Results tagged ‘ mariners ’
Spring Training III: Luke French
Last October 1st, we took Kellan to his first game. The Mariners took on the Athletics and I snapped this photo…
…of Luke French delivering the first pitch of Kellan’s MLB life to Rajai Davis. It was a strike.
Last season, Tim and I tracked down his “first batter,” Frank Catalanotto, and got him to sign Tim’s “first pitch” picture:
We’ve still never tracked down Tim’s first pitcher, the recently retired Gil Meche. But I was hoping that we would be able to get both Luke French and Rajai Davis to sign Kellan’s first pitch picture during Spring Training. Unfortunately, Davis was traded to Toronto and is in Florida for Spring Training.
Therefore, our number one goal for Spring Training was to get an autograph from and photo with Luke French.
We kept an eye on Luke from the first day of our Spring Training trip…
…but Kellan was at my parents’ place napping so we didn’t try to meet up with French that day.
Still, we kept an eye on Kellan’s first pitcher that day as he threw a session in the Mariners huge bullpen (its about 10 pitchers mounds wide):
I feel bad for this, but French made a hilarious face as he delivered this pitch:
A couple days later (the same day Milton Bradley gave Kellan his bat), we were still looking to connect with French. In fact, tracking down and getting a picture/autograph with French was the sole goal of the day before we planned on leaving the Peoria Sports Complex early to go on a tour of Chase Field.
As the Mariners made their way out of the clubhouse, they were all business. I didn’t see French as he made his way out to the practice fields. But it didn’t matter because all of the players were telling fans they couldn’t sign autographs until after practice.
Once we headed out of the field, Luke was there…
…and he was preparing to warm up with his fellow pitchers just like every other day:
By the way, Colleen took the last two pictures, and the next one. She found Luke getting his work in on one of the fields instead of in the bullpen:
As Tim and I shifted around from field-to-field, I let Tim take control of my camera. He took a ton of interesting pictures, including the next two pictures.
As I mentioned in the Milton Bradley entry, my mom, Colleen and Kellan hung out watching live BP on the main field during most of this practice session. After getting in his work, French grabbed a bucket and sat down (about 25 feet in front of my mom, Colleen and Kellan) to watch live BP on the M3 practice field:
Right after (or maybe just before) taking this picture, Tim yelled, “Hey, look, its the number of Christmas!” That gave me a chuckle.
After a while, French hopped up from his perch and milled around a little bit behind home plate. As Tim snapped this picture, Luke was exuding a strong “I’m about the leave” vibe:
A few seconds after Tim took that picture, I watched as French started walking behind home plate and around to the first base side. I looked at my mom…
…who was holding a sound asleep Kellan, and said, “Where’s French going? Is he going in?”
There was no time to wait for her thoughts, I grabbed Kellan’s picture (which I had in a protective portfolio folder) and scurried around home plate and toward the other end of the complex.
This aerial photo shows my path in yellow and French’s path in red:
I was trailing behind French and he must have heard footsteps because he turned around and stopped in his tracks and waited for me to catch up. I asked Luke if he could sign something for me, and he said “no problem.”
I felt a little weird with the portfolio in hand because Spring Training is chalk full of sports memorabilia dealers who carry big notebooks full of baseball cards and glossy photos and collect autographs to take back to their shops to sell. I showed Luke the picture and explained that it was the first pitch of my son’s first game. And I flipped through the portfolio to show him that it was empty except for this picture — i.e., I was not just a random dealer looking to make a buck. It seemed like he appreciated that.
Luke happily signed the picture for me. I thanked him profusely and explained that I was sad that Kellan was asleep in the bleachers because I had wanted to get his picture with Luke. I told him we would try to catch up with him again by the end of the week. He said okay and we parted ways.
I ran back over to M3 and “showed” Kellan his newly improved “first pitch” picture:
He was quite literally speechless.
By the end of the week, we’d still never run into French again. It was Saturday, and the Mariners/Padres fan fest was our last opportunity to track down French during Spring Training.
Fan Fest, which will get its own entry soon enough, featured a bunch of games for kids in the concourses of the Peoria Sports Complex main stadium and a work out by both teams on the field. The Padres went first.
Around 11:00 a.m., we knew the Mariners would show up soon so my mom, dad, Colleen, Tim, Kellan and I gathered together down the 1B line in hopes of getting a picture with Ichiro (a still as of yet unfulfilled goal) as he entered the stadium through the players entrance in the rightfield corner.
Eventually, the Mariners arrived en mass. While I didn’t see Ichiro anywhere (at least at first), I saw Luke French front and center:
He’s the player closest to the camera with his glove on his left hip in that last picture. The guys were down the line about 20 feet from the end of the seats in foul territory. Several of the Mariners ventured on the field to chat with some of the Padres.
None of the fans around us made any attempt to chat with or lure any of the Mariners over toward the stands. I thought, “what the heck,” and I called out, “Hey, Luke!” I figured that with a crowd of his teammates all around, French would probably appreciate it if someone singled him out. He did.
He turned and looked at me like, “Huh, what’s up?” I gave him a big “hey, come over here” wave. Three seconds later, Kellan’s first pitcher was standing next to us along the foul line.
I asked if he’d pose for a picture with my son and, when he said yes, I handed Kellan over to him. I explained that we’d met earlier in the week and he’d delivered the first pitch of Kellan’s MLB career. Luke remembered our first encounter and he was happy to meet Kellan and pose for pictures:
He must have thought the paparazzi were descending on him because my mom and Colleen both pulled out their cameras and we attacked the photo opportunity from three angles:
Mission Accomplished!
Thanks, Luke! And best of luck in 2011!
Customers Report to Spring Training
I’ve mentioned on here before that there is a Rawlings outlet store in our town. I’m one of the biggest Rawlings baseball glove advocates in the world. So, needless to say, I think the Rawlings outlet is just about the best store ever (the Mariners team stores are also excellent).
Tim and I often swing by “the baseball store,” as we call it, on weekends, just for kicks. And that is where we found ourselves on Sunday, February 13, 2011, as MLB pitchers and catchers began arriving at their respective teams’ spring training facilities in Arizona and Florida.
We weren’t the only ones with the idea. The place was a buzz with amateur baseballers of all ages.
The trough along the back wall of the store was filled to the brim with an assortment of beautiful gloves of various colors and styles. Tim gave his mark of approval:
This closer view of the trough…
…gives a better view of the dark brown and black glove with white lacing that I’ve had my eye on. I might have picked one up, but the Trap-Eze style was already sold out! I liked the modified Trap-Eze and one other style, but there is no beating a Trap-Eze. I decided I should hold out for it to be re-stocked — not that I necessarily need another glove (see below).
When we wandered by one of the bargain glove bins, Tim pulled out this catcher’s glove…
…and announced, “Look, its an Orioles glove.”
I checked out the “Primo” line of fancy Italian leather gloves:
That’s some nice looking leather! But I don’t need that fancy of a glove. I think these were in the $300-$400 range. I’m sure they are outstanding gloves. But if you know how to treat a glove right, I think you can be just as happy with any of the more modestly priced gloves. I’ve never spent even $100 on a glove…and I’d put any of my gloves up against the top priced gloves (well, most of my gloves, at least).
Here is the other glove that I really have my eye on:
It is a training glove similar to the “flat” gloves. This one looks like a normal glove (i.e., it is not flat), but it is really stiff and essentially doesn’t close at all. By the 2011 Cook Grandfather-Father-Son Baseball Roadtrip of 2011, I plan to own this glove and play lots of catch with my dad using it on the trip.
Interestingly, you cannot see anyone but Tim in any of these pictures. But the place was packed. People were looking at gloves, trying on gloves, debating gloves (including one dad who wouldn’t even let his son try on the $300 gloves), swinging wood bats, looking at clothing, cleats, batting T’s, baseballs, and catcher’s gear (in fact, Tim asked me to buy him an entire set of catcher’s gear, I did not). It was great to see that the world is getting back into the swing of things…baseball things, that is.
With all of this talk of Rawlings gloves, why don’t I take the opportunity to share mine?? And how about in chronological order?
Wally Joyner model Rawlings RFM14 (first basemens glove):
I probably got this glove in 8th or 9th grade, around 1990. I restrung this glove with green laces in 2010 and featured it in an entry called “The Tale of the Prodigal Glove.” This glove has the distinction of being my only all-brown leather glove.
Rawlings RBG36B:
My first glove growing up was an old used Rawlings. I don’t have it anymore. Aside from the Prodigal Glove, this RBG36B glove was my first “new” Rawlings glove. It was also my first black glove. I got this in high school to replace my old Spalding Dwight Gooden signature model glove. This was my outfield “gamer” in high school and American Legion ball. It is formed to absolute perfection. It is also the first glove that I restrung with different colored laces (because I loved Griffey’s black Trap-Eze with brown laces) and the first glove that I installed extra ties between the middle three fingers (see upper right picture). It sits on my bookshelf in my home office and I almost never use it. But, of all of my gloves, it is the glove to which I have the strongest sentimental attachment.
Randy Johnson signature model Rawlings RBG10B (modified Trap-Eze):
I wrote an entire blog entry about this glove in 2009: “Weekend Project: The Trap-Eze-ification of a Non-Trap-Eze Glove.” This glove holds an interesting place in my life. My folks gave me this glove as a gift while I was in college so I could use it for intramural softball — I didn’t want to ruin my RBG36B by using it to catch softballs. In years of playing softball, it never felt right. I just couldn’t get it formed to my liking. Because of this, I really didn’t care for this glove. And that’s probably why I didn’t mind experimenting with it. After I turned it into a blue-laced Trap-Eze, it was a whole new glove. It feels perfect as a Trap-Eze. It craddles the ball effortlessly. It went from my least favorite to my most-used glove. Since the modification, I have taken it to almost every game Tim and I have attended and I now use it as my softball glove. I absolutely love this glove now.
Rawlings RBG22NC:
In a new city without any friends (or sons), I found myself at Dick’s Sporting Goods a day after receiving my first paycheck in my first (real) job out of school. I was looking at gloves, just for kicks, when I found this beauty. I loved the thatched pocket and grey “Rawlings” stitched on the back of the index finger. I had no softball/baseball team and no one to play catch with me, but I had a new job and my first paycheck, so I decided that was all the justification I needed to buy myself this glove. I’ve hardly used it since I bought it and its still not formed to my liking (largely because I let someone else use it and they, lets just say, didn’t treat it in compliance with my standards). Eventually, I’ll break it in properly in the backyard with Tim (hopefully before Kellan can even play catch).
Rawlings RBG10H:
This glove is absolutely perfect for softball. I got it to replace my pre-op RBG10B as my everyday softball glove. I found this beauty in the “blemish” bin at the Rawlings outlet. I’m not sure why it was in the bin, I cannot find a blemish anywhere on it. My folks were visiting when I bought this and my Dad bought the same glove at the same time. Interestingly, they charged him $19.99 for his non-blemished “blemish” glove, and they charged me $12.99 for the same exact thing. It was the deal of the century because this is a stellar softball glove. By the way, you can see my Dad’s RBG10B in our GFS Roadtrip entries (see, e.g., here).
Rawlings GG601B:
This is my first ever “real” Trap-Eze glove. I love it. I bought it a couple years ago at the Rawlings outlet. I’m very protective of it. If you ask me to borrow it to play catch in my presence, I will say no (unless, perhaps, you are my dad, brother or Paul Samione). I have respected (i.e., not restrung) the factory lacing, which is odd for me. I have not even installed my customary between the finger ties. I use this glove a lot in the backyard with Tim (or with my Dad when he visits), but I almost never take it to games and I never use it for softball. Interestingly, this is my only glove that I wear with my fingers slid over one slot to the left (i.e., two fingers in the pinky slot and no finger in the index finger slot).
Rawlings GG12XTCBW:
This is the last glove I have bought - in 2009, I think. I bought this glove at the Rawlings outleft because I loved the white Trap-Eze lacing and I thought it would be good to have a shorter (infield sized) glove (although I never play infield). This glove is still very new, but it feels good. Like the GG601B, I use this primarily around the house. I did take it to one Mariners game at Fenway on July 4, 2009 – see here.
There you go: a glimpse into the bustling Rawlings store on the day PItchers & Catchers began reporting to Spring Training and a tour of my person baseball glove collection. Hope you enjoyed.
Go Mariners!
