So Ball-Hawking is a Thing

So we finally had our day in the Fenway seats.  Although this was the first game our season tickets could go to, Ive had these seats - and was looking forward to this game for months.  Not only that, but it was the first game against the retooled Yankees and G wanted to see Aaron Judge and GianCarla Stanton. But when G informed me that we had to take one of his buddies to the game so they could "ball hawk," I was intrigued.

On the ride in, we started talking about it.  G and his buddy started talking about this guy named Zack Hample and his 10,000 baseballs.  They started to watch his videos and talk about the games he was at.  I had a lot of pressing questions that I kept to myself.  For instance, how can he afford to go to so many games in so many cities that he could collect 10,000 baseballs?  Finally, I piped in with a question.

"Where do you keep 10,000 baseballs?" I asked.  They were stumped but G's buddy said that he would eventually sell his baseballs before he got to 10,000.  He figured he could sell his baseballs for 25 dollars a piece.  I stifled a laugh.

Hour 1 of 7...

But undeterred, they started plotting out their night.  They had Yankee hats so they could hang out by the Yankee dugout without repercussions.  They were able to get in early to watch batting practice (but it was cancelled!) and to generally pester ushers to get closer to the bullpens.  They had their seats lined up when the game got late, and they knew what to say to the bat boy to try and get balls.  Seriously, I wish these kids spent this much time on their homework.  But because we had gotten in to park two and half hours early, all we could do was stare at each other.  The kids just played catch.  Little did I know that this would just be a fraction of the entire time I was in there.

But there was a game too.  Almost from the beginning, you knew that it was going to be the Red Sox's night.  Mookie Betts hit a laser beam double of the monster and scored on a Hanley Ramirez single.  They took a 4-0 lead in the Second Inning when Benintendi hooked a triple down the Right Field line and scored on another single from Hanley.  It seemed like that would be enough since Chris Sale was throwing the ball WELL.

After Aaron Judge smacked a 440 foot home run into Center field to make the game 5-1 int he 5th inning, the Red So absolutely went off.  JD Martinez hit a bomb 420 feet for run scoring Double.  And After a Sacrifice Fly, error and Walk made the score 10-1, Mookie Betts came up again and hit a bomb over everything in Left Field for a Grand Slam to make the score 14-1.  The park was going crazy!

Now after a score like this and the 35 degree weather, I would have talked my crew into leaving.  But not tonight.  When the 8th inning started and Yankees fans, who came in droves, started leaving the dugout area, G and his buddy made their move.  Although the protective netting had been extended to the Foul Ball alley, there was an area  near the dug out that was (apparently) a prime area to get a ball from the ball boy.

And boy did they try.  Remember, we got into the park at 4:30.  At 11pm, 30 minutes after the last pitch was thrown, I get a text from G.  They were coming back in about 10 minutes.  There was no one left in the stands or on the field.  What the Hell were they waiting for?  Any way, at 11:30 they finally get back.  They both ended up with baseballs that they got from the ball boy.  I'm not sure, but G's buddy may have given him a ball.

When we finally get home after Midnight, I decided that G should find a different hobby than ball-hawking.

Kazoo Guy is Still at Fenway Park!

I don't sit in the Bleachers that often when I visit Fenway Park, anymore.  Nowadays, I go with the kids who are always looking for foul balls or autographs.  And I need to be able to see the game with my terrible eyesight.  These two ingredients do not lend themselves to an evening in the bleachers.  Back when I was in school, my buddies and I would always scam seats in the bleachers.  Back then, the tickets were cheap and the beer was plentiful.  When the Red Sox came back to play after the 1995 strike, the ownership group even sliced the ticket prices in half for those bleacher seats.  We went every chance that we got back then. 

But then jobs, wives and kids made going to Fenway an annual tradition, instead of a weekly tradition and my time spent near the Williams Red Seat dropped considerably.  The last time I was in the bleachers, in fact was about 5-6 years ago when I went with a couple of friends of mine to see the Sox play...the Angels, I think.

But never mind those details.  One thing that I vaguely remember about those seats in the bleachers was the sight of this guy with a Kazoo always trying to get the Red Sox - and us bleacher bums - to rally.  If the Red Sox got a couple of guys on base, the Kazoo guy would stand up and play his Kazoo proudly.  I thought it was amusing and made a mental note to revisit this guy the next time I was in the Bleachers for a game.

