2013 Season in Review

I can finally stop living in the past. There are no more time sensitive stories to tell. I no longer have to act like what I'm writing about took place last week instead of three months ago.

It's almost the new year, and baseball (even the World Series) is long gone. Even though this year was tough to let go, I was let down pretty easy. After my final game, I was still catching up on games in July. When the Series was ending, I was stuck in August. I worked for a few more months, and now finally, with 2014 right around the corner, I can put this past season to rest.

Game 20 - 9/28 at US Cellular Field

Wow, the big 2-0. It was just three years ago when I felt like ten games was overdoing it a little bit. Not only did I double that original goal, but I got to this point in many different ways rather than just going to Wrigley all the time.

You may have thought that my last entry would be the one to finish out the year. To be honest, at the time, I did too. I was very focused on making at least one trip home in September, and failed to realize that I wouldn't have any major commitments at ISU during this last weekend of the month. As as luck would have it, this was also the final weekend of the regular season, and the Sox were closing at home.

Game 19 - 9/6 at Wrigley Field

I could never have predicted the way things played out this summer. There were so many experiences, especially crammed into those three weeks in May and June, that made the next few months simply fantastic. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't change a single thing.

Today was a little far removed from the warm weather and carefree attitude I had in those months, but this game still gave me yet another day to remember. It's even in the running as the best day I've ever spent at a ballpark.

Game 18 - 8/13 at Wrigley Field

The second half of the season slowed down significantly for me. I quenched my baseball thirst through the first few months of the season, and I was running a little low on motivation for Ballhawking. A combination of work picking up, school around the corner and unlucky team schedules led me to hold back more than I wanted to.

BUT, that didn't keep me from getting one last BP session in before going back to ISU. This was in the cards all season long; these tickets were the last set in the package I got from my VIP guy back in March.

My companion was TBD until the previous week. I had promised my cousin Dylan another game; one that was much better than last year. He came with me to my only trip at the Cell on July 25th. It was a day game, and I don't know why I expected something great to happen. There was no BP, yet we were both able to come out with one ball each. To repay him for my bad decision making, I brought him along to what I thought would be a cakewalk.

Game 17- 8/4 at Miller Park

Kyle.

St.Louis.

Booooo!

Internship.

Chicago.

Milwaukee!

Game 16 - 7/24 at US Cellular Field

The "finalized" season schedule I made at the beginning of March still left me with some holes to fill. I had every single day planned out until the All-Star Break. After that, I wasn't too sure what would happen. During the first three months of the season, I tried to put a plan together to make the most of my time, but it was just too difficult while still focusing on what was coming up next.

It took me a while to get back into the swing of things. Wrigley was out of the question. It gets way too expensive and crowded this time of year. The Brewers had a few games, but that wouldn't be cost effective now that I go to games alone. (It worked out great the first time I did it, so I was going to continue until I discovered otherwise). The trip up north would have cost close to $50. Miller Park isn't THAT great of a stadium, even if I got to see Shawn.

What's left? Yup, my new favorite place to Ballhawk.

An Ongoing Issue That Requires Attention

Readers-

I want to apologize. It's now been 25 days since my last post, and (before this moment), 21 days since I've even logged on to Blogger. I realize I'm slacking, and really wish I could keep up. Right now, I'm five weeks and five games behind.

The last month has been brutal. This is the first time since Labor Day where I've had 15 minutes that I'm not studying, working, taking care of random issues, or taking a mental break to keep my own sanity.

School was definitely a wake up call. I've gotten farther into upper level classes, and even started on Graduate classes that will continue for the next two years while I'm shooting for my Masters in Accounting. At times I want to hang myself, but I will be supremely satisfied if I can make it out alive with this kick-ass degree.

That said, I ask for your patience. I know nobody wants to read about games that happened a month and a half ago, but priorities have been rearranged since I've returned to Normal. It was quite a shock and disappointment of how much baseball disappeared from my life when I had other things to focus on. I wish it didn't because the Playoffs are the second most exciting part of the season, next to the last week of March and the first week of April.

Last year, I finished exactly two months behind schedule. My last game was September 21st, and I posted near Thanksgiving. That sucks. I'll be honest, it might take even longer this time. I want to live up to the standards I set for myself when all I had to worry about the next day was the RBF Riverwalk shift that started two hours early.

