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Play Ball
As there was a rare rain-free forecast for the weekend (and surprisingly mild temps for August in Maryland) I overdid on the baseball. And the driving. 400 miles in one weekend is a bit rough on sore back and shoulders, plus I found a few new muscles to be all achy. But the weather was peachy and for the most part the autographs were plentiful.
The last few times I drove down to Salisbury for the Shorebirds, the attendance was iffy. 4-5,000 people on a Saturday night. This time there was a shade under 9,000, in a park that only hold 7. Just a wee bit insane. They ran out of napkins. There was a group there, of 4800 people, easily the largest single group I've ever encountered at any sporting event, and they all had GA tickets. And that's all they were selling at the box office, although I managed to get a box seat behind the plate due to my being there alone. So all the GA ticketholders were sneaking into the box seats, and there were no ushers to stop that. My 'real' seat was already taken by a 4 year old, so I sat further back in the section, and found myself next to a gentleman in a similar pickle. He turned out to be an umpire evaluator. (The umpires are scouted and evaluated, same as the players.) I learned a few things, we traded umpire anecdotes, it was educational. I figured out he was an umpire scout because he had a chart and a video camera, but no radar gun, and mentioned that to him. He said 'we try not to use 'umpire' and 'gun' in the same sentence". :) I wound up leaving early and short a few autographs due to the crowd and not wanting to get stuck in the parking lot all night. Naturally, the Shorebirds won in the bottom of the ninth on a suicide squeeze. At least I heard it on the radio!
Bowie Sunday night, Fan Appreciation and Meet the Team night. While I quickly finished off most of my Bowie team set, the guys I needed most weren't at the meet - pitching coach Mike Griffin and starting pitcher (and likely soon-to-be Oriole) Brad Bergesen. So I still haven't finished the freakin' set. But at least I had a set and was getting everyone's autograph. It's a team sport, right? 90% of the people there were middle-aged white men wanting Matt Wieters, and only Matt Wieters, to sign their official memorabilia, most of which would be on Ebay before the game was over. Wieters didn't sign before the game either, ha ha. (He did sign, for everyone, afterwards, but that was as much kids getting their hat as it was pros getting something to put on Ebay.) What was most annoying, however, was that apparently no one on the team staff told the food services people that they were opening the park earlier than usual. Half the food stands were closed and the ones that were open had limited options. They finally had things up and running when the game started, but sheesh. Oh yeah, Baysox lost 2-1. Bergesen pitched very well but his teammates didn't hit a lick.
Bowie Sunday night, Fan Appreciation and Meet the Team night. While I quickly finished off most of my Bowie team set, the guys I needed most weren't at the meet - pitching coach Mike Griffin and starting pitcher (and likely soon-to-be Oriole) Brad Bergesen. So I still haven't finished the freakin' set. But at least I had a set and was getting everyone's autograph. It's a team sport, right? 90% of the people there were middle-aged white men wanting Matt Wieters, and only Matt Wieters, to sign their official memorabilia, most of which would be on Ebay before the game was over. Wieters didn't sign before the game either, ha ha. (He did sign, for everyone, afterwards, but that was as much kids getting their hat as it was pros getting something to put on Ebay.) What was most annoying, however, was that apparently no one on the team staff told the food services people that they were opening the park earlier than usual. Half the food stands were closed and the ones that were open had limited options. They finally had things up and running when the game started, but sheesh. Oh yeah, Baysox lost 2-1. Bergesen pitched very well but his teammates didn't hit a lick.