I snagged my eighth ball of the day which had somehow plopped into the narrow space between the rolled-up tarp and the stands, she used one of her two picnic area tickets to re-enter the stadium and delivered the other to me.
Sadly, the bleachers turned out to be dead (relatively speaking). The following photo (with me wearing a red Nationals shirt) was taken during BP:
I still managed to snag three more balls out there, all of which were those awful blue training balls (not to be confused with green training balls which were used in 2006). The first was thrown behind-the-back by Joel Hanrahan in left-center field. The other two were home runs to straight away left. I have no idea who hit them. I caught one on a fly and grabbed the other after it sailed over my head and ricocheted off a metal bench.
And that, my friends, was it.
Jona and I spent the first half of the game in the bleachers (where I came closer than I should've to Elijah Dukes' second-inning homer) and the second half in the Loge Level behind home plate (where I would've snagged a foul ball if not for a hot dog vendor who happened to be blocking the narrow aisle at the exact moment that I needed to be running through it).The game itself was crazy. The Mets batted around in the third inning to take a 7-1 lead, but the Nationals chipped away and tied it in the sixth. The Mets scored four runs in the seventh to go on top, 11-7, but the Nats answered with three in the top of the eighth to make it 11-10. In the bottom of the frame, David Wright (who finished 4-for-4 with four runs and three RBIs) capped the scoring with a two-run homer. Jose Reyes stole two more bases, the first of which (No. 282 in his career) moved him past Mookie Wilson for most in Mets history.
I went to the Mets' dugout at the end of the game, and the only thing I got was a five-dollar bill that I found crumpled up under a seat. Oh well. No complaints here.
STATS:
• 11 balls at this game (10 of which are pictured on the right because I gave one away)• 453 balls in 59 games this season = 7.7 balls per game.
• 555 consecutive games with at least one ball
• 334 consecutive games at Shea Stadium with at least one ball
• 92 lifetime games with at least 10 balls
• 19 double-digit games this year (extends my personal record)
• 3,730 total balls
First. Just thought I'd say that. Haven't seen anyone else say it in a while. Ha ha. Nice month you're having Zack!!
Leigh
Report any abuse or spam
I guess maybe you can put that $5 toward another game ticket! Nice job! Is it just me, or did I sense that you feel like you "settled" for 11 balls? Must be nice, I'll get there eventually. Go for 500!
Report any abuse or spam
Zack,
You da man!!
Feliciano needs a jinx. A couple of months ago, I saw a kid drop one of his baseballs that he snagged earlier onto the warning track in left. Feliciano came over, picked it up and promptly threw it back towards the infield. The whole section complained.
Are you heading to baltimore for tonight's game? I'll be in philly.
I am going to Dallas in 2 weeks so any helpful hints from anyone about the Rangers park would be great.
Brendan (aka helmet guy)
Report any abuse or spam
So I guess if you're intending to be in Baltimore for the last weekend of the regular season, I don't have to worry about you snagging anything near me then at Shea. I think it's better that you'll be 205 miles from where I'll be actually...Thanks man! hahah. Nah, I'm playin..I guess the playoffs (knock on wood) or next season would be when we snag together. I'll be keepin up...
- Donnie
http://donnieanks.mlblogs.com/
Report any abuse or spam
EVERYONE-
I'm going to Camden Yards today (with my friend Leon), and the goal is simple: double digits. Wish me luck. I should have the entry up tomorrow afternoon.
Report any abuse or spam
BRENDAN (aefeq) --
Send me an email (bmpowell74@yahoo.com). I live about 20 mins. from the Ballpark in Arlington, & I can fill you in. Brian
Report any abuse or spam
Yous mets fans are ****.Were going all the way to the promised land .Take it back to Shea ballhog.
Report any abuse or spam
Get to NL CS 1st then see playoffs on tv Mets fans.