Speed Pitch & Blue Jays vs. Mariners (5/4/1985)
We just received a package of Christmas gifts in the mail from my folks. Tucked in the bottom of the box, my folks had stashed a little surprise from the past:
Yes, an “Official Speed Pitch Certificate” from the Kingdome.
Clicking on the picture will enlarge the certificate and display this explanatory note:
“The pitch was clocked by a Radar Gun, an instrument used to measure Major League pitchers. This speed-measuring equipment has been verified to be accurate within one percent.”
So, that’s right, as a nine year old phenom, I lit up that official “Radar Gun” at a blazing 46 miles per hour (or at least within one percent of 46 miles per hour).
I remember the old Kingdome speed pitch. It was just inside the Dome’s northern gate — just off to the right in this picture. I couldn’t heat up the gun then, and I can’t heat it up now. But its always been fun trying.
As you can see at the top of the certificate, there are a bunch of holes from where I tacked this “Official” certificate to the wall of my boyhood bedroom. You will also notice that I did my best to obliterate one of the speed pitch sponsors. I was a coca-cola drinking kid, and I didn’t want this “new generation” inspired soft drink logo muckin’ up my bedroom walls (FYI, I still prefer coke products).
Its cool to get back this little momento of past feats. But what is even cooler is getting confirmation of a random date of a game I attended in the first few years of my Mariners fandom: May 4, 1985.
With the help of Baseball-Reference.com, I was able to review a detailed description of this game – and it was a great one for a young Mariners fan.
The higlights:
- The Mariners won the game by a score of 8-1 over the Blue Jays.
- My favorite Mariner, Spike Owen, hit a 2-run homerun — his first of the season and sixth of his career.
- Matt Young pitched a 1-run complete game for his second win of the young season.
Hey, what more can you ask for in a night at the Kingdome. Good times.
Edgar Martinez, C&S Hall of Fame (2010)
This day is long past due. But, there is no time like the present. Finally, we are proud to officially induct Edgar Martinez into the Cook & Son Hall of Fame:
Edgar is a new breed of Cook & Son Hall of Famer. He retired two years before Tim was born so he hasn’t played a role in any father-son baseball moments for us. But, I watched him play in countless games with my parents, wife and friends during his career.
Unfortunately, Edgar played most of his career before the age of digital cameras. So I have very few pictures of him from his playing days. Lately, I have been searching for this one…
…which my mom snapped when we were up close to Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner at “camera night” at the Kingdome. This picture was from either 1990 or 1991 during the brief period when the Mariners had two Ken Griffeys.
Edgar was one of the most loved Mariners during his playing days, and he continues to be one of the most loved Mariners today. For several years, a sign hung from the Kingdome’s 200 Level near home plate that prominently reminded everyone that “Edgar Esta Caliente.”
And, indeed, Edgar was “caliente.”
Between 1990-2001, Edgar was hurt for large parts of two seasons. But in the other ten seasons, Edgar hit .302, .307, .343, .356, .327, .330, .322, .337, .324, and .306.
In one of my few action shots of Edgar, this picture shows Edgar’s familar batting stance:
I believe this picture was from 2001, and it was one of my wife’s first Mariners games.
One interesting Edgar Martinez memory from my past comes to mind. It occurred around 1991-92 in the Kingdome. I was at the game with my folks and one of my friends. My friend and I were sitting in the first row down the 3B line near the home plates in the visitors’ bullpen. My parents were in the second row just behind us (in our actual seats). Edgar was playing 3B and Randy Johnson was pitching. I was playing the role of the Steve Bartman character (but without the unhappy ending).
I have no memory of who the Mariners were playing or who was at the plate. The batter fouled a high looping pop fly right to me. My mom was listening to the game on a set of earphones and, when Edgar and I clanked gloves, she heard Dave Neihaus call out in dissappointment, “Oh, no!!! A fan made Edgar miss the ball!”
Edgar picked up the baseball and tossed it back to me, but someone interfered and the ball once again fell to the astroturf below. The ball girl ran over and ended up giving the baseball to someone else (or maybe she kept it…bottom line, she didn’t give it back to me).
The happy ending: Randy Johnson struck out the batter on the next pitch.
And that’s the story of how I prevented Edgar Martinez from making a put out and thereby directly effected Randy Johnson’s career strike out total (4,875 rather than a mere 4,874).
Of course, in the 1995 ALDS, Edgar hit a grandslam in game 4 to force a game 5. Then, in game 5, Edgar hit a “The Double” scoring Joey Cora for the tie and Ken Griffey, Jr. from first to send the Mariners to their first ever ALCS. It is the defining moment and pinnacle of success in the Mariners 33 year history.
When we visited Seattle in October, I got the opportunity to attend an Edgar Martinez Foundation event and meet the man himself:
The event was an silent/live auction and dinner program that benefited the Martinez Foundation. The Foundation is dedicated to education issues. It was a great event and a lot of fun. In fact, it was by far the most fun I have ever had at a charity dinner event.
I attended with my buddy, Paul, and a couple of Paul’s friends. When I saw Edgar walking around during the silent auction, I didn’t hesitate to go say hello. Paulie was quick with his iPhone and snapped that picture above.
Then, Paulie handed off his phone to Nikki — a friend from high school — and she snapped this picture:
Edgar was the third person inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame (following Alvin Davis and Dave Niehaus). So, I took the opportunity to discuss the Mariners Hall of Fame with Edgar. My first question:
Todd - ”You know who needs to be inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame?”
Edgar – “Who?”
Todd – “Harold Reynolds!”
Edgar – “Absolutely!” (or some positive term of agreement like that).
I asked how we make that happen and Edgar was at a loss for an answer. Eventually, we discussed that I should run an online campaign for Harold to be inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame. Its a lot more ambitious of a concept than our (successful) campaign to get ice cream helmets at Camden Yards last season, but I think its worth a shot. So, watch for that.
Harold will have his day. This day, however, is for “Gar.” It was a thrill to have such an excellent human being and ballplayer wear a Mariners uniform for his entire career. And it is an honor to now induct Edgar Martinez as the fourth member of the Mariners Hall of Fame.
A couple parting notes, for a long time, Edgar’s 2,247 hits have been an all-time Mariners record. That record, however, will be broken in April 2011 after Ichiro collects 4 more hits to pass Edgar has the all-time Mariners hit record. It has been great having a true Mariners hero lead the hit parade for so many season.
Finally, I would like to thank Edgar for being so nice in person and signing these baseball cards for my boys:
2010 Mariners Season Finale (10/3/10)
2010 was a long and fun season. And, on October 3, 2010, we headed down to Safeco Field for the final game of our and the Mariners 2010 season.
The line-up was Tim, Kellan, Colleen, my folks, my buddy Paul, and me. Although Paul joined us late, the rest of us headed down for non-existent batting practice.
We headed into Safeco Field and found ourselves in the standing room area in center field. Nothing was going on yet. So we just hung out for a few minutes. We were ready for some good old-fashioned Mariners fun:
Soon, a couple Cook & Son Hall of Famers made their way out to the bullpen: Jason Phillips to the left…
…and finale starting pitcher, Ryan Rowland-Smith, to the right. After a tough season where we never got to see him pitch live, I was excited for the opportunity to watch Ryan close out the 2010 season with a strong final outing.
The Mariners braodcasters do their pregame show from the centerfield standing room area. After Tim hopped from my shoulders to grandpa’s shoulders, Kellan and I strolled over to watch the broadcasters preparing for their show. All of a sudden, I saw a familiar face and, before I knew it, Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik…
…was kissing Kellan like a campaigning politician.
Despite the terribly disappointing season, I believe in Jack. I think he has a good vision for the team. And as GM’s go, Jack is the most visible the Mariners have ever had. In two seasons, we’ve met him several times — like last season on the streets of Boston.
After saying hello to Jack Z., we watched Ryan Rowland-Smith warm up among a sea of mascots:
Across the field from RRS, opposing starter Dallas Braden warmed up for the A’s.
My folks and Tim stayed in the outfield when Colleen, Kellan and I headed toward the Mariners dugout. As we walked through the seats behind first base, we watched as the Mariners Moose jacked a homerun to win the mascot homerun derby…
…while Bill Kruger and Brad Adam interviewed Jack Z. (who you can see sitting below the bright light).
I had a goal of getting either Luke French (Kellan’s first pitcher) or Rajai Davis (his first batter) to sign the picture of Kellan’s first pitch. We hung out behind the Mariners dugout watching for French…
…but we never found him. So instead, we just had another fan take our picture.
Eventually, a bunch of Mariners came out and started playing catch and stretching down the 1B line…
….you can see them in the background of this picture my parents took of some of the mascots.
When some of the Mariners started playing catch, I gave up on finding Luke French and we headed over by the guys who were playing catch. Two games ago, Greg Halman had tossed Tim and me his pregame warmup baseball. That day, we were practically the only people watching the players playing catch. But on this day, the seats were crowded. We were about six rows back and the first three rows were packed. I was hoping we could get one more baseball this season and this was our chance, but there was a lot of competition and the odds weren’t looking good.
As the players started heading back to the dugout a ball or two got tossed to fans in the first row. Finally, Halman and his partner finished playing catch and Halman ended up with the baseball. He looked over to the crowd and I yelled, “Hey, Greg!!!!” I was the only one to call out to him by name and he appreciated it. He scanned around and found me and then tossed his baseball high over everyone else so they couldn’t intercept it on its way to me and Kellan.
The baseball was just a bit over my head level. As I reached up to make the easy grab, Colleen yelled “No! NO!!!!” She was scared I would miss the ball and it would hit Kellan. It was pretty funny, really. Her maternal instincts to protect our baby overrode her common sense about my abilities to catch a baseball lobbed to me.
The expression on Kellan’s face in this picture illustrates how difficult the catch was for me:
Yep, it was pretty routine. (That’s a yawn, by the way).
Thanks, Greg!
The Mariners cleared out and we never found Luke French. But when I looked over toward LF, I saw Kellan’s first batter stretching and preparing for the game. So we headed over there:
In that last picture, Rajai Davis is the guy bending down and reaching toward the ground.
As we waited to see if Davis would come over to sign autographs on his way back to the dugout, we watched this guy…
…walk down the fence and explain to everyone in the front row that they will be kicked out of the game if they interfere with a live ball in play. His message was simple, “Foul grounders are fair game, but catching a fair grounder will get you ejected.
When Davis finished streching, he jogged straight into the A’s dugout. No first batter autograph for Kellan on this day. But don’t fret. We’ll track down Rajai Davis some day. You can mark my words on that.
Rajai Davis wasn’t the only A’s player walking straight lines, but not all of them were heading to the dugout. After warming up in the bullpen, Dallas Braden exited the bullpen gate and walked in a laser straight line directly to us. As I watched him approach, he displayed an odd expressionless face with his harms hanging unnaturally still as he walked…as I said…directly to us. Confused, I looked at him standing two feet in front of me. What’s going on here, I thought to myself.
Then Braden extended his arm, opened his glove, nodded to me to reach in and remove…
…this baseball from the pocket of his glove. Although it took me hundreds of games, it took Kellan only two games to get a baseball from a pitcher with a perfect game on his resume.
Thanks, Dallas!
With no first pitch autographs, but two new baseballs in our pockets, we reported to our seats along the first base line. My mom took a picture of us (Paul was still en route to the ballpark):
We were ready for some Mariners baseball!
At exactly 1:11 p.m., Ryan Rowland-Smith delivered the first pitch of the game…
…for ball 1. However, if you click on that picture to enlarge it, the pitch looks pretty good to me. Davis ended up leading off the game with a single. RRS’s body language wasn’t looking good after the single. He sort of looked like, “Oh, no. Here we go again.”
Kellan was ready to see some quality Mariners baseball…
…after a 9-0 shut out loss in his MLB debut game.
Despite the early frustrated body language, it seemed like RRS started believing in himself. And he should have because he had a good day. After RRS induced a fly out to CF for the first out of the game, Josh Bard threw out Davis trying to steal second. Then RRS struck out Jack Cust to end the first.
Yep, RRS was looking good…
…and he had one scoreless inning in the book.
As each Mariner came to bat for the first time, a picture drawn by a kid was displayed on the big screen. Here are all nine of the M’s batters:
Franklin Gutierrez took a couple mighty looking hacks in the bottom of the first…
…but both he and the Mariners came up empty handed.
Hey, guess who showed up? It was Paulie!
Paulie, Tim and I had big plans for this game. We bought tickets to this game at the very beginning of the season figuring that it would probably be Griffey’s final game. We were hoping to see Griffey’s final homerun and Griff getting carried off the field and into retirement. Sadly, we were Griffeyless on this day.
