Yup-the Arch. It was just a short walk from the stadium, and both of us agreed we had to see it.
If you've never stood in front of it before, the thing is absolutely massive. Check out the (normal sized) garbage can for reference:
When looking at it next to the buildings in the skyline, it fits in. But it wasn't until now I realized that this too had to be the size of a skyscraper.
We got closer and took pictures from every possible angle and even some surrounding scenery.
We sat on some stairs in the small sliver shade. The view and a breeze off the Mississippi River made it really relaxing. After some people watching in the park, we decided we wanted to go all the way to the top. As you know, this is a BaseBlog, and has nothing to do with architecture. I'm not going to waste a ton of time talking about the tour. So, just read the short captions to get the whole experience.
 |
| The surrounding area is actually a National Park. |
 |
| There were lots of pictures from the construction. I was curious as to how they built it without having it fall over. |
 |
| A small scale model of downtown. |
 |
| The dungeonous looking doors to the elevators. |
 |
| It was still arching at the top. You were never on flat ground. |
 |
| The very top! |
 |
| Our home state of Illinois across the Mississippi. |
 |
| The thin but huge shadow that's cast. |
 |
| Our ultimate destination from afar. |
 |
| The park area below. |
 |
| Most of the buildings downtown. |
 |
| This one is blurry, it's still better than the other one we took together. |
 |
| Myself in the tiny pod-like elevator. There were five seats in each one, and it was a cramped and creaky ride to the top. |
A few more pictures, and we were off to the stadium.
We walked up from the North side of town today. I liked the view from afar, as opposed to getting smacked in the face when we got off at the Metro stop.
They love their Arch as much as the tourists, too. They were everywhere, not just in gift shops.
We walked up to our favorite ledge to get our picture before the second game.
I was much closer to the front of the line today, and more people were in line overall.
The general population remembered only one gate opened the night before, and formed behind just that one.
I got right to it when I got inside. The second game was more interesting and exciting than my first. The day before, I was stressing beyond belief about where to go and possibly missing opportunities. I reflected on that game overnight and into today, and had a plan formulated for next time. Rather than a normal two week break, I got to put my new plan into action less than 24 hours later.
There was no way I was going to try the left field seats again. The first place I ran was the front row of the left-center field bleachers. For some reason, it was less crowded for a pretty long time.
I still had to formulate my plan, though. My hope was there would be a homer hit a few rows behind me that I could scramble to and pick up. I soon moved to right field, because I saw a decent amount of balls hit out there yesterday. Plus, not many people had gloves and were not watching carefully. Perfect!
I got down to the front row again, so the Cardinals bullpen was to my left. Like clockwork, as soon as I looked up a ball was launched. It was deep into the middle of the bullpen, so I didn't budge.
I'm not even sure how it happened, but it ricocheted off the bench, wall, and everything else in there. In a few seconds, it started rolling down the ramp that led to the field. For some reason, the door was wide open. I watched it slowly move closer to the warning track.
"Come on, just get out there. I'm the only one here, and it'll be just 10 feet away. Perfect for the toss".
And what do you know, it did. It almost looked like it defied some laws of physics. It was right behind this guy:
He turned around to field another ball just as the first one came to rest, just beyond the gate.
Just a couple seconds later....
Bingo!
Who was he? Don't ask me. He had a chubby, pale, baby face. I think I saw some braces too. It had to be the son of a player. But who? And why wasn't he standing next to his dad? I'll never know the real story.
This was the very next picture I took:
The glove trick prevails again. This was too easy....and someone didn't like it that way.
"HEY. I won't take that ball from you, but next time I see that, you're outta here!", a very angry sounding usher yelled behind me. The section was small; there were only 4 rows between me and him standing in the cross-aisle.
Crap. Well, sort of. I was safe for now, but I felt bad. I finished up and approached him as he walked away. I'm a very worrisome person in the first place, so I genuinely wanted to apologize. Also, I never want to get on usher's bad side. If they already don't like me, chances are they'll give me a hard time about something later.
"Excuse me sir, I'm really sorry; I'm from Chica-"
"Oh you don't have to do that. My supervisor saw it and told me to say something. I actually think that's neat. What do you have set up there, anyway?"
All my worry went away, and with a smile, I explained the whole thing. He seemed very impressed, and complimented me before I walked away. Sadly though, the glove trick was officially retired at Busch. He told me that it really wouldn't be good if they saw it again. I will NEVER risk that when I could possibly ruin the whole day for myself and the person I'm at the game with.
Anyways, check out the ball.
The laces look as crooked as my pictures from the top of the Arch earlier. That's why it was stamped with this at the Rawling's factory.
If a ball isn't 101% up to standards, it can't be used in game action. This one was sold with other rejects at a discounted price to the team that used them.