Report any abuse or spam
anyone know if they have those 4th of july balls today? they were supposed to have them over the 4th but didn't. I heard they would have them for 9-11 also. good luck zack
Report any abuse or spam
hey zack i got a ball from a nats player later on in the game so i ended up giving the disgusting muddy waterlogged ball away to a little kid, and are u gonna be at yankee stadium tomorrow
Report any abuse or spam
I had been to Shea Stadium 5 times before today, and did not have a chance to snag at any of them. My dad and I missed a 7 express by literally 5 seconds in Grand Central, and when I got onto the subway platform at 4:40, I saw the nets for BP were up!! It had poured earlier, and this was a huge relief. I sprinted to Gate C, and was disappointed when I didn’t see Greg or Gary because I was hoping I could cut the line and stand with them. The gates opened late, and I sprinted through a giant slip and slide of wet concrete to the corner spot on field level in right, where Zack’s last WWZ client stood. I asked Pedro for a ball, and he told me to wait until they (the pitchers) were done throwing. While the pitchers were still warming up, Dave Racaniello said I he would give me a ball later, when I asked him for one. A minute after that, and batter hit a ball to Luis Ayala, which he tossed to me for my first ever ball at Shea Stadium. Unfortunately it was not commemorative. Since Ayala was the only guy still throwing near me, and I knew he wouldn’t give me another ball, I moved to the corner spot in the right field lodge, where I met gjk for the first time. My second ball came from Nelson Figueroa. The ball rolled to the wall in right center, and I put in my request. He looked up and made a nice throw. The ball was commemorative () but it was really scuffed up (.) My third ball came from Dave Racaniello as he was walking in the bullpen, and he also tossed a ball to Gary (as he mentioned.) Ball Number 4 on the day came from Pedro Martinez. He was playing catch on the warning track with a coach, and when he finished I called down to him. Of all the guys that threw me balls, he actually THREW it. It was a laser. He was the also the only player who said “Your Welcome” when I thanked him for the ball. I told my dad he needed to be more like Jona when he didn’t get a picture of Pedro throwing me the ball. The ball was commemorative, but still scuffed up, and I needed a better one to be satisfied. As the Mets were winding down BP, and pitcher was heading into the bullpen, and I soon had my 5th ball of the day. As the Nationals came onto the field I put on my Nats T-shirt and hat. Little while later an unidentified National tried to throw me a ball, but it fell short, and clanged off of an ad, an in front of the Azek Deck, where the guys in the bullpen sit. The player was nice enough to go into the bullpen and pick up the ball, and he didn’t miss the second time. After I caught that ball, a Mexican usher told me that I couldn’t stand in the corner spot and that I had to move one box over (Shea is segmented by railing in the lodge, and one box is like 6 seats.) I was annoyed, but I was planning to leave soon so I didn’t argue. My 7th ball of the day came from September call- up Marco Estrada, after his throw fell short TWICE. I didn’t think I’d have a chance for any more balls from players in right, and almost everyone on the Nationals is a righty, so I headed into the corner spot in the Left Field Lodge. A minute after I got there Shairon Martis threw me my 8th ball of the day, and unfortunately, another training ball. About 5 minutes after the Martis ball, a right launched a ball in my direction. The ball hooked right to back to me, but I knew if was going to be like a foot high. I jumped a little, and made the catch! Everyone in the stand and bleachers started clapping, even though I was in Nats gear. I also could have had two glove trick balls, but I got glove trick phobia, from the height (I didn’t think I had enough string, but after I got home, I realized I probably could have made it. After about 5 minutes of looking at the balls, I asked the ushers if I could use the glove trick. He said “Go for it!” and another guy told me that Zack would be proud. But when I went to lower the glove, the balls were gone! Someone must have gone down and picked them up. I was sitting on 9 balls, and was kicking myself for not going for them sooner. I was planning on going to the dugout for the end of BP to try to get a ball as the Nationals came off the field, but when two balls landed in the bullpen, I stayed put. As Steven shell walked in, I asked him for a ball, and