In the coming weeks, you'll see:

• July 24th at US Cellular - My second game going solo,with the assurance that I could now Ballhawk wherever I want, whenever I want.
• August 4th at Miller Park - My friend Kyle from St.Louis had never been up North, and there's nothing I wanted to do more than give him a tour of the park I've been to dozens of times.
• August 13th at Wrigley - My last game before this dreaded semester was spent with my younger cousin Dylan. He's averaging one ball a game with me for his career, and that came with no BP before a day game at the Cell last July.
• September 6th at Wrigley- My venture home to stay with Kyra and live the city life for a weekend. Some odd and amazing things happened this afternoon, only adding to some of the surreal experiences I've had in 2013.
• September 28th at US Cellular - A random trip home between tests and football games yields me my second potential last game of the year. It was a strange one, and merely a blip in my memory bank between everything going on in life.
• Season in Review - My absolute favorite entry of the year. I get to look back at everything I've done this summer and start thinking what 2014 holds as I continue to push towards becoming the best Ballhawk I can possibly be.

So again everyone, sorry for the delays. If you're reading this entry, that doesn't even have to do with a game, you're one of my die-hards. You may not think you're that important, but I know a few of you are out there. I don't do this blog exclusively for you, but I love to tell my stories and experiences to other baseball fans. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing.

Thanks-

"Ryan MortenBlog"

Game 15 - 7/10 at Wrigley Field

This WILL be my shortest entry I've ever posted. There's hardly anything to tell.

As soon as I saw last October that the Angels were coming to town, I knew I wanted to be there. Pujols and Mike Trout, plus the other guys they've picked up on their spending spree? That was already worth the $45 price tag for the ticket. Josh Hamilton just became a bonus when he signed later that winter.

Game 14 - 7/2 at US Cellular Field

This was a big game for me and BaseBlog. It was truly a revolutionary step in the right direction for myself, in addition to improving the well being of the blog.

I want to take you back to when I met Zack Hample in May. Somewhere in the conversation we had during the game, he said one thing that was burned into my memory more than anything else he said that night. I wish I remembered more of his answers to my questions, but it was almost like my mind was somewhere else once he gave me that one response:

"Oh man, you've never been to a game alone? You really need to do that...it's fantastic"

Game 13 - 6/25 at Miller Park

I was rested and re-focused. It was time for another road game, mainly to see my new Ballhawk friend, Shawn.

Mid-Season Blacklight Examination

At this point in the season, I've finally reached my first long break. I was chugging along for three solid weeks, so it was time to relax, reflect, and start working at RBF a little to pay for all of this. I didn't actually want to stop, but the Brewers, Sox, and Cubs were all on the road. As good a time as any, right? I took it as a sign from the baseball Gods telling me to catch my breath.

The single most interesting thing I've learned since I started Ballhawking was the Rawlings method. I wrote an entry about it during the off-season, and went through the entire (very secretive) process. However, the coolest part of discovering that process was finding out that each ball is stamped with invisible ink as a quality control mechanism. When you put a ball under a regular old black light, the numbers magically appear.

Some of my balls from last year that had superb stamps.

Game 12 - 6/11 at US Cellular Field

I was debating whether or not to write about this game. It was an awful experience and one I'd rather not remember. Sure, I went to another baseball game, but it was pretty miserable. I sound spoiled when I say that, but in order for me to enjoy myself as a Ballhawk, I need to see results. That's the whole reason I go to seemingly random games like this.

I should have gotten back on the El when I saw what the skies looked like at 35th Street.

Game 11 - 6/5 at Comerica Park

The second game of the back to back started in an odd way. I was incredibly thankful that Brent and Sean let me dictate what we did and when we did it during the past few days. We discussed a departure time for the game Wednesday morning at the hotel, where they mentioned they wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings before the game (the Tigers scored six runs the night before, so they got six free wings with their ticket stub). Not only did they agree to get going three hours before the game, but they weren't offended when I said I didn't want to join them. I came all this way to do what I do; catch baseballs. It would have felt like I wasted a great chance if I passed that up that opportunity.

