August 7, 2013

U.S. Cellular Field,2013-06-28

Earlier this day, I went to another great sporting event in Chicago. Football? No. Soccer? No. Hockey? Well,almost!

It was the Stanley cup parad and there was like a ZILLION people in the streets. I was affraid that a lot of them were going to say ”Why not go to the ballgame tonight?”,a ballhawking nightmare! Look at that! It was just crazy!

Ok,ok. Baseball now! Before this game(well,the doubleheader), I was always wondering why the White Sox are considered as a second-class team in Chicago behing the Cubs. Well, I kinda get my answer… I arrived two hours before the first pitch. When I got in line, an employee told me ”Don’t wait in the sun like that(Because it was like 100 degrees), the gate won’t even open before another hour.” WHAT? I was really bothered about it! Why don’t they open at 5h30 as they usually do? Well, that wasn’t even the worst thing. After an jour, there was like 3-4 hundreds people in line at the only gate that was going to open for the game(Why,White Sox?!?!). Suddently the rain started,not only a little rain. It was a flood. The employee, dry inside the gates were looking at us and doing nothing at all(and all that was 45 minutes before first pitch). After 10 minutes of rain,they let us in and at least,i was the first in line.

I ran to the left field bleacher,the best spot to catch ball in all THE MLB. I found my first ball of the day in a puddle. It wasn’t an official MLB ball(damn) but at least, I wasn’t blanked. I looked at the right field bleachers,and i saw a white dot. People were already coming in close to it, but I decided to go look. And that’s what i found:

Great success! But there was no BP (plus a lot of people in the stands)so I knew that my chances for a third ball were during the game.

During the first game of the doubleheader, i was running for the third-out ball each inning,but it just wasn’t happening. It was always thrown to my right or to my left. In the six inning, I decided to look around the stadium. I went to the upper deck and took this picture.

And this one:

And that one too:

I don’t really understand why people don’t like this stadium. It’s not gorgeous as PNC Park Or Camdens Yard,but at least,it isn’t a copy of another stadium like a lot of the ballpark that have been built since 1992.

I went back down in the bottom of the 7th inning, and tried to get the warm up ball of Mark Reynolds. And he threw it to me! Third ball of the game,first warm-up ball ever! Soon,the first game of the doubleheader was over and there was a break for 20 minutes. A men from Chicago saw that I was wearing an Expos jersey and talked to me. It was already 10:30 and i had to leave at 11:00. So by the time the game started,it was 10:45 and I knew that I probably only going to see the first inning. I noticed that the first baseman was now Nick Swisher. I decided to try to have his warm up ball of the first inning. He saw me, threw directly at my glove and…another fan with a blackhawks jersey in his 30’s pushed me and took the ball. Seriously? I didn’t wanted to argue with him but i was really pissed. All the section was booing him,but he kept the ball…At least I wasn’t blanked,and i had already gotten a warm up ball. But still… Even with that sad event,it was another great day/night at Chicago!

Stats:
*Streak of one game with at least a ball
*10 balls this season.
*10 balls in 7 games this season = 1,42 average ball per game.
*13 total MLB ball.
*13th Stadiums in my life.(Rogers Centre,Orioles Park,PNC Park,Great American Ballpark,Chase Field,O.co Coliseum,Dodger Stadium,Petco Park,Citizens Bank park,Progressive Field,Comerica Park,US Cellular Field and Miller Park)

Check out more at: http://www.mygameballs.com/baseballdata?db=MtlExpos

July 19, 2013

Miller Park,2013-06-26

Because the Brewers were playing against the Cubs, I had bought my tickets a long time ago. I was really looking forward for this game. Minute after I arrived at the Miller Park’s parking,i took this photo of the fiel:

Even if you can’t see it in the picture,there’s a bridge that is crossing a small river where people can walk or bicycle. I think it’s call the Hank Aaron trail. Great idea from the Brewers’ organisation!

After I walked (Well,Ran…) inside, I headed to the right field second deck, from where i took this picture:

Even if I stood there more than 20 minutes,no player suceed to hit a homerun. That’s when i decided to go to the left-field second deck. A lot of players were tossing balls into the crowd. But when i got there,it was over… Before i knew it,the BP was over too and I was empty-handed. I headed to my seat and i took a lot of pictures of the Ballpark like that:

And that too:

Even if the roof is pretty great,the Park itself isn’t that great. I ranked it 10th in the ballpark that I did,only in front of O.co Coliseum and Chase Field.
Anyway,there’s a lot of great seats in the stadium like this one with a great view of the roof:

This was the view from my seat:

Even if the team isn’t that good,there’s a lot of interesting things in the stadium during the game like the Bernie’s terrace:

…And the famous sausage race!

