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.
Since I started regularly reading his blog in 2010, he's only come to Chicago once. In 2011, he went on a tour of every park to celebrate the release of his third book, The Baseball. There were numerous near misses that season. The closest ones were when he stopped in Normal for Chinese food, and the day he met Kyra at Wrigley when I was at school in September.
We also emailed back and forth a couple times when I found out I was going to New York last August. We tried to work something out, but nothing came of it; my time there was short and he hates going to weekend games. I was just a few miles away from him in his hometown, but unfortunately we never crossed paths.
So why was he here in 2013? I have BIGS Sunflower Seeds to thank for that. As part of a huge marketing campaign to get the BIGS name out there, they're sponsoring Zack this season and sending him to all 30 parks across the country. Check out their website, where you can buy some not so traditional flavors of seeds. (Since they made this possible, I vowed to never eat another seed that isn't made by them.)
In addition to sending him to every park, BIGS also agreed to donate money to a charity Zack highly supports called Pitch in for Baseball. He's been raising money for the charity since 2009, and gets most donations for each ball he snags. For every park Zack gets a game used ball at this season, BIGS donates $500 to Pitch in for Baseball. Before coming to Chicago, he was a perfect 14 for 14 in 2013. He's raised more than $7,500 this season alone, and just surpassed $30,000 in total donations since he started four seasons ago.
In addition to sending him to every park, BIGS also agreed to donate money to a charity Zack highly supports called Pitch in for Baseball. He's been raising money for the charity since 2009, and gets most donations for each ball he snags. For every park Zack gets a game used ball at this season, BIGS donates $500 to Pitch in for Baseball. Before coming to Chicago, he was a perfect 14 for 14 in 2013. He's raised more than $7,500 this season alone, and just surpassed $30,000 in total donations since he started four seasons ago.
When I saw he was making another round, I was absolutely thrilled. I figured it would be spread out across the whole summer, so I would have two really good chances in Chicago, along with another in Milwaukee. Alas, the schedule on the BIGS Baseball Adventure site said May 22nd was the day he would be on the South Side. (This gave me an excuse to go to the Cell. Wrigley's game was a Friday when Bleachers were way too expensive, and Milwaukee was the day before I would leave for Detroit- something I didn't want to do.)
I was going to go without a doubt. If that meant being there alone, so be it. I wasn't going to miss this for anything. Little did I know, an old high school friend follows BaseBlog and my Ballhawking more closely than I ever expected anyone to. His name is Anthony, and after hearing that Zack was going to be in town, he wanted to come meet him too. He put a Facebook event together and got a pretty large group of people to come down to do a Meet and Greet.
That group wasn't interested in Ballhawking for themselves, so they opted to tailgate before the game. That meant I would be taking the El down there completely alone. I've been riding the CTA for enough years to where that didn't bother me, but there was one small problem. Just a couple days earlier, the Red Line station at 35th Street officially closed in order to lay some new tracks. This meant I would have to take the Green Line to 35th-IIT and walk three extra blocks.
I really started to get nervous Monday night when I was double checking my route. I read somewhere that the Green Line is pretty much the worst in the city in terms of smell, homeless people, drugs, and crime. Plus, I wasn't too fond of having to walk those extra blocks after the game alone and in the dark at 10:30. It was SO bad that I was considering driving myself and paying $20 for parking on top of gas.
Thanks to extra research, I discovered that everything would be okay. Instead of having to switch over to the Green, I could just stay on the same Red train, and it would simply switch over the the Green tracks. I would even skip a few stops! The Green Line splits when it gets farther South, and the Red trains were taking the West side split during the project. Long story short- it was going to be quicker and easier than if there WASN'T any construction.
I arrived on a perfect day at 4:30, a little more than an hour before the gates would open.
I did the customary lap, keeping an eye out for Zack. I had no idea where he was, but I was incredibly anxious knowing that we were finally at the same stadium.
I walked from the right field corner all the way to left. Zack was down here the night before as well, and tweeted that he was at Gate 2 over in left field. I figured that's would be where he would start this day as well, but I didn't spot him after going around once.
I walked back and sat right by home plate. By now it was almost 5:00, so I still had a couple minutes to kill before getting in line. I looked all around me every minute or two hoping to see him show up. He's taken the Red Line down for his previous games here, so I figured he would be coming from the same direction as I did.
Then, out of nowhere, I looked to my left, and saw him walking right towards me. I swear, it was like seeing a ghost. Obviously he was a real person, but I was in shock from actually being in his presence.
