This is the final total for me in 2009 and career to date:

Baseball Totals

Knowing that this was likely the last game that we were going to see in Anaheim actually made the afternoon more fun. Rob, TC and a few other regulars were out in right field for out final BP of the season. We all had a good time running after baseballs. Every time a ball went into the corner where I usually stand I would count it and tell everyone I just got another one!

It was all in good fun! At one point Rob said that he wasn't going home empty handed. In fact if he had to he was going to rush the Angels locker room and steal a ball if he had to.

Ok so I only ended up with 1 baseball and I don't even know who hit it but the last day of the season is always fun! With the 1 ball today I end the season with 91 balls caught. 

The great thing is that early next season I will be hitting a few different milestones. I will talk more about those later. Right now I have to get ready for another exciting day at work!

Yes even though it was a day game they did take batting practice however for me it was totally uneventful and crowded. Since I did not ask for any baseballs I went home empty handed!

There were only a handful of balls hit into the right field stands today!

Here are some photos from the game!

I gave up on the Double Duty post and I apologize on it taking so long to get entries up but it has been a crazy 3 weeks around here. With work and then both LA teams in the Playoffs, at least until a day or so ago, it has been NUTZ!

So here is my post for NLCS Game 1 ......... I did grab 4 balls on this day and the story on the balls is a little father down.

I took a new camera along with me to the game and have some great shots!

THIS IS NOT A SHOT OFF OF TV - It is from my new Digital Video Cam - It also takes stills!

This was the view from my seats - just to the right of the centerfield cameras!

BP - I got my first ball of the day which was a toss up from the Dodgers James MacDonald. He actually threw it AT 2 girls who did not move one inch to try to catch it. The ball hit hte stairs and rolled in my direction in the opening between the stands and the wall. I hopped the railing and grabbed the ball.

My 2nd ball of the day was a long fly ball hit by Jayson Werth. He hit it right to the staircase that I was standing on. I had to outreach a guy to my right but that was no problem and I had Ball #2!

My 3rd ball of the day was scarey! If you have ever been to Dodger stadium you know that in left field there is a gap between the seats and the wall. Someone on the Phillies was launching balls one after another towards us in left field. As I was coming up the stairs from chasing one ball another was on its way near me. I ran down the stairs thinking it probably would not clear the fence. I stuck out my glove but I still wasn't sure it would miss the supports of the scoreboard or the railing below. My glove hand was extended and I turned my head and closed my eyes. I was afraid I was going to get hit if it ricocheted off of something. A few seconds later I heard and felt it hit my glove. I snapped my glove back, let out a big WOOOOOOOO! and I had my 3rd ball of the day!

My fourth ball of the Day was a toss up from Phillies star Jimmy Rollins!

4 balls definitely made this a great day!

Here are a couple more photos from my new camera from NLCS game 1! If I can convert it I will have a couple of videos up as well including the pitch that struck out Howard but wasn't called!

WHAT A DAY FOR BASEBALL IN LA!!!

I am going to put together seperate posts for each game! There is a lot to write about unfortuantely it doesn't involve me getting any baseballs. BUT WHO CARES!

The freaking Dodgers stuck their hand into a pile of CRAP and pulled out a ROLEX!!

Then after leaving the Dodger game, yes I stayed for the entire game, I ended up in Anaheim just before the start of the 5th inning!

Ok since I did not have a camera with me at all on the 8th I don't have any pictures for this post and since it has been 10 days since I went to these games and I did not get any baseballs at either park I have given up on writing this entry. Sorry!

It was fun however watching a miraculous win and then seeing the Angels beat the Red Sox.

3 Playoff games in 2 days and 3 WINS!!

So at the last minute I decided I was going out to game 1 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium. I headed over to the train station in Fullerton to catch an Amtrak train. I caught the train and I was off on what would turn out to be a 2 day baseball extravaganza!

Here are 3 photos, one from the train of the Stadium as you pull into the station, the Hollywood sign from the top deck along with a shot of the skyline of LA. It's a really cool view from up there!

When I got to the stadium I headed up to the top deck to hang out. About 5 minutes after I got up there I got chased out by the usher in the wheelchair. Most of the other ushers will let you hang out until about 10 minutes before the gates open but this lady makes people leave a lot earlier. The good thing, the gates were going to open at 4:10 which was 2 1/2 hours before the game.

My ticket for tongiht was out in the ALL YOU CAN EAT Right Field Pavilion. The gates opened and it was time to head inside. I was the first person in and did not find any baseballs laying around. During the Dodgers portion of BP the only ball hit into the stands was a shot by Andre Eithier. It was about 6 rows over my head and to my right. I tried to chase it down but it rolled right to a guys feet. That was it for Dodgers BP and then the Cardinals were just as bad. After talking to a friend in the past couple of days I found out the Cards actually hit 3 balls into the stands. Obviously none were near me and what was worse they only tossed up a handful of balls as well. On the good side of that in the first 5 minutes of Cardinals BP I got Adam Wainwright to toss me a ball. That would be it for me ......... 1 lousy ball!

It was cool to see the Dodgers win an exciting game (if you're a Dodger fan). My camera batteries were dying. I got home around Midnight and tomorrow is my DOUBLE DUTY DAY ..... I will be at both the NLDS Game 2 and ALDS game 1!

