Many Mets Games July-August 2015

I'm falling behind on blogging about Mets games, and for that I'm sorry. But I'm going to make up for all of that at once in this entry, as I didn't have any spectacular games. Hope you enjoy.

Dodgers @ Mets 7/23 
This game turned out to be a very interesting one. I didn't show up too early for BP, but I did show up in time to get an autograph. On the day Chris Heston threw a no-hitter at Citi Field, I got a ball tossed to me by Curtis Granderson. Now, I wanted him to sign the ball.

Before the game, as he usually does, Granderson warmed up then came over and signed minutes before the game was going to start. I found a good spot in the well-organized line and then waited for my chance to get down. After a couple minutes, I got down to the bottom and gave Granderson the ball and pen. I asked him to personalize it to me, which he did. I also told him he threw it to me the day of the no hitter, and he just nodded and said that was cool. Before I left, I got a quick selfie with him before meeting my friend to watch the game.

The game itself was a tough one to watch as a Mets fan. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw started off strong. Through six innings, he had faced 18 batters and retired all 18. It was 2/3 of the way to a perfect game. Then, Granderson led off the seventh inning with a solid single to right, breaking all of the pent up tension at Citi Field. Kershaw dominated the rest of the way, allowing just three hits in a complete game shutout and 3-0 Dodgers win. After the game, I tried to get a ball from the home plate umpire, Ben May, and was thankfully successful.

Here is the ball, but stay tuned below for some more Mets game recaps.

Padres @ Mets 7/30
A week after that first game, I was back at Citi Field for a weekday day game between the Mets and Padres. I got to the stadium really early, and immediately noticed there was no batting practice. The Mets relief pitchers were warming up, and I wanted to see if I could get any of them to sign. I brought a ball that Granderson and Josh Edgin signed for me last year, and I wanted to add some signatures on it.

One of the first guys out of the dugout was Carlos Torres. A couple people near me asked him to sign, and he obliged. He signed the ball right under Graderson's signature from last year and took care of everyone before getting ready for the game. I met Torres in 2013, and he was very nice then as well.



The next guy out of the dugout was hard throwing reliever Hansel Robles, and he also came over and signed. I got him on the same ball right under Torres' signature. His signature isn't much, but it is what it is.

A couple minutes later, new Met Tyler Clippard emerged from the dugout. When he was walking to warm out, I yelled out and asked if he would sign when he was done. He replied that he would. True to his word, he came over a few minutes later after getting ready. I took the video below:



Clippard signed the ball and he also signed a Washington Nationals logo card that I had on me for a while. Here is the ball and the card:













After getting Clippard, none of the other Mets pitchers came over to sign. Before the game, I got Granderson to sign a photo of him on a magnet that I got in a Detroit Tigers fan pack many years ago. I think I'm finally out of stuff for him to sign, we'll see how that goes. The magnet is a little smaller than a regular baseball card.

During the game, I again watched with my friend and left in the top of the ninth inning when the game went into a rain delay. It wasn't pretty. I watched the top of the ninth at field level and the bottom of the ninth four hours later at home.

Rockies @ Mets 8/10 
At the next home stand, I went to the Monday night opener between the Mets and Colorado Rockies. I headed straight to the third base side to see what I could get from Colorado. Batting practice yielded little, but I saw a good chance when I was waiting by the dugout and saw Rockies reliever Tommy Kahnle walk into the little tunnel where I previously met Shawon Dunston. He is from the Albany area, and he was telling an usher to let his family members down to see him.

While he was waiting for his family to come down, he signed a blank autograph card for me. He didn't sign much, but he did get to see his family, which was a cool sight to see.




Before the game was going to start, I got in position to try and get the big target for the day, former Met Jose Reyes. I got Reyes to sign a ball and a card for me back in Citi Field's first year, and I hadn't gotten his autograph since. That changed on this night. I don't have many photos, but I just happened to be in the right spot and he signed a ball for me on the sweet spot. Here is a tweet I posted that describes what happened.

@lamelaza_7 blurry pics but thanks for taking the time to come and sign last night. You'll always be loved in NY!!! pic.twitter.com/SfYszNBYji

— Aaron Cheris (@AaronHowie) August 11, 2015

Notice why my tweet has so many retweets? That's because Reyes himself retweeted it to his more than 150,000 Twitter followers.  Here is a better photo of the signed ball.

The Mets won this game in dramatic fashion. That does it for this entry. Thanks for reading!

Steiner Sports Mets Signing 6/29/15

A couple weeks ago, I finally used my Steiner Sports gift cards that I have had for years.

They were hosting a signing with former Mets pitcher Jesse Orosco and current Mets outfielder Juan Lagares. To make this entry short and to the point, I won't get into all the specifics. I used up all my gift cards and paid less than $20 to meet both Lagares and Orosco.