The A’s ended up scoring two runs off of RRS. They got one run in the third when Mark Ellis doubled to score Rajai Davis. In the fourth, Kurt Suzuki hit a lead off homerun to make it 2-0 A’s.
To this point, the A’s had scored 11 runs to the Mariners zero runs so far in Kellan’s first two games. It was high time for the Mariners to get on the board for Kellan.
Michael Saunders led off the bottom of the fifth with a single. Our buddy Greg Halman…
…followed Saunders with a single of his own on this swing.
Two batters and two outs later, Saunders was erased, Halman stood on second base, and Matt Mangini occupied first as Ichiro came to the plate. In the hands down most exciting moment of Kellan’s young Marienrs fan career, Ichiro lined a double down the RF line on this swing…
…and Halman and Mangini scored Kellan’s first two Mariners runs ever. We were all on our feet screaming and cheering. It was a great moment.
After Ichi’s 2RBI double, the Ichi-Meter was changed to record Ichi’s 213th hit of 2010:
So the score was all knotted up at 2-2. I was excited for the possibility of Kellan witnessing his first Mariners win and RRS finishing off the season with a long-awaited second win of the season.
The excitement was contagious. Tim and Paul had to practice some fist bumps:
And of course Tim had to get in some playing-with-Grandma time:
With the Mariners on the board, Kellan sat up and took notice:
He was ready for the possibility of a personally historical moment — his first ever Mariners lead??
My little family bunched together and cheered like crazy for a Mariners rally:
I had to get a picture with my big boy and teammate:
And, of course, we had to celebrate the day with the season’s final ice cream helmet:
Unfortunately, after Ichiro’s double, the rally ceased. And after five innings, both teams went to their bullpens.
It should be noted that RRS actually had a slightly better line than Dallas Braden. Both pitched 5 innings and gave up 2 earned runs. But RRS gave up only 4 hits to Braden’s 5 hits, and he struck out 3 to Braden’s 2. They both walked 1 batter.
Sadly, the Mariners bullpen turned Braden into a winner-in-absentia. After Braden left the game knotted 2-2, Mariners reliever Anthony Varvaro promptly gave up a run on two hits in the top of the sixth. He would pitch only one-third of an inning.
In the 8th inning, Garrett Olson gave up a homerun to Kevin Kouzmanoff. That made the score 4-2 A’s.
In the bottom of the 8th inning, Ichiro notched his 214th and final hit of the 2010 campaign:
He then stole his 42nd and final base of the season. He wound up on third base on a Jose Lopez groundout. Finally, Ichiro scored his 74th and final run of the season on a Justin Smoak line drive single to left field.
Sadly, Ichiro’s run would be the final Mariners run to be pushed across the plate in 2010. We lost our 101st game of the season, and 2nd of Kellan’s life, by a final score of 4-3.
Toward the end of the game, I snapped a picture of the Mariners mlb.com beat writer, Jim Street (in the OU hat):
Jim was closing out the final game of his career…although I recently read that he is only “semi-retired” so maybe we’ll still see him on mlb.com from time-to-time.
After the game, we got a final family-at-the-ballpark picture…
…and a final TJCs and Paulie picture:
It was so sad that our season was over so soon and that, as we exited the gates at Safeco Field, we would be entering a period of six months without (regular season) Mariners baseball.
I snapped one more panorama for 2010 on our walk to the CF gates:
In doing so, I noticed that the hand operated scoreboard was already set up for the 2011 home opener:
That was comforting to see.
Tim and I took a couple final pictures on our way out of the stadium:
He failed to smile in any of them. But how could I blame him?
It was now officially the off-season.
Bummer.
2010 Fan Stats:
29 Games
20 Teams (Mariners, Orioles, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Angels, Twins, Athletics, White Sox, Indians and Yankees; Phillies, Dodgers, Pirates, Braves, Mets, Brewers, Padres, Giants, Nationals and Marlins)
25 Ice Cream Helmets (Mariners (3), Orioles (4), Phillies (3), Padres (2), Pirates (2), Mets, Dodgers, Athletics, Nationals (2), Indians, Yankees)
66 Baseballs (15 Mariners, 2 Angels, 5 Athletics, 3 Brewers, 4 Nationals, 2 Blue Jays, 10 Umpires, 2 Phillies, 1 Mets, 4 Braves, 2 Orioles, 1 Dodgers, 1 Padres, 1 Giants, 2 Twins, 1 White Sox, 7 Easter Eggs, 1 Yankees, 2 Marlins)
13 Stadiums (Safeco Field, Camden Yards, Citizens Bank Park, Nationals Park, Citi Field, PNC Park, Oakland-Alameda County Stadium, Dodgers Stadium, PETCO Park, Angel Stadium of Anaheim, AT&T Park, Progressive Field, Yankee Stadium)
18 Player Photos (Jamie Moyer, Ryan Rowland-Smith (3), Omar Vizquel, Chad Cordero, Garrett Olson, Chris Seddon, Mike Cameron, Joel Piniero, Frank Catalanotto, Billy Wagner, Jeff Suppan, Tommy Hanson, Jered Weaver, Jay Buente, Brian Sanches and Scott Olsen)
2 Retired Player Photos (Jim Palmer, Bert Blyleven)
1 Umpire Photo (“Cowboy” Joe West)
16 Autographs (Ryan Rowland-Smith (3), Omar Vizquel, Jason Phillips, Chad Cordero, Garrett Olson, Chris Seddon, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Joel Piniero, Frank Catalanotto (2), Billy Wagner (2), Bobby Cramer, Jeff Suppan, Tommy Hanson, Jeff Weaver, Brian Sanches and Scott Olsen)
8 Kids Run The Bases (Citizens Bank Park, 2 Nationals Park, Citi Field, PNC Park, PETCO Park, Camden Yards, Progressive Field)
Kellan’s MLB Debut (10/1/10)
October 1, 2010 was a big day, and its going to result in a BIG game report. Here we go.
The day was finally upon us: Kellan’s first Mariners game! In the morning, I laid out our shirts for the day in small, medium and large sizes:
For this extra special game, I decided to don my extra special jersey: my official Mariners Ryan Rowland-Smith No. 18 jersey.
It was a night game and we had a busy day preparing for it. In the morning, my mom and I went shopping at a craft store and then, just like I’d done a little more than four years ago, I set up shop in my parents’ garage to paint version 2.0 of the First Gamers Club sign:
My mom headed up a project of her own: creating a picture display for the “2006 First Gamers Club Reunion“:
On September 12, 2006, we celebrated the first “First Gamers Club.” The guests of honor (the “First Gamers”) were Tim, Julie (my cousin Janet’s daughter), Laura (my cousin Daniel’s daughter), and Kasey (our family friends’ grandson). With the exception of Laura, all of the 2006 First Gamers would be in attendance for the second First Gamers Club celebration.
This time, the guests of honor would be Kellan, Gill and Kate (Kellan’s and Tim’s only first cousins (my sister-in-law Kimberly’s and brother-in-law Kevin’s kids)), and Tyler and Erika (my cousin Janet’s 3-year-old twins).
Thanks to my wonderful parents, Tim’s first game was in Suite 5 at Safeco Field (the Ted Williams suite). Thanks again to my wonderful parents, Kellan’s first game would also be in Suite 5 at Safeco Field. Here is Kellan’s extremely cool first game ticket:
We arrived right when the gates opened. As we slowly made our way from the parking garage, through the suite level concourse and down to the field level, several ushers gave Tim and Kellan some baseball cards, including these two absolute keepers:
It was quite the chore to keep Tim from playing with (and thereby destroying) his Felix and Griffey cards during the game. He was very excited about them. I kept them safe and let him play with (and destroy) several less important cards he also received from ushers during BP.
When we made it to the field level, Tim and Colleen headed to the team store where Tim got some cool Mariners athetlic shorts (pictured throughout this entry) and Kellan and I reported directly to the RF foul line to watch BP.
This is the first picture ever of Kellan at Safeco Field (or any MLB stadium):
We watched BP from almost the exact same spot from which Tim and I watched BP at his first game. The only disappointing part of the pre-game events was that the Mariners were already off of the field when we arrived. So Kellan’s first BP was limited to the visiting Oakland A’s.
When we arrived at the field, my mom, dad and brother had already hung the First Gamers Club sign from our suite:
By the way, the “M” in “GAMERS” looks different because I painted silver sparkles over the black paint of the “M.”
According to the time coding on my camera, it took exactly 11 minutes until A’s 30-year old, first time September call-up, Bobby Cramer, bestowed upon Kellan the very first MLB baseball of his life:
Here is a cellphone picture I took so I could immediately show off Kellan’s prize:
Bobby Cramer was very nice. We chatted a little bit during BP and he agreed to sign Kellan’s first baseball after the conclusion of BP.
After hitting the team store, Tim and Colleen met up with us and Colleen took this picture of her three guys with Kellan’s first baseball:
Tim was excited for his little brother. He really loves that little guy.
Then, someone took this excellent family picture of the four of us:
That kid in the yellow shirt explained that the Mariners had stamped some of the BP balls with a “CATCH & WIN” stamp. If you caught one of the stamped baseballs, you could turn it in for an autographed Mariners baseball at a prize table in the concourse behind home plate. (I guess I should mention that it was Fan Appreciation Night).
Well, Kellan’s first baseball had the stamp. It is visible in the last couple pictures — it looks like a blue blob on the baseball. As much as I would like to get an autographed Mariners baseball, there was no way in the world that I was going to trade in Kellan’s first baseball.
Soon, more First Gamers showed up. In this picture, Tim is jumping for joy (and sporting his new shorts!) as my dad chats up Tyler and Erika:
Julie is in the pink hat just behind Tim. I got a kick out of the fact that Tim and Julie shared their first game together back in September 2006. Now, just over four years later, Julie was enjoying her second baseball game while Tim was taking in his EIGHTY-SECOND game!
Eventually, my dad was able to secure a couple baseballs for Julie, Erika and Tyler:
I believe that both of those baseballs also came courtesy of Bobby Cramer.
Soon, Kimberly, Kevin, Gill and Kate also made their way down to join us for some BP. Colleen and Kimberly took this nice “sisters” shot…
…that features the First Gamers Club sign in the background.
True to his word, the second BP ended, Bobby Cramer ran over and signed Kellan’s first baseball:
Note that Bobby is using the Cook & Son tried-and-true baseball glove hat method while signing Kellan’s baseball. Kellan’s first baseball is pictured below. I am extremely happy with it. Bobby did an excellent job with his autograph. The placement of his autograph and his jersey number (“64″) off-set to the side of the “CATCH & WIN” stamp and a nice grass/dirt smudge easily make it one of the most visually unique and pleasing baseballs in our collection.
Even if Bobby doesn’t turn out to be an all-star player, he can rest assured that he will always be remembered by the Cook family.
Thanks, Bobby!
BP was great fun with all of the kids. The only regret was that I had not been able to get a baseball for Gill and Kate. I’d once given Gill a baseball Gil Meche used to do some rehab work at old Yankee Stadium, so they had a real MLB baseball already. But I was determined that Gill should get one at his first game. At this point, I wasn’t sure how or if that was going to happen.
Before leaving our BP spot, I had to pose for a picture with Tim in his familiar shoulder riding position and Kellan in his baby bjorn:
In that picture, you can see the “CATCH & WIN” logo on the big screen behind us.
After BP ended, Tim headed up to the suite with his Grandma. Meanwhile, Kellan, Colleen and I headed over to the Mariners dugout. I really wanted to get a picture of Kellan with a Mariner at his first game. I had discussed it with Ryan Rowland-Smith at our last game and he said he’d gladly pose for a picture with us and that we should come over by the dugout. So that’s what we did.
Kellan took a little power nap:
And he concentrated hard on taking “it” all in while he was awake:
When Colleen split off from us to go fetch Kellan’s pacifier, a nice fan asked if I wanted him to take our picture. Hey, why not? Right? So here it is:
No Mariners were in sight for a long time. Then, John Wetteland came out and started signing autographs down the foul line. A couple rookie calls up soon joined him. We stuck by the dugout looking for RRS. Eventually, he came out and we locked eyes. I pointed down the foul line and we both nodded our heads. But when he went down the line to meet up with us, a throng of fans rushed him for autographs. Then more players came out and joined the huge autograph session.
