The Baseball

by Zack Hample

  Of course, if you don’t know the player’s name, you won’t be able to ask him for a ball in the first place, so before you leave for the stadium, print the rosters of both teams that you’ll be seeing. They’re easy to find, and you can get them for free. Go to any team’s official website. Hover your cursor over the “Roster” link near the top. Several options will appear. Print both the “40-Man Roster” (in case some players on the disabled list are working out with the team) and the “Coaches” (because anyone on the field might give you a ball—even the bullpen catcher or the strength and conditioning coach). Then, if you have some extra free time, pull up the roster on a different site like espn.com or sports.yahoo.com and click each player’s name to see his head shot. (MLB.com no longer has head shots.) Copy and paste these images onto one page—make a collage out of them—and label each photo with the guy’s name and number. Players often wear nameless, numberless warm-up shirts over their jerseys during batting practice; having a sheet of paper with all their faces will help you recognize them, especially when they’re a bunch of cookie-cutter white guys who belong in Triple-A.4

  Look, don’t get overwhelmed by all this stuff. You don’t have to print faces or rosters if you don’t want to. You don’t even need to attend batting practice. I’m just showing you every possible strategy. Take the ones you want and ignore the rest. That said, if you do plan on taking most of my advice, you should definitely bring a backpack; you’re going to end up snagging so many baseballs that you’ll need it to carry them all.

  Blue Jays pitchers wearing shirts over their jerseys at the new Yankee Stadium (Photo Credit 9.1)

  WHEN TO ARRIVE

  Every major league stadium opens at least 90 minutes early, and as long as you have a ticket, you’re allowed to head inside and start snagging baseballs. I’d list all the opening times for you, but they sometimes change from one season to the next, and anyway, it’s easy to find this info on the teams’ websites. Look for the link that contains the stadium name and hover your cursor over it. Then select the “A-to-Z Guide” and scroll down to the “Gate” section. Not only will you find out when the stadium itself opens, but you’ll learn if certain gates open earlier than others.

  Don’t show up when the stadium is about to open; get to the gate at least half an hour early so you can be first in line. There’ve been games at which I’ve snagged three or four balls within the first few minutes of batting practice—and nothing else for the rest of the day. Being the first fan to enter the stadium is huge. I can’t stress this enough. It’s one of the most important things you can do to increase your chances, and here’s why:

  Easter eggs—When balls land in the seats before a stadium opens, ushers are supposed to retrieve them and toss them back onto the field. This doesn’t always happen. Some ushers are lazy, and others aren’t good at finding them. (To be fair, balls do sometimes hide in weird places.) If you’re the first fan to enter, you might find one of these balls, aka “Easter eggs.”

  Empty seats—Since you’ll have the stadium to yourself, a home run that lands anywhere near you will be all yours. If the ball lands three sections over, you’ll be able to walk through the seats and pick it up.

  Thrown balls—Players toss lots of balls into the crowd, but some guys might only give away one ball all day—and they often give it to the first fan that asks.

  Corner spot—At some stadiums, there’s a “corner spot” where it’s much easier to snag batted and thrown balls—that is, a seat in the front row at the end of a section where you’ll be more visible to the players and have a better chance of reaching anything that flies your way. If you don’t get there first, the spot will be taken by the fan who does.

  When you arrive at the stadium, don’t be too shy to ask for help. Although you might know which gate to go to, there might be a certain part of it that opens first, or a whole row of turnstiles that won’t get used until game time. Almost every stadium has see-through gates, so when the ticket takers are setting up on the other side, ask them if you’re standing in the right spot. Never trust the crowd—everyone else might be lined up in the wrong place—and when the gates do open, make sure you know which end of your ticket to stick inside the scanner. Every seconds counts. If there’s a giveaway, don’t even stop to get it. (It’s probably something lame anyway.) Just forget it and run in—but not too fast or you might get stopped by security.

