Results tagged ‘ FUN ’
NewBridge Bank Park–August 17, 2011
The day at the ballpark started out exactly as it had the night before. With me down by the railing in hopes of getting some more autographs:
I had done okay with autographs the day before, but I was hoping to get tons of autographs today.
While I was standing there attempting to get some autographs, a player for the Greenjackets named Edward Concepcion, came out wearing a pink Hello Kitty backpack:
It turns out it was his punishment for giving up a home run the night before. (I bet he won’t give up a home run next time.)
As far as my wish of getting more autographs today, it would come true, as the players seemed to be in an autograph giving mood. (The eleven run win last night must of cheered them up, I guess.) Whatever the reason, my first autograph of the day came from Rett Varner. Here he is signing for a kid before he came over to sign my program:
When all was said and done I had gotten 10 autographs BEFORE the game, including another autograph from Noah Perio:
I was thrilled with the number of players that signed.
I almost forgot to mention that today was bingo day at the ballpark. Here’s my bingo card:
How it worked is that for every play that was made when a Grasshopper player was at bat, it corresponded to a space in bingo. For example, if the first baseman singled, it would be I-23. If he doubled, it would be G-57. You get the idea.
In case you didn’t notice in the photo above of my bingo card, I wasn’t sitting in the same spot as the previous night’s game. That was because it was SO hot. The seats my grandparent’s and I sat in for this game were at the top, in the shade.
Here’s the view from those seats, of the first pitch of the ballgame:
It was a great view from these seats, of the entire field.
Like all ball teams, the Grasshoppers had a set of bat boys that would retrieve the bats and balls throughout the game. But, during one inning of the game, they were allowed to take a break, as a dog brought baseballs to the umpire:
And retrieved the bats:
I have to say that the dog did almost as good a job as the bat boys. The bat boys better pick it up, or they might lose their jobs to the dog.
This game, unlike last night’s, was a close one. The seventh inning had the Grasshoppers losing 5-3. But the Grasshoppers weren’t the only ones losing, as the last bingo number was called, and I wasn’t even close:
B-I-N-G-NO.
Things got a little heated when a Greenjacket hit a called home run that appeared to be foul. Take a look:
Andy Haines, the manager, is the person wearing number 19.
To cool things off, there was a water ballon toss inbetween the eighth and ninth innings:
By the time the bottom of the ninth rolled around the Grasshoppers were down 3 runs, as the score was 8 to 5.
The hoppers began to rally back however as they got a few good hits, including a double:
The bases soon became loaded.
Later in the inning one player for the Grasshoppers became so frustrated, after flying out in foul territory, that he slammed his bat down causing it to break in half:
The Grasshoppers would score no more runs, as the final score was 8 to 5.
Upset by the loss, hardly any of the Grasshoppers signed. The ones that did, didn’t sign for me.
I did however get an autograph from Mr. Hello Kitty backpack guy, Edward Concepcion:
Before leaving the ballpark, I witnessed the player that broke his bat, give it away to a little kid. The kid was extremely thrilled.
I had a great time at the ballpark both games, and got 15 autographs total. What more could you ask for?
NewBridge Bank Park–August 16, 2011
My grandparent’s and I arrived to the ballpark at around 6:00. The gates where just being opened, and I wanted to be one of the first people inside so that I would have the best chance of getting some autographs.
So imediately after my ticket was scanned, I headed down to the railing next to the tunnel in which every player, from both teams, has to walk through, to get to the dugouts from the locker room.
There were three players that I wanted to get autographs from the most. They were: Christian Yelich (top ten prospect for the Florida Marlins), Marcell Ozuma (top ten prospect for the Florida Marlins), and Brett Bochy (son of San Fransisco Giant’s manager, Bruce Bochy).
I saw all three of them as they came through the tunnel, but was only successful in getting one of their autographs. It came from Christian Yelich:
One out of three isn’t bad. And besides, I’d have another chance after the game as the players went to the locker rooms.
Below is the first picture that I took at the game:
It shows Marcell Ozuma in the on deck circle.
I took another picture of a player in the on deck circle later in that inning. It was of Christian Yelich:
Here’s the zoomed out view, I had from my seat:
Notice the railing directly next to me. I picked to sit in this spot due to the fact that it was next to the tunnel in which the players enter and exit. This way, I wouldn’t have to run down to the tunnel after the game.
Out in right field foul ground, there is a hill, in which anyone that has a ticket to the game can go and sit/stand on:
Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to leave my seat for a few minutes to go watch the game from the hill. This was my view:
Not bad.
I was a little nervous during the time I spent on the hill. It’s very easy for lefties to pull a ball and send it zipping towards the hill. I wasn’t wearing a glove, and didn’t want to end up with a sore hand, so I stood towards the back of the hill.
I took this time at the back of the hill to photograph the outfield wall. Take a look:
Pretty cool area.
