Results tagged ‘ Miller Park ’
Monday, May 10th: Atlanta Braves
Anyone who knows me outside
of the ballpark knows I’m a huge Arnold Palmer drinker. The mix of lemonade and
iced tea just hits the spot, I don’t know why. Also, they know I’m continuously
spitting sunflower seeds. After stopping at my local gas station, it would seem
I hit the jack pot:
New brand and flavor of
seeds and a new bottle of Arnold Palmer! This literally made my day.
About 45 minutes later, I
found myself parked near the ballpark and wandering Milwaukee‘s side streets:
Miller Park
peeking through the brush:
Isn’t that fitting? The
Brewers in the trash. Finally, the stadium comes fully into view, with an omen
lying in the grass:
Time slowly passes by, and I
find myself ordering my standard meal inside the ballpark, the French dip.
It’s pretty delicious and it’s served me
pretty well over the past homestands, as I’ve been ballhawking on a full
stomach. Shortly after putting the finishing touches on the French dip, Claudio
Vargas whipped me baseball number one, pictured below, and Casey McGehee hit me
number two.
The only way to see Brewers
BP at Miller Park
is to eat outside at Friday’s Front Row Sports Grille. However, there is a
massive overhang over half of the outdoor patio. It’s robbed about 50 baseballs
from me over its two year lifespan. Imagine you’re tracking a deep drive…
back tracking….
Back tracking some more,
looking up to catch the ball and seeing this disappointing sight;
Yeah, that can ruin your
day. Soon enough, the rest of the park opens and I find myself en route to
right field when Troy Glaus lifts a deep fly ball in my general direction in
left field. I back up, adjust and gobble up baseball #3.
Upon my arrival in right field,
Brian McCann began to settle in. He hit a very, very deep fly ball about 30
feet to my left. Sprinting backwards and leftwards, I leap against a railing at
the last second and when reaching full extension, haul in baseball number 4.
Two pitches later, McCann lands another in my glove in nearly the same spot,
baseball #5. Towards the end of the
round, McCann sends a third baseball in my direction, giving me my 6th
of the day.
The next round only had one
lefty, Jason Heyward. He’s injured, so he took it easy. I still managed to snag
a ball off the bat of the phenom, for my 7th of the day, and that
ended BP.
During
pre-game warm-ups, Roger McDowell tossed me number 8 out of the bullpen:
The
game’s lineups via bullpen Coach Eddy Perez:
The
game went pretty embarrassingly for the Brewers, as they lost 8-2 to the
light-hitting Braves.
After
the game, bullpen Catcher Alan Butts threw me my 9th of the day,
behind the dugout:
And
that was all she wrote.
-Ballhawk
Shawn-9
-Braves-8
-Brewers-2
April 27th, 2009. Pirates at Brewers.
I got to the ballpark with time to spare. It was going to be
a good day today, I knew it. Zack Hample was supposed to be at Miller
Park today along with the Happy
Youngster… That’s right, the three best ballhawks in the nation in one stadium…
Ballhawking clinic!
I got to Fridays Front row and the fun began…
Baseball #1: Earlier in the day, I had Seth “Big Red”
McClung sign his player-t shirt out in the parking lot. He loved it and claimed
to have never seen one before. Needless to say, the second he came out, I made
sure he knew it was me in the parking lot… I turned my back to him (so he could
see the McClung 73) and held up an empty glove. He tossed me a heavily used BP
ball… that was it from the Brewers.
Baseball # 2: : I soon traded the Brewers attire for
something right out of a Pittsburghers closet… a “USA
baseball” jersey and a Pirates cap. The gates opened and I rushed down to where
the Pirates were playing catch. I recognized Zack Duke and asked him to toss me
a ball laying right in front of him. Money!! The ball had something written on
the sweet spot…
Baseball #3: Tossed by an unidentified Pirates pitcher… Word
on the sweet spot!
Baseball #4: A Miller
Park security guard tossed a ball
to us… score!
Baseball #5: Capps Tossed me a warm up batted ball!
Baseball #6: Robinzon Diaz playing catch a few sections down…
I saw he finished and hollered for the baseball in Spanish… it always works! He
tossed it right to me.
Baseball #7: Sean Burnett tossed a baseball to little kid
next to me… who wasn’t paying attention. The child dropped the ball back onto
the field, and Burnett tossed it to me. No, I did not keep it, I gave it
directly to the kid.
Baseball #8: I was running from the LF corner to the RF
corner, the short way… behind the scoreboard. I saw a deep drive land in center
field. I recognized Ian Snell picking it up. He disappeared from view, all I could
see was his eyes and hat. I screamed “IAAAAN!” and put my pirates hat in the
air next to my glove. He fired it up like it was nothing.
Baseball #9: This baseball was something kind of weird… Sean
Burnett saw me give a ball to a kid on the other side of the field. Leaning
over the bullpen with my glove extended, I turned my head to talk to the Happy
Youngster… as I reach mid-conversation, a ball magically lands in my glove. I snatch
it up like the treasure it was. Sean Burnett landed a ball in my glove while I wasn’t
even looking!
Baseballs #10 and 11 were tossed up by un-identified Pirates
shagging in the OF. Both of which had words on the sweet spot.
Baseball #12 + 13: Tossed by Andy LaRoche at the Dugout during warmups,
mystery roll at dugout. Rapid fire.
Baseball #14: Tossed by Don Veal after game….
2009 stats:
14 on april 17th
18 total in 3 games
A few picture for you guys….
The autograph is from Mr. Kerrigan, the Pirates pitching
coach. The 13 balls I kept of the 14 of the day.
Me, Zack Hample and The Happy Youngster
(Http://thehappyyoungster.mlblogs.com)
Soon after, we were on television!
And I got to see Hoffman make his Brewers debut!
More coming soon!
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