  1 Whenever the Yankees play in Baltimore, there are so many New Yorkers in attendance that Camden Yards has become known as “Yankee Stadium South.”

  2 I can’t get in trouble for encouraging criminal behavior in a footnote, right? Because … who even reads footnotes? Anyway, just to give you a quick idea of how to handle stadium security, if there’s an usher who’s being militant about checking tickets in one section, try the guy at the next staircase. Maybe he’ll turn his back for a moment and you can walk past him. Maybe, if you’re carrying a heaping box of food, he’ll feel guilty about making you pull out your ticket and he’ll wave you along. If the game hasn’t yet started, tell him you’re from out of town and you’re just hoping to take a few quick photos for your blog. If it’s late in the game, hang out in the concourse and ask the fans who are leaving if they can spare a ticket stub. (Don’t do this in front of the usher whose section you plan to sneak into. I learned this lesson the hard way.) Be creative and don’t worry about getting caught. You won’t get fined or ejected or banned from the stadium. The worst thing that can happen is that the usher will tell you to take a hike. You’re at a baseball game. Have fun.

  3 Print-at-home tickets are never season tickets. It doesn’t matter where you get them. They won’t get you in the stadium extra early.

  4 These photos get taken during Spring Training; a player who has a goatee in late February might be clean-shaven by the time you see him during the regular season, so don’t rely solely on facial hair as a recognizable feature. If you’re going to the third game of a series, watch the first two on TV. You’ll start to recognize the players and coaches, and you’ll also get a sense of the stadium.

  CHAPTER 10

  BATTING PRACTICE

  THE FIRST 60 SECONDS

  The home team usually starts hitting two and a half to three hours before game time. For some stupid reason, most stadiums don’t open that early, so when you first run inside, there’s a good chance that batting practice will already be under way. Every stadium is different, so strategies will vary a bit, but basically, you should head toward the seats in straightaway left or right field. Look for Easter eggs along the way, and don’t stop searching if you find one. I once found seven in a single day at Progressive Field, so anything’s possible. Scour every row—baseballs can hide anywhere—but keep an eye on the batters. They’ll be hitting ball after ball, and if you’re not paying attention, you might miss your chance to catch one, or worse, possibly get drilled. I’ve seen some gruesome injuries over the years, and they almost always happen when fans aren’t looking at the field.

  Toward the end of batting practice, as the stands get crowded, most home runs are either caught on the fly or snatched as soon as they land in the seats. But early on, when there aren’t many other fans, long balls often land in empty sections. Most fans cut through the row where they see the ball land, and by the time they get there it will have trickled down the steps. Be smart. Don’t forget about gravity. Head several rows below the landing spot, and if the ball hasn’t rolled anywhere, climb over the seats until you see it.

  An Easter egg in the upper deck at the old Yankee Stadium (Photo Credit 10.1)

  One great thing about being inside a stadium so early is that you’ll get to see stuff that most fans aren’t aware of—and yes, I know you’ll be in full snagging mode, but try to appreciate it. A corner outfielder might be taking fungoes off the wall to practice fielding the caroms. The fastest guy on the team might be rolling balls down one of the base lines to gauge the slope of the field and determine if his bunts will stay fair. Listen to
the crack of the bat as it echoes through the empty stadium. Smell the freshly cut grass and watch the groundskeepers doing their thing. There’s something magical about having the stadium to yourself. Be sure to take full advantage.

  GENERAL ADVICE ON POSITIONING

  Left or right field? Fair or foul territory? Bullpens or dugouts? Power alleys? Straightaway? Front row? Tenth row? Field level? Second deck? Don’t get overwhelmed by all the options. We’ll get to them in a bit. But first, here are some basic strategies on where to position yourself in the stands:

  Avoid your weaknesses—If you’re bad at judging fly balls, don’t stay in the outfield. Grab a spot down one of the foul lines and try to scoop up grounders—or just focus on getting the players to throw balls to you.

