Tonight, I will be doing some Trenton Thunder themed Giveaway Friday questions. Whoever gets the most questions correct (points) will win the prize which is some cards.

QUESTION 1) 
Only one player has worn all three Trenton Thunder logos – the Thunderbird logo (1994-2001), The “Thor” logo (2002-2007) and the Cloudman logo (2008-present)… can you name him?

ANSWERED- Jared- Carl Pavano

QUESTION 2)

Let’s compare two shortstops who were Eastern League All-Stars while playing in Trenton… Nomar Garciaparra and Eduardo Nunez. Can you name which one fits each of these criteria? (This is from their time in Trenton)

- had a better batting average
- had more hits
- had more home runs
- committed fewer errors

ANSWERED: Jared-

 had a better batting average - Nunez batted .322, Garciaparra, .267
- had more hits - Nunez had 160 hits, Garciaparra, 137
- had more home runs - Nunez had 9 HR, Garciaparra, 8
- committed fewer errors - Garciaparra committed 23 errors, Nunez, 33

QUESTION 3)

Can you name the former Thunder star from these clues? I had 28 stolen bases in 55 games for the 2006 Thunder.  Last season, I played a rehab game in the city in which I went to college. Who am I?

ANSWERED- Joe Webster- Brett Gardner

QUESTION 4)

May 24, 2012
There are two current Major League Baseball players and a super hero on the Waterfront Park outfield wall this season… can you name them?

ANSWERED- Jared- Spiderman, David Robertson, Hunter Pence

QUESTION 5)

Can you name the first Thunder alum to win a World Series?

ANSWERED- Jared- David Eckstien

QUESTION 6)

In 1996, the Thunder hosted the AA All-Star Game, an event that featured All-Stars from all 30 Major League organizations. This year’s Major League Baseball game featured one player who participated in the 1996 game in Trenton… can you name him?

ANSWERED- Jared- Paul Konerko

Standings:

Jared- Five Points

Joe Webster- One Point

 

 

JARED WON

As Spring Training is now underway, I figured that this would be a perfect time to assess my goals for the upcoming season. In 2012, I recieved 127 baseballs, bringing my total number to 172. All of my numbers will be based off of estimates using 22 games in a season. Last season, in 20 games, I averaged 6.35 balls (let’s just say 6) per game. If I can get the number up to 7 balls per game, that will put me at 154 balls in 2013 or a total of 326 baseballs. I think that is a fair number to start off with for this year. Obviously, as I get more tickets, this number will increase.

Commemorative baseballs are obviously a big part of the ballhawking chase. In 2012: I recieved four of these balls: Nationals Park Inagural Season, Mets 50th Anniversary, Final season at Shea Stadium and the Dodgers 50th anniversary ball.  While I will not be seeing any of the teams slated to use a special ball this season, there is hope that some will be left over from last year and/ or mixed into different team’s equiptment bags. I would like at least three commemorative balls this year.

Autographs: I am defineitely not an autograph collector. Even if I wanted to get more autographs than I have, it would interfere my ballhawking time which can not happen. Although I will occasionaly (read: every game) get autographs during down time at Trenton games, my main concern is getting baseballs. I do send out TTM autograph things but I count that as a completely different thing so that will not be mentioned in this post. I am striving for 150 autos in 2013.

OVERALL: My goals for this year are:

154 Baseballs

3 Commemorative Balls

150 Autographs

 

 

My next contest is inspired by what Nick Badders did prior to launching his Spreadshirt store. I will allow you to design as many logos as you want. No matter what I write, you will have questions so after you read a horribly wirtten q&a, ask me questions on Twitter. So here goes nothing;

Well, explain what this contest is.

You have to design a logo for me or my blog. The winner gets 10 cards.

Why should I do this if it is only for ten cards?

Quite frankly, I have no clue. It is fun?

What kind of logo can I make?

There are numerous different logos you can make.

1) A wordmark for my blog (The Philadelphia Ballhawk)

2) A logo for my blog.

3) A logo for my fantasy team, Doc’s Patients

When are the logos due?

The logos are due on March 15th. I will announce the winner(s) after that point.

How should I submit my logo?

Submit your logo by email as a PDF (or whatever the term is. Jpeg?). Ask me if you need my email address.