We moved down the line a bit and waited for people to clear out from the RRS line. In this picture, Kellan looks like a pro-autograph hound as RRS signs an autograph for another fan in the background:
We ended up getting pictures with four Mariners:
Clockwise from top left: David Pauley, RRS, Chris Seddon, and Garrett Olson.
Olson posed for a picture with us and then saw the little helmet in my hand. He grabbed the helmet, put it on Kellan’s head, and leaned in for a second picture. Excellent move, Garrett!
I got a bright idea earlier in the day, I brought Tim’s ice cream helmet from the last game and a metallic-silver pen and got the guys to autograph it:
A couple of the autographs are on the far side near the back. On the bill of the helmet, those autographs are Cook & Son Hall of Famers Jason Phillips and Ryan Rowland-Smith.
Phillips wasn’t autographing down the line. While the autograph session was going on down the line, he was out in the bullpen and outfield working with starting pitcher Luke French and catcher Josh Bard. After we got those player pictures above, it was getting close to game time. We still had not visited the suite yet. But before heading up, I told Colleen we needed to go out to the bullpen because I wanted to say hi to Jason.
We found Phillips pretty quickly. He came over to chat and meet Kellan. And he asked, “Hey, where’s the big guy?” Yep, Tim has graduated from being our “little boy” to being our “big guy.”
Jason Phillips has been so incredibly cool to Tim and I over the past two seasons. I definitely don’t want to try to take advantage of the relationship. But this was Kellan’s first game! So I had to ask if he could hook Kellan up with his first Mariners baseball. “Of course,” was Jason’s response.
Thank you, Jason!!!
Faced with a fresh, new-to-the-world Mariners fan, Jason told us a story about when his kid was born and he was just days away from the start of a baseball season. When we parted ways, we wished each other well for the offseason. By the way, the baseball Jason gave to Kellan was fresh out of the box. It is a beautiful clean pearl of a baseball.
Here is a look at Kellan’s first two baseballs:
Wait, that’s three baseballs? To the left, that is Kellan’s absolutely beautiful Bobby Cramer autographed, “CATCH & WIN” stamped first baseball. The baseball on the right (“107″) is the baseball from Jason Phillips. (FYI, I internally debated with myself long and hard about whether we should start again at “1″ now that Kellan has joined our little baseball team. I’m still not convinced I made the right decision, but I decided that we’d just keep on with our existing numbering system under the theory that all of the baseballs are collectively “Cook & Son” team baseballs. Right or wrong, I’ll live with that decision until the boys are old enough that I’m no longer “cool” and they feel the need to have their own separate numbering system. Hopefully that’s in the distant future because I love being on my sons’ team.)
Anyway, what about that middle baseball? We wandered by the prize booth. I showed them Kellan’s baseball (now autographed by Bobby Cramer) and told them there was no way I was going to give it to them, but that we still would like to get an autographed Mariners baseball. They put a little red dot inside the “C” in of the “CATCH & WIN” stamp and let me pick a bag from the autographed baseball grab bag. Truth be told, I like that red dot a lot. It adds to the story of Kellan’s first baseball and it looks cool. Anyway, Colleen and I both pointed to the same grab bag, and we ended up pulling the above-pictured Jose Lopez autographed baseball. We like Jose. The Jose baseball is definitely a welcome addition to our home.
Okay — it was game time. We reported to the suite and said our hellos to the gathered crowd of family and friends.
I absolutely love Tim’s “first pitch” picture. So, in addition to myself, I assigned two other people to photograph Kellan’s first pitch. One took the shot too early and one took it too late. Luckily, I took it at just the right time and Kellan is now the proud owner of a framed picture of the first pitch of his first Mariners game. Here it is:
If you cannot tell, the baseball can be seen in the foul grass on the 3B side, just to the right of the circle of dirt around home plate (click to enlarge the picture and you’ll be able to see it). Just like Tim’s first pitch thrown by Gil Meche, Kellan’s first pitch thrown by Luke French was a called “strike one.”
On the second pitch, Rajai Davis popped out to…
…Ichiro in right field for the first “out” of Kellan’s career as a Mariners fan.
After that second pitch, sadly, it was all downhill for the Mariners. The next batter hit a homerun and the A’s never looked back.
But lets dwell on the positive. Here was our beautiful view from Suite 5 at Safeco Field:
When you attend a game in a luxury suite, its easy to end up not hanging on every pitch of the game. There is a lot that goes on in a suite. And my mom and Colleen did an excellent job snapping pictures of all of the fun.
In no particular order, lets check in on the fun:
Top left: my dad with my folks’ closest friends and co-Mariners season ticket holders Lynn and Steve. And half-hidden behind Lynn in Kasey from the First Gamers Club class of 2006. Kasey and Tim had a blast together at this game.
Top right: my cousin Annie smiles for a picture with her (and my) uncle Raaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy! Ray is Julie, Erika and Tyler’s grandpa.
Bottom left: Annie with her sister (and my cousin) Katie, my Dad, Julie and Kate (my neice).
Bottom right: My dad, Julie and Kate sans Annie and Katie.
My hope was that the Mariners would win. Unfortunately, they were facing Trevor Cahill who was looking to cap off a stellar season with his 18th win to go along with is sub-3.0 ERA. As with all apparent Mariners losses in the making, my second goal was that hopefully at least Ichiro would get a hit. I was poised with my camera ready to capture the moment:
But he walked in the first and, as shown here,…
…grounded into a fielder’s choice in the third.
Back to the suite pictures. In the top left photo below, Katie shares a moment with her (and my) cousin Janet:
Janet, of course, is Raaaaaaaaaaayyy’s daughter, and Julie, Erika and Tyler’s mother.
Top right: My dad holds Kellan as uncle Raaaaaaaaaayyy watches on.
Bottom left: My mom goofs around with Julie.
Bottom right: Katie holds Kellan as they watch the game from the suite’s top row of seats.
By the way, each of my cousins at this game are children of my mom’s sisters, each of my aunts at this game are those very same sisters of my mom (she has four sisters and two of them were at this game), and each of my uncles at this game are the husbands of the aforementioned aunts and fathers of the aforementioned cousins.
More pictures:
Top left: Lynn, my dad, Kellan, me, and my aunt Carol (wife of Raaaaaaaayyy, mother of Janet, and grandma of Julie, Erika and Tyler).
Top right: My dad and Steve.
Bottom left: Kasey (in his grandma’s arms) pats Kellan (in my dad’s arms) on the arm, while Colleen and I smile for the camera.
Bottom right: Trouble with a capital ”T” and “K”. Left to their own devices, I am certain that Tim and Kasey could get into unruly amounts of mischief. (And, for good measure, Kate is hiding under the table).
The Mariners love new fans. They were quick to bestow unto Tim, Kellan, and all of the kids these fancy “first game” certificates:
Of course, this wasn’t Tim’s first game, so I digitally edited his certificate.
You know what else they have in suites? Awesome food, and lots of it. Here, my best buddy, Paul, and I point out (with amazement) part of the spread:
Along the wall off-camera to the right, we also had pizzas, hot dogs, and delicious little mini corndogs.
As the Mariners fell further-and-further behind their opponents, we just kept having fun:
Top left and right: Carol plays with Kellan. In the photo on the left, my aunt Margaret watches on in the pink jacket. In a crazy and by all accounts unplanned twist of fate, Carol wore the exact same white sweater and Margaret wore the exact same pink jacket to Tim’s first game. Here is the photographic evidence.
Bottom left: Me and Paulie (taken about two seconds before (or possibly after) our “pointing at the food” picture above).
Bottom right: Tim and one of his favorite people in the whole world, his grandma.
This has been a lot of pictures…well, that’s not even the half of it. Let’s keep going:
Top right: the kids gather for some First Gamers Club cake!
Bottom left: I paparazzi-style ambushed my brother Jason as he got up to get more food and/or drink. Paulie laughs at Jason in the process. Back in 1998-99, Jason, Paul and I were roommates during the year after I graduated from college and before I moved to Pennsylvania for law school. Between the three of us, there was a lot of making fun of each other going on in that house. Good times.
Bottom right: Janet watches the game with all three of her kids.
Wait. That was three pictures in a row without Kellan. Here we go, its Kellan and Lynn on the left…
…and Kellan and aunt Kimberly on the right.
And how about some Kellan, mommy and the Safeco Field sign pictures? We got those too:
Like at Tim’s first game, the Mariners Moose paid a visit to the suite and posed for pictures with everyone. Here are just two of the many Moose pictures:
Heck, let’s see a few more:
By this point, all of these people should look familiar except two of ‘em. In the top left, Janet’s husband Destry is holding Erika and Tyler. At the bottom left, Katie and Annie are joined by their dad (and my uncle) Tom in their Moose picture. By the way, to connect the dots, maybe I should mention that Margaret and Tom are the parents and Katie and Annie are the sisters of my cousin Nathan with whom Tim and I went to a Nationals vs. Mets game on September 6, 2010.
Tim and his cousin Kate are about 9 months apart in age (Tim is older) and they have a great time with each other. Here, Tim makes silly faces at my camera…
…while Kate smiles at someone else’s camera.
Meanwhile, Kate’s big brother and Tim’s cousin, Gill, was having fun sitting with his dad (“uncle Kevin”) and playing with the large stack of baseball cards he’d acquired from various ushers throughout the night:
Gill’s baseball fan loyalty is somewhat up in the air. While his dad is a moderate Phillies fan (more of an Eagles and Flyers fan) and his (and Tim’s) grandpa is a Yankees fan, I have designs on drafting Gill into a life of indentured Mariners fanitude.
Tim continued having way too much fun, alternatively, with Kasey and his grandma:
And aunt Kimberly and uncle Kevin couldn’t say enough about their experience at Safeco Field…
…where everyone was “so very nice” to them.
With Kellan’s first game not quite going as planned on the field, there was plenty of time to smile at Kellan…
…or to take “guys” shots with my littlest boy and Paulie…
…and, of course, I had to get a shot with both of my boys…
….with Tim wearing a pair of rabbit ears courtesy of his uncle Jason.
At some point, Gill requested to go to the kids play area. Lynn, Kasey, Tim and I decided to join them. I took this shot from a little concourse that joins the 1B side suite level to the RF suite level:
The play area was pretty crowded and it was easy to lose sight of the kids in there. So we didn’t stay too long. Before we left, I made a suggestion to Kimberly: if they would like, we could stop by the Mariners bullpen and I could try to get a baseball for Gill and Kate before heading back to the suite.
Things worked out ideally. As we approached the bullpen, Garrett Olson was warming up, but for some unknown reason, Jason Phillips wasn’t doing the catching. Instead, Jason was standing behind the catcher just off to the lefthanded batters box side of the plate. He was standing against the fence to the bullpen.
In the picture below to the left…
…you can just barely see a little piece of Jason’s blue baseball cap above the green padding right over Gill’s right hand. As we walked up to the fence, I noticed that Jason was standing right there. I said hello and he turned around to chat.
Again, I don’t like asking Jason for too much, but these were drastic times. Gill and Kate were never going to have another first game. I introduced Jason to everyone, mentioned that they’d flown out to Seattle from the east coast to share their first baseball game with Kellan, and I asked if it was possible for them to get a baseball to mark the occassion. “No problem,” Jason said, “just let him finish warming up so I can get over to my bag.” Above to the right, Gill watched through the fence with wide eyes.
Once Garrett finished warming up, Jason headed over to his equipment bag, pulled out a baseball and tossed it over the fence to uncle Kevin who handed it over to Gill who then gladly handed it over to his sister, Kate.
Thanks, again, Jason!
To celebrate Gill and Kate’s first baseball, the three cousins got ice cream helmets and took them back to the suite:
Ichiro came to the plate for his final at bat of the night in the 8th inning. He was still looking to collect his first hit of the night, and his 211th of the season. And with this swing…
…he extended his hit streak in games attended by Kellan to one (1) game (and counting).
It was getting late and the action in the suite was quieting down a bit. The Martelons enjoyed some more “first game” action from the steps in the suite’s seating area:
The food service people started cleaning up…
…while Colleen and Kellan relaxed in a cushy chair:
Others, including me and Tim, quietly watched the Mariners offense sputter to the finish line of a 9-0, six hit, shutout loss:
The brutal loss, however, couldn’t dampen our spirits. The season was long lost months ago and, while a win would have been great, this night was about family, friends and sharing our five kids’ “first game” experience with one another. And on that front, the night was a smashing success.