After a long wait on line, Lagares signed a ball on the sweet spot for me and took a photo with me.

And Orosco signed a photo and took a photo with me.













It was a good signing, but I wouldn't have gone if I didn't have the gift cards.

That's it for what may be my shortest entry ever. Thanks for reading and good luck graphing!

Reds @ Mets 6/26/15 at Citi Field

I went to Citi Field for the Friday game of a weekend series between the Mets and the Cincinnati Reds last week. I didn't take as many photos as I usually take at the games, so I'll let the words do the talking for this one.

I got to Citi Field about a half hour before the gates opened and was fifth in line to get in after a guard added a new bag check station. Eventually, the gates opened right on time and I ran in as quickly as I could.

Instead of going to my spot down the third base line, I went straight to right field this time. The Reds have a lot of strong left handed hitters, so I figured I could try and catch some homers from them during batting practice.

As soon as I got to the front row in right field, a righty on the Mets laced a line drive that rolled to the base of the wall a few feet in front of me. Mets reliever Hansel Robles came over to pick up the ball. I asked him to throw it to me. He underhanded it to me from about 10 feet away. I made the underhanded catch in my glove. See the ball on the right. I was on the board not even 10 minutes after walking into the stadium. No more than five minutes after Robles threw me the ball, the Mets were off the field and BP was over.

That was it. The Reds didn't take batting practice, probably because they had a 13 inning game in Pittsburgh the night before and didn't get to New York until about 4 a.m. I don't know if that's when they got in, that is just my guess.

While waiting for anything to happen, I moved over to the usual spot down the third base line and waited for something to happen. First, I went over to Zack Hample and congratulated him on catching the ball Alex Rodriguez used for his 3,000th hit. Click HERE to read more about that.

Eventually, a few of the Reds pitchers came out to play catch. One player was putting loose baseballs that were lying on the field into a bag a few feet in front of me. I didn't know who it was, but I held my glove up to try and get his attention. Without even saying anything, the player tossed a ball to me. The ball is an old Bud Selig ball that was quite worn when I snagged it. I was told the player who threw it to me was injured pitcher Raisel Iglesias, but I don't know for sure.




A few minutes after I got the ball, I saw a Reds pitcher signing some autographs down the line. Before I could figure out who it was, I was running down to try and get his autograph. Since I didn't have much to get signed and I didn't know who the player was, I got the player to sign the ball I was just thrown, even though it was a pretty beat up ball. I was told the player was rookie pitcher Michael Lorenzen. Here is the signed ball.

For a while after getting Lorenzen's autograph, pretty much nothing happened. Then, shortly before the National Anthem, a few Reds players came over and started signing. Billy Hamilton was way too far away. But the one person within an arm's reach was Todd Frazier. He signed a clean ball for me, then I used my GoPro camera to take the below video. He signed for a bunch of people before the National Anthem was sung.


After the national anthem, the main target of the day walked in my direction. That would be Brandon Phillips. I got his autograph in 2013, but I wanted to try again because he is one of the best players in baseball. The video below shows everything that happened once he came over.
As you can see, he signed my card. He also messed with my GoPro, which was hilarious. When he touched the camera, I was actually bending down to pick up a pen that I dropped. Phillips is a great guy, and I'm happy I have the video to prove it. His birthday was a couple days after the video was shot, so that's why I told him happy early birthday.

After that, I just watched the game with my friend. It was a good one, as the Mets won in less than two and a half hours. Here are the autographs from Phillips and Frazier:









That's it for this entry. Thanks for reading and good luck graphing!

Giants @ Mets 6/9/15 at Citi Field

For the first time in many months, I was able to get to a baseball game in time for batting practice. You probably know what happened in this game already, but I'm obligated to share my tale anyway.

I found a good ticket deal online for the Tuesday game between the Mets and Giants, and my friend an I decided to go and meet at the game. I got to Citi Field at about 4:40 and was first in line at the Jackie Robinson Rotunda when the gates were going to open. My friend arrived a few minutes later, and we were in a good spot when the gates opened.

Now, I didn't have a regular ticket stub for this game, nor did I have a print at home ticket. I had an e-ticket, which I accessed from Passbook on my iPhone. As I got to the gate, I showed the ticket taker my ticket and a small type of ticket-type paper was printed out of a machine and handed to me. It says on the paper that it's not a ticket, but it's used as a ticket because people figured out that e-tickets can be altered to show many possible seats. I'll call it a receipt. On the right is what I got when I entered the stadium. If you notice the time, it says 5:10:17 PM, which is just seconds after the gates opened.

