8-4-2011 Angels Stadium of Anaheim
My last day at Angels Stadium of Anaheim. After almost catching two home runs yesterday in the left field seats I thought I’d try my luck in the right field seats tonight. Jim Thome wasn’t in the lineup last night so I was really hoping he’d be playing tonight.
I have two major complaints about Angels Stadium of Anaheim. My number one complaint is not being allowed behind the dugouts during batting practice unless I had a ticket for that section. That is the worst rule I’ve ever heard of. Some other stadiums like Great American Ballpark impose the same kinds of rules but its only for the first three rows. So it’s not as bad. I think US Cellular does the same thing. My second complaint is where they place the security tables. And they literally block the way into the stadium, and check bags at the last-minute. Its horrible. It cost me a ton of time and I was seriously frustrated with the whole thing. In the picture below check out where the tables are as opposed to where the entrance to the stadium is:
Pretty ridiculous, right? Yeah. Anyway. After the stadium allowed us entrance, and they moved the garbage cans so fans could enter the stadium, and I got my ticket scanned I immediately made a bee line for the outfield. I wasn’t going to fool around with this foul ball catching nonsense. I was after a home run ball today.
As soon as I got out there I didn’t have to wait long. Peter Bourjos and Mark Trumbo were taking some cuts and dropping some serious bombs in the outfield. Like yesterday most were landing in the bullpen and into the centerfield area. It would take a lucky bounce for one to reach me. Mark Trumbo stepped into the cage and sliced a liner into foul territory and I knew the next few were going to come my way. I had the entire front row in front of the bullpen to myself. I waited patiently and then as soon as he launched one my way I ran to my right. I lined up with the ball and I assumed it was going to take a bounce into the bullpen. All the baseball had to do as this point was bounce up to me. And sure enough…
I was so happy and so relieved at the same time that I caught that gem. Again all I wanted was one baseball per game here at Angels Stadium of Anaheim. I didn’t want to get greedy. But I was closing in on 200 lifetime baseballs. I just needed six more. More importantly I wanted to snag that milestone at Safeco Field. Which reminds me; I still need to get my 100th baseball signed by Jason Phillips. He threw it to me in the 8th inning at the Oakland Coliseum on 4-2-2011. That would be awesome if I could get him to throw me my 200th. I’d actually like my 200th to come from Felix Hernandez and my next game will be on August 17th. So maybe it will happen. I’ve also planned a trip to Sun Life stadium on the 23rd-25th. If everything goes my way that is.
After catching the Mark Trumbo home run ball I switched into my Twins gear and raced over to the first base side when the Twins started to emerge from the dugout to stretch and whatnot. I wanted to see if I could at least get some quality pictures of Jim Thome or maybe an autograph. When he came out I was able to get some decent pictures but like yesterday he totally ignored everyone on his way back to the dugout or the batting cage. Wherever he was headed.
For the last two days Jim Thome would come out, not look at the crowd as he walked by, stretched out in right field for a few minutes, and would run back towards the dugout. I think he seriously likes the attention. People pleaded with him for his autograph. They begged. Some ran with him in the stands as he ran along the warning track. The energy was amazing. Even Angels fans cheered for him. And I called out to him for the second time in as many days that I would be the guy that would catch his 600th career home run. I knew it wouldn’t happen though. And I’m pretty sure he didn’t hear me. Or maybe he did.
I waited around for some overthrows and came close to catching one when Glen Perkins nearly missed a throw from his throwing partner. Later he gave it to a fan that had asked moments before he got done playing catch. It was pretty slow on this side so I took some more pictures and headed back out to the outfield.
That’s how crowded the front row was.
The security guards at Angels Stadium of Anaheim did a good job of keeping baseball fans out of certain sections of the stadium. And for your information both my tickets cost nearly $40 bucks a piece. Paying that much to get into a stadium I feel I have an obligation to wander wherever I want to in a safe and professional manner. I wasn’t up to no-good or trying to harass other fans..I just wanted to see my favorite baseball players, catch some baseballs and maybe get an autograph or two. But I felt like a lower class citizen at this stadium because I didn’t spend a trillion dollars on a ticket behind the dugouts. I felt like asking for supervisor names and climbing the chain until I got some answers but what would that accomplish? Probably nothing. Maybe a whole lot. I never bothered to pursue it.
That’s the view of the area behind home plate. And see the security guard staring at me while I took the picture? Yeah, he asked for my ticket. I told him I already had it put away and I wasn’t going to show him. He told me I couldn’t have access to the area behind home plate-which I rudely cut him off and told him I wasn’t going down there anyway. I wonder sometimes where these security guards get their people skills.
When I got out to the outfield I decided to continue taking pictures.
When I went back to the bullpen to check out if I could snag any baseballs using the glove trick I saw this…
Do you think I got any of those baseballs? I sure didn’t. I waited around as long as I could but no one showed up to gather the baseballs up. I would’ve waited longer but I wasn’t sure if the Angels would use this bullpen or the Twins. I didn’t pay that close attention to who used which one yesterday. And since I still had my Twins hat on I didn’t want to ask an Angel baseball player for a baseball or vice versa. I pretty much gave up on them and walked out to right field to find my seat.
The game was awesome. Jim Thome was in the lineup and he did hit a home run to centerfield. One of the security guards got the baseball and promptly handed it off to a kid. So I had no shot at getting it. I thought about trying to trade for it with my Mark Trumbo home run baseball but I lost sight of the kid that had the baseball when I left the right field seats.
The Angels got a little payback despite the Thome home run. They won 7-1 with a Mark Trumbo bomb. It was a moonshot.
Goodbye Angels Stadium of Anaheim.
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Game; August 4th 2011 Minnesota Twins vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Gameballs; One
Attendance; 40,365
Snagging Baseballs for Puppies has raised; $157.90 this season.
Snagging Baseballs for Relief in Japan has raised; $38.80 this
season
7th Inning Stretch Time 
I was at this game and at the same place you where when you caught that ball. It bounced over my head and then you got it. Very nice
Travis,
Angels Stadium is an awesome ballpark. I wish security would loosen up a little bit. But I had a great time and looking forward to returning.