Game 10 - 6/4 at Comerica Park

I awoke on this Tuesday morning fairly early, ready to tackle the four and a half hour drive with my two best friends. In the past 22 days, I have seen seven games and had some experiences I could only dream about from where I was last year. These two games in Detroit were the end to the best baseball marathon I would probably ever see.

I was sitting on 47 lifetime balls coming into the day. The end to the marathon was a little saddening, but  having number 50 in sight took my mind off of that. It was really a big deal to me. I've put in the time for two and a half years, and I was almost half way to the first real milestone.

Not only that, but this was going to be the 8th park I've visited in my life, and the fourth in the last calender year. I was very excited to cross one more city off the list and continue to work my way father and father away from my personal epicenter of Chicago.

Game 9 - 5/29 at Wrigley Field

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. One of the reasons is because I didn't go to BP, but also because I'm five games behind at the moment.

This was only my second Cubs-Sox game of my life. The first one turned out pretty good, so I was more excited than usual to attend this one. Sean grabbed some tickets in March, and we were good to go.

As you can see, we were going to be in the regular seats instead of Bleachers. Not only that, but it wouldn't be possible to stick out while wearing the visiting team's gear with the number of Sox fans that were going to be there. Going early and going for balls would have just been a waste of time.

It was my second annual Ballhawk's Day Off inside the park, and the second this season after my rooftop game 10 days prior. I was looking very forward to walking in right before the game started, something I'm not accustomed to doing. Plus, there would be a more interesting than usual match-up to watch. It was going to be a good day.

Wrigley Field 101- Streets, Eats, and Seats

I attended my first game at Wrigley Field when I was nine years old. It was a Tuesday night in September, and the Cubs defeated the Montreal Expos 3-2 in 10 innings. I was hooked instantly. Since that first night, I've been back dozens of times, appreciating the fact that it's my home team's park more and more every year.

In the past 11 seasons, I've learned everything there is to know, inside and out, about my summer home away from home. Wrigley in itself is a stadium like no other, but every baseball fan knows the thing that really makes it original is where it's situated; smack dab in the middle of it's very own neighborhood-Wrigleyville.

Seeing as how most of my BaseBlog readers (yes, my second B is capitalized) are pretty aware of everything I'm an expert on, I thought I should give some friendly tips to readers of Justin's page if they're planning their first visit to Chicago.

Streets

The Friendly Confines are located at 1060 West Addison Street on the North side of the city. Wrigleyville is just a small part of the Lakeview neighborhood, the name officially recognized by the city.

There are plenty of ways to get to the ballpark based on your location and situation. Let's start with the simplest and most popular- public transportation.

Chicago's master subway map

Wrigley is easily accessible from the CTA's Blue and Red subway lines. The Blue makes it's way Northwest out of the city, and terminates at O'Hare airport. The Red is for riders coming from the Southside, downtown in the Loop, or Northern suburbs.

More often than not, I travel on the Blue Line. I live in the West suburbs during the summer, so it's a short drive to the Cumberland or Rosemont station, which both offer plenty of safe parking spaces for $5. The longer you stay there the more it costs, but I've taken quite a while at some games and never been charged more than that.

Once you get on the train, you'll go five or six stops before arriving at Addison Street. Once you get to street level, the 152 Addison bus picks you up directly across the street. After riding that for three miles, you'll be let off right in front of the ballpark. You can't miss it, but if it's a crowded bus and you can't see, just follow the masses. The train takes 20 to 25 minutes, but the bus varies on traffic. As a rule of thumb, allow 50 minutes and you'll be fine.

The Red Line is the one that runs the entire length of the city; South, through downtown, and way up past Wrigley. You can actually take it to 35th Street as well, where US Cellular Field is located. It's the most traveled line in the entire city.

There are a few Red Line stops located along State Street, which can all easily be found on Google Maps. If you're downtown already or took the Metra and find yourself at Union or Ogilvie Station, this is the one for you!

Hop on a train headed for Howard and take it for about 20 minutes to be dropped off within steps of the stadium at the OTHER Addison station. You can actually see the stadium from the platform, and will be able to see the outer walls within seconds of walking on the sidewalk.