I took this pic during the game…

…And it was over!
I took another pic on the way to the car of stadium that makes it look very cool! Check it out!

Better luck next time at Milwaukee!

Stats:
*End of the streak of 5 games with at least a ball
*7 balls this season.
*7 balls in 6 games this season = 1,16 average ball per game.
*10 total MLB ball.
*13th Stadium in my life.(Rogers Centre,Orioles Park,PNC Park,Great American Ballpark,Chase Field,O.co Coliseum,Dodger Stadium,Petco Park,Citizens Bank park,Progressive Field,Comerica Park,US Cellular Field and Miller Park)

July 5, 2013

U.S. Cellular Field,2013-06-23

I wasn’t supposed to attend to this game,but when I heard that the White Sox’s starting pitcher was Chris Sale, I immediately decided to do a detour to Chicago just before Milwaukee. Here’s a picture when I arrived close to The Cell:

When the gates opened, I immediately went to the left field bleachers. I knew that it was was a great place to catch home run,but there’s also a great gap between the field and the stands. Look what I found:

I retrieve this ball by using the Zack Hample’s glove trick.
Then,i caught another ball thrown by an unknown centerfield of the Mets. Some guys were begging for a ball but he saw me wearing my Montreal Expos jacket and he threw me the ball. A minute later,the Mets’ portion of the BP was over. My BP ball total was of 2.

During the first inning I decided to stood near the Mets’ dogout and I tried to got a 3rd out ball. At the end of the inning,Jordany valdelspin,the second baseman threw me the ball! It was my first gamer. Soon after,the usher told me to go back to my place,wich I did, but it wasn’t a matter because I was SO happy!

After that I wandered into the stadium and took pics like that:

And that:

Great game at The Cell!

Stats:
*5th consecutive game with at least 1 ball.
*7th balls of the season.
*7 balls in 5 games this season = 1,4 average ball per game.
*10th total ball.
*11th Stadium in my life.(Rogers Centre,Orioles Park,PNC Park,Great American Ballpark,Chase Field,O.co Coliseum,Dodger Stadium,Petco Park,Citizens Bank park,Progressive Field,Comerica Park and US Cellular Field)

June 25, 2013

Tiger Stadium

After the game to Comerica Park, I knew I couldn’t miss to see the Old Tiger Stadium. Even if the Detroit Tigers left it in 1999,you still can hit balls inside. The stands are demolished since 2006,but the some of the gates and the flag pole in center field still stand.

It was a great moment to hit balls where great player once performed. You have also a great view from downtown Detroit from the home plate.

That’s a shame that this legendary stadium isn’t more well preserved. Let’s hope that the city and the Detroit Tigers will do more in the future to preserve a big part of Detroit’s history.

June 24, 2013

Comerica Park,2013-06-23

Sunday game,Justin Verlander Pitching and poster giveaway… I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game to catch ball,and I was right. With no Batting practice and more than 40,000 people at the stadium,my objective was simply to catch one ball. When I was waiting in line to enter,i took this photos:

Then,I entered in the stadium and I immediately headed to the bullpen where John Lester was warming up. He end up throwing the ball to a little tigers’ fan.

Meanwhile,in the stadium,it was dead. No BP is one thing,but no player at all playing catch or even running on the field is another thing!

I had a lot of time to kill,so I explored the stadium. But,that’s when I saw that there was action in the Red Sox’s dogout. I quickly went there,and I saw Brian Butterfield,the third base glove. We made an eye-contact and I immediately raised my glove but he disappeared into the dogout. But 10 seconds later,he reappeared and throw me a ball!

For the rest of the BP,I just walked in the stadium and took pictures like that.

I had Standing Room Only tickets but I succeed to sit in seats just behind the home plate.

At the end of the game,i decided to see the slyline seats up in the stadium. It looks like that:

I just don’t understand the bad reputation of these seats…They’re not THAT bad,no?

For the game itself,it was a really long one. It lasted close to 4 hours and the Tigers won 7-5 on two Red Sox’s errors… Next game at Chicago Monday,with Chris Sale pitching!

