METS VS CUBS 9/4/09

I had a great experience with a player. It WAS a Mets player, but still was great.

Anyway, I drove to Citi with my dad, and got there about a quarter to 4. The gates were opening @ 4:30, so I walked over to meet up with Gary and Clif @ the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. I joined them playing catch, and then Clif's mom came and joined too. A few minutes later, Alex from riveravenue.mlblogs.com came over. We'd talked alot online, but had yet to meet. I thought he might've been there, and he was. He also joined the catch, and played for a while, until we had to get online. It was pretty empty. 

I ran to left field, with Alex infront of me, Gary and Clif running behind. Alex and I got settled in left center, Gary was 15 feet to our right, and Clif was more towards the pole. A ball soon rolled to the wall, with a few others, but the one right below me was an ALL STAR ball from last year!!! 

Alex had gotten a toss-up, when Pat Misch came over. He generously let me stand above the All Star ball, so Pat Misch threw him a regular he was near. Then he went over to the A.S. ball, and I asked him and begged him. What'd he do? He stood right below me for a minute, inspected the ball,,,,, and he pocketed it. I was pissed.

Alex got a few others, you can read his blog to hear about them, and as for for me I got two more toss ups five minutes later. The first came from Cory Sullivan, and the second from Elmer Dessens. Both were regular. I was dissapointed.

On top of that, a homerun was hit to our right, and it was me, Gary, and Alex. I though Gary was gonna get it, and stupidly knocked my knee hard on a seat. Alex ended up with it however, and immediatly APOLOGIZED to me. Why? Because it was a pretty new ALL STAR BALL! I was pissed, but happy for Alex. He wanted ME to get one, as he already had one,  but this was the first one that he can count in his collection, because the other one he bought.

Then out came Nelson Figueroa. It was pretty empty, atleast where Alex and I were standing. There were two kids to our left, a little younger, with body paint and gloves. They started shouting @ Figgy for a ball, and we asked politely. He said to play a quiet game, and whoever could be quiet the longest would win. Elmer Dessens went along with it. 

One of the kids asked a question, so Figgy said, "You're OUT" and did the motion of an ump. Then I forget why, Dessens threw a ball to Alex, who was behind me. Alex, showed me the ball and it was ANOTHER allstar ball! He again apologized, which he didn't need to, and the "Quiet Game" continued. Every time Figgy fielded a ball, I would wave my hands and close my mouth. One time, he said " Who wants this ball?" to trick us, and the other kid with body paint blurted out ME! ME! 

Yes! That meant I had won! Unfortunatly, Dessens told Nelson that I'd gotten a ball, so instead I asked if I could trade a regular ball I'd snagged for an All Star ball. I told Figgy that I was dying to get one, so he said sure. I hurried up and got a ball out of my bag, and showed it to him. He told me to give it to one of the kids, but I suggested that HE threw it to them, so itd make them happy. 

 It felt weird to toss a ball to him, I'd never thrown one On to the field, so that was a first. Then, for about three minutes, Figgy would look @ every ball he and Dessens fielded. One ball caught his eye, so he turned around and said, "Ya want a World Series ball?"!!! Of course I did, so he threw me that. It was scuffed. I didn't care. I had just got a freakin WORLD SERIES BALL! I thanked him perfusley and then went to place it in a plastic bag, to put in my backpack, as Alex generously took pictures of me with my camera.

BTW, I bring about 10 plastic bags to each game, and after I snag a ball place it in one and label the bag to keep track. I do not write on my baseballs at all, not even number them. They all go on my shelves, with a small piece of paper taped underneath the MLB hologram, or in the case World Series logo. On top of THAT, this was my 100th ball of the season!

Here I am with the World Series ball, and Figgy { my new favorite player} in the background on the left, and on the right is the W.S. ball, my 100th of the season.    

I was so happy. The ball I traded him, was the one thrown by Elmer Dessens. I DO NOT count that in my stats, nor do I count Elmer Dessens on my list of people who have thrown me a ball. I DO count Nelson Figueroa in my stats. To my surprise, Nelson Figueroa turned around AGAIN after he fielded a ball and asked me if I wanted an ALL STAR ball. Hell yeah I did. He told me to throw him the World Series ball. I asked him if I could trade another regular ball, and he said sure.

I was able to keep a World Series ball AND an ALL STAR BALL. So, this day Figgy threw me two balls. The second time I gave him the Cory Sullivan regular ball, so sorry Cory, but your ball and yourself can't count in my stats. I think the reason he threw me another ball, other than he traded it for a regular, and he's so nice, is because I told him I was gonna build a shrine of him in my room. Im not really, going to, but he still is my new favorite player, and hey, it worked.  

I got a ball down the left field line by cubs pitcher Justin Berg for #4, which I later gave to a kid. That was it for bp, as I was shutout @ the Cubs dugout.

The game was good, a close game. I sat with Alex 5 rows off the Cubs dugout. He actually had a seat in that section, about 20 row more up with his dad. Alex generously printed out an extra copy of his ticket for me, so that I wouldn't have to sneak down. In the bottom of the first inning, Carlos Zambrano struckout David Wright to end the inning. Allstar Geovany Soto brought it in with him and tossed it to me. A nice rubbed up gamer, Zambrano's 1280 strikeout of his Career.

Alex was more successful than me in the snagging department, but I was happy. Im pretty sure Gary ended up snagging two, maybe more, including a cup trick that I saw. Clif was empty handed until late in bp when he caught two homeruns. I had to leave in the seventh inning, and Alex went down with me to the J.R.R. to take a picture. Here it is..................

Im holding the World Series and All Star balls, the Omir Santos regular is on the four, the Soto gamer is on the 2, and I gave away the Berg tossup.

STATS:

Game: 5 Baseballs

Season: 103 Baseballs

Life: 131 Baseballs