First off, Merry Christmas to all of those who celebrate.

June 1st at FirstEnergy Park

FirstEnergy Park is my favorite Minor League stadium. Is Lehigh Valley nicer? Probably but still, I love Lakewood. It is a great stadium ballhawking wise, with berms throughout the whole outfield, and a cross isle-y thing down both lines against the wall. So whenever I go there, batting practice on the left field berm is always great. For some reason, I only go once a year but that one time is always a success. In 2012, I left there with nine baseballs, the myGameBalls.com/minors record for the park. However, this year I would almost double that, putting on a 17 ball performance including 10 homers. The game itself didn’t produce any snags because I was going for home runs and foul balls down the line and neither of those things occurred, at least not where I was.

June 2nd at Citizens Bank Park

The first of two weekend doubleheaders concluded the next day in Philadelphia. It was one of those games where nothing goes wrong but it isn’t the best. The Brewers were incredibly stingy during their short BP, with no tossups so everything not from Jesus Tiamo (he gave me a ball when Cole Hamels was throwing a bullpen session), my only balls were from Lee Tunnell and Marcus Hanel. They were kind of cool though, because they had Sharpie streaks on the sweet spot, which I’ve never had on a ball before. The Brewers are one of the only teams to do that, I think.

 

June 22nd at Arm and Hammer Park

Trenton Thunder- I don’t like the Yankees, but I love their stadium. It seems sad how easy Arm and Hammer is. you walk a lap around the place and find three baseballs sitting there. It would be insane if the Delaware didn’t eat up 90% of the homers in right field, I’d be at 400 baseballs now. It was pretty crowded so only 1 out of 12 baseballs was a gamer but, I got this incredibly artsy shot during BP.

June 27th at Coca Cola Park

Lehigh Valley is another one of my favorite parks in the MiLB. This was my first time I’ve ever seen the place so I had no clue what to expect. As it turns out, my image was as far off as possible. I was under the impression that the field was on ground level, not dug in so that through the gate on the outside, you could see the stadium. This wasn’t the case, but, luckily, it worked out because we got in for BP and I got 10 baseballs, as well as free tickets to a future game because there was a rain out. More on that in the next entry.

 

July 6th at Arm and Hammer Park

In this game, I almost out snagged my age. (I’m pretty sure I did in August but I don’t feel like looking now). This was a more enjoyable Thunder game than normal because they were playing the Reading / Baseballtown Fightin Phils, who’s hat has a smiling hot dog on it, by the way. After the game, I met a lot of players such as David Buchanan and Jessie Biddle which was the highlight for me.

July 13th at Citizens Bank Park

This was genuinely a really nice game. I was really panicked because the gates opened a half hour late due to the fact that it was a double header. However, the Cook clan showed up and it was enjoyable. The game went to extras so we got to spend more time with them and they brought me a Jay Bruce shirt as well. I got six baseballs and I’m not quite sure how many Todd got but he might have hit double digits.

 

Alright kids…

That’s all for today. Next up is August- September

 

BUT FIRST…

Trivia!

You only get one guess per question and is has to be in the comments. More than one person can get each question.

1) Why did I get free tickets from the game in Lehigh Valley?

2) How many baseballs did I get in Lakewood?

3) Name three players I met on July 6th.

4) What family ballhawking trio was at July 13th’s game?

5) What was on the sweet spot of the Brewers’ baseballs?

6) What “artsy” shot did I take on June 22nd?