Orioles vs. Angels - Angel Stadium - 7/3/09 - 5 Balls

This entry is going to be somewhat of a cliff notes version since I am writing it about 4 days later. I went to my usual spot in the right field corner to start with and grabbed one ball during Angels BP that flew into the seats by the foul pole. Once the Orioles got on the field for BP I grabbed two balls that rolled up to the wall with me leaning over to grab them. The first was hit by Nick Markakis and the second by Matt Weiters.

I decided to head up to the right field pavilion seats because there were two of the Oriole pitchers were guarding the line like there was Gold rolling towards the wall. They would not let anything get by them. Once I was up in the right field seats most of the Orioles lefties were done. In the last 2 groups the only lefty was Felix Pie'. Finally Pie' ripped a ball into the seats. I made one of my best catches of the season running across about a section and a half catching the ball just behind a family of 4 that were completely oblivious to what was going on.

At the end of the game I decided to try the Orioles bullpen instead of the dugouts because there were fireworks after the game and getting a good spot near the dugout would have been impossible. Just before the last out I noticed that one of the Orioles coaches, Alan Dunn, was down there and I figured he was the best shot for a ball. After the game he went to pick up the ball bag and I yelled at him and politely asked for a ball. He reached into the bag and tossed me a nice rubbed up ball. The cool thing about getting a ball from Alan was the fact that he was the pitching coach for the first minor league baseball team that I worked for when I was there. I was vending beer for the Rockford Cubbies in 1995/1996 seasons and Alan was always a cool guy who would talk to all of us before the games.

Another cool thing about the Orioles is that one of their coaches, Terry Crowley, was the person that threw me my first baseball ever at Anaheim Stadium. That was way back in 1978 and he actually gave me 2 baseballs so I could give one to my brother.

Below are my totals for the night and for the season.

Game Info from MyGameBalls.com (SN = Ballhawk)

Stats & Streaks from MyGameBalls.com