After fumbling to put the receipt in my pocket and grab my glove, I raced toward the third base side of the field in foul territory. I was one of the first ones to get there while the Mets were still taking BP, and as I was grabbing something from my bag, I heard the crack of Anthony Recker's bat. He sent a line drive foul ball into the empty seats a section behind me. I raced up the stairs and saw the ball rolling down from row to row in the middle of the row of seats. After picking the right row, the ball rolled right into my waiting glove a moment before another guy stuck his hand out to try and make the snag. On the left is a photo I took of the ball from the approximate spot I snagged it.


The rest of batting practice was pretty boring. The Mets left the field soon after that and during the Giants portion, Joaquin Arias threw a ball toward me, but it sailed a couple feet over my glove. That was pretty much it. I was getting ready to head back toward my seats on the first base side when I noticed a person in a Giants uniform standing in the tunnel near the Giants dugout. The same tunnel where I got baseballs from umpires last season.

Once I walked over to the tunnel, I was told that it was former big leaguer Shawon Dunston. He played 17 years in the major leagues for six different teams. He was an All-Star twice and was a pretty good shortstop. He briefly played for the Mets and finished his playing career with the Giants in a 2002 World Series loss. I went over to him and asked him to sign a blank Giants history card I had on me, and he was happy to sign it. He works in the Giants front office, and he was letting fans try on his World Series ring from last year. I didn't get to try it. Here is a video I took of him signing autographs.


After taking that video, I went toward where my seat was on the first base side and met up with my friend. We wanted to meet Curtis Granderson once again. I met him a couple times last season, and I think my argument is justified when I say he is the nicest player in the league. He usually signs right after the national anthem, so I headed over toward the spot he usually signs from. After the national anthem, he high-fived all the pitchers going to the bullpen, then walked over and signed. My friend and I were at a good place in line and I'll let the video below describe everything else.

My friend Larry was very happy to see the video. As you can see, Granderson signed two cards for me then shook my hand. Nice guy. If you're keeping track, Grandreson has now signed six cards for me over the last year. I have no more cars for him to sign, so if I want to meet him again I may need to get something creative for him to sign. Here are the cards:

After that, we ate food and went back to our seats and watched the game. In the top of the first inning, Giants leadoff hitter Nori Aoki bounced an infield single to open the game against Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard. A that time, I said something to my friend that I wouldn't say again the rest of the night.


"Well, there goes the no-hitter," I told him jokingly.

Giants rookie Chris Heston was mowing down the Mets one after the other. On a team that includes Madison Bumgarner, Tim Hudson, and Tim Lincecum, Chris Heston was the last person I expected to do anything noteworthy. In fact, I'd never even heard of him before I looked up who the starting pitchers for the game were. If you're wondering, here is the view from my seat. It was down the right field line in foul territory.

In the fourth inning, the Giants loaded the bases with two outs and gave Heston a chance to help himself, which he did. 

So the game went on and as the game went on, the tension grew. The Giants were able to build a lead and in about the fifth inning, people started to figure out what could be going on. Heston was mowing down the Mets and would have been in position for a perfect game if not for a couple pitches that hit Mets batters in the fourth inning.

In about the sixth inning, I can honestly say I started rooting for Heston. I was at Shea Stadium in 2007 when John Maine had his no-hit bid broken up by a Paul Hoover infield single. I wanted to see history, even if it was at the expense of the Mets.

Throughout the game, I was wearing my glove like I always do. Right fielders Curtis Granderson and Justin Maxwell were always warming up in from of me, and I tried unsuccessfully for the first few innings to try and get a ball from them. However, once the Mets made a pitching change in the seventh inning, I got my opportunity.

Granderson was having a catch with bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello as the new relief pitcher warmed up. I went down to the front row to try and get Granderson's attention. When they were done playing catch, Granderson saw me in the crowd. He ran over and lobbed an underhanded toss in my direction. I reached my glove out and made the easy one handed catch without anybody else really knowing what's going on. Here's a photo I took of the ball with Granderson in the background.

After getting the ball from Granderson, the game only got more intense. People were rooting for the Mets to get a hit, and others were rooting for history. The Mets kept hitting weak ground outs and couldn't do anything. When Heston came to bat in the top of the ninth inning, he got a standing ovation. In the bottom of the ninth inning, most of everybody at Citi Field came to their feet.


Finally, it was time to do or die for Heston. With all the built up tension, Heston's first pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning nailed Anthony Recker, the third batter Heston hit on the night. The next batter, Danny Muno, struck out looking. Granderson followed Muno by striking out looking as well. That left Ruben Tejada as the last out between Heston and history. In the middle of that at bat, I took the photo below of the scoreboard. It is off-center and missing part of the board, but it captures the essence of what was happening.

Tejada worked the count to 2-2, and the videos below will show the moment when Chris Heston marked his name in baseball's history book. The video below is my view and call of the last out. 

Below is the call of both sets of radio and TV announcers.