when I went to point to it, it had disappeared. I saw a security guard WASHING both balls in the water fountain. He ignored my requests for them. I snuck in behind the Mets dugout to try to get a warm-up ball before the game, and even though people had tickets where I was sitting like 3 times, the usher didn’t say anything and I moved into another empty seat. I didn’t get anything pre game, and after the 5th inning, and I left when I realized that Carlos Delgado was switching the final out ball (which would be commemorative) with his non-commemorative warm-up ball. I joined my dad in the Lodge in section 3, which is the PERFECT location for foul balls, but none came our way. In the 8th, I convinced a guy to give me his tickets stubs to get back onto field level (yeah, they even check your tickets for the field level CONCOURSE! At least the Yankees don’t do that. My dad found a spot behind the Nationals dugout, and I waited on the concourse behind home plate, and surprisingly, almost nobody left with the Mets leading after 8. Luckily, as I was being denied by a pair of guys, I got tapped on the shoulder, and was given a ticket stub in the PERFECT location. I thanked the man, and found my self on the right corner of the tunnel where the umpires exit! As the final out was recorded, I squeezed down one row, and I was the only person with a glove. It was too loud to yell “Hey lance! Can I have a ball please!” so I reached out as far as I could, and Home Plate ump Lance Barksdale tossed my ,y 10th and final ball of the day (double digits!) and it was a Beautiful commemorative.
Competition factor: 503,820.
And Zack: do you know how to ask for a ball in Polish.
Report any abuse or spam
meanphilliesphan
i love that. you phillie "fans" get so angry at everything and all it does is further philly's reputation for the worst fans. i mean, come on. you KNOW that you have bad fans when not only road teams mention it, but your own freakin players (the star of your team) is saying it.
Report any abuse or spam
nice job zack. yet another step closer to 500.
Report any abuse or spam
hey zack! (this is my second comment) I didn't get a commemorative ball at the yanks game! all i got was one lousy scuffed up game ball.(at least it was a game ball). i was so pissed. I went to the rangers game right after that and got eight balls. my personal high! and, a Josh Hamilton autograph. and literally there were NO GLOVE TRICK OPPURTINITIES! whatever.... anyways, gongrats on a double digit night!-Luke
P.S. what is your emal address?
Report any abuse or spam
Nice work as always Zach. I had my best day ever at the Metrodome. The only thing that would have made it better is if we would have actually swept the Royals like we should have.
I got a 4th row ticket above the Twins dugout and got there nice and early. Since it was a day game after a night game, there was no BP. I settled down at the railing over Twins dugout. I couldn't believe it. Normally, that railing is wall to wall kids and it is worthless to ask for balls there as an adult.
Since it was a school day, it was just me and a couple of other adults that were taking pictures. I had the ball asking all to myself! I set a new record of three balls in one game. Two pitchers threw me their warm up balls as they exited the field and another pitcher grabbed a ball that was laying on the field by third base and I got it by asking in spanish. It was my second ball of the day that I got by asking in spanish.
The last out throw ups were all to little kids (per usual) and no foul ball got anywhere near.
I had a feeling that the Twins were going to lose but since it wasn't too late yet and the crowd wasn't too bad there was no reason to head out early. That turned out to be a good thing. The Twins were wearing special 9/11 commemorative hats with stars and such in the TC logo. Pretty cool hats. Well, after the last out I am standing up and getting ready to exit the row when something hits the seat right next to me. I see a mad scramble coming so I look and a player had tossed his game worn commemorative hat into the stands! I picked it up before anyone else could grab it and not only was it a game worn special hat, but it was my size! The only complaint I have is that I ID'ed the hat by the equipment managers small "54" on the inside of the bill. 54 is Matt Guerrier and he just happened to be the losing pitcher on the day. I am guessing it wasn't him that threw it up since he didn't finish the game. I bet he tossed it aside as he was heading into the showers and someone else grabbed it and tossed it into the stands. It is a nice addition to the collection.