It’s hard to tell, but behind the right field wall there is a gap where fans can stand. If a home run is hit to that area it is fairly easy to get the ball. Keep that in mind, as it will come into play later.
After around 10 minutes on the hill I headed back to my assigned seat. To my surprise there was a large cockroach in the tunnel next to me. No, not a real one. But a man in a cockroach outfit:
Did you notice the blue boxing gloves he had on? (They’re kind of blurred because he was moving his hands all around.) The kid in the tunnel, as you can see, also had boxing gloves. It turns out the cockroach and the kid where going to fight it out on the field inbetween innings:
The kid won.
As for the game, it wasn’t even close:
Yeah, you read that right. 13 to 2.
That photo was taken in the bottom of the eigth inning, and that’s how things ended.
A complete blowout by the Grasshoppers.
Remember earlier in the entry when I told you to keep in mind that if a home run was hit over the right field wall it was fairly easy to catch? Well, a player for the Grasshoppers name Noah Perio, hit two home runs over the right field fence during the game. One of the home run balls ended up in the possesion of a guy, who after the game came over to try to get Noah to sign the ball. Here’s the conversation that went down between the guy and Noah:
Random guy: “Noah, this is one of the two home runs balls that you hit tonight. Will you sign it for me?”
Noah: “Hold on a second, and I’ll go get you another ball and sign that one.”
Random guy: “I’d rather you sign the home run ball.”
Noah: “Are you sure?”
Random guy: “Yes.”
So the guy handed the ball to Noah to sign. But there was a slight problem. The guy didn’t have anything for Noah to sign it with. So the guy glanced over at me and said, “Hey. Could I borrow your sharpie?”
I wanted to tell him that if he was stupid enough to not bring anything for a player to sign with, that he didn’t deserve the autograph at all. But being the kind, generous person I am, I smiled and said, “Sure.”
The guy was happy, and after seeing that it was MY sharpie that the man borrowed, Noah gladly signed my program. So I was happy too.
I later got the manager of the grasshoppers, Andy Haines, to sign my program. Here’s Andy’s and Noah’s augtographs on the cover:
Andy’s is the one that you can read, and Noah’s, well, I’m not really sure what his says. Looks like a bunch of random lines to me. But hey, getting an autograph from a guy on THE night he hits two home runs is pretty cool. So I can’t complain.
After getting the autographs from Noah and Andy, my grandparents and I made our way towards the exit.
We would be back at 11:30 the next morning……
American Idol At A Baseball Game
The day started out with my Dad, Grandpa, and I heading toward downtown Raleigh, NC:
Our destination…….Doak Field. Home of the North Carolina State College baseball team.
I realize that College baseball can seem like little league compared to Major League baseball, but the game wasn’t the real reason over 2,500 people were planned to attend today. The real reason was that Garner, NC’s own Scotty McCreery was going to be there throwing out the first pitch as part of his hometown visit video for American Idol. (If you watch American Idol, you know who and what I’m talking about.) But more on that a little later. First there had to be a game. And well. It wasn’t looking too promising. Take a look below:
In case you couldn’t tell, that’s rain on the windshield. (And that’s my dad’s arm, in case you were wondering.) The rain quickly stopped, however, by the time we found a place to park. But then the sky got dark and it started to pour:
And pour. And pour. And pour some more. The rain was so heavy it caused a rain delay:
By the time it was all said and done we had been sitting in the car for an hour and a half. Once the rain let up at around 6:30 we decided to get out and go take our seats in the ballpark.
But just down from the gate we were going to enter there was a HUGE limo. So with time to kill we decided to go down to see what was going on. We knew the limo was for Scotty McCreery. And the American Idol symbol on the side was a giveaway:
But if Scotty was still set to throw out the first pitch, then why were there so many people outside waiting for him? Hmmm.
It turns out the game was canceled and Scotty was in the process of changing clothes and was then going to come out and greet his fans. I hated that the game was canceled, but I’ll take the chance to be on T.V. over seeing a COLLEGE baseball game any day. Sure enough about ten minutes later Scotty came out with a camera crew. Watch my video below to see how it all went down:
Sorry about the lady’s hair half way through the video. People were bumping into me. But anyway, it was cool to see Scotty McCreery up close. Watch American Idol tomorrow night(May 18th) to see Scotty McCreery. Even if you’ve never watched Idol before, watch it tomorrow so you can see him.
I’ll leave you with two final pictures of Scotty/Limo pictures:
I told you a lot of people showed up to see Scotty.
In other news, I’m still planning on posting a two week long version of my top 5 player updates. WordPress is VERY different than Movable type pro, and I’m just now starting to understand how it works. So bare with me if the blog looks messed up right now. I’m going to rearrange things and add things, so hopefully it will ALL be back to normal soon…….
Matt Huddleston
