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.

Due to some bad luck with prior engagements, Kyra and I weren't able to leave until 3:22  for a 5:05 gate opening time. This was ESPECIALLY bad because I didn't get the advantage of early entry, which was the biggest downfall of going with StubHub and not my designated Bleacher season ticket holder.

From my experience, not many of the regulars in the VIP line go for balls, and only a handful of those regulars actually line up more than 5 minutes before the gate opens. The public gate, however, is a whole different animal. There could be 100 or more people there at 4:30. I only entered through there once, and that was three years ago, so I had no idea what to expect.

After a stressful ride on 90 and a swift walk down Addison, we made it just 10 minutes before the public was let in.

Super lame printed ticket

To my great pleasure, the line wasn't disastrous. Yes, I wouldn't be the first inside or have a fancy ticket, but that's the sacrifice I made to attend this one.

Approximately 12 folks in front of us

After getting my bag checked and ticket scanned, I was ready to go. I jogged up the ramp in front of the entrance and headed to left field, contrary to my usual strategy. While the VIP line doesn't have many Ballhawkers, they all walk through the right field seats to look for balls before they grab their usual spots. I figured they would have picked the area clean already. It was torture knowing there were people walking around inside the stadium before me. I had the most awful sense that I was missing something important.

Once I finally got to the seats, I was very happy to see it wasn't incredibly crowded. Everything seemed to be normal, and my anxiousness calmed. There was still plenty of space past the second row of left field, which was a good sign since it typically gets filled up faster than right.

Having that space was something I desperately needed. I decided it was time to focus on quality and not quantity. I NEEDED to catch a homer on the fly, something I still haven't done in three years of chasing balls. I would spend the next four  hours of BP focusing solely on that goal. What kind of Ballhawk am I if I never actually use my glove?

I surveyed the scene and did my initial analysis from the first aisle of left center field. What I saw almost gave me a heart attack.

Ever since I snagged a ball out of the basket last year as soon as I got inside, I always run to the first row and check before anyone else can get there. Left field was bare, but when I looked over to the other side, I saw one in right center, waiting to be grabbed! After 10 minutes of the VIP people searching and 5 whole minutes of the public, it was still sitting there. The thing that sent me into an instant panic is that there was not a single person in the front row for two whole sections, and I was still 150 feet away. Was there something wrong with it? This was too good to be true!

I immediately took off, full out running behind the batters eye. I passed Kyra back there as she was making her way up, who had a terrified look on her face when she saw me charging towards her.

 "THERE'S STILL ONE IN THE BASKET", I quietly yelled as I went right past her.

And sure enough, it was still sitting there when I arrived. I couldn't believe it.

(Side note- The new camera is happening. If I wasn't at school until Saturday afternoon and Mother's Day, I would be using it right now. But now I have two games and no time to shop. Definitely by Friday, though. Update- It's here and it's great!)

I heard a voice from behind me say "Son of a Bitch, I never think to check there!". It was a guy in his 40's with a glove who I could tell has been doing this for a while. I never approached him and asked how often he comes to games, but it'll be a nice conversation starter if I see him on Tuesday.

When I looked up after I was done with the pictures, I saw Anthony Rizzo in the cage. I took that as a big enough hint to stay in right for a while.

As I mentioned, crowds weren't a factor in the early stages. 

Right was even emptier, if you could imagine.

I had a pair of Carlos' and Nate Schierholtz right in front of me, but I promised myself I wouldn't ask them for one. I said I wanted to fix my begging problem, not make it a habit. (However, I WOULD make an exception for the Rockies because I wanted as many potential chances at a commemorative as possible).

I shuffled up and down a few rows as well as laterally to anywhere I felt comfortable. This sport is all about open spaces, and there were quite a few other people with gloves. Most of them were just casually standing, but I tried to respect their space as well as free some up for myself.

I always like the corner spot all the way to the left. Nobody is ever there and the entire (still) fan-less party deck was technically my area.

Then I realized that if I wanted to see different results, I would have to act differently. I usually avoided left, just because there are typically more people to navigate around. I found myself thinking "There's more balls being hit over there, so I should play the percentages, people aside". And that's exactly what I did.

It was just more of the same. I switched positions every so often and tried to give myself the best chance. Getting in on the action for homers and fly balls was so much harder than I thought, even after doing this for three years. I guess I never realized how much skill it actually took. When a ball was hit into the seats, I did one of three things:

• Watched it sail towards the wall and not move myself an inch because there was no way I was going to make it to the right spot
• Take two steps towards it because it was moderately close, only to see fans sitting in my row and getting in the way, along with three other guys with gloves already at the landing spot
• Actually make it to the landing spot, but being extra passive and waiting for a ricochet or bounce from 10 or more feet away

Every single time a ball landed in the seats, I said the next one was going to be different. If I wanted to catch one, I couldn't wait for it to magically find my glove. There was a fair amount of competition, which also contributed to my timidness. I still don't know the etiquette for the regulars, or even who the regulars are. For as many games as I go to, I am not one of these people yet. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't invading their territory by doing anything dumb.

