May 27th: Cardinals

Today's game would be the first weekday day game of the season that I attended. The kids are in school yet not to mention it was a cold and rainy day. Good stuff for ballhawking, right? Not so much. The day would turn out to be the polar opposite of what I expected. I did get a nice photo op though...

Now, the last time I attended a Major League Baseball game and did not leave with at least one baseball was on Saturday, May 5^th of 2003. Several estimates have placed my streak at around 100 games in a row with one baseball, when in actuality it is at 409. That is in the last 409 games I have attended, I have left with at least one baseball. Now, you would think the chances of a ballhawk of my caliber being shut out are miniscule, especially with the anticipated conditions. Not so fast...

I arrived at the ballpark at 9:30 AM, just early enough to park in the front row. There were a few fire trucks parked on the concourse, as well as a giant blow up grub worm. Strange stuff. Nonetheless, the concourse was empty until about 10 o'clock... as soon as the clock hits 10, three school busses pull up and drop off LOADS of kids. I'm talking the entire Milwaukee Public School district was in attendance, or so it seemed. Kids everywhere... not good. Friday's Front Row Sports Grill would not be open until game time today as well. Disaster!!!

The park opened its standard 4 minutes late, and I was off to the races. I knew I would have to earn my baseballs today. Toss ups would be limited to the kids and I've already been recognized by a few players as having tons of baseballs. There were no Easter eggs in the bleachers. Upon further inspection, I realized only one team would be taking BP today, and that team would be the INCREDIBLY stingy Milwaukee Brewers. I played for BP homers from the lefties and for toss ups from Jody Gerut. A group of kids got 6 straight baseballs from 2 players. Other than that BP was dead. Nothing hit and nothing thrown... boring! Batting practice ended with my glove empty. Nothing, zero. What a scary feeling. I was being shut out.

The game was rather exciting; the Brewers kept it close but couldn't hang on. They dropped 2 of 3 to the Cards as well as sole possession of 1^st place. Both Trever Miller and Ryan Franklin pitched... what a treat! I came to the conclusion that my best chance to get a ball was behind the winning team's dugout. The players would be on the field and the bullpen staff would need to walk right in front of me. The final out was made and I scurried down to the Cards dugout.

Player after player ignored me. Duncan, Motte, LaRue, Barden, Rasmus. No dice. No ball, rather. Nearly the entire team had walked under me without even waiving or nodding, let alone throwing a ball to me. There was one player left walking in from the bullpen: Joel Pineiro. I half-a$$ed a glove wag at him, accepting defeat. Out of nowhere, he pulls a ball out and tosses it right to my extended glove. Wow. Talk about taking it to the wire. I was within 5 feet of being shut out for the first time in 410 games. Whew. Too close for comfort.

One (1) baseball today