After the game concluded, people slowly said their temporary good-byes (we’re all family, we’d see each other again soon):
Paulie pointed out the framed shot of our favorite baseball player of all-time hanging on the wall:
Months earlier, I had hoped and expected that Ken Griffey, Jr. would be playing in this game. Given his retirement, I was at least happy to have him “in” the suite with us.
I didn’t want to leave. I grabbed my “big guy” and we got a picture as the Safeco Field roof rolled shut:
In the name of preserving history, I got a picture of the “unhappy” totals:
Then we got a picture of our whole family:
We try to get a full family shot at least once a year. It was great to get this one at Safeco Field (although poor little Kellan was lights out at this point). Oh, by the way, there is my camera-shy sister-in-law, Alison, between my mom and brother! (With this picture, I am pretty sure I’ve now included at least one picture of each person who attended the game with us in the suite).
Then, I got yet another panorama from the suite (showing the roof closing)…
…and one more picture of my happy little family (the “PA Cooks”):
Aside from the final score, it was an almost unbeatable day at the ballpark.
Welcome to the Majors, Kellan!
Ken Griffey, Jr. and Ichiro greeted us in the hallway…
…as we made our way from the suite to the car.
Why did the night have to end?
2010 Fan Stats:
28 Games
20 Teams (Mariners, Orioles, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Angels, Twins, Athletics, White Sox, Indians and Yankees; Phillies, Dodgers, Pirates, Braves, Mets, Brewers, Padres, Giants, Nationals and Marlins)
24 Ice Cream Helmets (Mariners (2), Orioles (4), Phillies (3), Padres (2), Pirates (2), Mets, Dodgers, Athletics, Nationals (2), Indians, Yankees)
64 Baseballs (14 Mariners, 2 Angels, 4 Athletics, 3 Brewers, 4 Nationals, 2 Blue Jays, 10 Umpires, 2 Phillies, 1 Mets, 4 Braves, 2 Orioles, 1 Dodgers, 1 Padres, 1 Giants, 2 Twins, 1 White Sox, 7 Easter Eggs, 1 Yankees, 2 Marlins)
13 Stadiums (Safeco Field, Camden Yards, Citizens Bank Park, Nationals Park, Citi Field, PNC Park, Oakland-Alameda County Stadium, Dodgers Stadium, PETCO Park, Angel Stadium of Anaheim, AT&T Park, Progressive Field, Yankee Stadium)
18 Player Photos (Jamie Moyer, Ryan Rowland-Smith (3), Omar Vizquel, Chad Cordero, Garrett Olson, Chris Seddon, Mike Cameron, Joel Piniero, Frank Catalanotto, Billy Wagner, Jeff Suppan, Tommy Hanson, Jered Weaver, Jay Buente, Brian Sanches and Scott Olsen)
2 Retired Player Photos (Jim Palmer, Bert Blyleven)
1 Umpire Photo (“Cowboy” Joe West)
16 Autographs (Ryan Rowland-Smith (3), Omar Vizquel, Jason Phillips, Chad Cordero, Garrett Olson, Chris Seddon, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Joel Piniero, Frank Catalanotto (2), Billy Wagner (2), Bobby Cramer, Jeff Suppan, Tommy Hanson, Jeff Weaver, Brian Sanches and Scott Olsen)
8 Kids Run The Bases (Citizens Bank Park, 2 Nationals Park, Citi Field, PNC Park, PETCO Park, Camden Yards, Progressive Field)
Family & Safeco Field (9/30/10)
Tim’s little brother, Kellan, was born in July and there was no way that I was going to allow him to miss out on meeting the Mariners during the first baseball season of his life. And there was no way Kellan was going to experience his first game anywhere but Safeco Field. So, as the season drew to a close, we found ourselves in Seattle.
Kellan’s first game was slated for Friday, October 1, 2010.
But we were in town a couple days early to visit my family and the Mariners were playing. There was no way that Tim and I were gonna miss out. On Thursday, September 30, 2010, we gathered up my mom, dad, and brother Jason, and headed down to Safeco Field.
We had Colleen’s sister’s family in town with us and a lot going on, so we headed down late and missed batting practice. When we arrived, no one was on the field. So, we headed to the play area…
…Tim always enjoys the Safeco Field play area. When he finished up playing, we found the Mariners Moose nearby…
…and posed for a picture with him in his little Moose den.
Next, we figured we better head over to the Mariners dugout to see what was going on with our Mariners. And that’s when we saw one of the prettiest sights we’d seen all season:
Ah, beautiful Safeco Field. We love this place.
Other than Chone Figgins stretching down the RF line, none of the players were on the field. But we did see some of the Mariners top brass…
….President & COO Chuck Armstrong. “Hmmm,” I wondered, “what’s up with Chuck.”
After a bit, there were a bunch of Mariners warming up down the RF line. Tim and I headed over there…
…and we were essentially the only people around when Greg Halman finished playing catch. I called out, “Hey, Greg!” He turned around and fired the ball to us.
Thanks, Greg!
It was just minutes until game time, so we reported to our seats in RF. We picked RF because the week day crowds had been tiny lately at Safeco Field and we figured our chances of getting near a homerun ball would be decent. Also, as an added bonus, we’d been near Ichiro.
Speaking of Ichiro. Turns out Chuck Armstrong was in the dugout because he was getting ready to present Ichiro with some awards of some sort…
….for being the first Major Leaguer to collect 200 hits for ten straight seasons.
We were pretty busy chatting and generally having a good time during the game, so I did a pretty shabby job at getting action shots. But we’ll do our best to take you through the night.
Here was our crew…an excellent bunch of ballgame companions (note that Tim was busy eating a hot pile of nachos)…
…and here was our view of Ichiro as he played catch with Franklin Gutierrez between innings.
And this was our view of the game from Section 109, Row 25, seats 5-9:
Now is that a great looking ballpark or what? By the way, Row 25 is the third row back from the field in RF at Safeco.
As for the game, it started off nicely. It was the A’s and the Mariners. Doug Fister took on Gio Gonzalez. Both pitchers were “on” at the beginning. Despite some hits by both teams through the early innings (including a first inning single for Ichiro (his 209th hit of the season)), the game was scoreless through four innings.
It was a lot cooler at this game than we were used to while attending games in the northeast. So, a couple innings into the game, my mom, Tim and I visited the M’s team store and I got a great deal on a new Mariners sweatshirt for Tim.
On the way back to our seats, we decided to walk by the Mariners bullpen.
I noticed something interesting, something that I’d never noticed before…
…a little cut out at the front of the M’s bullpen mound with a flat ground pitching rubber. That was a new one on me.
As I stood at the fence starring at my camera’s LCD screen and taking some of the worst and most blurry pictures of all time of Ichiro batting…
…my mom mentioned, “Hey, Ryan Rowland-Smith just looked over at you. Hey, Ryan Rowland-Smith is walking over here.”
I looked away from my camera, and there was Mr. RRS.
Hey, Ryan!
It was great to catch up with RRS. It was interesting to chat about what it was like in the clubhouse as the Mariners were 97 losses into the season and four days away from the off-season. It was also cool to get a sneak preview into his very interesting training plans for the off-season. I felt a bit bad seeing RRS watching the game from the bullpen after a tough season. And I was hoping I’d get a chance to see him pitch once more and close out the season on a positive note. While it wouldn’t happen at this game, I would get my chance.
Soon, we headed back to our seats. It was time for a chocolate cihp cookie dough ice cream helmet…
…but as things got sweet for Tim, they got sour for the Mariners.
Between the fifth and sixth innings, Doug Fister gave up 6 runs and Brian Sweeney gave up the seventh run of the game. Quickly, our pitchers’ dual turned ugly.
But after 97 losses, we were used to seeing the M’s trailing their opponent and we were able to still have a good time…
…as we watched the Mariners on the way to their 98th loss of the season. Hey, check out that great new sweatshirt on Tim. Its a zip-up with a teal inner hood. Very nice.
(By the way, I made Tim take off his new sweatshirt and wear his old green sweatshirt to eat his ice cream helmet. That guy is sloppy with the ice cream.)
It was also very nice to be hanging out behind Ichiro:
And, of course, it was nice to get a chance to snap a picture of the Greg Halman ball:.
Speaking of Greg Halman, he made an outstanding diving catch in left field. In fact, it was such a nice, high speed diving catch…
…that he broke his belt in the process.
After Halman’s catch, I figured I should go back over by the bullpen to snap a shot of Halman. While I was there, I also snapped a picture of the Mariners’ mop-headed September call-up, Dan Cortes…
…interestingly, five days later with the season concluded, we were getting ready to board our airplane back to Pennsylvania while Mr. Cortes was getting ready to board his flight back home to the Los Angeles area. (FYI, the white and red arrow is pointing to my brother and parents).
Well, we made it to the 8th inning. It was still 7-0 A’s, and despite fairly empty seats, we’d managed to go the whole game without catching a homerun.
And then, the perfect opportunity arose…and I totally botched it.
With two outs in the top of the 8th inning, Chad Pennington hit a homerun in our direction. I had an open lane to the ailse. It seemed like it was going to land 5-10 rows behind us and right on the aisle. I bolted to the aisle and headed up three rows. Then the ball totally died. I turned around but couldn’t make it back to “the spot.” The spot, sadly, was precisely at the aisle seat…
….in THE ROW IN WHICH I WAS JUST SITTING. It was right there, on my side of the green railing. RIGHT THERE! Had I stayed put, I could have caught it easily.
I still had a chance. Someone bobbled the ball. I made a dive for it down the stairs while passing under that railing, which ultimately resulted in several flesh wounds and two large buises but no baseball.
Aye, aye, aye…
Oh, well. while I really would like to catch a game homerun some day, I would much, much, MUCH prefer that it not be a homerun off of the Mariners.
Anyway, it was moving into the 9th inning. Tim and I decided to head over to the 3B dugout in hopes of getting our hands on our first ever Safeco Field umpire ball.
Here was our first view as Anthony Varvaro pitched to Kevin Kouzmanoff…
…the white arrow is pointing to my brother and parents. We were in the concourse standing room area for that picture.
A few minutes later, we mae it to the first row right on the umpire tunnel, but an usher told us we couldn’t sit in the “charter” seats. I asked her how far back we had to go. Row 11 was acceptable.
So, this was our view from the 11th row of Ichi’s final at bat of the night when,…
…after a hard foul liner right over our heads, he smacked a single for his 210th hit of the season.
After the final out of the game — and an 8-1 loss — home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman handed a beautiful rubbed up baseball to Tim (pictured below). It was the 105th baseball in the “Todd & Tim Baseball Partners Era.” Our next baseball would be our first of the “Todd, Tim & Kellan 3-Man Baseball Team Era.”
It was a miserable loss, but it was great being back at Safeco Field and it was great spending the evening with my family.
On the walk back to my brother and parents in RF, an usher took this excellent shot of me and my boy
...
…and then…
…another usher took this excellent shot of all of us.
As we left the park, I was excited to know that we’d be walking back into the park less than 24 hours later for the first game of Kellan’s life!
2010 Fan Stats:
27 Games
20 Teams (Mariners, Orioles, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Angels, Twins, Athletics, White Sox, Indians and Yankees; Phillies, Dodgers, Pirates, Braves, Mets, Brewers, Padres, Giants, Nationals and Marlins)
23 Ice Cream Helmets (Mariners (1), Orioles (4), Phillies (3), Padres (2), Pirates (2), Mets, Dodgers, Athletics, Nationals (2), Indians, Yankees)
62 Baseballs (13 Mariners, 2 Angels, 3 Athletics, 3 Brewers, 4 Nationals, 2 Blue Jays, 10 Umpires, 2 Phillies, 1 Mets, 4 Braves, 2 Orioles, 1 Dodgers, 1 Padres, 1 Giants, 2 Twins, 1 White Sox, 7 Easter Eggs, 1 Yankees, 2 Marlins)
13 Stadiums (Safeco Field, Camden Yards, Citizens Bank Park, Nationals Park, Citi Field, PNC Park, Oakland-Alameda County Stadium, Dodgers Stadium, PETCO Park, Angel Stadium of Anaheim, AT&T Park, Progressive Field, Yankee Stadium)
15 Player Photos (Jamie Moyer, Ryan Rowland-Smith (2), Omar Vizquel, Chad Cordero, Mike Cameron, Joel Piniero, Frank Catalanotto, Billy Wagner, Jeff Suppan, Tommy Hanson, Jered Weaver, Jay Buente, Brian Sanches and Scott Olsen)
2 Retired Player Photos (Jim Palmer, Bert Blyleven)
1 Umpire Photo (“Cowboy” Joe West)
10 Autographs (Ryan Rowland-Smith (2), Omar Vizquel, Chad Cordero, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Joel Piniero, Frank Catalanotto (2), Billy Wagner (2), Jeff Suppan, Tommy Hanson, Jeff Weaver, Brian Sanches and Scott Olsen)
8 Kids Run The Bases (Citizens Bank Park, 2 Nationals Park, Citi Field, PNC Park, PETCO Park, Camden Yards, Progressive Field)
MyGameBalls.com Photo Scavenger Hunt
We record the baseballs we catch at MLB games on MyGameBalls.com, an excellent site created last year by Alan Schuster.