It was an beautiful afternoon with everything going well. Not to many people in line to get in the park at 1pm and just a handful of the regulars there to chase down baseballs. The one thing that was missing ........... BATTING PRACTICE!!

For some reason the Angels felt that it was not necessary to take BP today ..............

It's now over a week later, I can't get the damn videos to reformat so they just won't get posted. Oh well, I will just leave this as a very short post. It wasn't that exciting anyway.

I did manage to grab one ball that was tossed up after the game behind the Rangers dugout. After the game the Angels held their postseason rally with the skydivers (video I wanted to post) and some of the players in drag and costumes for their initial rookie roadtrip.

I will still try to get that stuff up soon!

John

So it was the day after the Angels clinched the Western division for the 3rd straight season. When the gates opened there were a few of us that were surprised to see the Angels on the field for BP. Well ok, they were on the field that is however it didn't seem they really wanted to be out there. BP was B-O-R-I-N-G!!

The Angels hit just one ball up to the seats and it was a first row shot. ONE FREAKING BALL HIT INTO THE SEATS BY THE ANGELS!! So now it was time for the Rangers to take the field.

Let me start this off with this note, JOSH HAMILTON did not hit during BP. That set the tone for all of BP. I sat down for quite a bit of BP because it was evident that there would be no balls sailing into the stands. It was a bit chilly, the was a slight wind but there still should be more than 2 balls hit into the right field seats by the Rangers.

YES the Rangers only hit 2 balls into the stands and the Angels only hit 1 for a grand total of 3 BP homers! What a boring ****** night out in the right field pavilion during BP! I ended up getting my ball as a toss up from an usher in left field - not the way I want to get a ball but it counts anyway!

The game itself was just as boring! Bobby Abreu hit a home run in the first inning which was the highlight of the game. Around the 4th inning the Angels became the Salt Lake Bees and managed to hold on 5-2. The entire team on the field was made up of minor league call ups!

Oh well now we can only hope that on Thursday they take batting practice! The game time is 3:05 and the gates should open at 1 ............. I guess we will see!

I will have the camera with me on Thursday since after the game the Angels have their Post Season Rally!

Saturday night was pretty uneventful during BP however in the game it was a different story. How do you go from up 9-2 to down 15-10 and lose?

It will be a short postseason if they keep this up!

I will write more about this night including a looooooong rant on the JACKASS CSC SECURITY GUARD in the visitors dugout and what he did towards the end of the game.

Ok ........... so during BP it was pretty quiet .......... I got one ball that ricocheted off about 3 different people and the seats. That would be the one and only ball that I got during the entire night.

So lets go on and talk about this CSC Security Guard ******* in the picture below:

In the 8th inning I made my way down behind the visitors dugout. A fellow Ballhawk was down there and there were a few empty seats plus the usher is a really cool guy.

In between innings a ball was tossed up over the dugout. No one moved for it. I was at least 5 rows back and didn't run after it because I thought for sure someone would grab it quickly. After about 10 seconds a guy laid across the top of the dugout to grab it. It wasn't like he walked across the dugout or pushed someone out of the way diving across the dugout. He just laid across it to grab the ball.

This ********* pictured to the left then took his job Wayyyyyyyyyyyyy to far. He acted like a secret service agent calling all of his pals because he was to much of a bitch to just ask the guy not to do it again. Instead 2 other CSC security guards came down and started talking to the guy.

The fans all around were yelling at the security guard on the field to get his dumb *** back in the dugout. After talking to the guy for a couple of minutes and him saying he was not going to leave they decided to retreat and the case was closed ...... or was it????

Nope they came back with reinforcements, you would have thought that this guy just tried to kill someone. They were rude and not only told the guy, WHO HAD A TICKET FOR THE SEAT, and his friends also had to leave. Worse than that THEY TOOK THE BALL from him.

I had a thought for a minute to give him the ball that I had gotten earlier however there is a bit of politics there. I don't want to show up the ***** and him be a bigger ****** to me in the future. Yes if you look back in my blog you will see another post about this idiot security guy.

Ok so why I am so heated over this because this is the same usher that pinned a 13 or 14 year old kid against the wall after he ACCIDENTLY fell over the wall during batting practice.

YES 100% real, this kid was going after a ball that was rolling along the warning track, he leaned over to far and fell onto the warning track. This ****** ran over, grabbed the kid and pinned him against the wall. I was not down there to hear what was said but from other accounts he was an A-hole about it.

You probably make about $10 an hour and you have to realize that YOU ARE NOT A COP you are a freakin security guard........if you hate people that much that you have to be an A'HOLE every time you come in contact with the fans then get the F out!! The Angels are a classy organization and don't need some DICK like you ruining the fans experience!!

Rant over .................. now onto Tuesday nights Rangers / Angels game that was even more boring that tonights A's / Angels game!

Ooooh it's so much more interesting with the *** than what I actually say ;-)

SIDE NOTE: CSC signs a $493 Million Dollar contract with TSA to provide security at the Nations Aiports .......... now maybe he can throw an old lady against a wall in an airport too!