I didn't jump up right away because he looked like he was walking with a purpose, and even with our shared interests, I really didn't think we had 30 minutes worth of stuff to talk about. I waited just a couple more minutes until I couldn't resist, and made my way back to Gate 2.
I spotted him from a hundred feet away; he was wearing a BIGS hat and shirt (which you'll see later) like he usually does this season whenever he doesn't have team gear on. I walked up, introduced myself, told him how big a fan I was of his blog, and how thankful I was that he was touring all the parks again. I mentioned the near misses, and asked how he was doing outside of what he posts online. He seemed pretty exhausted, which he blamed on a sugar crash. There was a "Sweets and Snack" expo at McCormick Place this week, which was why he was in town these few days. He said he really begged the BIGS marketing team to NOT send him to a Red Sox road game, just because there's bound to be hundreds of Bostonians at any given park. I knew that to be true, but blended in very well (also as you'll see later.)
He also failed to meet his game used ball goal the previous night, the first one he's missed this season. Fortunately, he had this second game planned, and a new strategy to try to remain perfect. We also talked a lot about the Cell. The forecast called for rain, and we were both hopeful the sunny skies would allow the teams get out and hit.
Every minute or so, whenever he was answering a question I asked him, I said to myself, "I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M TALKING TO HIM. He's right there in front of me!". It was just an overall surreal event for me.
We talked for about 15 minutes, and I felt like I bothered him enough for the time being. I told him I'd see him in the park, and we agreed to meet behind the Red Sox dugout after the game if we didn't run into each other before then. I headed over to my own gate by first base.
Looking back, I should have just stayed with him. I would have been the second person inside, and waiting in this long line may have cost me a ball.
I was really, really, REALLY hoping for BP. I was hoping to watch Zack put on a once in a lifetime clinic and learn from the master. I just wanted to see first hand how he acts and what he says in order to be so successful. I would probably learn more in the 90 minutes before this game than I have in my entire Ballhawking life.
Once the gates went up, getting in went excruciatingly slowly. My God people, get in and get out of the way!
After going up the escalators and getting by the guard that enforces the most bogus policy in baseball, I ended up near first base. I immediately hooked a right and jogged to the right field corner. I cut down into the seats for a shorter journey, and saw this:
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| This is from later, but the point is the same- NOTHING WAS ON THE FIELD! |
Speaking of Zack, I saw him sitting in a seat behind the visiting bullpen. He already changed into his Red Sox shirt and hat, and seemed to be trying to prep his glove for the Glove Trick. As soon as he saw me, he made a frowny face and gave me a thumbs down. That was really cool, because even though I saw myself as inferior, he treated this like we were both in it together.
I went down to talk to him for a minute, and left soon after. He was going to attempt the Trick in the left field bullpen, so I figured I should try to beat him to the White Sox pen and possibly grab a few using the Trick there. Before leaving, I turned around to get a picture of him in action:
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| This is directly from Zack's blog. Mine is almost identical, but much too blurry. |
When I talked to him right after this, he said he pulled up two with his glove. As he was telling me this, a security guard picked up another one down below. He leaned over the rail and stuck out his hand, and before he could finish asking for it, the guard tossed it to him without even seeing his glove. After he was done checking it out, I looked him straight in the eye and, with the utmost sincerity, said, "I hate your luck" while shaking my head. He got a good laugh from that.
On my way to the bullpen, I checked the ever so generous gap between the seats and the wall.
Totally empty all the way down. Damn. I was hoping to have an easy chance to get the first one out of the way.
I swore out loud to myself on my walk towards the foul pole. I was sharing six and a half whole sections with two other people.
What I would give for a dozen home runs in these conditions....
ANYWAY, the bullpen. Just like the one game I was at last year, there WERE balls within reach on the mound.
After going back to Zack in left field, I found a small crowd around him. One person was Neal Stewart, who works for BIGS and was accompanying Zack to most of his games this summer. The other two were fans; one in high school and a kid in 6th or 7th grade. I let everyone know about my discovery, and since there was nothing else to do, we all started to head over there. As Zack walked up the stairs, I asked the other guys, "So...do you know who he is too?". Both of them nodded, and I laughed at the fact that we all knew what Zack does, yet knew nothing about each other.
