Gordon Beckham has made a new fan

There's something magical about attending a ball game. It doesn't matter the playing level either. The sound of balls cracking off bats, the uninterested whines of kids, and the cat calls of the vendors is enough to distract you from any worry. While I was sitting in my seat watching batting practice it didn't even register that I'm an unemployed college grad, sure I have a part time job, but no way do I want to stay where I'm at with barely enough money to buy a six pack of Oberon. It didn't register that I no longer have to cram for an exam in order to get the passing grade so I can piss away 3 years attending law school and burying myself in even more debt. I pray that the inevitable social collapse will happen within that time period so my debt will be forgotten as the financial institutions smolder and sirens wail. Enough ranting.
I attended a Tigers game when they played the Whitesox which I mentioned in an earlier post concerning my Felix Hernandez ball. After bar hoping in Greektown we stumbled over to Comerica park well before the game started. My girlfriend bought us great seats. 5 rows back from the third base line. I hurried down to the field to catch the Tigers wrap up batting practice in the chance they would stop and talk to fans...spoiler alert they didn't. I was even the creepy guy surrounded by little kids and their dads. Dejected I walked up and spent the 18 dollars for a beer (it wasn't $18 but it was damn close). I walked back down figuring I'd watch the Whitesox take batting practice.They were a lot more interesting to watch. Konerko cracked off home run after home run over the bull pen. It was awesome to see the little kids in hte outfield scrambling over seats. Adam Dunn who made Inge look good last year followed suit. Anyway I heckled the infielders enough that Gordon Beckham threw me over a practice ball. Sure I might have spilled my beer reaching over to grab it, but it was worth it.


The Tigers came back on the field for warm up stretches. Needless to say they still didn't greet any of the fans. Cabby gave an acknowledging hat tip and a wave, and Fielder ran sprints which made it look like time was going in reverse. Out of the Tigers lineup I have to say AJax was probably the coolest giving away warm up balls to the little kids and taking pictures. Raburn was also a nice guy carrying on conversations with fans and promptly signing everything handed his way. It's funny how those are the players that are the coolest. The game was great complete with your typical Tigers at bats. I don't think I saw 18 gidps so that was good, and Peralta hit a walk off home run which was awesome to see. I'll be going back soon, but this time I'll probably stick to trying to meet Andy Dirks and Drew Smyly since the big guys typically ignore everyone.

JV > Weaver

For those of you not in the Detroit area Verlander just pitched a great game, and was 2 outs away from a no-hitter. It would have been his 3rd. He's certainly made my time in Michigan enjoyable. Hopefully he'll continue to dominate this season. Repeat Cy Young perhaps?

I reached a King Felix goal!

Earlier this month in celebration of my graduation I attended a Tigers game. I'll blog about the actual game and what not soon since I've got something really sweet to show off. Anyway The week before I knew the Mariners were in town so I was hoping they would have some memorabilia left over from the 3 game series (which the Tigers lost I might add). I took a look at some reasonably priced gear such as batting helmets, bats, hats, etc. I glanced over at the game used balls and wasn't disappointed. They had an Ichiro foul ball which was way more than I wanted to pay, at $100. If it was a hr then maybe. Right below was a King Felix pitched ball. I had to have it. After shooting the shit with the guy I got a pretty good deal on it. It pays off to be a fan of a mediocre team! Here it is. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it's pretty scuffed up. I'm not sure if it's nail scratches or if it was a ball in dirt. Anyways it looks great up on my shelf.

Guess I have to change the blog name

Not really, but a few months ago I finally pulled a relic. It only took spending $1,000,678.34 at target before it finally happened and the pack wasn't even from there! Anyways I was going through my Christmas stocking, man it has been awhile since I've blogged, and my brother picked me up a couple Topps update packs. My first thought was man this is a large pack. As usual I figured it was a dummy card.
Sifting through Marlins, D-backs, and Gio Gonzalez I found this.

Shitty cell phone picture aside it's a pretty cool card. I know a lot of people think he's a cheat but whatever. It's a nice looking card. I would have been more happy with a JV relic or Mighy but beggars can't be choosers.

Catfish Hunter childhood swag

Most of my baseball memorabilia from when I was good was left at home when I moved away for college. I had a decent size collection of mainly Mariners players, but I remember I had several signed balls that resided on my shelf until we moved to Korea. Since then my parents have moved back to Germany, yet my baseball goodies remained buried away in some box.  Last year when I flew back home for Christmas I was on a mission to find them. Going through dusty boxes I found some of my old pennants, back from when the Mariners were good, and several from the Tacoma Rainiers. I have since lost track of where they have gone, but I did find the balls, and then forgot them.Last week when my parents came to visit my mom finally remembered to bring them so I'll begin to highlight them.

First up is my Jim "Catfish" Hunter ball which I've had several offers for. I believe I got this ball when I was 9 or 10. I'm not too sure on the story behind it. I just know my dad ran into him and he came home with this.

Catfish pitched in the majors from 1965 to 1979 for the Athletics and Yankees. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987, and is technically my first HoFer. Throughout his lengthy career he amassed  a 224-166 win loss record, not too shabby. His career highlights are impressive: Cy Young in '74, 5x WS winner, 8x All-Star, and threw a perfect game! Holy shit...

Blog pimpage

Hey guys I'm working on a new blog that focuses on the Korean Baseball Association. It's in the infant stages right now so it looks like crap, but that will change soon.
Check it out here: toomuch-kimchi


(Shout out to Dennis at toomanymarios for the blog name inspiration)