  Consider who’s batting—If there’s a small lefty taking cuts, it won’t do you any good to stand in deep left field. And if there’s a whole group of lefties taking turns in the batting cage, you probably shouldn’t be in left field at all.

  Beware of the batting cage—The cage is designed to prevent foul balls from flying straight back into the stands, but because of the way it encloses the home plate area, it also prevents foul balls from shooting into the crowd near first and third base. Therefore, if you’re trying to catch a batted ball in foul territory, stay in the outfield and remain close to the foul line.

  Consider the competition—Don’t stand near fans who are much taller than you, especially if they’re wearing gloves and bragging to their friends about how they’re gonna do whatever it takes to catch the next ball. If you have to stand near anyone, pick out people who are more interested in their food than the action on the field. They’ll probably need the protection anyway.

  Don’t get trapped—Never ever, under any circumstances, sit or stand in the middle of a long row of fans. Even a short row of fans. Even a short row that’s empty. Don’t do it. Balls usually won’t come right to you, so you need to have room to run. If possible, find a spot where you can move in all four directions: up and down a staircase and left and right through an empty row or aisle. (This strategy applies to BP and the game itself, and it’s very very very important.)

  Avoid the front row—It’s tempting to stand close to the field and lean over the wall and shout at the players—but it’s the dumbest place to wait for the action to unfold. You can’t move forward, it’s too crowded to run left or right, and if a ball happens to be hit right to you, 10 other people will reach in front of your face for it. You’re better off staying several rows back and moving to the front only when a specific opportunity presents itself.

  Stay mobile—There are opportunities everywhere, and you have to keep moving. This can mean running from one side of the stadium to the other, or simply shading each hitter differently within one section. For example, if the cleanup hitter steps into the cage, move back a few rows. (The farther back you go, the emptier it’ll be.) Then, if he starts pulling lots of sharp grounders down the third-base line, move from straightaway left field toward the foul pole in case he gets under one and jerks it into the seats.

  It’s all about anticipation. You need to recognize the players’ tendencies and make educated guesses about where the balls are likely to be hit. Every manager does it when he positions the defense. There’s no reason why you can’t too, but it takes time. You really have to know and love and understand the game. Even if you memorize every word in this book, you shouldn’t expect to catch 10 balls the next time you attend batting practice. There are days when I only get one or two—when I make horrendously stupid mistakes and the snagging gods are clearly out to get me. The same thing will happen to you. Just roll with it and know that you’ll have many more chances.

  LEFT FIELD VERSUS RIGHT FIELD

  Generally speaking, left field is the place to be. Think about it. There are more right-handed batters, and since most home runs get pulled, there are more batted balls that land in the left-field seats. But it’s not always that simple. Some teams have more lefties, while others have a bunch of switch-hitters who will end up batting left-handed if the opposing pitcher is a righty. (Don’t forget that managers try to stack their lineups with batters who hit from the opposite side of the plate from which the pitcher throws.) Since you’ll already have rosters with you, count the number of righties and lefties on both teams.1 Then, for example, if you discover that there are more of the latter, you should go to right field—unless that side of the stadium is an architectural nightmare from a home run—catching standpoint. How can you tell? Easy. Just consider the following factors:

  Bullpen placement—Most home runs are hit straightaway or to the power alleys. If there’s a bullpen in one of those places, it’ll swallow a frustratingly large number of baseballs and cost you lots of opportunities. Example: left field at Comerica Park.

  Outfield dimensions—How deep is it to the power alley? If it’s close to 400 feet, that’s good for the pitchers, but bad for you as as a ballhawk. Example: right field at PETCO Park.

  Number of rows—You don’t want the batter to have to hit the ball 400 feet, but in case he does, you want to be able to run up the steps and chase it. (Or, if you know that the guy is going to hit bombs, you want to be able to position yourself there in advance.) If the section only has 10 rows of seats, or if the second deck is low enough (and close enough to the field) for lots of balls to land there, that’s bad. Example: everywhere at Rogers Centre.