I kept chatting with the older one as we walked. His name is Walter, and goes ( at this point in June, it's 'went') to Lane Tech. He's been reading Zack's blog since the beginning of the season, and actually didn't know he would be at this game. As soon as he saw the Glove Trick, he recognized him and went to say hi. He said this was one of his only days off from baseball practice, and decided to come down for the game. Talk about lucky. He goes for balls at games too, and was really interesting to talk to. We agreed that we should meet up again back here or at Wrigley later in the summer, and I hope to see him again soon.
By the time we were done talking, we were over by the White Sox bullpen. I told Zack how I felt, and my reason for my reaction. His response? "Pfft...I could care less". Tip #2- Be ruthless.
Lucky for us, a regular (who I never met or knew about) at the Cell told us to avoid the usher that guards the area. He's pretty much the worst one in the whole park. Right after we all showed up, that exact usher came walking back from the infield and talked to a friend of his that was right in front of us.
Here's Walter, with the backpack, and Zack waiting for the right moment to go for it:
The old guy leaning on the rail was the one talking to the guard, and the guard was right below him on the stairs that led to the field. He eventually walked up, took the two balls, hid them under his coat, and walked away under the seats. We never saw him again, but regardless, our chance was gone.
Just as that was happening, we started to see signs of life in front of the Boston bullpen.
Shortly after arriving here, Neal informed Zack it was time to go. Since BIGS was at the Sweets and Snack show, they had a lot of representatives and clients in town. The whole gang came to the Cell this evening, and they wanted Zack to stop by. We said goodbye to him for the time being, and took a picture on his camera before he left:
This picture is from Zack's blog as well. You can read what he had to say about this game right here. No, he didn't like Walter more, I just got stuck with the glove hand.
Once he left, it was time to focus on keeping my own personal streak alive.
After doing some standard warm ups in front of the pen, Jarrod Saltalamacchia moved behind the plate and took underhand throws from bullpen coach Dana LaVangie.
As you saw in the group photo, I had a legitimate advantage with wearing an actual Boston jersey. However, it was definitely toned down based on the amount of Red Sox fans there.
When LaVangie was finished, he walked to a bench that was below me out of my sight. Before he disappeared, I nicely asked him for the ball. He didn't flinch an inch until I said please; as soon as I did, his head snapped up, and I gave a thumbs up while holding my glove open. He continued to walk, and I thought I lost him. However, I wasn't going to give up until he walked back to the dugout. I kept an eye on him, and once he had a free hand, he stepped out and lofted me one of the three balls he was using with Saltalamacchia.
Boom.
I love this ball. It's mudded up, so it was meant for game action at one point. The brown color was so perfectly distributed throughout the entire thing. It looked really cool and broken in. It's possible it was used in play, but there's really no reason for me to assume that.
After I got this ball, I, for lack of a better term, gave up. My streak of games with a ball extended into double digits, even with Zack in the stadium. There was not another soul on the field, and was getting close to warm-up time.
Just a couple minutes later, as I was walking towards home plate to find a seat, Clay Buchholz came out to start getting loose. I figured if I had nothing better to do, I should get close to him and any other Red Sox players to try to get their warm-up ball.
Being only four rows away allowed me to really get some amazing action shots.
My quest for another one was unsuccessful.
Anthony's group was still out tailgating, and I always expected them to come in after the game was started. That said, I sought out a single seat close to the infield. The one good thing about the 100 level ticket check is that once you're past it, there's nobody that constantly checks your seat number. If I was smooth and acted like I belonged, I may have been able to get the first row right behind the dugout. I'm not that smooth and hate people catching me in their seats, so I settled on something a little further away.
Once again, sweet closeups from this range.
Anthony is the one in the front. At first, I doubted if he really read these entries. However, he remembered the Glove Trick in St.Louis, that I stayed near Times Square in New York, and that Kyra also got a ball the week before. I was impressed, and couldn't thank him enough for the enthusiastic support.
I had a great time with those guys. There were quite a few of Anthony's friends who I had never met before, so I was able to hand out plenty of business cards. They all had a good understanding of what Ballhawking was after reading about Zack, so we skipped the basics and went a little bit deeper into what I do at games. Everyone seemed interested in what I had to say, and I was excited to get more into the specifics.
At least once every five minutes, someone would ask "Hey Ryan, where's this Hample guy?". I couldn't say anything besides that he and I planned to meet at the Red Sox dugout after the game, and that's when they would get their chance. I felt a little bad because I wasn't able to tell them where he was in the park, but I knew they would get to see him eventually.