So, get going on the contest and ask me any questions you may have.

Logos so far:

Jared Serre- Doc’s Patients

Nick Badders- Doc’s Patients

Nick Badders- Blog

Max Converse- Wordmark

Josh Simon’s mind blowing wordmark

Two more pieces of art from Josh Simon- both for Doc’s Patients

One more for Josh, this is an actual logo though.

What a beautiful day in sunny Philadelphia, huh?

I’m first in line at the stadium!

Turn around,

And it rained. And rained. And rained.

So we watched the board and Tim Cook asked me to show him pictures of ballhawks so he could guess who they were.

There was a baseball in the bullpen.

But it didn’t matter. The game was called. We left.

Nothing else to say.

I haven’t written in forever but, after Giveaway Friday, I figured I need to make a contest so, here are the rules and prizes.

The way that the main giveaway works is, there are certain things you can do for an entry into the contest. Next Sunday, I will draw all of the names and determine a winner. Entries are earned by

Getting someone to follow me on Twitter (2 entries)

Being the first to answer a trivia question on the blog (2 entries) or Twitter (2 entries)

Being the first to like a specially noted picture on Instagram. (1 entry)

Following me on Twitter or Instagram (1 entry)

Win a smaller contest (1 entry.

Make sure that you are following me on Twitter and Instagram.

Twitter- @phiballhawk

Instagram- @htishler

Trivia 1.

How many baseballs do I have? It is NOT onMyGameBalls.

Trivia 2.

Give me the MVP of the 1980 world series.

Trivia 3.

Who is this?

Blog 4.) How did I get my seventh ball on the entry POSTED on June 28th. The game was from June 23rd.

 

Blog 5.) Name four autographs I got from August, 28th 2011′s game.

Also, throughout the week, look out for random card giveaways.

If you win, you can choose from one of these prizes.

CHARLIE MANUEL SOUVENIER BASEBALL

One of these two horribly photographed Buffalo Bills rally towels.

UPDATE 1: So far, the contest has been a huge success. Today, Gabe won a Brian Propp autographed picture. Look on Twitter and Instagram for trivia questions. Whoever answers them correctly first will win three points towards the main giveaway. Continue to look for me as I will give some cards out for Giveaway Friday. Keep telling people to follow me on Twitter, @phiballhawk and Instagram, @htishler.

I know, I wasn’t very good with blogging this year. The main reason why was that I lost a ton of pictures that should have been used for the blog. So anyway, I am going to make two season summary entries and this is the first one.

On April 3rd, the Trenton Thunder hosted a fan fest. I got my first three balls of the year.

Here I am with the dugout.

During the first real game,I only got one ball.

Thank God for Citizens Bank Park.

I took this picture and,

Got my 5oth career baseball.

Later in the month, we met current Miami Marlins (still Florida in my heart) catcher, Rob Brantley.

He gave me some gum.

I almost forgot this picture of Johan Santana.

We went to many Trenton Thunder games.

I got Brad Emaus’ game used bat.

Another game, more Mets.

The first of many from Jesus Tiamo.

The best part of minor leagues games is how close you get.

Oriole Park is beautiful.

I got a press pass from the Trenton Thunder.

And went to the MLB Network studios.

Studio 42 was awesome.

 

For the last photo of the entry, I finally hit double didgits!!!

I will have the next entry up by Monday!!!

As I wrote in yestedays entry, my phone suddenly decided not to work. I brought it to the Apple store hoping they can fix it. Turns out the phone is dead and I had to get a new one. However, it was free with Apple Care so it is what it is. My main problem is that I lost 409 pictures. Those pictures were from the game, last Thursday in Lakewood and Saturday in Philadelphia. I do have some pictures from my mom and dad regarding Thursday and Saturday but not one picture remains as proof of the fact that I was in Trenton last Sunday. So this is just going to be a long boring pictureless entry. It is better then nothing but still, it is dissapointing.

On to the game, when we arrived, I found my regular spot outside of the stadium. In just a few minutes, I got a tossup from a pitcher.

Nothing else was going on so I ran over to right field and quickly got a tossup from Ryan Flanerry. The ball sailed over my head and I misread it. It smaked off of the cement and was likely to go over the fence and splash into the Deleware River. I gave up on the ball and was quite dissapointed. However, the ball tipped off of the top of the fence and rolled on the sidewalk. I picked it up and had two baseballs very quickly.

