Results tagged ‘ orange county flyers ’
Upcoming milestones and more …….
As of today I am just 12 balls away from 2900 regular season MLB balls & 46 balls away from 5,000 total balls caught at professional baseball games over the past 33 years.
I should easily reach the 2900 mark early this week. The Angels are home and most with me being off of work I should get out to a few games. If I would have had a decent couple of days last week I might have had a chance at 5000 this week. I still might have a shot at it however I try not to BEG for balls and I can’t and WON’T us DEVICES (aka Glove trick) to get baseballs.
So we will just have to see what happens this week.
BASEBALLS 4 MADD update …………
I will be updating the totals and pledges this week for Baseballs 4 MADD. We are about to pass the $600 mark and we still have new pledges coming in!
Hopefully we can get over the $1,000 by the end of the week!
SATURDAY AUGUST 29th …………… Jon Wihilte, the lone survivor of the crash that killed Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson, will throw out the first pitch at the Angels game vs. Oakland.
For me this is a big night because I missed Jon Wilhite night with the Orange County Flyers. I would like to finally get the chance to talk to Jon and his family. I am pretty sure that they are aware of Baseballs 4 MADD as there is a pledge from someone with the last name of Wilhite.
I lost a friend to a drunk driving crash when I was a kid, I also worked in baseball and even worked for a team that played on the same field that Jon’s college team played on. When the accident happened, only a mile from my home, this was the least that I could do. I still have a hard time when I drive past the crash site and I hope that anyone that goes out to drink will simply think before they get into a car and drive home!
8/13/09 – Orange County Flyers vs. Chico Outlaws9 balls
Last night I decided to hit up BP (batting practice) over at Cal State Fullerton’s Goodwin Field. The Orange County Flyers who play there are an indedpendant minor league baseball team.
Batting practice had just started when I arrived so I made my way into the Fullerton Aboretum which basically backs up to right field. If a guy hits a ball that clears the net it becomes an easter egg hunt in the trees, weeds and brush back there! The picture on the right is a look at the main entrance to the Fullerton Aboretum!
Once I got inside I began to look for those easter eggs. It is actually quite fun chasing baseballs in the arboretum. You have to be able to listen for the ball coming into the trees and then figure out where it went. There usual isn’t much competition out there but it’s tough to find the balls. I know that last night there were more than just 9 balls hit out but thats all I could find. Here is a look at where I found 4 of the baseballs that I grabbed.
On this day my only competition was this little guy in the picture below:
Here is my favorite picture of the day. This was the 8th ball that I grabbed in the arboretum
My 9th and final baseball came on the left field side of the ballpark where I found this one.
That was it for baseballs on the day shortly after I was on my way to work …… BORING!!!
Flyers game are becoming old timers games although the former Major Leaguers they have are not really that old. They now have Robert Fick, Damian Jackson, Ben Johnson & Scott Spiezio along with a couple of other guys that had a day or two in the Bigs! It means many more baseballs outside the park during BP and most likely during the games too!!!
2009 Balls Caught
WBC Balls 6
MLB Balls 58
MiLB Balls 21
Total Balls 85
Career Totals
MLB Balls (RS) 2,887
MLB Balls (ST) 923
MLB Total 3,810
MiLB Balls 1,143
32 year total — 4,953
MLB Game HR balls* – 100
*includes MLB regular season, playoffs, world series and WBC games
Photo shoot tomorrow with a local newspaper
I got a call this afternoon from a reporter that a few years back covered the Fullerton Flyers (now OC Flyers) baseball team that I worked for in 2005 & 2006. He is going to do a story about Baseballs 4 MADD. So tomorrow I get to meet up with a photographer who is going to take some photos for the story.
In 2006 the newspaper did a story about my Ballhawking escapades and it can be found here.
Hopefully this will increase the # of pledges that come in over the next couple of weeks. It would be nice to get the total over $20 per ball. That is a long way to go from the $3.35 it is currently at but I think we can make it!
I will post a link to the story when it comes out later this week!
St. George Roadrunners vs. Orange County Flyers – 7/5/09 – 3 balls + more
Last night I hit an Independant Minor League Baseball game in Fullerton, CA between the Orange County Flyers and the St. George Roadrunners.
I grabbed 3 balls, the lineup cards that the managers exchange at home plate with the umpires and even a free DOUBLE DOUBLE from IN N OUT!
I have finally caught up on the other posts and like those this is going to be a quick short version. I will get back to writing more in my posts with pictures etc next week.
Tonight as it says I grabbed 3 balls. I found a Major League ball out behind left field as I walked up around 3:00 when the Flyers were taking some early BP. Shortly after that they stopped hitting and I left to get my step-daughter from her friends. After a short nap I made it back to the ballpark around 5:30.