I also got two balls on Tuesday. One was a BP homer that I guessed right on a carom and knocked down and retrieved with the big glove. The other one was from Kyle Davies. Kyle was pretty much the only pitcher shagging BP by where I was and I asked for a ball every time he got one (as did a couple dozen other people) Kyle wasn't tossing anything into the stands at all. I looked at my pitchers roster to get the first name of some others to ask for balls down the line when I noticed something. It was Kyle Davies' birthday. When he wasn't busy shagging balls, I yelled "Hey Kyle. Happy Birthday man" The previously stoic Mr. Davies turned around and smiled, waved and said thank you. Well, guess what? The next ball that came to him. I didn't even ask for but he turned around and made a nice throw right into the web of the big glove. After that, everyone was wishing him Happy Birthday and playing it up in an attempt to get balls. He was having none of it. Overall it was a good series for me.
Report any abuse or spam
Hey Zack...
TracyCollinsBecky snagged Drew Macias' first career HR tonight and I caught Adrian Gonzalez's 31st HR of the year as well. My catch was interesting. You'll have to see it on video. Two commentors catching HR's in the same game. Pretty cool!! I'll post a video of the snags tomorrow when I get off of work. I'm sure you had good luck in Baltimore. We're tied at 2 HR's a piece. TC goes to 3.
Leigh
Report any abuse or spam
Well, here's the video. Not that great, but I did catch it.
Leigh
http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200809123460158&c_id=sd
Report any abuse or spam
Here is the homer that TracyCollinsBecky got:
http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200809123460158&c_id=sd
Report any abuse or spam
Sorry, I think this is it.
http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200809123460274&c_id=sd
Report any abuse or spam
Ok, last time....I think this is TC's snag. Sorry once again.
http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200809113459587&c_id=sd
Report any abuse or spam
Hey Zack. Was at the game, sorry we missed each other. I was sitting upstairs. Wasn't a great night for me anyways. My friend, who has season tix, was busting my hump about how well the Mets are doing and how poorly the Yankees were doing and the first few rows behind us heard that and let me have it. First, it was the Yankees Stink chants and then it started getting ugly. I heard a few "why is he here if he's a Yankee fan?" questions to some swearing directed toward me and one threatened to take me out of Shea forceably which prompted his buddies to chear loudly. I said nothing as my buddy goes all the time and I didn't want to cause him problems for future games, but I was seething. I'm not the typical, obnoxious Yankees fan. I call it like it is and if I rib, it's all in good fun. I don't mean to lump all Mets fans with the crowd that was there that night, but at the time, I was really hating the fans of the team. If the Cubs make the playoofs, I'm rooting for them.
Mike
Report any abuse or spam
Zack - Last night in Anaheim the "Ballhawks" in the right field pavillion were treated to what who we called Zack Hample Jr. We only say that because he used every trick in your book and was basically a mirror image of you. The reason I am posting this comment is because those of us out there were 95% sure that he in fact does read your MLBlog and this is simply to let him know that he better not pull the crap he did last night. I don't mean to vent here but one of the regulars is likely to knock him flat if he does the same stuff again. He ran over people, ran in front of people even snagged a ball being tossed up for a kid simply because he was one of a few people yelling at the player. The worst thing he did was ran into one of the regulars (I forget his name). A ball came in on the fly and he just flew across a section and a half without slowing and basically knocked the guy across a row of seats. For his sake I hope he doesn't show up tonight.
Thankfully I was in the right field corner where I snagged 5 balls including a BP homer on the fly off the bat of ICHIRO who is by far the best BP hitter EVER!Anyway, I know that he is only a Zack Hample Jr in the fact that he wrote down every ball he got, marked each one, switched from Angels gear to Mariners gear when the teams changed for BP and he even asked every player that got a ball within 100 ft. of where he was. At least you are courteous to those around you esepcially the regulars!
