Field Day at PNC Park

Its been a while since I blogged, just enjoying the post season baseball, great in October.  Today I decided to blog about the field day at PNC Park, season ticket holders get time to hit on the field off a pitching maching, shag fly balls from a pop up machine, or just run around, throw, catch and do whatever.

My guest for this event was my friend Deric who shares a passion for baseball just as I do.  Deric gave me a great opportunity as a clinician with Mercy Behavioral Health after a long and difficult job search, so knowing his passion and the opportunity he gave me it was the least I could do to show gratitude.

We began just throwing in LF and trying to rob home runs.  This was fun for a while, nobody was hitting anything worth hustling for so we caught until it was time to shag flyballs from the pop up machine.

From here we talked alot about philosophy and the ingredients of being a good clinician, and of course, baseball.

The pop up machine must have been set on easy, the last time I did field days it actually took some good judgment and some hustle to make the catches, today, I would stand in one spot and wait with no excitement involved in any of the catches.

We did begin taking some pictures though.

I liked this picture of the legendary Roberto Clementes number on the Clemente Wall.

I also had Deric take a pic of me next to the Yankees and Red Sox portion of the scoreboard on the Clemente Wall.  Since then the Yankees were defeated by the Tigers.  Pinstripes for life either way, Im excited about the Yankees every year, and have been a Yankee fan since the early days of Jeter, Georgie, Mo, and Pettite.  I just have a passion for their aura, and their ability to place some of the best baseball players on the planet on the field yearly.  Go Yanks.  Next year I plan on visiting NY and staying with Zack Hample to visit Yankee stadium, Citi Field, and Citizens Bank Park.

Notice the J-Peezy steeler jersey, thats right, the wild and untamed animal Joey Porter who was integral in making it to and winning Super Bowl 40, and the fifth in Steeler history.

I dont talk too much football during baseball season but I love my Steelers.

With the Yankees out Im with the Rangers, Id love to see Josh Hamilton get a ring.

When we were called in to hit we took a bunch of pics.

Deric standing on the steps of the Pirates dugout.

Me sitting in the dugout.

Deric in his stance with a beautiful Pittsburgh skyline as the backdrop.

Me in my stance with the beautiful Pittsburgh skyline as a backdrop.

As for the hitting, it was subpar.  8 pitches at a time, which were pretty much all slow and outside, definitely not ideal to hit one out to LF.

I hadnt practiced much at all leading up to this, and had injured my right knee at a game the week before.  I made good connections on all my swings in the first round.  Deric, having not played in a while took a few swings to get going and then got his swing going.  He had himself announced as Mickey Mantle, and I had myself announced as Ken Griffey Jr.

With the time winding down there was still ten mins left, we asked could we hit another round.  The response we got was despicable, “We need time to have the pitchers, (the guys so laboriously placing the balls into the machine time to rest.)  My thought was, “You gotta be %^&*($# kidding me, there was well enough time for the both of us to have a full round, as everyone else was abandoning the field to go eat.

Anyway, we were able to bargain it down to two more pitches a piece, I didnt mention that I had my new BB core certified Easton bat which felt great when I made the good contact in the first round.  This was my last two pitches to try to put one out to LF into the bleachers until next year so I was ready to make the best of it.

Pitch 1 was a rocket, but as is par for the course for me it was headed toward deep left center which is the largest part of the ballpark.  I stood back and admired the sweet rip as it landed deep in left center, Joe Klimchak, the voice of the Pirates called out that it was a 310 foot shot, I disagreed, as did Deric, we both felt it would have had a shot had I pulled it down the line.  I just cannot pull the ball though, but was happy with that.

Here is a pic of me taking the cut.

And here is a final pic of Deric and me ready to hit.

What a Sunday afternoon as we both had a blast.

We followed this up by going to Mullens bar and grill across from PNC for wings, tater tots, burger, and beer to watch the Steeler game, which we won big time.  We also had some good entertainment in that of an overzealous Steeler fan chic who got up on the table and showed her stuff every time the Steelers scored, which they did alot of that game.

Stay tuned for my season hilite reviews and my additions to my Balls of Fame collection from 2011.