5-25-2012 Safeco Field

May 29, 2012

Despite all my problems I’ve been having with my camera during the last couple of games I’ve attended at Safeco Field, I’ve been doing pretty good at snagging baseballs and keeping my numbers up. Today, there would be a new wrench thrown into my plans. Dustin Ackley bobble head night. It’s awesome that I’m here because this is Ackley’s very first bobble head night- despite him not even being in the lineup- and because I plan to auction it off for my charity, Snagging Baseballs for Puppies. If all goes well, I should be able to raise at least $50 bucks. I plan to auction some more signed baseballs off like the ones I auctioned off two months ago to continue to raise money for my charity, and that was very successful. I think I was able to raise like, $100 bucks. Even with all that going on, I took on another charity project called The Help Holly campaign. So far I’ve raised $14 bucks for her and today’s game would be the final game (unless I get word from my Dad who is donating money per baseball that I snag that he’d like to continue donating when I visit Angels Stadium early next week) in which I’ll be snagging baseballs to help raise money for Holly. It’s been a tremendous ride so far.

These bobble head nights really only attract the bandwagon fans. The attendance nearly doubles when the teams give these things away. Most people only come out to get the bobble head and then they go home. It’s sorta weird, but hey, everyone has their thing they do at the ballpark, right?

When I got to the stadium roughly three hours early, this was the site at the ticket windows:

I found it a little bit odd that Safeco was nearly a ghost town at 1:56pm on a Ackley bobble head night. As I turned the corner and headed to the center field gates and as another hour passed:

The crowd started to thicken up a little bit. But not by much. The above photo was taken at approximiatly 2:56pm. One hour and forty-four minutes before the gates were to open.

When the gates finally did open, the crowd was much, much bigger. And like always, with large capacity games, my options to start snagging baseballs had drastically changed. Safeco security had barricaded off the ‘Pen immediately to my right so I didn’t waste any time trying to get through there after I snagged my Ackley bobble head. I simply bolted for the right field bleachers. And for the first three minutes, I had the entire place to myself. Everyone was so stuck on getting their bobble head- and me being the first one inside- gave me such a head start on snagging baseballs, it wasn’t even funny.

Ball number one:

Ball number two:

Ball number three:

After plucking that one out of the seat, I tried to hand it off to a young girl that was scampering down the stairs with her father. But she totally ignored me and continued on her way. Later, I was able to hand it to her and her Dad pleasantly thanked me.

Ball number four:

Ball number five:

 

Ball number six:

And here’s what happened to ball number six:

Ball number seven was quickly snagged out of another cupholder and immediately tossed to the nearest kid with a glove which turned out to be my 50th baseball snagged this season. How amazing is that? On 5-22-2012, I was questioning whether I’d hit that small milestone in the second month of baseball and I absolutely did! And then I ran into this guy:

That’s Andrew. What’s totally awesome about this guy is; while I was walking around aisle after aisle snagging a 2012 season high of seven baseballs, he says to me, “Hey, man. I think I read your blog.” And of course, I really didn’t put two and two together initially, so I kind of just gave a friendly hello and left it at that. Then I got to thinking. Hey, this guy is the first person to actually recognize me at the stadium and mention my blog! I stopped what I was doing, got the picture taken and then handed a baseball off to him. How sweet is that, though? It’s nice to be recognized for something I have a lot of passion for; Andrew even explained how much of an animal lover he is. So that made it equally awesome. How did he find my blog? Him and a friend are planning a summer trip to some baseball games and wanted to know the ins and outs of some of the stadiums. My blog surfaced in their quest for information and there you have it!

After finding seven baseballs and giving three away, the real fun was about to start. Have you ever heard of the Long Haul Bombers?

These guys were making an appearance at Safeco Field before the game and it seemed like nobody knew about it until the last-minute. One of my friends in the GirlsCorner asked me if I knew who the Long Haul Bombers were and of course I had no clue. She led me into the upper deck in left field and told me to stand as far back as I could. Well, I didn’t snag anything, but these guys smashed some unbelievably long home runs! It was something to see for sure!

Here’s a pictures I tried to take of one of the softballs banking off the Hit it Here Cafe…

The red circle is where the softball is. Its up near the Hit it Here Cafe. That’s how far those guys were hitting them! As far as left field was concerned, they were able to reach the upper deck, no problem! I came close to snagging a couple, but it was so crowded, the only way to get one was for it to be hit right to you.

I survived yet another large capacity crowd and another chaotic giveaway night. Although, I didn’t stay for the game, I still count this as a game attended and my streak continues to 115 games with at least one baseball. According to MyGameballs.com, I’m currently tied for fourth in longest active streaks among the Ballhawking community with snagging at least one baseball per game that I’ve attended. I’ve come close a couple of times where I didn’t think I’d catch a baseball but it always seems to work out in the end. The most memorable game I attended where I didn’t snag a baseball until like, the ninth inning, was when I visited Oakland last year. Jason Phillips actually hooked me up with my 100th baseball that game, If you’re interested, you can read all about it, here.

I’m snagging baseballs for puppies again this season for the Seattle Humane Society! If you want to check out my charity information, just click here!

Last season, with the help of all of you, we were able to raise over $250 dollars! This year I’d like to break $300!

Today’s game snagging Highlights: Texas Rangers vs. Seattle Mariners- attendance 23,519

Baseballs snagged: seven (found all in RF bleachers)

Total baseballs snagged this season: 50

Total baseballs snagged last season: 135

Total dollars raised at this game: $14.28

Total dollars raised for Snagging Baseballs for Puppies this season: $96.70

Total dollars raised for Snagging Baseballs for Puppies last season: $257.00

Total number of donors this season: 9

Total number of donors last season: 7

If you’d like to join my official Snagging Baseballs for Puppies Facebook page, just click here! And if you want to like Collection of Baseball on Facebook, click here!

Written by Wayne Posted in Dailies Tagged with Angels, baseball, home runs, Long Haul Bombers, Mariners, MLB, Seattle