I left for the game at 1, the game was scheduled for 8.  The Yankees were giving the fans the opportunity to walk on the field from 1-4.  I had did this back in August and the Mrs. had no desire to walk on the field.  

Our first picture of the day in the parking garage.

When we arrived at the Stadium we parked in the garage and then took a walk around the Stadium for one last time.  I showed Jess the new Stadium and picked up a bunch of programs for the guys over at sportscollectors.net.

We headed over to River Avenue at 3, and waited for the bleachers to open at 4.  I spotted Jim Leyritz across the avenue and received an autograph from him while Jess held our place in line.

Upon entering the bleachers I was surprised to see a lot of people already in the bleachers. Apparently after they walked on the field, they headed to their seats in the bleachers.  Batting practice had not yet started, so I assembled “Cup Trick 2.0″ as a few fans watched.  I sat Jess in the first row of the bleachers and began to look for a spot on the wall to either use “Cup Trick 2.0″ or to catch a ball during BP.  

A lady wearing a DiMaggio t-shirt was nice enough to make room for me, and it would pay off for her later.  The view of BP with the DiMaggio lady on the left.

Read on.

I had my first opportunity to use the cup when a fan dropped a ball thrown by Mariano Rivera into the gap.  See the gap below.

I quickly snagged this one, and to my amazement I was the only one with a cup trying for it.  A second ball was hit into the gap, and when I went for it a cop who was assigned to the bleachers beat me to it.  Oh well.  I had one already, and that was all I was really looking for.  

A third ball made it’s way into the gap and I retrieved it with the cup and gave it to the lady with the DiMaggio t-shirt.  I had a new best friend.  

Here’s the ball I gave to her.

A fourth ball was hit into the gap a little while later, and I ran over to it with the intention of giving that one away too, when I spied something different about this ball.  It was an All Star game ball and the logo was staring me dead in the face.  I roped it in for my third of the day.  

There rest of BP was pretty dead. I did have one more opportunity but again the cop beat me to it.  

Here’s the two I kept for myself.

At the end of BP I had Jess take a picture of me with Cup Tick 2.0.  If you look closely you can see the cop holding one of the baseballs in the background.  

We moved to our seats after batting practice.  I prepared to soak it all up, as my friend Sticks told me I should.  

Here’s the view from our seats in the left field bleachers.

The pre-game ceremony was amazing.  My favorite part was when they brought out the Opening Day lineup from 1923.  It was like Field of Dreams.  

I enjoyed seeing the older players, especially my all time favorite Yankee – David Cone.

B
ob Sheppard recorded the Yankee lineup and it was played to huge applause.

Then it was time for Babe Ruth’s daughter to throw out the first pitch.

The game was good too.  Andy Pettitte struck out his 2000th batter, Jose Molina hit the final home-run into Monument Park, and Mariano Rivera recorded the final 3 outs. 

The attendance was announced in a rather unique way:

The final scoreboard:

Overall it was a great night and more than I could have expected.  It’s sad to see the Stadium go, but I am already looking forward to next year and the new Stadium.

I was supposed to meet with a ticket broker who had a single bleacher ticket available.  I was going to use this ticket to be in the bleachers for batting practice and then move into the Stadium for the game.  Well after waitng for over 2 hours I still had not heard from him and I was getting nervous.  I had much more experience snagging baseballs in the bleachers than in the main stadium.

To kill the 2 hours I walked around both Stadiums, old and new.  I noticed alot of the signage missing from the exterior of the new Stadium.  It seems that everything that was hanging below six feet had been removed.  Who did this? The Yankees? Vandals?  Who knows.

When I arrived at the new Stadium I watched as they were putting the “Yankee Stadium” letters atop the stadium.  The newspapers say that these letters are twelve feet tall, but I think they are much bigger, about 25 feet tall.  

Then at about 3 o’clock, I headed across from Old Yankee Stadium for a press conference, announcing the addition of Bobby Murcer to the Wall of Fame.

Here’s a pre-unveiling panoramic I took of the wall.

It was a really nice ceremony.  A few big names were on hand for the unveiling.  Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi, Jenny Steinbrenner, The Murcer family, and Willie Randolph. 

Also in attendence, but not pictured were Yankee players, Humberto Sanchez and Francisco Cervelli.  I managed to get Cashman and Cervelli’s autographs after the press conferecne wrapped.

I received a call from the ticket broker at about 4:30 who told me that he did not have a blacher ticket for me.  Oh well, I guess I’d be playing the foul poles during BP.  

