Results tagged ‘ MADD ’
Falling behind on entries & donating tickets for BASEBALLS 4 MADD
I have 2 from Dodger stadium over a week ago that I need to get up and then a couple from last week in Anaheim. It’s been tough to keep up, I have a lot going on right now with trying to find a new job and just getting things straightened out in life.
8/29/09 – A’s vs Angels – Jon Wilhite 1st Pitch – 1 Ball
This homestand in Anaheim was filled with emotional moments, none of which that were bigger than when Jon Wilhite stepped onto the Angels Stadium mound to throw out last nights ceremonial 1st pitch.
Jon was the lone survivor of the accident that killed Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and their friends Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson.
Tonights game was also the 6th game I attended this week. The great thing is that I went to 6 games this week and for tickets to all 6 games it only cost me was $8. That was thanks to a very nice lady that gave us tickets to Tuesday nights game and also thanks to the great support and generosity of the Angels and their VP of communications Tim Mead. Tim was nice enough to get us tickets for last nights game as well as a game earlier in the year to help support Baseballs 4 MADD!
Now onto my day at the ballpark. I made it to Angels Stadium by 4:05, just as the gates were opening. I went into the ticket office to pick up the tickets from Tim. A lady in the office took my ID and about 5 minutes later came back and said they couldn’t find the tickets ………. WHAT???? Precious BP time is ticking away and now I have to wait in the office for the tickets. Well, about 15 minutes went by and finally I had the tickets. Then I got to the gate with the tickets and the first one didn’t scan and said it was no good! UGH! Back to the office. They fixed it and finally I was headed into the stadium.
I went out to right field since the A’s were now taking batting practice. Jack Cust, Ryan Sweeney and all the other A’s lefties only managed to hit about 10 balls into the seats. I did have a play on one but a guy jumped in front of me and I never saw the ball once he jumped up. It hit the heal of my glove and fell back on the field. I was afraid now that I would get shut out!
BP came to an end and I had a goose egg. Would this be the first time in my life I got a goose egg on back to back days? I was determined to get a ball so I headed over to the bullpens in left field. There were 3 balls sitting in the Angels bullpen and just 1 in the A’s bullpen. When some of the Angels players and coaches came into their bullpen they tossed the balls all over the place but not towards me. Then it was time for the A’s to make their way into the bullpen.
A’s catcher, and college teammate of Jon Wilhite, Kurt Suzuki was the 1st A’s player to make his way into the Bullpen. As Kurt walked past the ball on the bench I asked him if it was possible to get the ball. He looked back and motioned towards another A’s player to toss him the ball. That player tossed him the ball and then he tossed it over the wall to me. How awesome was that, on the night that Jon Wilhite was going to throw out the first pitch I got a ball from his friend and college teammate.
After Kurt tossed me the ball I walked down near where he was getting ready to warm up the starting pitcher. Since he was right by the fence I thought I would thank him for the ball and let him know what I was doing for MADD.
I told him that the ball he just threw me helped raise money for MADD through Baseballs 4 MADD. I told him that I had caught almost 5000 baseballs at professional baseball games and that every ball I caught this year would help raise money for MADD. I mentioned that I had started doing this right after the accident and that I felt it was my way to help out after the accident which was only a mile from my house. He said, “Thanks, thanks alot, that’s really cool!” That made my entire night and the entire season worth the effort that I have put into Baseballs 4 MADD.
Unfortunately I did not get to meet Jon or even talk to him or anyone else that was there for the ceremony. I know that time will come and for now I just hope that they know that there are a lot of people that feel he is a true miracle. He is someone and something that we can believe in and gives us hope in everything good or bad in life. He has shown us that having the will to live and a never give up attitude can go a long way! God Bless you Jon!
The ball from Kurt was the only ball I would get tonight but it is a ball that I will hold onto! In fact I hope that in the near future I can get both Jon and Kurt to sign the ball!
Please make a pledge and support BASEBALLS 4 MADD and help bring an end to the senseless crime of DRUNK DRIVING!!
