2012 High Lites

Year of 2012 High Lites

Dominik was raring to go in an early August series with the Pirates in Cincinnati, this would be the beginning of the Pirates’ Downward Spiral.

The family in Cincinnati

And Lauren having faith in the fading Bucs.

CF smoke stacks in Cincinnati, these bad boys spit alot of fire the way the Reds bombed the ball this year.

This is a great site when you walk up on Roberto Clemente “The Great One” who stands watch over the CF gate, when you have a bright blue sky behind him it makes for a good day at PNC.

When you do get in the gates its always cool to hang out with Jim Saylor, just watch yourself; he always has a trick up his sleeve.

Hanging out with Mike from Philadelphia who goes to Pitt where I graduated from, good luck with school Mike and hopefully I will be able to make the trip to Philly this year and hang!

Two nice gloves for ballhawking there huh?

How about this guy Harold, this year I took the time to take pictures of some of his famous tee shirts.  This man believe it or not has over 7500 baseballs dating back to the beginning of Three Rivers Stadium, no kidding.  The definition of longevity, of pure hustle, the man of the Clemente Wall.

Enjoy, he enjoys gambling at the Rivers as much as he does roaming the top of Clemente Wall.

From Planet Hollywood and back.

He’s got, two tickets to Paradise.

Here’s one of his favorites the San Jose soccer team windbreaker, when that wind gets blowing strong hes ready for the elements.

He likes the team that wins the championship, and you can best believe he gets the tee’s to show it.

Uncaged Panther

Well I could go on and on with these tee shirts, but theres only so much time until baseball comes back around.

Ok one more, California Dreamin!!!!!!!!!!

Have you ever witnessed someone try to pull a screw out of the sole of their tennis shoe?  I know some who have.  If you havent met Harold, you havent lived, j/k, but he is a true character.

Harolds mother who dates back to Forbes Field and still hates Delwyn Young, here is her famous seat and famous set up which she does nearly every game.

The Clemente poster was a mainstay this year, but shes got it all from bobbleheads to lucky rabbit feet.

Another PNC regular, Scoonz, nice sunglasses.

With Rocco from Cincinnati, good guy and always looking to hook you up, come back soon.

Baseball Joe, or Baseball 365.

Now, for some nice skyline pics of Pittsburgh, one of the nicest Ive seen in the cities I have been to so far.  This is the park across the street that we sometimes warm up at, if we dont throw on the bridge, great view though.

I dont like this for ballhawking but a cool atmospheric pic.

Enormous cloud

Skyline with flags and batters eye.

And the Gateway Clipper Fleet, Majestic on the Allegheny River.

Skyline with Praying Mantis, this made for some real fun during the last series of the year against the Braves.  Known prankster Tim Hudson was patrolling and goofing around in CF when I found the Mantis with help from Erik,  I called out to him a few times and got him to come over.  He asked to see it and I gave it to him and asked could I have a ball for it.  Hudson seemed to agree.  He went around showing a bunch of team mates all over and then got Johnny Venters real good.  He lured him over to check out his glove and inside was the mantis, Venters got a good scare.  The next day when Venters signed my hat I told him about the origin of the Mantis, he jokingly said that I was a jerk and proceeded to sign my Braves hat.

Fishing a ball out of the Allegheny River with my glove on a Sunday afternoon.

Wet glove after a full extension into the Allegheny waters.

Got to give it up for Herbie Andrade, coolest bullpen catcher in the game who likes to throw fastballs to ballhawks.

The always cool Jason Grilli, glad that he is our closer now.  Reborn, closing in 2013, and ALWAYS having fun, something a lot of baseball players need to learn.

Here is a not so cool guy, he wouldnt even lift his head to acknowledge me, and completely ignores everyone in the stands during bp, and remains inert throughout bp.

He was real busy here as he peeled apart a Gatorade cup, Cuban deuche, the opposite of the aformentioned Grilli.

Two Houston 50year commemoratives snagged at PNC.

Dodger commemorative snagged at PNC on toss up by Chad Tracy.

Bryce Harper, a phenom on the rise, Im excited to compare the careers of both him and Mike Trout.

And one of my coolest baseballs of the year at PNC was a toss up by the yound Dominican phenom Starling Marte, I cannot wait to see what he can do over a season and as he gets older.

Off to my second ballhawking home of Cleveland which once again provided good memories.

The city as I pulled up for the first time.

Cleveland, good place to have a beer.

After you catch your 300th ball of the year from Josh Hamilton.

Its also a good place to have a beer, after you get the Marlins commemorative.

Tossed up by Jeff Urgelles, Marlin bullpen catcher.

Another cool memory of Cleveland this year.  After watching from outside the gates at the home run porch on the way to the gate I found this ball inches from going into the Cleveland sewer system.  It made it out through the tunnel, hot dog stands and the gate.

On my last day at Cleveland I was treated to a cool airshow while waiting at the gate with this as the high lite.

This may be the last pic you see of me in Washington since they decided to close down right field until a half hour later.  Sorry, but LF in DC sucks like a newborn baby, so I dont plan on going back unless that changes.  Here I am after a toss up by Brandon Phillips.

Ill hold out hope for DC, when the gates all open its worth the trip.  Hope I see this sight again, after the skid row that leads to the ballpark from the parking lot.

On a trip to Baltimore with Erik for the Orioles opening day.

Baltimore skyline from atop a hill near the harbor.

Swish daddy, a cool Yankee who brought alot of life to the Yanks clubhouse, alot of animated fun.  I wish him well with the Indians and hope to catch a whole lot more home runs in bp.  I took this picture not only for Swish but it is my area code, the distance of the home run.  I think it to be very cool how they track their tape measure homers like this.

Baltimore is no doubt a beautiful ballpark and fun place to ballhawk.

It took a while, but this was my first Orioles commemorative, thrown from deep CF by Pirates bullpen coach Euclides Rojas.

Off to Atlanta.

Hank Aaron statue.

Turner Field which would be home to alot of rain, but cleared up for Erik and I to have a nice game against the Yankees the first day there.

On a soaking wet rainy day where both teams brought out the lumber I camped out in an empty section of LF.  Brett Lawrie provided a drilled homer right at me which was an easy grab of a gem of the diamond.

And New York, this year Citi Field, 2013 will be Yankee stadium.

Breathtaking is all I can describe as you approach the big apple and see its unbelievably large skyline, its like 25 Pittsburghs.

This is taken from atop the Empire State building toward Queens and the Freedom tower.

Feeling good after two good games at Citi Field.

The entrance to Citi Field, the Jackie Robinson rotunda is my favorite feature.

Hangin out with ballhawks Zack Hample and Greg Barasch.

New York final results.

Hopefully all have a fun 2013.