I had my balls, and I was satisfied. I wanted to FINALLY snag some homers instead of boring stuff. I moved up to the cross-aisle, which gave me about 80 feet to move laterally, at a distance that was perfect for BP homers.
Adam Dunn is huge, and regularly knocks the cover off the ball. This day was no different. If I had to guess, I would say his homer landed just about here:
(The arrow is sort of hard to see, but it was in the 5th row towards the middle. You can also see the glorious cross aisle, and the section of bleachers I got yelled at in).
At this point, I remembered Brent had no idea where the hell I was. Back to left field I went to meet up with him.
It was absolutely impossible to stick out and be heard here. The closest I could really get was the third row. I stood behind a few people and tried to get 'Little Peavy' (as other fans called him) to notice me and my glove.
That kid had more people at his mercy than any 8 year old ever should.
I eventually gave up on that and just enjoyed some BP. All I was hoping for at this point was a homer in my general direction. I didn't even want to catch it that badly. I'm still terrible at judging fly balls. It would have been really beneficial to track some balls without putting pressure on myself.
It was things like this that killed me the most:
Three balls landed in there one way or another. The usher was VERY strict about people leaning over. Even someone my height would need to be dangled by their ankles to reach it. That's a good rule to enforce, too. Whenever one got stuck there, he just started yelling, even if nobody was going for it. He made his way down and hopped a shorter wall to get out there, and handed each of the three to three small kids.
We took a little walk through the concourse to a souvenir shop.....
Where I again picked up my scorecard, along with a few other things to remember my first awesome trip.
This game, we were able to stay on field level out in the bleachers. This has multiple ups and downs.
 |
| Ignore the terrible glare |
I like the fact we're close to the action; we're just a few feet away from the right fielder. I was in good position for a possible game home run, even if the odds were not in my favor.
That glare isn't just for show, though. It was even hotter than yesterday. It was truly terrible. I expected to sweat a lot when I was running back and forth, but now we were just sitting on hot metal and baking in the sun. Also, the view wasn't that great being so flat and close to the ground. Sitting here after our seats from last night really made me realize I would rather be elevated than close to the field.
I was really looking forward to the pregame warm up for the pitchers, who were Gavin Floyd and Jake Westbrook.
I'm usually not close enough to the field so close to game time, much less a bullpen. I got a bird's eye type of view of Westbrook warming up with Yadier Molina.
I've always disliked Molina; he IS a Cardinal after all. But I had to have some respect when he was working right in front of me. I was thinking of all the things he's done in his career, and seeing him in person really made me notice he's never done me wrong, and he's one of the best catchers to play in my lifetime.
Soon it was game time. The Cards took the field:
If you ignore the hand, I think that's a really nice picture. The sun finally got totally hidden in the 4th inning. Until then, I was baking; watching and waiting for it to go down so I could finally see the game without my retinas being fried.
First (or one of the first; is DeAza a righty?) pitch:
Even with the semi-miserable heat and sun, I was still enjoying the views of the stadium at dusk.
Once again, the Sox were off to a slow start. Westbrook was perfect through the 4th. It's hard to win a game when you don't even show up until the game is half over.
Meanwhile, David Freese was having quite a game. After an Alan Craig double in the 2nd, Freese lined another double to grab the 1-0 lead. The game was quiet until Freese came up again in the 3rd, and smacked a two run homer to right center field.
The Sox finally showed signs of life in the 5th. A lead-off single turned into a double play, and another single with two outs got them in the hit column. Still a frustrating inning, but somehow one of the better ones of the past two games.
Another two runs came in for the Cards on a bases loaded single by Mike Adams in the bottom of the 5th. The game was starting to get out of reach, especially when you consider how the Sox have hit lately.
Back to back two out singles in the 6th brought up Adam Dunn. FINALLY the Sox scored a run, courtesy of a three run blast to right center.
The rally was stopped there, and the game ended with the Cardinals taking the final game of the series 5-3.
That was it for the games, and I started to say goodbye to Busch. I always hate this part of any game. The best part is over, but you're still inside the park. The trip was effectively over, but not officially since we had another night in the hotel and a whole day's drive.
Here's me with my latest set of baseballs:
After that, it was back to the Metro and the hotel. We were checked out and on the road by 10 AM the next morning. I was happy to get home, happy the trip happened, but still sad it was over. It was the highlight of my baseball life, and a big confidence booster for my Ballhawking. I can't wait to plan another one, and get to another stadium next year.
STATS
- 3 balls at this game
- 16 balls total this season
- 9 consecutive games with a ball
- 26 lifetime balls
- 11 and a half hours in the car
- 623 miles over two states (31.7 MPG, too)
- One very happy Ballhawk, and an equally angry Sox fan.
No comments:
Post a Comment