I’ll start off by saying I got shutout at this game, even though I was at the stadium alot of ballhawks call the best place in the MLB.

I went down to Baltimore will Ballhawk Rick and his friend Hunter who is a character.

Honestly, I don’t really have alot to talk about in this post, so I will just show everyone some pictures.

I think that is one of the coolest pictures I’ve ever taken! Thanks Camden Yards for the awesome bullpens!

I like this t-shirt, I saw a lot of O’s fans at the game wearing shirts they’ve gotten on giveaway nights, looks like they have great promotions, while the Pirates have terrible ones.

Overall grade for the stadium – B+ (It will become an A once I go back and snag a ball!)

 

Well, I was going to make this a long entry about these two games, but I took most of the pictures on my phone and it is not letting me upload on my pictures on to my computer for some reason.

6/19/12 

Well I got to PNC around 3:15, Ballhawk Rick was already in line, and told me that members from the band Korn walked past us, I did not notice.

He gave me one of his baseballs that he had in his backpack so I could get his signature.

Very cool! Korn has been one of my favorite bands for years. Ballhawk Rick and I both got his autograph on a baseball.

I got two balls at this game.

Ball #1 – was a toss-up by the bullpen from pitcher, Juan Cruz.

Ball #2 – was a toss-up in section 140 from Twins pitcher, Alex Burnett.

I was close to Andrew McCutchen’s home run at this game, that’s twice this year I have been close to a home run from an All-Star.

6/20

I arrived at PNC Park earlier than usual.

Early enough to get autographs from Twins players as they arrived at the ballpark.

I had an extra baseball from the day before, so I had 5 Twins players sign it.

Matt Capps, Liam Hendriks, Alex Burnett, Denard Span, and Glen Perkins signed that ball.

I snagged 4 balls at this game.

Ball #1- was a toss-up from pitcher, Chris Resop (who usually doesn’t throw balls to fans)

Ball #2 – was a toss-up from Josh Willingham.

Ball #3 – was a found in Section 140, the ball was lodged underneath a cup holder.

Ball #4 – was a toss-up from Andrew McCutchen in the 5th inning, the ball was not intended for me, it bounced off a persons hand, and a rail, then landed in my glove. I took a quick look at the ball, and handed to a woman that was seated in Section 141.

SEASON STATS

6 balls at these 2 game (5 pictured because 1 ball was given away)

36 balls at 12 games this season.

3 balls per game.

141 LIFETIME BASEBALLS

Also, look at the shirt I got after Tuesday’s game!

Yes! I will be wearing this shirt to games!

This will be quick, one thing I can say about this game is missed opportunities.

Did I get shutout?

No.

Ball #1 – was a toss-up from Herberto Andrade, I’ve said this before he is the coolest coach in the league.

Ball #2 – was hit by catcher Michael “The Fort” McKenry, the ball took a crazy bounce and I ran full speed to snag it.

Ball #3 – was a toss-up from a Reds pitcher, I believe it was Pittsburgh area native JJ Hoover, but I am not 100% sure.

Ball #4 – was Andrew McCutchen’s warm-up ball in the 5th inning.

This game didn’t start until 9, because a crazy thunderstorm came through Pittsburgh, we luckily had BP though. After snagging Cutch’s warm-up ball, I left.

SEASON STATS

4 balls at this game.

30 balls at 10 games this season.

3 balls per game.

135 LIFETIME BASEBALLS

 

I have been lazy and busy lately, so I will make this blog post quick.

Ball #1 – was a toss-up from my favorite Pirate pitcher, Jason Grilli, he tossed the ball my way, it started to fall a little short, I reached over the wall and snagged it.

Ball #2 – was a toss-up from Reed Johnson, this ball was an Astros commemorative.

Ball #3 – at 5:30 when the rest of the stadium opened, myself and other ballhawks raced to the center field sections where I found this ball laying in the 4th row, under a seat. This ball was another Astros commemorative, which I sold to a fan for $20!

Ball #4 – was a toss-up from Blake Parker in right field. Another Astros commemorative.

Ball #5 – was another Astros commemorative ball (that’s all the Cubs used during BP at this game, which made us ballhawks happy) and it was hit by Cubs backup catcher and Pittsburgh area native, Blake Lalli.

Upclose and cool picture of the 4 baseballs I kept from this game.

5 balls at this game (4 pictured above because 1 was sold).

26 balls at 9 games this season.

2.89 balls per game.

131 LIFETIME BASEBALLS

After getting home from vacation in Florida, it felt good to be back at PNC Park. Also, since I only snagged one ball at Tropicana Field in my previous, I was hoping for a big day at PNC.

I got on the bored early, I saw outfielder Jose Tabata walking toward the warning track to pick up a ball, I yelled his name, and he tossed the ball my way for my first ball of the day.

Near the end of Pirates BP, pitcher Jeff Locke tossed me my second ball of the day.

Shortly after that, the Pirates left the field and the Mets made their way out. A few minutes into Mets BP, I got the attention of an unknown Mets pitcher (I think it was Jeremy Hefner, but I’m not completely sure). Anyway, he picked up a ball and tossed it my way for my third ball of the day.

Anybody know for sure who that is?

My fourth ball of the day, was a toss-up from Lucas Duda in right field.

At first I wasn’t sure if that was Duda or not, I asked two other ballhawks to find out for sure.

My fifth ball of the day was hit by Ike Davis. The ball hit the seats and bounced around, and I was picked it up, and then handed to the little girl in orange in the picture below.