Tonight was a double-header so even though it was 30 minutes past 1st pitch there was still plenty of baseball left. I ran across an old Ballhawking friend from Angels games back in the late 80′s, Roger, so we went inside to chase foul balls. Usually we hang out around the back of the stadium to get Home Runs but for some reason we went in.
Evidently it was the right choice because there was only one home run hit all night and it hit the net behind right field and bounced back onto the field.
In the first game there were not really any foul balls anywhere near us. In the 2nd game we took the Ballhawking a bit more serious walking from side to side when lefties and righties were up. IN the 3rd inning a lefty hit a foul ball that went outside of the park behind home plate and into an area with some plants and bushes. I looked around and just before a swarm of kids got there I found the ball. That was my second ball of the night and a nicely rubbed up game ball. Shortly after that a ball came out almost in the same spot and it got burried in some weeds along the fence. I kicked around and again just before the kids made it out I grabbed it. Another nicely rubbed up game ball and my third and final ball of the game.
After the game the Flyers held a Diamond Dig for everyone that wanted to participate. They gave everyone a spoon and you had to dig up a box with a number in it. The big prize was a 1/2 Kt diamond. I went to a spot near 2nd base and thought I had a decent chance to find something when a Flyers employee told me it was in the area I was in. As I was digging around some big ole’ lady came in a within 5 minutes she dug up the box near where I was. Oh well, I would have just pawned the stupid diamond anyway!
3 balls – puts me at 65 total balls for the season at all games I have attended. More than that it is raising money for MADD.
Please check out the BASEBALLS 4 MADD link on my website at WWW.MLBALLHAWK.COM
Tomorrow I will post an updats about BASEBALLS 4 MADD and the new pledges that came in from Jon Wilhite night with the Orange County Flyers.
6/9/09 – Orange County Flyers Opening night – 8 balls – (Independant Minor League Baseball)
Tonight was my wifes birthday and since sheis friends with a pitcher on the Orange County Flyers (an Independant Minor League team) we decided to go to their home opener. The Flyers play at Goodwin Field on the campus of Cal State Fullerton. This is also the ballpark that the Cal State Fullerton Titans play in. Here is a shot of the field from the street as you walk up. Notice the backside of the scoreboard with the message board that hasn’t worked in at least 10 years! This is left field and as you can see even though there is a net it can still be a Ballhawks paradise! When a ball hits the net it generally falls straight down and is easy to grab.
The right field side backs up to the Fullerton Aboretum which can also be very nice for a ballhawk. It was back in 2006 when a few of the World Baseball Classic teams worked out here and I did quite well grabbing 38 baseballs in 3 days! That haul included 11 from Ichiro and 7 from A-Rod!! Here is a look over the right field wall from the Arboretum……..
Batting practice started around 4:30 which only left about 15 minutes where if a ball was hit into the arboretum that someone could go in and get it. Of course while the gates to the arboretum were still open no one hit a ball in there. Then about 10 minutes ater the gates were close …….. you guessed it ……. someone hit a ball and there it stayed!
The little white speck on the path just under the tree trunk is the first baseball that was hit into the Arboretum. Here are the first 3 balls that I grabbed via video and a photo at the end of all 8 balls. It will keep this post to a minimum for sure!
The game itself was not very exciting other than back to back home runs by Flyers catcher Nick Guerra and former Major League All-Star, from the Detroit Tigers, Robert Fick.
It was the night where the Flyers got their Championship Rings. It was a complete fiasco because as has become a custom at Flyers games the staff was completely UN-ORGANIZED. The game was slated to start at 7:05 and they didn’t even start the ring ceremony until 7:10. The game finally got started at 7:45 and ended around 11ish with Fireworks that I am sure the surrounding neighborhood was not happy with on a Tuesday night.
In the 7th inning they had someone from some lifetime series sing “America the Beautiful” and because of technical difficulties she had to start the song over after missing her entry point the first time.
I guess they are trying to film some “reality” show for TV based on or around the Flyers. They were again unprepared for opening night with the PA announcer trying to get his stuff set up just before game time. Fortunately for him it was not his fault because he had evidently asked for it to be done the night before which obviously it didn’t.
The concessions prices are ridiculous, the atmosphere is simply not fun, the between inning promotions are mediocore at best and no one seemed to be on the same page with some of the on field stuff causing a delay of the game.
Oh well I guess that is just INDY baseball for you ……….. the one thing that was not cool was the fact that the teams GM, who is also the owner, was sitting in the stands drinking a beer!
- 8 Balls tonight bringing my MiLB ball total to 1130
- 4,916 Baseballs at Professional Baseball games over 33 years
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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