Stats:
*4th consecutive game with at least 1 ball.
*4 balls of the season.
*4 balls in 4 games this season = 1 average ball per game.
*7th total ball.
*11th Stadium in my life.(Rogers Centre,Orioles Park,PNC Park,Great American Ballpark,Chase Field,O.co Coliseum,Dodger Stadium,Petco Park,Citizens Bank park,Progressive Field and Comerica Park)

Check out more at

http://www.mygameballs.com/baseballdata?db=MtlExpos

June 19, 2013

Montreal Expos’ Song

Here’s agreat song about the Montreal Expos that summarize really well their great history,from 1969 to 2004. Hope That you’ll like it!

June 18, 2013

New Glove,Baseball Roadtrip And Toronto Blue Jays.

First of all,I got a new glove! It’s a Rawlings RFBDCTC (First base glove). My old one(Easton Black Magic) was all torn down and before my roadtrip,i needed a new one. Take a look at it:

And the exterior of the glove(it’s a 12.5”)

Ok(Deep breath),let’s continue. My father and I are going to be on the road all summer long,and it’s a great chance to attend to (a lot) of MLB and MILB games. Of course,Ballhawking will be a great part of this trip,so be prepared to new blog entries about it! This is the first part of the roadtrip:

It goes like this:
*Comerica Park,Detroit,June 23rd
*Miller Park,Milwaukee,June 26
*U.S. Cellular Field,Chicago(White Sox),June 28-29-30
*Kauffman Stadium,Kansas City,July 2nd and 3rd.
Stay tuned for ballhawking and baseball news!

Finally,I wanted to talk about the Blue Jays and Chien Ming Wang. I think the Blue Jays are a better team with this pitcher. In fact,they won their last 6 games and are only 5 games behind the Wild Card and a place into the Fall Classic.When they play like that,the Blue Jays are the best team in the AL,maybe even in the league! When you have players like Reyes,Dickey and Bautista,you can’t play under .500. Let’s hope that Wang is their new leader!

June 12, 2013

Expos Returning To Montreal?

Yesterday,one of the candidate to the job of the Montreal’s Mayor,Richard Bergeron declared that a stadium could be built in downtown Montreal by 2020. Really? Well it really could be an option for the MLB. In fact with all the struggle that the Tampa Bay Rays,Miami Marlins and Oakland A’s are living,Montreal could be a great place to relocate these teams. Since December 2012,a group named Projet Baseball Montréal (Montreal Baseball Project) are trying to convince the business community to invest for a new stadium,and eventually a ball club. The new Stadium would be situated downtown Montreal (Picture).

It would be part of a new neighborhood,along with between 5000 and 8000 new homes.

With the few images that i’ve seen,i think the stadium would look a lot like the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.
So what do you think about that? Is it a great idea?
Let’s just hope(at least for the people of Montreal) that it could be the beginning of a new dream,a major one.

June 10, 2013

Progressive Field,Cleveland 2013/05/03

Afetr two exhibition game at Cititzens Bank park in Philadelphia,it was a great pleasure to visit Cleveland. I’ve been looking forward this game and i so happy when i saw this sign:

After

After buying two bleachers tickets for the game(It was against the Minnesota Twins),my father and I looked by this gate at the beggining of the BP in hope of a ball that never came.

We entered the stadium 15 minutes latter and I suceed catching a ball that was hit by an unknown player.

An there’s the baseball’s back:

But for the rest of the BP,nothing came close and I didn’t suceed catch any balls at all. We went to our bleachers seat and watches the beginning of the game. It was really great to see a game at Cleveland. In fact,it’s great to see profesionnal baseball anywhere since there’s no team around 500km from my home(I live in Montreal)!

And the view from my seat:

At the end of the game,I decided to go behind the home plate,and i got this incredible view of the field:

I was in the 10th row! I was incredible because of the fact that my father and I bought the cheapest tickets in the stadium (10 bucks). Just magic moments at Cleveland! The Indians won in overtime and just before,i took this picture of the Progressive Field:

And it was the end of the game!
But,that wasn’t all! The day after,we went to the Terminal Tower’s observation deck and guess what?

Yup! Baseball again!

Stats:
*3rd consecutive game with at least 1 ball.
*3rd ball of the season.
*3 ball in 3 games this season = 1 average ball per game.
*6th total ball.
*10th Stadium in my life.(Rogers Centre,Orioles Park,PNC Park,Great American Ballpark,Chase Field,O.co Coliseum,Dodger Stadium,Petco Park,Citizens Bank park and Progressive Field)

Check out more at
http://www.mygameballs.com/baseballdata?db=MtlExpos