Now here it gets a little tricky. If for some reason you want to avoid the bus from the Blue Line station, you can continue downtown to the Jackson stop, where the Blue and Red link up. The transfer between them is free, and all you need to do is walk a long tunnel underground that connects State and Dearborn Streets.

If you follow either of these routes and don't make mistakes that cost you an extra fare or transfer, it comes out to $4.75 a person. In addition to these two methods, there are a number of buses that can bring you within walking distance of the park. If you need to find your bus, or want a more detailed description of the train routes, check out the CTA's trip planner.

If you're opposed to going outside the comfy surroundings of your personal vehicle, things start to get more complicated. Driving is always an option, but legal places to park around Wrigley are scarce and usually overpriced. There's always someone offering up their garage or front lawn for $30, but there are always cheaper and less shady ways to find a spot.

Obviously, the Cubs have some official parking lots around the area. Most are reserved for season ticket holders, and it's been years since I've been familiar with this option. Honestly, this is the only place you should pay money for unless it comes down to the wire and you're desperate. You can see what the Cubs have to offer right here.

For day games, you don't have much to worry about. Pretty much any street is fair game, no matter the day. But have some common sense. Don't think you can park a block from the park and expect your car to be there when you get back.

Since these games bring such large crowds, the city issues residential parking permits. For the day games, you actually WANT to find a street that has a zone 383 restriction. There's also one by the name of LV-2 in areas East of the ballpark, and far enough West to be out of walking range. Regardless, both areas say it in the same way, and mean the exact same thing.

As the sign says, this applies ONLY when the Cubs have a night game. However, I've never risked it enough to remain parked in one of these spots after 6:00 PM, so I officially disclaim anything that happens if you decide to do that. I usually drive East on Addison and get as close as I can until all the spaces are taken up. Heck, if you're lucky, you can park right ON Addison!

Take a right or left onto the side streets, and snag a spot. Again, there are no worries if you're in a 383 zone and intend to come back to your car right after the end of a 1 PM game. But be sure to check for street cleaning signs, fire hydrants, and other restrictions before you decide leave it there for a few hours.

Now, for a crowded night game, you'll have a much tougher time. Forget everything I just said how every street is fair game. When the Cubs play at night, the 383 permit is in full effect and strictly enforced, which means your car will more than likely get towed. If this is your situation, I STRONGLY suggest clicking on that trip planner link from above, since you can never go wrong with the trains.

If you MUST still drive, there are some limited last resorts. Busy streets like Ashland and Southport that run parallel to the park offer some free spots if you look hard enough. be able to parallel park, and make sure you're not in a 'Pay for Parking' area.

Eats

Alright! You finally made it. You've got a little extra time to spare, and want to soak up this Wrigleyville atmosphere you've heard so much about.

I have good news and bad news for you. The bad is that I've been 21 for only the first three months of this season. Because of that, I don't have that many recommendations for good bars. Unfortunately, I feel like that's what most of you are looking for in this section.

However, I can offer just a little bit of advice on the subject. I found out the hard way that any of the establishments in the immediate vicinity of Wrigley do NOT offer their specials posted online during Cubs home games. Unless you have $35 to dispose of before even going inside to watch the game, look elsewhere. Try going four or five block to get away from the tourist prices. I haven't tried them yet, but I've heard good things about Redmond's Ale House on Sheffield and BEER on Clark Street.

The good news, though, is that I've been finding places to eat on my own in the neighborhood since I was 16. My all time favorite is the Salt and Pepper Diner, located just one block South on Clark Street.

Typical diner food from what I can tell. Any type of breakfast for the early bird fan, as well as lunch and dinner items. I highly recommend the Buffalo Chicken sandwich.

But what's a baseball game without a hot dog? Where can I grab a decent, quick baseball classic before dropping $7 inside?

Wrigleyville Dogs, that's where.

I randomly stepped in here with my Dad one day in 2005, and I've been coming back ever since. It's not the nicest building in the neighborhood, but the service is quick and gets the job done. I always go with the hot dog combo with fries and a drink, which runs about $6. They have plenty of different items too; burgers, gyros, even a pizza puff.

If neither of these places satisfies you, there's always the McDonald's that's adjacent to the park, and a Taco Bell right near the front of the stadium.