8/27/09 – A’s vs. Angels – Ball #2900 (regular season)5 balls, 3 Angels HOF plaques, 2 autographs
Around 2:30 I started my walk over to the local bus stop to take it down to Angel Stadium. It was not a fun walk since it was 106 degrees outside. Thankfully it was only about a 20 minute walk and I had taken a shower just before I left the house so it kept me pretty cool.
The bus got me down to the stadium around 3:30. The Angels flagship station was doing a live remote out front and I noticed long time Angel Stadium Ballhawk Roger hanging around talking to the guys on the radio. I asked Roger if he was going into the game tonight and he said probably not. I told him that he should since there were still $3 tickets available. Roger walked over and bought a cheap seat and then we walked over to the Adenhart memorial and I layed down a “Baseballs 4 MADD” T-shirt and a game ball that I had grabbed earlier in the year.
Tonights game was the make-up game from April 9th which was the day that the tragic accident occured. This Saturday the lone survivor of the accident, Jon Wilhite, will be thrownig out the first pitch. The Angels will also be holding a blood drive in memory of Nick Adenhart.
The gates opened a little after 5 which was surprising as game time was set for 7:25 instead of the usual 7:05. The reason for the later game time was because the Angels were inducting 2 fan favorites into the Angels Hall of Fame. The inductees were Chuck Finley and Brian Downing. Chuck Finley I was never a really big fan of however Brian Downing was one of my favorite players.
From 1987 to 1989 I spent a lot of time at Angels Stadium. We had season tickets in the Left Field family section and in that time I caught 5 Brian Downing game homers. Way back in the day (1977) my father was a sports photographer in Chicago and he had befriended Brian. In 1978 Brian actually sent my brother and I autographed baseballs at the end of the season. The cool thing on those balls ….. they were sent in small boxes with Bobby Grich’s address on them.
Ok so back to going in the stadium ……………we got int just after 5 and I went to my favorite spot in the right field corner. Mike Napoli stepped in and hit a trail blazer through the grass that just barely rolled across the warning track and right to me. BALL#1 (2898)
As Angels BP was coming to an end I decided to go up into the Right Field pavilion. Roger went up to RF as well and the usual cast of characters was up there too! Rob, T.C., Chris P and a couple other regulars. Shortly after getting up there Jack Cust launched a ball that hit in the seats and ricocheted around and I ran across my row and picked it up. BALL#2 (2899)
So sitting on 2899 I was hoping for a long fly ball to catch on the fly for #2900 at regular season games. Did I get it that way??? Of course not! Someone from the A’s hit a ball into the gap between the RF Pavilion seats and the seats down the RF line. I walked over and looked down to where the ball was. There were actually 2 balls sitting down there. A groundskeeper walked over and picked one of the balls up and tossed it into the seats down the RF line. He picked up the other one and tossed it in my direction. It was about a foot and a half short of getting to me and fell back down to where he was. He picked it up and tossed it to me. BALL#3 and #2900 (regular season) of my Ballhawking career. Here is a picture of me after the game with #2900.
Now that I had #2900 it was time to start the final march to ball #3000! Just a few minutes after I got my 3rd ball of the day someone hit a ball into the seats to my right. I ran through the section and got a nice bounce and picked up the ball from between the seats. BALL#4
Batting practice ended around 6:15 and there was now basically an hour and 10 minutes to kill before game time. Roger and I signed up for the designated driver program so we could get our free drinks. Then we walked around to the bullpen area since there were 2 balls sitting in the Angels bullpen and 6 in the A’s bullpen that I wanted to take a shot a getting when the players came out.
Just before 7 some a couple of the Angels came out to the bullpen and tossed those 2 balls to a couple of kids close by. Shortly after that the A’s came out to there bullpen. Former Cal State Fullerton Titan Kurt Suzuki was the first one into the bullpen. I was standing right behind 2 of the balls in the bullpen. As Kurt walked up I asked, “Kurt, may I please have one of those baseballs?” He picked one up and tossed it over the wall to me. BALL#5
This was a really cool ball to get. Kurt has been doing a lot of things to help his former Titan teammate Jon Wilhite raise money to pay for his medical bills & rehab. Now the ball that he tossed me will help MADD raise money to work toward the mission of MADD which is to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking.