I hung out and talked with Brent for most of the game. He's the biggest baseball fan out of anyone in the group. We discussed the game, I told him about my snag, and the conversation I had with Zack. I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, though. I've been looking up to this guy for years, and I felt like I was missing out by not asking him things I really wanted to ask.
During the 5th inning, I leaned over to him to say something when something caught my eye. It was the BIGS shirt....HE WAS RIGHT THERE! I had no idea why or how he was in our area, but Zack made his way into the next section over about 15 rows down from us. I made sure everyone knew he was there, and this was their chance.
At the end of the next inning, they went down to see him.
It was even funnier to see this on Zack's own blog:
They all came back happy, and said he was really friendly. I then found out from Twitter that he had gotten his game used ball earlier in the game, and was still a perfect 15 for 15 on the year. After hearing that, I had a sudden burst of confidence. Since he was in a good mood and I was a little modest before, I didn't care if I bothered him a little bit. I wanted to talk about the things I've had on my mind for all this time.I went down and told him about the ball I got right after he left. I pulled it out of my bag, and he really liked that it was rubbed up, too.
We sat down to watch the game and just talked. He told me about his game ball, the BIGS event before the game, and what else he'd been doing since we parted ways. Then I asked him everything I could possibly think of. Among the things I took away:
- Practice makes BETTER. Even he has off days and isn't perfect.
- He doesn't necessarily like Wrigley, simply because the Bleachers are easy to navigate for other fans. He prefers to have tough routes with big seats in the way. The harder it is to move around in the outfield, his advantage becomes that much greater because of all his practice.
- He ranks the Cell "in the top half...but barley". He loves the gap for Glove Tricks, the small steps, and the ability to move from the outfield and foul lines very easily. He said the small crowds help, too.
- Sometimes he meets one person at the park, other times he could take pictures with 15 people or more. Obviously he's gotten more exposure from all the news interviews he's done while in all the different cities this year, but he's gotten pretty big since he caught two home runs in the same game.
- The best way for me to get better at catching homers on the fly is to bring guys like Brent to a field and just have them hit fly balls to me.
It was simply awesome.
I then found out that all the people surrounding us were part of the BIGS family that was at the convention and also the party before the game. One of the marketing girls I talked to about BaseBlog and my snagging took this picture of us:
I then found out that all the people surrounding us were part of the BIGS family that was at the convention and also the party before the game. One of the marketing girls I talked to about BaseBlog and my snagging took this picture of us:
I really was having the time of my life. I finally got to see Zack as a person, in person. I can think of a handful of things right now off the top of my head that I forgot to ask him, but I definitely got my money's worth at the game.
By the 8th inning, the entire section knew who he was, why he was here, and all about BIGS. Thanks to Anthony's promotion, some of those fans knew that I was a lesser version of Zack and did the same thing. A guy at the end of the row asked how many I had. Since he was kind of far away, I had to yell a little- "I just got my 40th earlier today". Without hesitation, Zack blurted out "Oh man....40 is just an off week for me.", which sent the surrounding area into laughter. That had to be my favorite moment of the night.
A close second was when I met a guy named Justin Havlick. He sat right next to me and talked to Zack. During a break in the conversation, I asked if he was with BIGS as well. Zack turned around and said "This man is BIGS!". He then introduced himself as the President of Thanasi foods, the company that produces BIGS Seeds. He pulled out his card, and I returned the favor and handed mine over in return.
I thanked him profusely for sponsoring Zack this season. I told him I've been reading his blog for years, and been trying to chase him down for just as long. He was really happy to hear how much I appreciated it, and even more happy to hear that I would buy a whole batch of his seeds before I went to Detroit. I also told him a little about myself, my Ballhawking, and my plans for the season. So cool.
The Sox beat the Sox 6-2, and the visiting fans were able to leave town happy. I followed Zack to the infield area, where he got two more balls; one from the home plate umpire as he was leaving the field, and another from the Boston dugout.
Before parting ways, I had Zack sign my copy of his book, Watching Baseball Smarter. I HIGHLY recommend it for all baseball fans. Some of the facts he listed and unknown rules of the game blew my mind.
This will be a game to remember for a very, very long time.
STATS
- 1 ball at this game
- 8 balls total this season
- 10 consecutive games with a ball
- 40 lifetime balls
- Time spent at game: 6 hours, 18 minutes
- Total time spent at games: 34 hours, 0 minutes
- 1 ball X 21,298 = 21,298 Competition Factor
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