For your sake I hope the Mets hang on so you get October baseball but if they don't come back and visit us. We will have baseball most likely during the entire month with both the Dodgers and Angels in the playoffs!
John
http://mlballhawk.com
http://ballhawk.mlblogs.com
mlballhawk@gmail.com
Report any abuse or spam
While the Braves are in New York this weekend, Turner Field has been mentioned as a possible location for the Cubs/Astros series due to Hurricane Ike. Not sure how much snagging could be done, since one day would likely feature a doubleheader and the usual invasion of the Cubs bandwagon.
Report any abuse or spam
ballhawk: well i hope its not the zack jr. from toronto he should have school. buts its unfortunate that zack teaches not to do that yet people who read the blog to.
the thing that has always stuck in my mind was from zacks book, and the "unwritten rules" of snagging. if the player points or looks or its clear that he is throwing the ball to a specific person, dont go for it. if he just lobbes the ball up, its fair game.
Report any abuse or spam
It turns out that it was Matt ( http://bloggingboutbaseball.mlblogs.com )
My comments were a little harsh maybe but he has to realize that the regulars are people you don't want to P/O because at least at Anaheim they know how to make it hard for you to get a ball! Anyway, I wasn't affected by it so it's not a big deal but my step son was up there and it could have been an issue. Leigh knows all to well about idiots in Anaheim running people over and we don't need anymore then there already are!
Zack - control you fans would ya!! ...... LOL
John
http://ballhawk.mlblogs.com
Report any abuse or spam
GO ZACK!!!!! Hi, Zack my names mike and im 14... just found this blog and LOVE IT :).
Don't hate me, but im a diamond backs fan....... i know they're 3.5 games behind but there's always hope!!!
I have only snagged 6 lifetime balls, 1 at a major league game and the other 5 over a couple of minor league games (Im a pawsox fan).....
see ya zack!
Report any abuse or spam
Hey, everyone. It's Matt. I've got some bad press going around, it seems. I certainly didn't steal a ball from a kid. I know better than that. I did congratulate a couple of kids and a lot of the regulars that made catches while I was there. I had fun. I felt like I got run into once or twice, but I figured all was well. I will be sure to be extra careful, too. I hope to make friends out of my new, Zack-inspired hobby, not enemies. Best of luck and good thoughts to all you baseball snaggers and fans.
Report any abuse or spam
do teams have BP after a 3:55 game the day before?
Report any abuse or spam
EVERYONE-
I'm really pressed for time (what else is new) so I'm pretty much only going to answer the comments with questions...but know that I've read them ALL.
BMPOWELL74-
I kind of settled, yes, but really I'm just trying to be more homer-conscious. I know it costs me a few balls here and there.
BRENDAN-
Yep, I was in Baltimore last night.
DONNIE-
Now my weekend in Baltimore is in jeopardy because I don't think I'm gonna have a car. Crap.
MEAN PHILLY PHAN-
I'm sorry you think I'm a ball hog. Just keep in mind that I've given away more balls to kids this season than most people even dream about catching in their lifetimes.
CSPARKS-
Nah, MLB didn't use them.
YANKEES42294-
No game for me tonight.
PUCK COLLECTOR-
Simply amazing. Congrats on your big day at Shea, and yes, I do know how to ask for a ball in Polish.
LUKETHEDUKE42-
You can find my email address at the bottom of this page:
http://www.zackhample.com/contact.htm
LEIGH-
It was hard to see you or T.C. in those clips...but still cool.
JOHN-
Wow, sorry to hear that, but please don't blame ME.
MIKE-
I don't hate you. Welcome to this blog...
MATT-
Thanks for weighing in. Obviously I wasn't there, so I didn't see what happened...so it wouldn't be fair to make any type of comment. I can only say...just be careful.
Report any abuse or spam