Thank you KURT!!!
That would be the end of the fun for the night. The game was extremely boring and quick. After the game I would grab autographs from both Chuck Finley and Brian Downing along with a total of 3 of the Angels HOF plaques that the team gave away tonight.
Overall it was a really good night ……….. Ball 2900 in the bag and 98 balls to go until 3000 balls caught at regualr season games. The 5 balls that I grabbed tonight also put me 32 balls away from the coveted 5000 ball mark. This is total balls caught at all professional baseball games!
Here is a picture of everything I got at the game tonight
Here is a picture of the Nick Adenhart Memorial in front of Angel Stadium
Tonights Angels Game – Remembering Nick, Henry & Courtney and supporting Jon!
Tonights game is the make-up of the April 9th game that was cancelled after the tragic death of Angels Pitcher Nick Adenhart and his friends Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson. Jon Wilhite was the lone survivor of the accident and is simply an inspiration to us all!
I am not sure what if anything the Angels will do before tonights game however I do know that Jon will be throwing out the first pitch on Saturday night. Even as I sit here writing this I get teary eyed thinking about the accident and just everyone involved. I also wanted to share something from Monday.
It was just the other day, August 24th, I was standing in front of the make shift memorial to Nick out in front of the stadium. The one thing that was really hard for me was hearing the helicopter noise from a helicopter that was practicing take-offs and landings in the parking lot. Hearing a helicopter brought back memories from the night the accident happened.
I live about a mile from the accident scene. That entire night we could hear all of the helicopters hovering over the accident site. It is the one sound for me that is now forever etched in my mind. There is not a time when I hear a helicopter that I don’t think of that night, Nick, Henry, Courtney & Jon.
As most of you know I started BASEBALLS 4 MADD where for every ball that I catch this year people can make pledges that will go to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. So far I have caught over 90 baseballs raising almost $700 for MADD. While my original goal ws quite lofty at $10,000 the short term goal is to top the $1,000 mark. There is still time to make a pledge by going to http://www.mlballhawk.com/Baseballs_4_MADD.html and scrolling down to the bottom of the page.
This Saturday Jon will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at the Angels game. I will be there and I hope that everyone will say a prayer for Nick, Courtney, Henry and Jon!
I hope that everyone will take time to think before they drink and just be responsible! Most of us always think it can’t happen to us. In fact I guarantee you that everyone involved in this accident and their families thought the same. Don’t let it be you next time!
Leave the keys behind, take a cab, give a friend a ride (as long as you are sober) and use your head when you drink!!
8/26/09 – Tigers vs. Angels – 1 ball – 3 autgraphs
This is going to be short as I am still trying to recover from the massive sun-burn that I got today at the game. 4 hours in 99 degree heat is not always a good thing.
I got to the park just before the gates opened and as I was walking through the parking lot I heard someone yell, “HEY BALLHAWK!” I was like WHAT THE???? WHO THE????
It turns out it was one of my friends who is an usher that had an extra ticket. So I ran over to his truck and grabbed the ticket from him. Wooohooo another Free ticket!! So far this week I have been 3 games and paid $5 total to get in. Throw in tomorrows game at $3 and the Free tickets from the Angels on Saturday and that is 5 games for $8.
Ok so today I obviously knew that there would be no BP. I brought along a ball signed by Curtis Granderson and one other tiger to work on a team ball. About 11:40 Justin Verlander was done throwing and signed for at least 15 minutes along the wall. I got him to sign my ball along with one other Tigers pitcher.
From there I headed over to the dugout trying to get a ball to save me from being shutout. While I was there Tigers skipper Jimmy Leyland walked out to talk to someone. He signed a few autographs and as he went back into the dugout I got him to sign my ball.
Just a couple minutes after that I was standing looking out at the field and a ball came trickling across the top of the dugout to me. It was very odd and I have no idea who tossed it up there or why but I got it and I was not shut out!!