Boston, MA.  6pm.  Lo and behold, that next time was last night.  A couple of friends of mine invited me to the game against the Rangers.  No work, no spouse and no children to be found.  Just a couple of old friends and some ice cold beers (well somewhat cold beers, we're at Fenway after all).  And by luck, our seats were about 14 or 15 rows behind the Visitor's bullpen.  The weather was a little off, so the question became whether we would see the "Kazoo Guy" this time around.  I even made a crack about it to my friends.  My memory of that last game here was not of the score or even the team the Red Sox played, it was of this guy who played a Kazoo with red socks pinned to his hat.

It was a long time ago that I saw this guy at Fenway. And I don't remember exactly where I was sitting that day all those years ago.  So I thought it would be pretty funny if he was still here trying to rally the (often drunk) troops. I told my friends to keep an ear and eye out.  It would make for a good laugh.

As we sat down in our seats, I thought about a lot of things, one of which was that I would have to wait for a rally to start to see if this guy still came to the games.  After about 10 minutes, I found out that I would not have to wait for that rally to start after all.  Unless there was a Red Sox player with the last name of "Kazoo" who had his jersey purchased by this older gentlemen, I think I found the right guy when he sat down.  He was sitting about 2 rows ahead of us. I deftly pointed out to my friends that this guy was still here and we had that good laugh.  I even snapped the picture above (pretending to take a picture of the field, of course).

During the couple of times that the Red Sox were rallying (they were down most of the game), there he was doing his duty, Just like a fife and drum before the scene of a battle, the Kazoo Guy stood up on his seat, played Garry Glitter's "Rock and Roll (Part 1) on his kazoo, rallied the nearby fans with a couple of shouts of "Hey" and then pointed at the security guard near our section, ostensibly to thank him for not making him sit down.  It was perfectly short and left us wanting more.  He went on to do this a couple of more times.  To no avail it turned out as the Red Sox lost 10-7. 

And we had a couple of more laughs.  I'm going to have to take the kids here next time.  Foul balls and eye sight be damned.

The Luke Scott Brawl at Fenway Park

Another beautiful night to watch a baseball game!  After trying to catch foul balls in leftfield and watching PawSox Ace Daisuke Matzusaka get his hat handed to him by Triple A hackers, I thought that our next baseball game experience was going to have to wait until next year.  But, when we lucked into tickets from one of G's friends in the State Street Pavilion right before the game, we thought we were going to see a great game.  It was fate.  And when G found out that he was going to see the Red Sox with one of his buddies, he made a bee line from school bus to car.

"We're not leaving for another hour." I explain to G as he sits and waits in the back seat of my car.

"That's OK, Dad, I don't want to miss it!"  OK, fair enough.  Can you pick up the trash that's your sister left in the back seat while you are in there?

7pm.  Boston.  This was going to be an interesting game.  Boston and Tampa Bay have never gotten along, ever since Pedro Martinez plunked Gerald Williams in the ribs back in 1997 (and Brian Daubach punched his way in to Devil Rays' lore).  Just last week, Franklin Morales plunked Luke Scott after Adrian Gonzales was hit the inning before.  These teams simply don't like each other.  Joe Maddon doesn't help matters by being such a condescending DB either. 

And Luke Scott is not the nicest guy in the world.  He has bashed Fenway Park and Red Sox fans in general, called teammates derogatory names (and didn't backpedal after saying them) and has generally been a royal jackass.  It says something about Scott - when the Red Sox single him out to hit when teams usually plunk the team's star hitter.  I'll boo when he comes up to the plate.  Even better with the Amish beard he's rocking.

The game started with a bang for the Sox as Mike Aviles scored on a Kevin Youkilis single up the middle.  We were up 1-0 in the First Inning.

But the good feelings quickly disintegrated as Matt Joyce hit a grand slam into the Red Sox bullpen in the third inning followed closely by back to back home runs by Elliot Johnson and lead off hitter Carlos Pena.  The booing was raining down on Jon Lester as he walks of the mound in the fourth inning.   I think my string of 15 years in a row without a loss is going to end tonight.

The Sox score a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to make it a 7-4 game.  They're creeping back!  We are even more hopeful as David Ortiz steps up to the plate with two runners on down by three.  Back in 2003 and 2004, Ortiz would have hit a home run here.  The crowd is abuzz.  But while he is having a pretty good season, the days of Ortiz clutch-ness in every game is years in the past.  Fly out to right to end  the inning.  Bummer - as G and his buddy start talking about the foul ball they almost go when Dustin Pedroia fouled the ball up to our section, I can tell that they are having a good time. 