On March 29, 2010, Alan announced a contest for the 2010 season: The 2010 MyGameBalls.com Photo Scavenger Hunt Contest.
Alan created a list of twenty photos participants should try to collect while inside MLB stadiums during the 2010 season:
On April 4, 2010, we published our 2010 Cook & Son Baseball Agenda and goals, including goal number 19: “Win MyGameBalls.com photo-scavenger hunt.“
So, we wrote down the list (actually, we mistakenly only wrote down 19 of the 20 photos) in the trusty notebook that we’d eventually carry with us to 29 games at 13 stadiums in 2010…
…and we set out to collect the scavenger hunt photos.
Actually, we got off to a slow start. Both Tim and I fist bumped players in April and May, but I could never get a picture of it. Finally, without realizing it, we got our first scavenger hunt photo in Baltimore on May 11, 2010, when we recreated a picture of the first time Tim and I met Zack Hample…
…who of course isn’t just in the Top 10, he is No. 1 on the MyGameBalls.com all-time list. An excellent night, we got our first scavenger hunt picture and watched our first Mariners win of the season.
In Pittsburgh, Tim and I bought a white headband and inscribed it with “MyGameBalls.com,” but we never got the picture. Instead, we kept the headband handy and finally got the picture when we were back in Baltimore on June 5, 2010…
…when we witnessed Red Sox Nation’s invasion of Camden Yards.
We got our third scavenger hunt photo on the same night and like our first photo, we didn’t even realize we got it until a couple days after the fact. You see, we met a couple great guys (actually a whole great family), Todd and Tim Dixon a/k/a “Todd (HI)” and “Teemo” at this game. We “knew” Todd (HI) and Teemo from our blog comments and it was great to finally meet them in person. However, they arrived right at game time and totally missed BP. At the end of the game, Tim, Teemo and Teemo’s sister, Jessica, went for umpire baseballs. Victor Carapazza gave Tim a baseball, but the Dixon’s came up empty handed at their first and only game at Camden Yards. Tim got a baseball during BP, so we gave his umpire ball from Carapazza to Teemo so he would have a baseball from Camden Yards…
…at the time, Teemo was 8 years old.
A few days later, we flew to California and met up with my Dad for the Third Annual Cook Grandfather-Father-Son Baseball Roadtrip. At our first game of the trip in Oakland on June 9, 2010, we secured our fourth picture when Tim met and high-fived Stomper:
We really tried to take advantage of the roadtrip. Our goal was to get a scavenger hunt picture at each game. On June 10, 2010, we were still in Oakland when we got this picture with Jered Weaver…
…this was an interesting picture because it wasn’t a scavenger hunt qualifying picture at the time it was taken. The 2010 All-Star team had not been set yet. However, with a little gaming of the system, a month later, Joe Girardi helped us secure the all-star picture when he named Weaver — who by rule could not pitch in the all-star game because he pitched the last game of the first half of the season — as a “replacement” for C.C. Sabbathia who also could not pitch for the same reason. Weaver was ultimately replaced on the active all-star roster by Andrew Bailey.
A few minutes later, we were able to get Tim’s picture with former Mariners pitcher, Joel Piniero…
…and I flat out told/asked Joel, “we’re in a photo scavenger hunt, could we get your picture fist bumping my son?” Joel is awesome. Of course, he obliged.
On June 11, 2010 in Los Angeles (actual Los Angeles, not Anaheim), Joel pitched a gem to beat the Dodgers in the “freeway series,” and there were just enough Angels fans in attendance to help me mock-celebrate this homerun by Howie Kendrick…
…who can be seen between second base and third base. Just for kicks, we got this picture again late in the season (see inset picture).
On June 12, 2010, we were in San Diego and Tim was wearing his Mariners uniform (complete with baseball pants and stirrup-looking socks) when we got this picture in the bleacher-beach…
…I included the second picture (to the right above), which was taken a couple days later in San Francisco to show Tim’s stirrup-socks. This was actually a tough picture to pick which one I would submit. I actually took this picture where Tim is standing in the bleacher seats behind the beach for the competition, but you couldn’t actually tell his pants were baseball pants. So I went with the one in the beach section of the bleachers where it was more evident that they were baseball pants.
The following day, were were back at Petco Park when we got what I considered to be possibly the hardest picture in the contest…
…a picture with 3B umpire “Cowboy” Joe West. This picture came about in an odd way. Home plate umpire Angel Hernandez gave Tim the baseball he is holding in the picture after Felix Hernandez won an absolute gem of a game. West then snatched the baseball out of Tim’s hands and exited through the umpire tunnel. West then came back laughing and gave the ball back to Tim. I pounced on the opportunity to ask him for a picture. He was more than happy to oblige.
Back in Pennsylvania, we headed to Citizens Bank Park on June 20, 2010 (Phathers’ Day), and we came away with two more scavenger hunt pictures. The first was with a Phillies Ballgirl named Bridgette…
…originally, Tim was too shy to get his picture with Bridgette. But I told him it would help us win the contest and then he was all over it. After he saw Bridgette run on the field to catch a foul grounder, he ended up quite enjoying that he met a ballgirl. In fact, the next week, he asked if he could get his picture with another Phillies ballgirl, Brittany.
After the Phathers’ Day game, Twins hitting coach Joe Vavra tossed us a Target Field commemorative baseball…
…resulting in this scavenger hunt qualifying photo (note: also pictured is the Father’s Day blue wrist band that we received from Twins bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek).
On June 26, 2010, the Phillies were “on the road” in Philadelphia to face off against the home town Blue Jays and we made our way to the Great White North for the game. Due to the flip-flopping of the BP order (the home team Blue Jays hit first) and the unbridaled awesomeness of Jamie Moyer…
…we got my favorite picture of the entire competition: a picture with Jamie Moyer, age 47. FYI, Moyer is my favorite pitcher of all-time. In August in Baltimore, Tim got his picture with Omar Visquel, who is also a former-Mariner still playing in MLB over the age of 40.
On July 22, 2010, we were in Baltimore once again and we hooked up with Hall of Famer and, more importantly, baseball TV reporter/personality Jim Palmer…
…after getting a normal picture with Palmer, I asked if we could also get one shaking hands. We clapsed hands in a traditional hand shake, and then Palmer switched it up with the “cooler” hand shake featured in the picture. Palmer is one cool dude.
During this same game, we purchased the first funnel cake of Tim’s life and snagged this picture…
…after this picture, we’ll stick with ice cream helmets.
On August 8, 2010, we met the Sultan of Swat, George Herman “Babe” Ruth himself, in Baltimore…
…and I snapped this picture as he gave Tim his autograph. The Babe retired in 1935, well before the 1990 cut off for this scavenger hunt photo.
On August 20, 2010, we were in New York and we were equipped with Tim’s cousin’s Kate’s pink backpack…
Real men wear pink.
On September 6, 2010, Tim and I pulled an I-95 day/night doubleheader. We were in Washington, D.C. in the morning when we got this shot of Livan Hernandez…
…and finally I was able to capture a baseball sailing toward us in a photo. Thanks, Livan!
On September 12, 2010 (game not yet written up), we celebrated Tim’s Fourth MLB Anniversary at Nationals Park. The Dallas Cowboys would take on the Washington Redskins later in the day and when we spotted this fan in the LF seats during pre-game warm-ups (no BP)…
…we finally got our “non-baseball professional jersey” picture.
And so we entered September 18, 2010 (game not yet written up), having checked off all but one of the photos in our little spiral notebook. Unfortunately, I realized I had failed to include one of the pictures in my notes — an usher cutting a ball retrieving device. The last two pictures would be difficult because we’ve never made or used a “device” and we’d been searching for a mulleted fan all month to no avail.
It was looking bleak, but then an odd twist of fate signaled that this night was *our* night. Just before the game started, I realized that I had a pair of craft scissors in my back pocket (I’d used them earlier in the day while helping my wife with a project). So, we had to get it done.
I kept my eyes wide open in hopes that a guy who was all business-in-front and party-in-back would cross our path. We were thrilled when this kind beer man came peddling his goods by our seats…
…I simply approached him and said excitedly, “Hey, can I get a picture with you beer man!?” He was more than happy to give me a picture and a high-five turned awkward hand clasp.
Earlier in the afternoon, Camden Yards regular and all-around good guy, Avi Miller, gave me a tip on who to approach regarding the “device” picture. First, we had a figure out how to rig a “device” for the staged photo…
…and when we found “Ms. Kelly,” she was happy to meet someone who knew Avi, and just as happy to help us out with our 20th and final photo.
Shortly after this last game, I notified Alan Schuster that we’d completed all of the photos.
On September 27, 2010, Alan announced the official results on MyGameBalls.com: “Cook & Son Crowned Scavenger Hunt Champions.”
On October 8, 2010, our prize (an MLB.com gift card) arrived in the mail. And we were happy to find that Alan had included some “hardware” suitable for framing:
(Note: in real life, the certificate looks much better than it does here — this is a photo (not a scan) of the certificate and the washed out part at the top is the flash).
Thanks, Alan!
He had a ton of fun trying to collect these pictures while at the ballpark in season. We are definitely looking forward to having fun trying to defend our Championship in 2011.
100 Baseballs
Tim and I have a blast going to MLB games (particularly, of course, Mariners games).
I am a goal-oriented guy and I’ll admit that I set all sorts of goals for things that I would like Tim to experience at games. I’ll also admit (as I must) that I have always loved catching a baseball in the stands at a game. However, other than some very basic things (e.g., I’d really love for us to catch a game homerun or a game foul ball), I don’t really set goals related to catching baseballs at games.
Basically, we just show up for BP and hope to find a baseball in our glove by the end of the night. Often times, after we get a baseball during BP, we leave the field level to go explore the stadium during the rest of BP over visit the kids’ play area.
But things changed a little over the past few weeks: I set a goal.
It all started on September 12, 2006. Tim got his first baseball from Davis Romero…
…at his first game ever. He was about seven months old. About 3 years and 10 months later, we had collected about 80 baseballs.
Now, Tim thinks that “100″ is just about the biggest and best number ever. When trying to describe something *HUGE*, Tim often invokes the number 100 (e.g., “It was ONE HUNDRED BIG!”)
So, one day I noticed on the MyGameBalls.com milestone tracker that it said *we* were approaching the 100 baseball milestone. On MyGameBalls.com, Tim and I are signed up as a two-person team. I started thinking that it would be cool if we could get to 100 baseballs before our little 2-man team takes on a third teammate on October 1, 2010, when Tim’s little brother Kellan makes his MLB debut at Safeco Field.
Still, it was a long shot. In fact, there is no way it would have happened if not for the fact that we lucked out in Cleveland a couple weeks ago by finding seven “Easter Eggs” (our first and only ever) before witnessing a wonderful Mariners win over the Tribe. All of a sudden, with just about a month to go before Kellan’s first game, it became an actual possibility that Tim and I might acheive the century mark before Kellan joins our MLB exploration squad.
Well, on September 12, 2010, sitting on 98 baseballs, we headed to Washington, D.C., for Tim’s 4th Annual MLB Anniversary Game. I thought it would be incredibly cool to reach the 100 baseball milestone on Tim’s MLB annivesary, which is always one of the highlights of the season for us.
There was no BP due to the soggy weather conditions. Nevertheless, quite possibly the very first baseball to find its way into the stands traveled from the pitching hand of Florida Marlin Alex Sanabia…
…to the happy little hands of this guy:
…and that made 99.
About 40 minutes later, Marlins pitcher Jay Buente finished playing catch with his partner down the LF line. He started walking back toward the bullpen baseball bag. But then he took a hard left turn, walked our way, and deposited the big number 1-0-0 right here:
And Buente was kind enough to stick around to pose for a picture with Tim:
By the way, Tim has the milestone baseball in his left hand in that picture.