That was the only ball of the day that I would get. I sat in the left field corner for most of the day and then moved to the Left field pavilion seats. I did get to witness Matt’s first foul ball snag ever. He ran across a section and a half to get it! GOOD JOB MATT! (I am sure you can read about it soon on his MLBlog at http://bloggingboutbaseball.mlblogs.com)
So I ended up with 1 baseball and 3 autographs! Now I am just 3 balls away from 2900 MLB balls at regular season games and just 37 away from 5000 total baseballs grabbed professional baseball games including Major League and Minor League (affiliated and Indy) baseball games. I am also closing in on 100 balls total for the season between Major League and Minor League games.
By the way I think I saw my friend and fellow ballhawk Zack Hample grab a homer off the ground at Coors Field tonight ………….. it went right to his feet …….. he better have got it!
8/25/09 – Disneyland and Tigers vs. Angels
Today was my birthday and it turned out to be one of the best birthdays I have had in a long time! I woke up around 9:30 in the morning and we sat around the house. It’s so nice to have time off from work! We decided that around Noon we would take off and head off to Disneyland.
For those of you that don’t know Disneyland is giving guests a FREE ticket to any Disney park for their birthday this year. On Monday at the game I got a ball signed by Torii Hunter and traded that to my friend for a second ticket to Disneyland for my wife so I didn’t have to go alone.
We got to Disneyland around 12:45 after running some errands. Once we got in the park we headed straight for It’s A Small World. Why? Because it is a nice air conditioned ride and it was 90 degrees and humid!
From there in the next 2 1/2 hours we walked around the park and went on Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion, Pinnochio, Snow White and then we saw the Honey I Shrunk the Audience show as well as going in the Innoventions thing.
At a little before 4pm we started to head out of the park. Yes, I was thinking I could squeeze it so we would go to the game and make BP. As we got towards the main gate we noticed a place to sign up for a credit card so we walked over to see what the FREE item was. You could get a Mickey Mouse blanket or a $10 Disney Gift card. We signed up, got the gift cards and then proceeded to go eat inside the park. After we were done eating we left Disneyland and headed on our way to Angels stadium.
So far so good, 2 people into Disneyland and 2 meals for a total of $16 (parking and a little over the $20 gift cards for food). Now it was off to Angels stadium where we hoped to get a couple of the $5 summer special tickets. As we walked up to the stadium the wife took this goofy picture of me.
We got up to the ticket windows and asked about the $5 tickets and there were NONE LEFT!! The cheapest ticket was $20 and there was no way we were going to pay $40 to get in the park. So we walked away from the window and I was going to call a friend to see if he had an extra ticket or two. Just as I started to call him a woman sitting on the planter asked if we needed tickets and we said we are just looking for the cheap seats. She said well FREE is cheap isn’t it? She had her season tickets with her but only came to get the coasters that they were giving away. She said she could get us in but we would not get the coasters. Ummmmm …….. OK …………getting into a game FREE is always good with or without coasters.
So now we were in the stadium and Angels BP was just ending. During the first group of Tigers BP there were a few balls hit into the right field stands but nothing close to me. There had been a few balls hit along the wall so I walked down there to see where they were. Shortly after I got down there Magglio Ordonez walked by and I asked him for one of the balls. He looked up and tossed one right to me for BALL #1
We moved over to the Left Field Pavilion section for the remainder of the Tigers BP session. There were a couple of balls hit into the section but nothing really close to me. In the meantime Andy Van Slyke was hitting balls to the outfielders against the left field wall. Occasionally there was a ball that went over the fence. In fact the bullpen had about 15 balls in it. This is where BP took a bizzare turn ……………
Van Slyke hits a ball that clears the wall, it then hits the astroturf home plate area in the bullpen and bounces in my direction. I try to make the grab as the ball is coming down but it hits the bullpen fence and falls to the steps. As I reach down to grab it some jackass puts his foot on top of it. He NEVER tried to pick it up he just put his foot on top of it. The only problem with that was that my hand was around the ball when he stepped on it!