Wherever you eat, it's cheaper than inside where you would get essentially the same food. Not only that, but just a few years ago, Wrigley was recently found as the most unsanitary ballpark in the majors. I haven't trusted it since and try to avoid it as much as possible.

Another helpful hint I offer is something I don't think most fans know about. I believe this is the case for most other parks, but it's a not so advertised policy. As long as you don't try to smuggle alcohol and your drinks aren't in cans or glass bottles, you can bring anything from the outside right in with you. Just bought a Big Mac and the game is starting in two minutes? Go right ahead!

Stock up at the 7-11 at the corner of Addison and Sheffield. Don't try to get by with a huge fountain drink, though. Wrigley security has recently changed to rule to say that nothing can come in if it's not factory sealed. So be sure to not crack open that water bottle too early!

Seats

This section is my specialty. Not only do I know the park like the back of my hand, but I could be on an episode of My Strange Addiction for how obsessed I am with seating charts, pricing levels, and tickets in general.

First, I want to cover the thing that most concerns me as a Ballhawk. Lucky for me, I knew this rule before it ever became a problem, and I want to make sure this is loud and clear to everyone reading:

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A TICKET FOR THE BUDWEISER BLEACHERS, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED OUT THERE AT ANY TIME!

Ever since the Bleachers became the most popular place to sit, the Cubs have come down with an iron hammer on this. I don't really like the rule, but it's something I have to live with.

First of all, thanks to that perception that Bleachers are the best place to be, the tickets there are not the cheapest. For most games, they cost as much as a lower level infield seat. They want to try to keep all the upper deck people from buying cheap tickets and hanging out back there.

Secondly, the Bleachers are 100% general admission. First come, first serve for every regular season game. Because of that, there's no need to check people's tickets. So if someone with an upper deck seat came in and snagged a seat, it would be unfair to the person who paid more to sit there. And there's also no way to find them and kick them out, either.

But if you have a Bleacher ticket, no worries. The Bleacher only gate (gate N)  is in dead center field. All gates around the park open two hours early. In order to get the best spots, some people start lining up an hour or two before the gate time. That all depends on the day and who the visiting team is. The past couple seasons, you could still get a decent seat in the more popular left field up to half hour before game time. Just to be safe, I don't recommend coming in after the game starts.

 Having the Bleacher ticket allows you to access the regular seats by scanning in and out near the foul poles. I know it's odd and sort of backwards, but I just report the rules, not make them.

Anyway, let's throw down a seating chart:

Notice that Wrigley goes by aisles, not sections.If your ticket says 235, it can be in either the section to your left or right. This can get especially confusing for first timers. All you need to do is pay attention to your seat number. If you're walking up an aisle while going away from the field, the 100s will be on your right, and the single numbers on your left.

Notice the single number and the 100 number, just a few sections apart.

Here's a rough diagram of what the seats look like:

Hey, I ain't no artist.

As you can see, in this tiny section example, seat 105 is actually next to seat 5 from the next aisle over. Yes, very confusing and had to believe, but sometimes that's what the ticket program spits out to you. It's not a mistake. Trust it- it's right.

If you get to the park early when batting practice is still happening, you can go anywhere in the seating bowl , besides between aisles 11 and 32. Those Club Box sections are for ticket holders to those sections only. During the game, all field and 100 level aisles are guarded by an usher. The retirees in Chicago are very diligent about checking tickets. As in, there's no way you'll make it past them, even in the 8th inning. It's always possible to slip past them when they're not looking though.

If you're a bad seat thief, there's still good news. The 200, 400, and 500 sections are never guarded. Feel free to casually walk up and snag some seats. As long as it's not a sold out game, you'll have no problem finding a view like this after buying nosebleeds:

One last thing about the seats-While sitting in the 200s and 500s, it's definitely possible to run into something like this:

Believe it or not, as long as your seat isn't in the immediate vicinity of one of these poles, your ticket is NOT marked as obstructed view. I've had many games with something in my way, which is why I don't exactly like buying tickets in the 200s anymore.

To combat this ancient problem crated almost a century ago, I offer two more resources. The first one is this, that shows all the pole locations in the stadium as tiny yellow dots:

From 206 through 236, the poles are even with the 7th row. In front of that is the Terrace Box pricing level, where you pay more to know there for sure won't be anything in your way.