After Buente went on his way, Tim held up the baseball up and proclaimed with joy “We’ve got *one hundred* baseballs!!” [BTW, he said that if we can get six more we will have *one million* baseballs!)
I grew up in a different era and did not get my first baseball until I was around 12 years old, after attending countless games at the Kingdome. Thus, when we went to Tim's first game four years ago, I never imagined we would have 100 baseballs four years later.
Although "100" seems like a ton of baseballs, each one has been special to us. We haven't forgotten a detail about how any of these 100 baseballs came into our hands. To every player, coach, trainer, umpire and stadium attendant who has picked Tim out as a worthy recipient of an official MLB baseball, each of you made our day and we offer a very sincere:
Thank you!!!
Let's take a look at Tim's collection (click to enlarge):
From left-to-right, top-to-bottom, here is a run down of Tim's 100 baseballs:
- Davis Romero (Blue Jays) - BP toss up at Safeco Field. (Sept. 12, 2006).
- Unidentified Blue Jay* - BP toss up at Safeco Field (Sept. 12, 2006).
- Brandon Morrow (Mariners) - Toss up during rain delay (Aug. 9, 2007).
- Glenallen Hill (Rockies) - In-game toss up at Citizens Bank Park (Sept. 12, 2007).
- Chris Perez (Cardinals) - BP toss up at Great American Ball Park (Aug. 15, 2008).
- Danny Bautista (Pirates) - Pre-game toss up at PNC Park (Aug. 18, 2008).
- Jarrod Washburn (Mariners) - In-game toss up at Safeco Field (May 1, 2009).
- Unidentified Mariner - BP homerun caught on fly at Safeco Field (May 4, 2009).
- Unidentified Ranger - BP homerun snagged on bounce at Safeco Field (May 4, 2009).
- Ian Kinsler (Rangers) - Pre-game toss up at Safeco Field (May 5, 2009).
- Jimmy Rollins (Phillies) - Pre-game toss up at Nationals Park (May 17, 2009).
- Baltimore Police Officer - BP toss up Camden Yards (June 10, 2009).
- Guillermo Quiroz (Mariners) - BP tossup at Camden Yards (June 10, 2009).
- Jason Phillips (Mariners) - Pre-game toss at Camden Yards (June 10, 2009).
- Jim Joyce (Umpire) - First umpire baseball - Camden Yards (June 28, 2009).
- Jason Phillips (Mariners) - In-game toss up at Yankee Stadium (July 2, 2009).
- Jason Phillips (Mariners) - Autographed post-game at Yankee Stadium (July 2, 2009).
- Jason Phillips (Mariners) - BP toss up at Fenway Park (July 3, 2009).
- Lee Tinsley (Mariners) - Pre-game toss up from dugout at Fenway Park (July 3, 2009).
- Bullpen Attendant (Red Sox) - Post-game toss up from Red Sox bullpen (July 3, 2009).
- Erik Bedard (Mariners) - Pre-game at Fenway Park (King Felix Auto) (July 4, 2009).
- Jason Phillips (Mariners) - BP Green Monster toss up at Fenway park (July 5, 2009).
- Erik Bedard (Mariners) - BP toss up at Fenway Park (July 5, 2009).
- Nelson Robledo (Nationals) - In-game toss up at Nationals Park (July 19, 2009).
- Ronny Cedeno (Pirates) - GFS BP toss up at Wrigley Field (Aug. 14, 2009).
- Unidentified Twin (Twins) - GFS BP toss up at H.H.H. Metrodome (Aug. 15, 2009).
- Bud Norris (Astros) - GFS BP toss up at Miller Park (Aug. 16, 2009).
- Willie Bloomquist (Royals) - GFS BP toss up at U.S. Cellular Field (Aug. 17, 2009).
- David Aardsma (Mariners) - BP toss up at Progressive Field (Aug. 22, 2009).
- Stadium Attendant (Indians) - BP baseball at Progressive Field (Aug. 22, 2009).
- Jason Phillips (Mariners) - Pre-game at Progressive Field (Aug. 22, 2009).
- Stadium Attendant (Yankees) - In-game BP baseball (Sept. 12, 2009).
- Stadium Attendant (Mariners) - In-game from Safeco Field bullpen (Sept. 17, 2009).
- Jason Phillips (Mariners) - In-game toss up at Safeco Field (Sept. 17, 2009).
- Garrett Olson (Mariners) - Pre-game toss up at Rogers Centre (Sept. 26, 2009).
- Brandon Morrow (Mariners) - Pre-game toss up at Rogers Centre (Sept. 26, 2009).
- Ryan Rowland-Smith (Mariners) - Toss up to Tim at Rogers Centre (Sept. 26, 2009).
- Jason Phillips (Mariners) - Post-game toss up at Rogers Centre (Sept. 26, 2009).
- Jose Cruz, Sr. (Astros) - BP toss up at Citi Field (Oct. 3, 2009).
- Strech Suba (Astros) - Pre-game toss up at Citi Field (Oct. 3, 2009).
- Damien Beal (Umpire) - Post-game at Citi Field (Oct. 3, 2009).
- Jeremy Accardo (Blue Jays) - BP toss up at Camden Yards (Oct. 4, 2009).
- Todd Tichenor (Umpire) - Post-game (end of season) at Camden Yards (Oct. 4, 2009).
- Cito Gaston (Blue Jays) - Pre-game toss up at Camden Yards (April 10, 2010).
- Edwin Encarnacion (Blue Jays) - BP toss up at Camden Yards (April 10, 2010).
- "Cowboy" Joe West (Umpire) - BP at Camden Yards (April 10, 2010).
- Julian Martinez (Nationals) - Pre-game toss up at Nationals Park (April 18, 2010).
- Stadium Attendant - BP toss up at Nationals Park (April 18, 2010).
- Stadium Attendant - BP toss up at Nationals Park (April 18, 2010).
- Stadium Attendant - Pre-game at Nationals Park (April 18, 2010).
- Jim Lett (Nationals) - In-game toss up from bullpen (April 18, 2010).
- Mike Everitt (Umpire) - Post-game at Nationals Park (April 18, 2010).
- LaTroy Hawkins (Brewers) - Post-game toss up at Nationals Park (April 18, 2010).
- Bruce Dreckman (Umpire) - Post-game at Citi Field (April 24, 2010).
- J.C. Romero (Phillies) - BP toss up at Citizens Bank Park (May 1, 2010).
- Dave Racaniello (Mets) - Post-game toss up at Citizens Bank Park (May 1, 2010).
- Unidentified Mariner - 26th-out toss up at Camden Yards (May 11, 2010).
- John Wetteland (Mariners) - Post-game toss up at Camden Yards (May 11, 2010).
- Billy Wagner (Braves) - Pre-game toss up at PNC Park (May 22, 2010).
- Melky Cabrera (Braves) - BP toss up at PNC Park (May 23, 2010).
- Brian Snitker (Braves) - BP toss up at PNC Park (May 23, 2010).
- Unidentified Brave - BP foul ball grounder at PNC Park (May 23, 2010).
- Orioles Coach/Trainer - Pre-game toss up at Camden Yards (June 5, 2010).
- Victor Carapazza (Umpire)* - Post-game at Camden Yards (June 5, 2010).
- Stadium Attendant (A's) - Pre-game at Oakland Coliseum (June 9, 2010).
- Jered Weaver (Angels) - BP toss up at Oakland Coliseum (June 10, 2010).
- Brad Ziegler (A's) - BP toss up at Oakland Coliseum (June 10, 2010).
- Michael Wuertz (A's) - BP toss up at Oakland Coliseum (June 10, 2010).
- Justin Miller (Dodgers) - BP toss up at Dodger Stadium (June 11, 2010).
- Luke Gregerson (Padres) - BP toss up to Petco Park beach (June 12, 2010).
- Ian Snell (Mariners) - BP toss up at Petco Park (June 12, 2010).
- David Aardsma (Mariners)* - BP toss up at Petco Park (June 12, 2010 - represented by University of Hawaii baseball give to Tim by Teemo Dixon at Camden Yards).
- Brandon League (Mariners) - Pre-game toss up at Petco Park (June 13, 2010).
- Jason Phillips (Mariners) - Pre-game toss up at Petco Park (June 13, 2010).
- Angel Hernandez (Umpire) - Post-game at Petco Park (June 13, 2010).
- Unidentified Angel - BP homerun on one-bounce at Angel Stadium (June 14, 2010).
- Giants Batboy - Post-game toss up at AT&T Park (June 15, 2010).
- Joe Vavra (Twins) - Post-Game toss up Citizens Bank Park (June 20, 2010).
- Unidentified Batter (Phillies) - BP foul at Citizens Bank Park (June 26, 2010).
- Jose Mijares (Twins) - BP toss up at Camden Yards (July 22, 2010).
- William Hohn (Umpire) - Post-game at Camden Yards (July 22, 2010).
- Erick Threets (White Sox) - Pre-game toss up at Camden Yards (Aug. 8, 2010).
- Phil Cuzzi (Umpire) - Post-game at Camden Yards (Aug. 8, 2010)
- Easter Egg at Progressive Field (Aug. 14, 2010).
- Easter Egg at Progressive Field (Aug. 14, 2010).
- Easter Egg at Progressive Field (Aug. 14, 2010).
- Easter Egg at Progressive Field (Aug. 14, 2010).
- Easter Egg at Progressive Field (Aug. 14, 2010).
- Easter Egg at Progressive Field (Aug. 14, 2010).
- Easter Egg at Progressive Field (Aug. 14, 2010).
- Jamey Wright (Mariners) - Pre-game toss up at Progressive Field (Aug. 14, 2010).
- Felix Hernandez (Mariners) - Pre-game toss up at Progressive Field (Aug. 14, 2010).
- Lee Tinsely (Mariners) - Post-game toss up at Progressive Field (Aug. 14, 2010).
- Jason Vargas (Mariners) - BP toss up at Progressive Field (Aug. 15, 2010).
- Rob Nodine (Mariners Trainer) - BP toss up at Progressive Field (Aug. 15, 2010).
- Alonzo Powell (Mariners) - BP toss up at Progressive Field (Aug. 15, 2010).
- Marcus Thames (Yankees) - BP HR clean catch at Yankee Stadium (Aug. 21, 2010).
- Livan Hernandez (Nationals) - BP toss up at Nationals Park (Sept. 6, 2010).
- Alex Sanabia (Marlins) - Pre-game toss up at Nationals Park (Sept. 12, 2010).
- Jay Buente (Marlins) - Pre-game toss up at Nationals Park (Sept. 12, 2010).
[* - Baseball no. 2 was given to my cousin Janet's daughter, Julie, who celebrated her first Mariners game along side Tim; baseball no. 64 was given to Tim's Hawaiian buddy from MyGameBalls.com, Teemo Dixon; and baseball no. 72 was given to another fan at Petco Park. Pictures 2 and 64 above are actual pictures of Janet/Julie and Teemo holding baseballs 2 and 64. I didn't take a picture of baseball no. 72 before giving it away, so it is represented above by the University of Hawaii baseball that Teemo gave to Tim, which Tim keeps in a hard case along with the rest of his MLB baseballs.]
You Win Some and…(8/15/10)
On August 15, 2010, Tim and I woke up in our hotel in Cleveland ready to see the Mariners take another game from the Indians and for Tim to run the bases at Progressive Field.
But first we had to walk around downtown Cleveland a tiny bit to see what the city had to offer. Just down the street from our hotel was a big park where Tim and I rocked out on some huge guitars…
…and then we checked out a really huge “FREE” stamp, which I figured was a reference to the library nearby.
Sitting on the edge of Lake Erie and just down the hill from the park, we found this scene:
That is the Cleveland Browns Stadium (check out the huge windmill to the right of the stadium), some sort of NASA building (the domed thing), and the Rock’N'Roll Hall of Fame.
Okay, that’s enough Cleveland for us, it was time to head to Progressive Field.
We arrived shortly before Gate C opened. We were about 50 people back in the single line. After a few minutes, a stadium attendant came up to us and told us to walk up front to start a new line. So, all of a sudden, we were first in line:
It was interesting to witness the stadium workers preparing to open up the gate. It was like NASA mission control. The guy standing by us had a walkie-talkie that was *blowing up* with ready checks.
“Team store ready? “Check!”
“Suite ready” “Check!”
“Right field ramp ready?” “Check!”