If he even made an attempt to pick the ball up I might have even let it go but the guy was a complete jackass about it. Saying he wasn’t going to move his foot and then said I was the idiot. He said he was getting it for his kid who had just gotten a ball from the usher in the area. There was simply no way I was going to let go of this ball especially since I am raising money for MADD with every ball I grab this season!!
Eventually he moved his foot just enough for me to roll my hand between his foot and the ball so I could roll his foot off of it. He was pretty lucky that the stand-off only lasted only a minute because my wife says AND I QUOTE, “I was about to come down there and to KICK HIM IN THE NUTZ!!” She added later that had it been a kid that I was fighting with she would have kicked me in the nutz! That was the adventure of BALL #2.
We stayed for the first 4 1/2 innings of the game and then decided to take off and head home. It was a pretty good day for sure ………………..
2 tickets to Disneyland cost us 1 Torii Hunter autographed ball
Dinner for 2 cost us $4.00 after using the $20 in gift cards
We did spend $20 on parking between Disneyland and the stadium
So my entire birthday cost us $24!! WHAT A BARGAIN!!
It looks as if I will be going out to bake in the sun on Wednesday for the day game!
Unlikely they will take BP but a game HR could be a chance!
By the way ……. I have the best WIFE in the World!!
8/9/09 – Angels vs. Rangers 1 ball, 1 autograph & OC Register article hits print
Today started off with me running out to get the Orange County Register newspaper. As I flipped through the sections I came to the LOCAL section and saw this picture on the front page.
Around 10:20am I headed out to the stadium knowing the gates would open at 11am. As the gates opened at 11 I was the first one into the ballpark. There were a few players on the field from the Rangers but as usual for a Sunday game there was going to be NO BP.
I guess the Rangers actually took BP on Saturday before the day game but of course not on Sunday when I am at the game.
Jared Satalamachia and Dave Anderson were playing catch in front of the dugout and I thought that I would give it a shot at getting one of them to toss me a ball. Unfortunately Dave snuck in one side of the dugout while I was on the other side by Salty and Dave had the ball. Oh well!
Now there was basically all of the Rangers pitchers getting ready to throw down the right field line. I slowly made my way out there and saw a guy that I knew standing by the foul pole. His name is Ron and he is a baseball coach in Fountain Valley I think. We started talking about the good old days in the late 80′s / early 90′s at Anaheim Stadium. He always talks about the day that his son Brandon was on the field for a little league day and I tossed him a ball from the stands. I have to admit it is pretty cool that he still talks about it.
In the meantime the Rangers pitchers had started to throw and I was behind Dustin Nippert and one of the coaches. As they finished up I asked Dustin for the ball. After about 30 seconds of talking to the coach Dustin tossed the ball over to me. WHEW! Another day game with a ball and I didn’t even have to play a game with baseball cards to get it!
Ok so back to Ron, he has 4 players that he coached that are in the big leagues right now. Gerad Laird, CJ Wilson, Chris Tillman and someone else who I forgot. Just after I got my ball we were talking about baseball and me getting all the baseballs that I have and CJ Wilson walked over to the wall. Ron and CJ started talking about all sorts of different things.
One of the funny things that CJ talked about was the fact that he got to take batting practice during interleague play. He said that in all the rounds of BP, about 100 pitches or so, he hit around 15 BP Bombs. He also said that there is nothing like hitting in a Major League Stadium. “In high school you hit it out, it goes over the fence and that’s it” he said and then continued with “The cool thing about hitting at a big league park is that once the ball goes out you get to watch it ricochet around the seats!”
Still talking about hitting and him saying “I still got it” he said that he hoped that he would get traded to the Dodgers and could become a starter so he would get to hit 3 or 4 times each start. It is always fun to listen to Dodgers talk about hitting. I have never seen CJ hit but I am guessing that he can definitely swing the bat pretty good. CJ played baseball with Ron’s son Brandon. I did get CJ to autograph a baseball on the sweetspot.
Shortly after that I took off and walked around the ballpark. I tried my luck at the baseball card game and didn’t win a thing. So now it was off to find a spot to sit and hope for a gamer.