The second is a website that has a database of every single seat and it's obstructions. It's called Wrigley Guide, and has helped me immensely when I've bought tickets in the past. (Note: I've realized that it currently only works with Firefox, but beyond that, it's an absolute great place to check your possible seats.)

Wherever you may end up, there's really not a bad seat in the house. Nothing beats a warm summer day in one of the nation's oldest, most unique ballparks.

****

I may seem to know too much for my own good, but there's a lot left I still haven't discovered about my favorite place in the world. I'll keep going back until the day I die with memories of my first game, and all the ones after it that made coming back every year so worth it.

Game 8 - 5/26 at Great American Ball Park

Dad and I went to bed at about 10:30 the night before and agreed to get up at 8:30 for breakfast. We departed for the stadium a little after 10:15.

We looked for a parking garage that was closer to the middle of the downtown area. We just found out the night before that the Taste of Cincinnati was taking place this weekend, and decided to check it out after the game. We scored a spot just about the same distance from the park as the day before, but for less than half the price. Plus, it was just two blocks from where the food tents were set up.

We walked up from the North, approaching the third base side of the park.

Game 7 - 5/25 at Great American Ball Park

My day started with a 5:40 alarm on Saturday morning. In order for Dad and I to make it in time for the gate opening, we would have to leave at 6:30 AM. I don't know who makes the Reds' schedule, but I already don't like them.

The game was going to start at the awful time of 4:10 PM. If it was an earlier day game, we would have left on Friday night and had just half of the five hour drive to go before getting to the park. If it was a night game, we could have left at a more reasonable hour that same morning. I already knew flipping the switch from a groggy, five hour ride to full Ballhawk mode would not be fun.

The magnitude of this trip didn't hit me until I was packing on Friday night. The very next day, I would be at a new stadium watching the Cubs. It didn't fully register in my brain at this point since I was nowhere near the city the game was being played in. I was still watching the first game of the series on TV as I was finishing up!

Game 6 - 5/22 at US Cellular Field

To most readers, this probably seems like a normal game. To almost every single fan heading to the Cell this evening, nothing was out of the ordinary. Personally, both of those statements were as far from the truth as you could possibly get. I've been waiting YEARS for this specific day to come.

After following in his footsteps and reading about his adventures from afar for so long, I was finally going to meet the greatest Ballhawk of all time, Zack Hample.

Game 5 - 5/19 at Sheffield Baseball Club

IT'S FINALLY HERE!

After promising it for more than a year, I finally got my hands on a brand new camera. It wasn't the most expensive by a long shot, but it's miles ahead of my old one.

Game 4 - 5/14 at Wrigley Field

Back to the grind.

I learned a lot yesterday. I realized what I needed to do, and recognized things I needed to improve on in order to be a better Ballhawk. The best part was being able to put my plan into action the very next day, not a week later like I'm usually forced to do.

Game 3 - 5/13 at Wrigley Field

It has officially been a month since I was at a game, and in my opinion, that's much too long. To make up for lost time, I've crammed seven games in 17 days at three different parks to create the best two weeks of baseball I've ever been a part of.

I already had tickets for Tuesday night's game at Wrigley, and I couldn't find a good reason to NOT go on Monday as well. I've only done a back to back at home once before, and never while Ballhawking. The tickets were $11 and $12 respectively, which is still a fair amount less than a summer game, even when you add them together. But the biggest reason why I decided to double dip is because of the commemorative balls the Rockies were using at home games in Colorado:

There wasn't a picture of an actual ball on Google. Either they're super rare or don't exist.

Game 2 - 4/12 at Wrigley Field

For as happy and exciting as this time of year is, school really, really kills the good vibe.

Not only was it preventing me from coming home for two weekends, but it almost pushed this weekend out of the mix too. I had an accounting test on Tuesday, so I wanted to get back as soon as possible. In just over 24 hours, I would go from Normal to Schaumburg to Wrigley, then through downtown and back down I-55.