Speaking of Pedroia, a hit batter in the 7th set the stage for the Top of the Ninth.  Franklin Morales comes in to face Luke Scott.  After a pitch befhind his back and another one by his chin, Morales finally hit Scott in the leg.  After getting hit, Scott starts to walk menacingly toward Morales bat in hand, only to be restrained by Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  The benches clear, the bull pens empty and the pushing and shoving begin.  Not much happened, except after the brawl happened, it looked like members of the Rays got into it with fans near the Rays' dugout.  They were too far away from us to see what was going on, but it was amusing nonetheless.

The boys got jacked up after that fracas and started hopping around their seats.  As teh clock neared 11pm, the game mercifully ended with the Sox losing 7-4.  But G was just happy to go see the game with his buddy and his Dad.  he's still talking about it this morning.

"Dad, can we go to the game tonight?"

Foul Ball Territory at Fenway Park

It's C's 10th birthday, and the only thing that he wanted to do for his birthday was to go to Fenway Park to to see the Red Sox play on his birthday.  Seeing the Red Sox on C's birthday has actually become a little bit of a tradition, or sorts.  Well, to go to see the team dressed up as a major league team called the Red Sox.  I looked on line and got some tickets for the two of us.  Of course, Stubhub prices were plummeting faster than Kevin Youkilis's reputation in the league.  And while I could have sit in the lower bowl (with the comfortable seats) for 50 bucks a piece, I picked the Left field box seats or as I like to call it, prime foul ball territory.

After a little traffic and a LOT of walking, we finally arrive at our seats.  It looks like that we will be sitting by ourselves in these seats, we had a row of four all to ourselves.  We waited patiently as the Indians were warming up in the outfield 10 feet away from us. 

We were playing the first place Cleveland Indians tonight trying to shake off a terrible string that saw some terrible baseball against the Orioles.  To add to my interest (Cam had no idea really who these guys are - even though he had both jerseys at one point), Derek Lowe and Johnny Damon joined the the Indians this year.  And while C was a little scared to talk to Derek Lowe as he was giving autographs and pictures for the good looking women flocking over to him, he seemed definitely ready to grab a foul ball.

As the game begins, we settle into our seats.  Clay Buchholz is pitching and we notice that the Indians' line up consists of ALL lefthanders.  Yes!  A fast ball pitcher pitching against an all lefthanded lineup?  We were definitely going to get a foul ball, even if I had to steal a ball from a five year old who just wasn't fast enough to grab that ball.  Alright, I promise not to...

Lowe and Damon talking brain surgery

After Johnny Damon grounds out to the shortstop to start the game, the Jason Kipnis steps up to the plate. 

"Who's Jason Kipnis, Dad?"  C asks me before I look up. 

"Why, is he one of the umpires?"  I guess I am not paying close attention this season.  Oh this is his second season?  Nevermind.

On a 0-1 count to Kipnis, our first chance for a foul ball arrived.  He skied the ball in our direction on a 92 MPH Fastball.  The ball looked like it was coming directly to us!  C and I both tensed up and started moving to the ball.  It was coming fast, I started moving toward the ball, but it then looked like it was going to land a couple of feet in front of us.  I was hoping that C, who was on the outside aisle side would move to the ball, but he, like I, watched the ball land in front of us.  Nice catch...by the Dad with his family of four in the row in front of us.  I was pissed because I was convinced that that was going to be the closest we came to getting a foul ball.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox looked good for the first time in days.  Will Middlebrooks hit a double that scored two runs and the Red Sox soon take a 4-1 lead. Dustin Pedroia was also leading the charge as a double to the opposite field made it 7-1 in the Sixth Inning. The game was secondary however, to our quest for a foul ball.  Every time one of the hitters hit a foul ball I was popping up to see if it came close.  We were a shooting range as our area of the ballpark was getting peppered with foul balls.  None as close as that ball in the top of the First, though.

In the Sixth inning, C was headlong into a bag of popcorn, and I a beer, when another ball was sent skyward toward us.  It was heading in a similar trajectory as the ball in the first inning.  Again we were going to be close to it.  By this time, C and I had switched seats and again C was going to be closest to the ball.  I was nudging over to the ball but it landed diagonally from us!  AHHHHHH!  Damn it!

To add insult to injury, the Red Sox started to bleed away the 7-1 lead.  We needed to get out of there before we had to witness the bloodshed.  The crowd started getting a little uptight, I doubt even Sweet Caroline would make for a good time, so we headed to our car, crossing our fingers that the team would hang on for the win. 

Ultimately, they won 7-5; making C 6-0 in games he's gone to personally.  We didn't get any more chances to catch a foul ball, but we had a good time and spent some quality time together, man to man.  Not bad for a newly minted 10 year old.  Happy Birthday, C!