  Height of the walls—If the outfield wall is too high, you’ll never be able to catch a ground-rule double. Watch out for any wall that exceeds 10 feet. Example: right field at Nationals Park.

  Steepness of the stands—It’s harder to maneuver and run around for balls when the steps are steep. Example: right field at Great American Ball Park.

  Right field at Citi Field is such a disaster that I could’ve used it for each of the examples listed above. Therefore, whenever I go to that stadium, I don’t bother counting the righties and lefties. I simply stay in left field unless a group of three or four lefties starts hitting. Then I run over to the right-field side and focus on getting balls thrown to me.

  The right-field stands at Great American Ball Park are tough to navigate. (Photo Credit 10.2)

  Thankfully, Citi Field and other new ballparks have been designed with concourses that wrap all the way around the outfield—great news if you have a fear of commitment. It means you don’t have to choose one side of the stadium and stick with it throughout batting practice; you can run back and forth and position yourself differently whenever you want. The only problem is that it takes at least a minute in most stadiums to run from right field to left, so it might not be worthwhile to do it for each hitter.

  Keep in mind that when a batter steps into the cage to begin his first round of swings, he lays down a couple bunts and then works on hitting the ball to the opposite field. He probably won’t go yard during this round, but there’s a decent chance that he’ll slice at least one ball into foul territory. At some stadiums, you’ll be able to take a direct route to the foul line by cutting through an empty row of seats. In other places, where the stands are segmented, you’ll have to race up the steps, run 100 feet through the concourse, and then hurry back down toward your new spot. Whatever the case, make sure you’re wearing comfortable shoes and a generous amount of deodorant.

  Stadium design and right-handedness aside, there’s one key factor that makes left field better in most venues: it’s usually the visiting team’s side. The visitors often throw more balls into the crowd than the home team, and in the next chapter you’ll learn how to snag them.

  HOME RUN BALLS

  Catching home runs in the stands is much harder than catching fly balls on the field. When a fly ball starts to descend, the outfielder almost always catches it on the move. Have you ever noticed that? Because he’s standing on a flat, wide-open piece of land, he has the luxury of drifting with the ball right up until the last second—but you won’t. You’ll be blocked by seats and railings, and there might
be 50 other fans getting in your way. In order to beat the competition, you need to try to predict where the ball will land and then get there as quickly as possible. When you guess right, it’ll feel great (especially if your route involves running up or down some steps). When you guess wrong, don’t beat yourself up too much. Remember, you’ll be trying to do something that’s extremely challenging.

  If you know you won’t be able to catch a ball on the fly, you should still keep running toward it. Anything can happen. It might ricochet wildly off a metal armrest or get bobbled and kicked around for a few seconds by a group of clumsy fans. It doesn’t matter if the ball is going to land two sections away. You have nothing to lose by moving in that direction, so don’t be lazy. You might even be able to snag a ball that lands all the way across the stadium. If you notice that a home run gets launched into an empty section in the second or third deck, keep your eye on it. Those seats might stay empty for a while, if not all day. Count the number of staircases from that spot to the foul pole so you’ll remember where to look for the ball later on. Continue to snag as you normally would, but keep watching the section to make sure that no one wanders up there. Don’t tell anyone about the ball—not even your mother—and then go looking for it after BP.

  At any given moment during BP, there could be half a dozen balls in use. It’s impossible to keep your eye on them all, so if you sense that the people around you are jockeying for position, it’s probably a sign that there’s a ball nearby, either sitting on the field or flying your way. Use your intuition. Be aware of your surroundings. Be prepared for balls to bounce into the stands. It seems that no one else ever is. And take off your backpack. Leave it on a seat (but don’t stray too far from it). Wearing it will only slow you down and limit your reach. You need to think of every little detail that will give you an edge.