Fortunately, my friend Kyle stepped up big time by coming with me. He was my ride home and made this whole thing happen. He's one of my best friends at ISU, and a huge baseball fan himself. Even though he's from St.Louis, and deeply passionate about those vile birds perched on a bat, we were both pumped to go. Kyle's been to Wrigley just once before, but barley got the experience. He only stayed for six innings, and wasn't there with an expert such as myself.

Game 1 - 3/30 at Miller Park

I wish there was a clever, interesting way to start off my season, but there's really not. I jumped the gun and started my season before the season actually started.

I was hoping to keep my plans relatively secret and shock everyone when I ended up at a game, but I couldn't stay quiet that long.

Next Year is Here! - 2013 Ballhawking Goals

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball.  I'll tell you what I do. 

 I stare out the window and wait for spring."

- Rogers Hornsby

March is the greatest month of the year, solely because of Spring Training. Every fan wakes up out of their winter haze to evaluate their team's off-season moves and the long road ahead. But that gets boring after a while; you'll be seeing that all season on the local sports station.

What makes Spring so great is that you can get the same type of news and reports from ANY team.What better way to be an all around baseball fan than to know a little something about every opponent? Being able to follow all the stories from around the league leading up to Opening Day is by far my favorite part.

Don't forget there are actual GAMES being played too! In about three more weeks the records won't matter, but it just shows how close we are to summer's bliss of relaxing on a warm night and flipping on the Sunday night game of the week.

There's one team out there that's going to win the World Series. They don't know it yet, but they'll find some way to make it into the playoffs, get hot at the right time, and find themselves at the top of the baseball world in just about seven months.

The #1 Game of My Entire Life

This game definitely requires its own entry. This day, as well as the two weeks coming before it, was the best time of my life.

****

In February of 2010, to put it into the wise words of Steve Goodman, 'I forsaked my teachers to sit in the Bleachers'. I missed school to buy tickets.

My Best Games: #5 to #2

Let's keep moving up the list. Believe it or not the Cubs actually won some amount of the following games.

****

My Best Games: #10 to #6

If I had to venture a guess of how many professional baseball games I've seen in my life, it would be well over 100. If I want to count the ones I saw in my four years with the Flyers, I may be pushing 250.

It goes without saying that I can't remember all of them. A vast majority are basically identical to one another. Nothing interesting or rare happens on the field.  In a given season, anything I remember from these games blends together, and I can't keep track of which game is which.

A few games from each season are much more entertaining, and are pretty easy to remember. I usually think about them in the winter when I'm missing baseball. However, when the next season starts, these games are pushed out of my memory as different ones take their place.

Then there's a special category of games that I will never forget as long as I live. The ones where years later, I still look up the box scores and search for pictures. The ones I'll tell my kids about. The games I can't believe I saw with my own eyes.

This entry is the start to my list of the most memorable games of my life. I'll continue the list in the next entry, before revealing #1 in an entry of it's own.

Roadtrip to PNC Park

Since I'm missing baseball season so much, I decided to do a retro style game entry from a few years ago, when my dad and I followed the Cubs to Pittsburgh.

HockBlog

Gather 'round kids. I want to tell you about one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made.

You saw in my ticket frame that I had a ticket to the 2009 Winter Classic. However, I marked it with an asterisk; I never actually saw it live.

In late 2008, the popularity of the Blackhawks went through the roof. It wasn't always that way though.

My Strange Addiction:Tickets

This really is an addiction sometimes, and it comes in two parts.

First, I love seating charts. I pick out a random team and look at their chart to see their ticket price breakdown. I do it mainly to compare to Chicago, and think "If I lived in (this city), how much more or less would I pay to see a game?".

Starting from Scratch - The Ball Itself

If you guessed the topic correctly based on how I ended the last entry, good job.

Major League Baseballs are made by the Rawlings Company, which you can see by simply looking at the logo above the sweet spot on a ball. It doesn't need to be an official Major League ball, either. At any given sporting goods store, nearly all the baseballs you see will be made by Rawlings. They're not limited to just the balls either; their specialty is any baseball equipment, and remain the most recognizable brand name in the game at any level.

In 1955, Rawlings was purchased by the Spalding Company, who, at the time, was the exculsive supplier of balls to the Major Leagues. For the 1976 season, Spalding passed those duties to Rawlings permanently.