8/26/12 at Dutchess Stadium (ABD @ HV)
Here were my Sunday plans:
… I was excited to just take in a smaller atmosphere, lately I’ve been chasing commemorative balls, and rushing, etc., so I was looking forward to just going to a ballgame with a small crowd, doing my thing, and just overall enjoying a ballgame. Since I had season tickets for today’s game, you don’t have to wait in line at the main gate and you can enter at the side. There was nobody there, so I was excited to run in and potentially see BP with nobody in the stands and easter eggs for the taking. Instead, here was the view when I got in:
…eh. It wasn’t exactly the end of the world though, because I headed over here -
… and got Felix Gonzalez to toss me my first ball of the day:
Isn’t that gorgeous?
Since I was the only one who was actually asking for a ball, I didn’t want to seem greedy in front of the other fans and headed over to the IronBirds (Orioles A-Affiliate) side to try to get a ball. There were a few guys tossing, but I was only able to head over so far towards left field without a “Picnic Area” ticket. Therefore, a bunch of balls were tossed into the crowd in that area. I was busy getting an autograph (I never usually do autographs, so I don’t know what compelled me to here) from Jose Nivar when 2 more balls were tossed into the crowd. Later, there was one sitting up against the wall, so I asked Jose to give it to me and he kid of playfully said no. I thought he was kidding so I gave him a yes-nod and he threw it to the bullpen catcher.
-___-
After that, I headed to my seats for the game…
… and got Cameron Edman to toss me the 3rd out ball from the bottom of the 2nd inning. It was a grounder to third, which was scooped up at first. Nice.
I was satisfied with my totals for the game, and decided to just hang for the rest of the day. I was walking around the concourse when I ran into a stand ran by the Dutchess County Sports Museum. I was going to keep walking, until this caught my eye:
How awesome is that? It was a glove used by a ballplayer in the 1940s or so. I tried on the glove with one of the balls I caught:
… I could barely get the glove shut around the ball. That alone made me respect old time ballplayers even more. I couldn’t imaging catching a liner down the line or a deep fly ball with this thing. There was plenty of padding, but not a lot of mobility with it. I thought it was really cool.
I tried getting a ball from the home plate umpire after the game:
…but came up empty. They were doing some sort of promotion on the field after the game, so we stayed after (any excuse to get on a ball field is a good one to me). Here was the crowd:
…and here we are (I’m on the right, obviously) in center field:
My next game is probably Tuesday (Jays @ Yankees).
- 2 balls at this game
- 68 career balls
I’m sure that if you walk around the outside of the stadium, there are tons of BP homers sitting in the grass.
Yeah, I’ve seen other people do that. The way Dutchess Stadium is positioned though, the outfield is right in front of woods, and they don’t let fans walk behind the fences there.
In Trenton, there is just a big parking lot and there are gaps in the fence where you can see into the field. Uusally, nobody is there so when you do a lap around the stadium, there are a lot of balls sitting in the street.
That sounds glorious.
It is really nice. The only problem is that all the homeruns in right field end up in the Deleware River.
Ah, that’s no fun.
It seems that atleast once or twice a game, I get a tossup that goes over my head andgoes into the river. The balls hit a sidewalk and skip over the three ft. fence. Then they roll down a twenty ft. fence and fall into the river. It really sucks.
I’m surprised they built the stadium that close to the water. Do you have a pic of this area on your blog?
No but search mercer County waterfront park on google maps and you can see the sidewalk and river in right field.
Oh, I see it now. That actually looks kind of cool, reminds me of San Francisco. I might take a trip down there someday, being I’m a Yankee fan
Although, I should try it next time!
Looks like a really fun day. My favorite part has to be the old glove. I would love to try playing catch with that.
It was hard to get the glove fully enclosed on the ball. It was pretty cool. I got mistaken for you at Yankee Stadium today, if you can believe that. (Yes, I wound up going.)