I entered the Stadium and immediately made my way over to right field.  The baseballs were flying, but I just wasn’t in position.  I kept thinking – patience.  I knew that if there was a ball that was able to be “cup tricked”, I’d be all over it.  

Near the end of Yankees’ BP my opportunity presented itself.  The ball was a bit too far out, so I tried knocking it towards me.  I missed and actually knocked it towards the field.  With this an unknown Yankee comes over and puts Cup Trick 2.0 over the ball.  I thought he was going to take the ball and throw it into the crowd.  I’m glad he didn’t because it was a commemorative.  

I headed over to left for Orioles BP and took a spot over the Canon sign, again hoping to cup trick one in.  I had one opportunity, and I nailed it. And I nailed it.  That was all she wrote for the day.  Two baseballs.  Good enough for me.

Here’s the two baseballs.

I gave the one on the right to my Aunt and Uncle who invited me to share their last game with them.  They have been so generous with their tickets at the Stadium, that it was the least that I could do.  Thanks again.

As for the game, I saw a few things I might not see again.

I’ll be in the bleachers today for the final game looking for one ball.  Wish me luck and patience.

That was fine with me, it’s not the reason that I came.  I came to extend my “Snag Streak”.  A ball today would mean 4 games in a row with at least one ball.  Also, I’d be meeting up with Zack Hample, who I had met a day earlier, to have my copy of Watching Baseball Smarter signed. 

I didn’t see Zack before the Stadium opened, so I would have to wait until after BP to meet up.  

(As I am typing, the Yankee pregame show on YES is hyping Zack. More on that later.)

Anyway, I meet up with my friend Erik and head over to the StubHub pickup and wait for it to open.  In the meantime I go over my tricks with Erik and tell him that once we get the tickets, I’m running for the bleachers, and to meet me inside.  

I get into the Stadium at about 5:10, and check the gap.  Nothing!  I’d have to wait.  Most of the flips from the Yankees during BP were direct throws and everyone was catching.  No one dropped one in the gap and no one hit one either.  Then I saw a ball get flipped by Mariano Rivera and it dropped in the gap.  I headed over to the spot and used “Cup Trick 2.0″ to pull it out.  Yes, Commemorative.

As I was walking away with the ball, I was grabbed by an older woman who said that the ball was hers.  I continued to walk away and was promptly booed by the fans.  As I approached Erik, I muttered, “Next time, bring a glove.”  Oh well.  I didn’t feel great about being booed but I was happy that I extended my streak.  The woman ending up getting another ball shortly thereafter.

And that was it.  BP was S-L-O-W and crowded.  I ultimately gave up near the end of White Sox BP and headed over to the Sox bullpen to try for something. A ball, an auto, something.  

Well I ended up getting a piece of Bazooka gum from Mark Salas.  Woo – hoo.  I did have a nice conversation with D.J. Carrasco about ticket prices.  What a nice guy.

I went to the game last night in hopes of keeping my ball snagging / hawking streak alive, but first things first……….

I arrived at about 2:30 for the 7 o’clock game.  Walked around, took some pictures, and spotted Mickey Rivers outside the Stadium.  Got his auto, and talked about his plans for the final week at Yankee Stadium and about the traffic he was about to sit in on the way to Brooklyn.

At about 4 I met Zack Hample outside of the bleachers and I introduced myself.  We talked about snagging / hawking (I still don’t know what to call it).  At about 4:30 I headed over to the Stub Hub booth to pick up my tickets.  The booth opened at 5, and I was in the Stadium by 5:10.

Not a lot of action during BP in the bleachers.  A ball dropped in the gap between the right field wall and the bleachers. I went over to use my “cup trick” to retrieve it (more on that at a later date), but Zack was too quick, and he pulled it up with his “glove trick”.  He then headed over to the benches in the right corner and left me with the gap to myself.  See below. (Photo by Zack Hample)

I couldn’t get any of the Yankees to throw one up to me,  I even was asking Veras and Martee in Spanish, but no luck.  The towards the end of BP Phil Hughes flipped one to the first row of the bleachers, and for whatever reason it dropped in the gap.  I pulled it with the cup trick for my only ball of the day.  

Yankees BP was soon over and well, that was it.  The White Sox didn’t take BP.  

I bumped into Zack a little while later and found out that he had 5 for the day. Good work.  

I’ll be back at the Stadium on Wednesday, with an improved ball trick, and hopefully with more luck.  

Icing on the cake: Two Del Alston autos in the mailbox when I got home.

12-15 games.

9 balls.

3 consecutive games with a ball.