After I snagged that Ike Davis ball, I went back to the bleachers, and they were crowded.

I was close to a ball that would have been my sixth of the ball, the ball hit a bleacher and bounced around, and another fan picked it up.

The starting pitcher for the Mets was 2 time Cy Young winner Johan Santana, I have always liked Santana, it’s good to see him back after missing alot of time due to injuries.

I stayed for this whole game, the Mets got out to an early 4-0 lead, but the Pirates came back for win, it was an amazing game.

SEASON STATS

5 balls at this game (1 ball given away).

21 balls at 8 games this season.

2.63 balls per game.

126 LIFETIME BASEBALLS

 

Every year in the middle of May, I go on a family vacation down to Sarasota, Florida, which is in the Tampa Bay area. Its became a tradition for me to attend a game while I’m down there.

My cousin Josh (who ballhawks, but doesn’t get to attend many games). He snagged a David Ortiz BP blast at this game.

When the gates opened, and everyone made their way into the stadium, I ran toward the left field seats, and I found a ball in the location of the next picture.

It ended up being the only ball I snagged at this game for two reasons; the seats got crowded really quickly.

Here is a view to my right.

I did come close to a ball hit by an unknown Red Sox righty.

The second reason I didn’t snag another ball is the Red Sox got off the field early, we only got to see 25 minutes of BP.

After BP, me and Josh met up, he watched BP in right field and that is where he snagged the ball from Ortiz.

After we ate, we went to our seats, which were an amazing spot to snag a game home run at.

The coolest thing about this game was that Josh and I just sat there in our ticketed seats and watched the game. It is different from my usual PNC Park game plan where I go back and forth from left field and right center.

We stayed at the game until the bottom of the 8th inning.

The Rays won this game 2-1. Jeremy Hellickson and Clay Buchholz pitched great.

On our way out of the stadium I took the following picture of outside Tropicana Field at night.

By the way, that is Josh standing in the picture in his Joel Hanrahan t-shirt.

A picture of what I collected at this game.

And an upclose picture of the ball I snagged.

SEASON STATS

1 ball at this game.

16 balls at 7 games this season.

2.29 balls per game.

121 LIFETIME BASEBALLS

I am really short on time, as I have a plane to catch headed to Florida, so I will post this blog without pictures, sorry guys.

5/8/12 vs Nationals

It rained around 4 and quit by 4:30 which was enough to cancel BP, ridiculous.

Even without BP, I still managed to snag 3 baseballs.

A few Nationals players (including Bryce Harper) and a couple coaches were out by the warning track in left field doing a little warm-up when they were done they tossed the baseballs they had into the crowd…

Ball #1 – was a toss-up that sailed over ballhawk Zac Weiss’ and up a few rows in the bleachers, I quickly turned around a went over a couple bleachers to pick it up.

I went over to the Nationals dugout in an attempt to snag another ball, which I was successful in doing.

Ball #2 – was tossed up to me by a PNC Park employee by the dugout.

Ball #3 – was Andrew McCutchen’s 5th inning toss-up which was thrown directly at me and into my glove.

5/10/12  vs Nationals

This was the final game of the series, the Pirates were going for the sweep of the Nationals which they could not do, due to Stephen Strasburg’s 13 strikeouts.

This was the only game of the series where there was BP.

Ball #1 – was hit by Rod Barajas near the bullpen, the ball bounced around, and I picked it up.

Ball #2 – was hit by Nats slugger Ryan Zimmerman, the ball bounced up into the upper bleachers, I ran up there to pick it up, the ball was a Dodger Stadium 50th anniversary ball.

Ball #3 – was a toss-up in Section 140, by Nats pitcher Henry Rodriguez.

Ball #4 – was hit by an unknown National, it was hit directly at me, I closed my glove too quickly, I turned around, picked it up and gave it to a kid, I didn’t realize it was another Dodger Stadium ball until after I handed it to him, but I didn’t care, I already had one, and the kid was really happy, him and his dad both thanked me.

SEASON STATS

7 balls at these 2 games.

15 balls at 6 games this season.

2.5 balls per game.

120 LIFETIME BASEBALLS

 

The day kinda got started on the wrong foot because the gates opened about 8 minutes late. I got two balls during the Pirates portion of BP.

My first ball was hit by bench player Yamiaco Navarro, I snagged the ball of a bounce.

My second ball was thrown by bullpen catcher known by ballhawks as Herbie, he always hooks the ballhawks out with a toss-up. Hands down, the friendliest coach in the MLB.

At 5:30, I ran over to section 140 to look for Easter eggs and found none. It was boring over there but I did get my third ball there, a toss-up from Reds pitcher Sam LeCure.

The bleachers in left field were not as crowded as they usually are during Friday night BP.

I only had one more chance to snag a ball during BP, it was hit by an unknown Red, it bounced a few rows behind me and started to roll down the bleachers as I was reaching for the ball, a Reds fan picked it up.

3 balls was it for BP, which I was happy with.

The pitching match up for this game was…

Kevin Correia

and Johnny Cueto

In the top of the 1st inning, left fielder Alex Presley threw me his warm-up ball. For my 4th and final ball of the day.

I also came SO close to a Jay Bruce HR ball, the ball was snagged by a random fan as he was walking by, if he was not there, the ball would have been mine.

Also, the Reds beat the Pirates. Johnny Cueto pitched a complete game.

And below is a picture of the 4 balls I snagged, and my game ticket.

SEASON STATS

4 balls at this game.

8 balls at 4 games this season.

2 balls per game.

113 LIFETIME BASEBALLS.