I found a spot in the left field corner. Why left field instead of my usual right field spot? Well Vladdy is sitting on 398 and I wanted to make sure that I would at least have a chance. The only bad thing is that Vladdy has it home runs all over the place at Anaheim. Unfortunately the home run hit today was by Taylor Teagarden. The odd thing is that Teagarden has hit only 4 home runs this season and I think 3 of them were hit in Anaheim.
Getting Vladdy’s 400th is something I am hoping I will have a chance at. If I am the lucky one to get it I will simply ask for a bat and tickets to all of next years All Star festivities. I think that is more than a fair request since 400 doesn’t come to often.
I went to the Rangers dugout after the game but there was nothing to be found there. No balls tossed up. The only shot I had at anything was getting Josh Hamilton to sign a ball but unfortunately he ran in the dugout after signing about 20 autographs and none were the ball I had.
So 1 ball was it but it was still a pretty fun afternoon at the ballpark!
Don’t forget to stop by my website www.mlballhawk.com and click on the BASEBALLS 4 MADD link and make your pledge to help raise money to STOP DRUNK DRIVING!!!
Man charged in death of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, Courtney Stewart & Henry Pearson pleads Not Guilty!
A defense attorney on Monday entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of the man charged with killing Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others in a drunk-driving crash in April.
I have read quite a few message boards with some comments from people concerned about Anthony Gallo getting a fair trial??
Are you kidding me?? What is fair about a kid that is 22 dying at such a young age? What is fair to not only his family but the families of the other victums having to bury their own children, brothers or sisters?
It is a closed case! 3 x’s the legal limit, running a red light, 3 people dead and one critically injured!
What we really need is for people to volunteer for non-profit groups like MADD (mothers against drunk driving) so that we can help try to put an end to this ridiculous crime of Drunk Driving!!
As you know this season I am catching “BASEBALLS 4 MADD”! By clicking on that link you can make a pledge per baseball that I catch this season. So far I have caught 40 baseballs and we have raised close to $100. That is a far cry from my goal but with the word now getting out about my quest to raise money for MADD that will start rising quickly!
Official Baseballs 4 MADD press release – click here - PDF
The Angels were nice enough to offer tickets to a game and I have also been talking to a few other teams about the same sort of help. Hopefully we will see their names on the donor list as well!
I lost a friend to a drunk driving crash as a kid and it was hard on me. How much worse must it be for the families that are affected by this tragic crime!!
Please make a pledge, even if it is a penny per baseball! All money goes directly to MADD. When you sign up to make a pledge the info goes directly to them and all they do is send me your name and pledge amount along with a company name or website name to put on my websites donor page. I will never see or collect a penny of this money!
100% of this money goes DIRECTLY to MADD’s ORANGE COUNTY Chapter!!
Frustration builds ………… Games this week
The frustration is slowly building, however next week should get a lot better ………… I HOPE!!
It’s been over a week since my last game and I only got one ball. On the positive side of things that one ball was from the recently suspended Manny Ramirez. Why is this good? Because it means a few less people during BP at Dodger Stadium until July.
The thing that is most frustrating is that originally I was suppose to go to Saturdays Angels/Royals game but because the schedule was changed at work due to being closed on Mothers Day I missed the game.
This week I hope to get to a game or two either at Anaheim or San Diego this weekend. I do know that at the least I will get over to a day of spring training for the Orange County Flyers of the Independant Golden Baseball League. So it will be a good way to add a few balls to the Minor League totals and also raise a little more money for MADD!!
For those of you that don’t know, this season I am catching “Baseballs 4 MADD!”
Although I have already posted about it and started catching “Baseballs 4 MADD!” the official press release and launch should come this week. The people over at MADD were really busy the past few weeks with their Walk for MADD that happened this past Saturday. This week should be the week that the release gets out about what I am doing to help them raise money and awareness to help STOP DRUNK DRIVING!!
Please make a pledge even if it is only $.01 per ball that I catch at Major League and Minor League Baseball parks this season!! It goes to a great cause!!
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