I waited for the bounces because there wasn't room for me at the landing spot of each ball. Other Ballhawks were waiting with their gloves, and normal fans were trying to get their hands on them too. I would just get in the way if I went there, and wanted to avoid that at all costs. God forbid someone falling over because I tripped or nudged them a little bit (which would be completely on accident). I'd feel awful as a person, but even more as a Ballhawk. If I can't control myself and respect other fans, I'm just an asshole that will do anything for a ball. Definitely not the type of guy I want to be.

I went back into toss up mode when the Rockies came out, and I tried to match the colors as best as I could.

Every five minutes, more and more people would show up. I could have gone back to right field, but I really wasn't feeling it there. Left has more people for a reason, and I repeated my thoughts over and over about how different could end up being better.

However, nothing came of it. I was frustrated that I wasn't able to create opportunities for myself, and extremely thankful for the one ball I found. If someone had picked it up before me, I would have been shut out. That's both scary and disappointing, especially when I thought the high standards i set for myself were pretty attainable.

****

My plan for this season is to sit somewhere different every time I'm in the Bleachers. Last time with Kyle, we opted for the standard left field view. Today, I was feeling center field; just a little removed from the action.

Which happened to be right behind my new favorite player, David DeJesus. Sadly, he'll probably be gone at the deadline, and almost certainly by 2014.

Travis Wood was on the mound for the Cubs, who is having a surprisingly positive start to his season. He's one of the main pieces to this years improbable Cubs pitching staff. Just a couple weeks ago, every starter besides Edwin Jackson has an ERA under 3.00. Not that dominant, but for a team that was slated to easily lose 100 games, that's very encouraging to see. Some guys have since gone over 3.00, but you couldn't ask for a much better start to the season from this bunch.

The Cubs bolted out of the gate and got to scoring right away. In the 1st, Alfonz CRANKED a two run homer onto Waveland, and doubles by Wood himself and Castro plated three more.

I find myself liking night games more and more. Get to sleep in, there's always BP, and nothing can beats the view at dusk.

It got windy and boring so from the action, so Kyra and I opted to move to the infield seats for a better view. But before we got there, we stopped here....just because.

I got a closer look at CarGo, who demonstrated in this game what an awful defender he is:

And here's our great view from much, much better seats:

Now listen close everyone...

If you have a Bleacher ticket, you can go down in the tunnels by the foul poles and scan your ticket to get into the seating bowl. However, you can NEVER have access to the Bleachers unless you specifically have a ticket for that area. Since it's GA, there's not a single usher checking tickets. Every man for himself, whether that man belongs there or not.

Wood also had a singe and scored a run. It's unbelievable how everything clicked in this game. They still had the 5-0 lead as they headed to the bottom of the 7th.

I also enjoyed seeing (for maybe the last time) Todd Helton, who looked a lot better than he did a couple months ago after his DUI arrest:

A little too much "cooperate sponsorship" from Coors Field, maybe?

And finally, we relocated once again to the right field side, so I could get a picture of this particular rooftop, where I'll be for my next game this Sunday:

We snagged some seats nearby and watched Carlos Marmol (oh God) lock down the 9-1 win. And yes, that run was a solo homer he gave up.

They're 2-0 in games I've seen them in this year. Can you believe it?

Here's a collection of pictures involving me and my photographer:

Yes, that's right, my girlfriend matched my ball total for the day. After almost getting nailed a few times in the lower rows of left field, she moved up to the top. As soon as she did, a Rockie crushed one that ended up just to her right. She jumped up and scampered over a few seats to beat out another kid for it. Bravo, sweetie.

See you tomorrow!

STATS

• 1 ball at this game
• 3 balls total this season (1.0 ball per game average)
• 8 consecutive games with a ball
• 35 lifetime balls
• Time Spent at Game: 5 hours, 12 minutes
• Total time spent at games: 17 hours, 23 minutes
• 1 ball X 35,080 fans = 35,080 Competition Factor

****

Now, just three games in, it's time to do some housekeeping.

First, I decided to give up on the MyGameBalls.com scavenger hunt. It's a long and difficult list, the prize isn't that grand, it's hard to upload pictures to the site, and I'm going up against a two time defending father son trio. Just not worth it and hard to remember every time.

Secondly, I haven't put ANY of my balls under a black light yet this year. I tried to take individual pictures of the three I already have, but I discovered I need to have an elaborate setup like I did for this entry in order for them to turn out. When I have a down week, I'll gather them all up and get some good shots for a separate entry.