After that,things slowed down. For the next half hour, only one ball went out and some guy who is at every game gloved it on the fly. I saw that a baseball was coming in my direction so I got in position the catch it. I was perfectly lined up and it would have been all mine. Suddenly, I heard a smack to the second wall and went through the bushees to see if a baseball had created the sudden smack. As I scurried through, I saw that a baseball was laying in the dirt waiting to be taken. As I picked it up to label it and take a picture, I head another smack and walked five feet to my right where another baseball was laying. That put me atfour for the day.

In the same spot where I got my first baseball, a Bay Sox pitcher tossed me a ball. It clipped the chain link fence and hit my foot. Luckily, nobody was around at the time so I casually picked up number five of the day.

The gates were set to open in ten minutes. We figured that batting practice ewould still be going on then so we started walking to the gate. On the way, we heard a thumping noise. It turns out that a foul ball hit the inflatible slide. An employee walked over, picked it up and tossed it to me. I had six balls before the gates had opened!

The stadium worker scanned my ticket and handed me a drawstring bag. I think it was the back to school giveaway. Within minutes of walking (more like running) in, a got a tossup from a Bay Sox player. He was over one hundred feet away and the throw was a little off line. A normal person could have reached out and gotten it but seeing that I’m 4 feet 5 inches, it was too far. Luckily, it hit the rolled up tarp and started rolling on it. From there, it was easy to grab. That was number seven.

Somebody threw a ball used duing batting practice at the dugout railing. It was there when the players left the field and I got it tossed to me for number eight.

My next ball was somewhat of a personal milestone for me. It was my 145th lifetime baseball. At the beginning of the season, I had 45. It was my 1ooth baseball of the season. I called out to Shane Brown of the Thunder from about 50 feet away. He waved to me and gave me the one second sign. When he was done running. He walked over to me. He asked why I was wearing an Orioles hat (The Bay Sox are the AA team for Baltimore) and then showed me his glove. He let me take the baseball out of it.

When the starting pitcher, Mikey O’ Brian finished warming up, I asked him for the ball. He said he was going to give it to a little kid but I should remember to tell him that he owes me a ball next time I see him. I am excited because I will be at the Thunder game tonight and he will be pitching so hopefully he will remember me.

During the game, I got a warm up ball from the Bowie first baseman and that was pretty much it!

More entrys ater this week!

This is literally going to be the shortest entry I’ve ever wrote. I just wanted to say that my iPhone got screwed up and I lost 409 photos that were supposed to be used for my blog. I don’t know what happened but I am really pissed. I can probably get one good entry tonight but I lost entries from Lakewood, Trenton and Philadelphia. Sorry.

I got a baseball two baseballs within fifteen seconds without even trying. I was walking around the outside of the stadium looking for any homeruns or foul balls laying around. Suddenly I heard a loud smack and saw a baseball flying out I just stuck out my glove as it flew out an open gate and hand an easy number one.

Then I kept on walking and a random Phillies player saw me through a somewhat see through tarp and was like “Hey buddy you want a ball” and then, he flipped one up to me.

I was in right field and a security guard rolled me a ball.

Then, I literally found a baseball that was laying on the curb.

I did a whole lap around the stadium and did not find another ball. However, I was going to left field because I saw a baseball laying on the ground. When I got there, I heard a smack and saw a baseball shoot into the street. I retrieved it and had five for the day.

Frank Gailey tossed me number six. However, it was off mark and hit the curb. It went into the street and I went over and claimed number six.

There was a baseball laying next to a screen.

And another one was sitting in a gap.

I got both of them from the same guy. He did not have anyone else to give it to and nobody else was on the field so he just flipped both up to me.

I really don’t know what type of ball this is. All I know is that it counts in my collection because I saw it being used, in the bullpen and being tossed to me by Luis Dorante.

I got a ball from Kevin Mahnoey before the game.

Then, I got the warmup ball from Tug Hulett after the second inning.

And I got one from him again in the eigth.

Here is Jiwan James.

And another  unknown Phil.

Here is twelve baseballs!!!

 

I just wanted to say that an entry should be up tonight and another one should be up tomorrow. Let’s go Phillies.