Finally, all of the checks checked out and we hussled into the stadium to watch our Mariners take some BP.
All of those boxes at the gate? They were filled with mustard hot dogs…
…several weeks later, Tim still loves that hot dog. A few minutes after that pictures, young ace-in-training Jason Vargas tossed us a baseball.
Thanks, Vargas!
Tim wasn’t liking the sun beating down in RF, so we headed into the infield to hang out in the shade.
I was just hanging out watching BP and Tim was taking pictures of stuff all over the field. He loves to take pictures.
At some point, one of our fine Mariners drilled a line drive off of the L-screen and it landed in foul territory…
…Mariners trainer Rob Nodine walked over, grabbed the baseball and tossed it up to us. The baseball had really cool green marks from hitting the L-screen.
Thanks, Rob!
When BP wrapped up, Tim was sitting on my shoulders and we were shooting a video clip as all of our Mariners passed below us into the dugout. And that is when I got this clip of Alonzo Powell tossing us our third and final baseball of the game:
Thanks, Alonzo!
With BP concluded and half-an-hour or more until game time, we headed up to the second deck in RF so Tim could play in the kids’ play area…
…the sight of a major melt down last season shortly before we saw Griffey hit his 624th career homerun. Hmmm…Tim looks like a giant on that little motorcycle. He might be too big for this play area.
Before the game started, we headed back down to the field level behind the M’s dugout. During the national anthem, I got some pictures of our coaching staff including two Major League newcomers, veteran minor league coaches Daren Brown and Roger Hansen…
…along side a couple Mariners coaches who had both thrown us a baseball within the last 24 hours, Alonzo Powell and Lee Tinsley. By the way, Hansen is the same guy featured in a large scale Ken Griffey, Jr. prank during spring training. Griff and Hansen go way back. I think this is Hansen’s first stint in the majors and I hope that Griff gets out to the ballpark (any ballpark) to show his friend some major league support this season.
So, it was game time, and Tim and I found ourselves in the standing room area just behind the last row of seats on the 1B side of home plate. Yesterday, Ichiro led off the game with a quick single. Today, he never swung the bat…
…and received a four pitch walk to lead off the game. Unfortunately, he was left on 2B at the end of the inning.
It was lunch time. Amazingly, Tim did not want nachos. Instead, all he wanted was a ridiculously huge cup of french fries…
…that we ate at a table in the 1B side concourse. While Tim sat and attacked the fries, I nibbled on my fair share of fries while standing next to the table watching Felix Hernandez dominate the Indians.
With the score knotted at zero, Adam Moore grounded out in the second inning:
He’s playing an excellent catcher now-a-days. But after this game, his batting average dipped to a frighteningly low .159.
The Mariners were doing nothing offensively.
No worries. Felix Hernandez was still dominating:
Ichiro was still looking for his 151st hit of the season when he came to bat in the third inning. No dice. He grounded out:
It was time for some ice cream. We found this place in the 1B side inner concourse (the concourse on the 1B side splits into a two parts – the inside part is open to the field and the outside part is enclosed between concession stands, bathrooms, etc.).
They had ice cream helmets here and some excellent choices of real ice cream flavors…
…”Mariner” Moose Tracks, Mint Chocolate Chip, French Vanilla, Chocolate, Superman…and two others that I cannot read.
I got some “Mariner” Moose Tracks and Tim got Superman. The lady was even kind enough to scoop only blue, yellow and green for Tim (and no extreme hyperness inducing red dye no. 40 ice cream). Thanks, lady!
Tim enjoyed his Superman ice cream helmet from the handicapped accessible seating right by where we’d previously been standing in the SRO area…
…I asked if he could sit there and the usher was nice enough to allow it.
Felix, well, he was still dominating:
Actually, through four innings, we had a double no-hitter on our hands.
Finally, in the top of the 5th Casey Kotchman broke through with the Mariners first hit of the game, a leadoff double to deep CF. At this point, our ice cream was gone and Tim was wrapped up in playing with his new mustard hot dog…
…note that in the bottom center and right pictures, Tim is showing me that the mustard hot dog is eating and spitting sunflower seeds.
While Tim was busy with the mustard hot dog, the Mariners were busy trying to scratch out a run or two for King Felix. And, despite their best efforts, it wasn’t going too well for the M’s.
With runners on first and second, Michael Saunders attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt…
…but Indians pitcher Justin Masterson was able to get the lead runner at 3B.
After Chris Woodward walked to load the bases with one out, Ichiro absolutely crushed a line drive…
…that Indians first baseman Matt LaPorta snared for the second out. It had extra bases and 2 RBIs written all over it! Chone Figgins then laid down another failed bunt for the third out of the inning.
Still, no runs for the Mariners.
Luckily, Felix was still dominating the Indians:
Sure, he gave up a hit in the fifth and another in the sixth, but he was looking pretty unstoppable.
If the M’s could just scrape out one run, we would have been feeling really good about our chances at seeing a second straight Mariners win.
Tim needed to visit the play area again. And he tossed some foamy baseballs into this pitching thingy:
Since we were up in the second deck in RF, we figured we better revisit the spot where we witnessed Ken Griffey, Jr.’s 624th career homerun. Everything looked beautiful from up there…
…except that Griffey was retired and not in attenance.
I noticed that the walkway went out over Gate C (in fact, this walkway is what we tried to take cover under during the rainstorm the day before) and then turned left and headed toward Heritage Park. So, we followed it. This was the view from the walkway in almost straight-away CF:
It was a beautiful day. We were witnessing an excellent pitchers duel. We were excited to be at the ballpark:
We decided to go down and visit Heritage Park. I saw this hanging on the wall, and it looked new to me, so I figured I should share it here…
…if you click on the picture you can enlarge it so you can read The Ray Chapman Story.
While down there, we spied on the Indians reliever…
…Masterson lasted only six innings and then Tony Sipp took over for the Tribe.
It was getting into the bottom of the seventh at this point. We headed to the bleachers in LF. Felix still had no run support, but he was still looking unhittable.
The first batter in the bottom of the seventh flew out to Franklin Gutierrez.
The second batter grounded out to short stop.
And then things took a disasterous turn. King Felix induced former Mariner Luis Valbuena to ground to 2B. But instead of recording the third out of the inning, Chone Figgins booted the ball.
It was nightmare time. Felix should have been out of the inning. The Mariners should have been batting in the top of the 8th. Instead, the Indians proceeded to score SEVEN UNEARNED RUNS. Six unearned runs were *charged* to Felix, including a grand slam by Travis Hafner. Then Sean White came in and gave up the final unearned run of the inning — a homerun by Jayson Nix.
Stick a fork in the Mariners. After a dominating 6.2 inning performance by King Felix, the Mariners were done.
Felix’s line on the day:
6.2 innings, 6 Hits, 6 Runs, 0 Earned Runs, 4 BB, 7K
We headed into the infield for the end of the game. We found some seats under cover where I got some close-up shots of some Mariners throw-away at bats…including, Russell Branyan…
…watching a low pitch en route to a four pitch walk in the top of the 8th.
And Jose Lopez fouling off a pitch…
…before hitting a single to RF, which sent Branyan to 2B. Branyan would go on to score the Mariners only run of the game on an infield single by Franklin Gutierrez.
Tim loves a kids show called “Team Umizoomi,” which has taught him to have “pattern power.” Tim grabbed my camera and showed off his pattern power with alternating shots of his mustard hot dog and the infield…
In the eighth, the Indians tacked on two more runs on a homerun by Michael Brantley, who by all indications appears to be the son of former Mariner Mickey Brantley…who happens to be the first person to ever give me a baseball…way back in my youth at the Kingdome.
Like yesterday, we found ourselves sitting in the front row behind home plate in the ninth inning. It was interesting to watch the home plate cameraman switch camera positions each time a different handed batter came to the plate…
…for righties he moved to the left side of home plate and then he switched to the right side when a lefty came to bat.
The game ended with little fan fare.
Once again, a million kids of all age materialized at the umpires’ exit and the home plate umpire ignored everyone.
We headed over to the Mariners dugout to cheer on our non-victorious guys and to pose for a picture:
I guess Tim is posing with his non-existent umpire baseball.
Finally, it was time to line up for Kids Run the Bases! Exactly 1 year and 363 days ago, Tim, my Dad, and I lined up in this very ballpark for our first ever Kids Run the Bases experience. We had to go almost to the top of the stadium to find the end of the line…
…you can’t really tell in that picture, but the line weaved back and forth up all of those ramps shown in the picture.
I was interested to see something while in line. When we ran the bases on August 17, 2008, we passed by a sign in the bowels of Progressive Field that notified us that it has been “19″ days since the Indians last “Lost Time Accident.” I was interested to see how many days they were at now. My math powers (just like Team Umizoomi) told me that the most days it could possibly be up to was 747 (August 17, 2008 to August 15, 2010 + 19 days = (365 x 2) – 2 + 19 = 747).
The suspense mounted as we wound our way down and down and down into the belly of Progressive Field. Finally, we reached the bottom. We turned the final corner and walked into a machine storage / random work stuff area and found the sign:
Let’s hear it for on-the-job safety!
Finally, we were on the RF foul warning track. We got some nice person to take our picture by the 325 sign…
…just like the one my dad took 728 days earlier. Tim has grown a bit in the past two years.
Then, I had a terrible idea: I would video Tim’s run around the bases. I’ve done this a couple times to moderate success. This time, my filming was a complete failure (well, of the running the bases portion at least, the lead up to the bases is okay). Here is the evidence:
One cool thing that is hard to tell from this video is that there were several Indians stationed on the field giving kids high fives — one by 1B (not sure who) and one at home plate (manager Manny Acta).
After running, we strolled by the 3B dugout and I got pictures of the fancy dugout seating between the two dugouts and behind home plate (to the left below)…
…and the Indians dugout (right above).
After running the bases and before we could meet up behind the plate, Tim scratched his finger on the metal fence in front of the dugout seating area. It was a teeny, tiny little scratch, but you would have thought his whole arm was ripped off. Here he is *gutting out* one last picture from the field…
…as he holds out his injured pinky to avoid touching anything with it. When we arrived back at our hotel, we applied a huge adult sized band-aid that really did the trick.
Before leaving the field, I got this panorama from foul territory down the 3B line:
And then I walked us back to our hotel with Tim on my shoulders. On our way back, we (once again) discussed this burnt out building a couple blocks north of the stadium (far left below)…
…this rock-with-a-tongue (middle), and I got a picture of us walking (reflection in windows).
Despite the bizzare 7-unearned run inning and the loss following a dominating performance by King Felix, we had a great time at this game and on our entire weekend trip to Cleveland.
2010 Fan Stats:
21 Games
18 Teams (Mariners, Orioles, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Angels, Twins, Athletics, White Sox and Indians; Phillies, Dodgers, Pirates, Braves, Mets, Brewers, Padres, Giants, and Nationals)
17 Ice Cream Helmets (Orioles (3), Phillies (2), Padres (2), Pirates (2), Mets, Dodgers, Athletics, Nationals, Indians)
53 Baseballs (12 Mariners, 2 Angels, 3 Athletics, 3 Brewers, 3 Nationals, 2 Blue Jays, 7 Umpires, 2 Phillies, 1 Mets, 4 Braves, 1 Orioles, 1 Dodgers, 1 Padres, 1 Giants, 2 Twins, 1 White Sox, 7 Easter Eggs)
11 Stadiums (Camden Yards, Citizens Bank Park, Nationals Park, Citi Field, PNC Park, Oakland-Alameda County Stadium, Dodgers Stadium, PETCO Park, Angel Stadium of Anaheim, AT&T Park, Progressive Field)
13 Player Photos (Jamie Moyer, Ryan Rowland-Smith (2), Omar Vizquel, Chad Cordero, Mike Cameron, Joel Piniero, Frank Catalanotto, Billy Wagner, Jeff Suppan, Tommy Hanson, Jered Weaver and Scott Olsen)
2 Retired Player Photos (Jim Palmer, Bert Blyleven)
1 Umpire Photo (“Cowboy” Joe West)
9 Autographs (Ryan Rowland-Smith (2), Omar Vizquel, Chad Cordero, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Joel Piniero, Frank Catalanotto (2), Billy Wagner (2), Jeff Suppan, Tommy Hanson, Jeff Weaver and Scott Olsen)
7 Kids Run The Bases (Citizens Bank Park, Nationals Park, Citi Field, PNC Park, PETCO Park, Camden Yards, Progressive Field)
Cook & Son Bats
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