Heston's no hitter was the fourth no-hitter for the Giants in as many seasons. They have now had no hitters in each of the last four seasons. The no-hitter was the 288th in Major League Baseball history. That amounts to about 1-2 per season. With 2,430 games played during the regular season, the odds of seeing a no-hitter are about 0.0008 percent. That is an 8 in 10,000 percent. Going to a no-hitter is on everyone's baseball bucket list, and I can now cross that off mine.

When I checked online for pictures the next day, I saw myself in the background. I'd like to call myself a freckle in the face of history. I circled myself in the photos below. Thank you, yellow shirt. You may need to click on them and zoom in to get a better shot of me.

MLB.com

USA Today

That is all for this entry. It will be hard to top this game. Thank you for reading!

Jack McKeon and Multiple Jets: What a Weekend

Some weekends are more fun than others, and this weekend was one of them. Three straight days of graphing opportunities arose, and I took full advantage of all of them, and covered a wide variety of different sports while doing so.

Friday 1/30
Last season, the St. John's IceCaps knocked out the Albany Devils in the first round of the AHL playoffs. I met some of the IceCaps, the Winnipeg Jets AHL Affiliate, after game one last season. They were nice. This year, they were coming back to Albany, and I figured I'd try and get some more autographs.

Since I had some extra time on Friday, I went down towards the Times Union Center before the game, something I rarely do. I didn't have too much stuff, so I printed out a couple 4x6 photos to get a bunch of people on.

I didn't have much individual stuff, but one person I did have stuff for was Carl Klingberg. He came walking out and signed a 4x6 photo I had printed out of him. He is one of the Jets top prospects and he should be in the NHL again real soon. He also said that his hometown is Sweden is closer to St. Johns than we thought it was.


Many other players were walking toward me, and I got most of them to sign one of two other photos I had printed. One was a basic Winnipeg Jets 4x6 logo paper, and the other was a photo I took before game one of last year's playoffs. Here are both photos and everyone that signed them.

34-JC Lipon 16-John Albert 25-Blair Riley

8-Brenden Kichton 48-Carl Klingberg 7-Kris Fredheim

19-Kyle MacKinnon 26-Nicolas Blanchard 50-Austen Brassard

7-Keaton Ellerby 49-Julien Brouillette 9-Ryan Olsen 

That was all I got from the IceCaps on Saturday. The IceCaps then beat the Devils on Friday, and lost to them on Saturday. 

Saturday 1/31

A friend of mine works for the Amsterdam Mohawks, a collegiate summer-league team. Every year, the Mohawks have a winter hot-stove dinner with a guest speaker. Doc Gooden was one of the speakers a few years ago. My friend invited me to join him for the dinner, and I was happy to accept the invitation. This year, former Marlins manger and World Series Champion manager Jack McKeon was scheduled to be the guest speaker, as he played in the Amsterdam area in the 1950s. 

After getting a little lost on the way there, my friend and I made it to the event during the cocktail hour. An autograph signing with McKeon was scheduled for the cocktail hour, but my friend and I missed that portion of it. Eventually, we sat down for the dinner. A few people gave speeches, and food was served. I was able to grab photo that he already signed at the signing during the dinner. So, at least I wouldn't go home empty handed. 

Eventually, I noticed McKeon go into a room where a silent auction was being held. He was taking pictures with a couple people who were honored at the event. After the photos were over, I walked up to McKeon while he was standing by himself and asked him if he could sign a couple cards for me. He said he would and I handed him a sharpie. I put the cards on a nearby table and McKeon leaned over and signed them all beautifully. I then thanked him, shook his hand, and told him I was looking forward to his speech. Here are the cards he signed for me.

His speech was pretty funny. My favorite moment is when he recalled his playing days and said, "I hit three ways, right, left, and seldom." That drew a large applause from the crowd. He talked about his managerial days, his time in the Amsterdam area, and many other topics. He was pretty funny and one of his main messages was to follow your dream. He said his dream wasn't accomplished until he was 72 and managed the Marlins to a World Series title. He is the oldest manager in MLB history to win the World Series. On our way out of the dinner, my friend and I stopped McKeon and asked if we could get pictures. He happily obliged, and we left the dinner in a good mood. 

Sunday 2/1 

Super Bowl Sunday, always a fun day. Long story short, a few of the football coaches at my college played in the NFL, and I heard they were doing an autograph signing during a basketball game. I had found a card of longtime New York Jets center Jim Sweeney at home a few weeks ago. I was happy to get that card signed and a friend gave me a card of Nate Byham, a new assistant coach, which he signed. 

That is it for this entry. It was a fun weekend and I should have some more stories up soon. Good luck graphing and thanks for reading! 

Mid-Season Mail Successes

Now that the Mets season is over, I am at that awkward point in between seasons where the MLB is in the postseason, NFL is in week five, and the NHL and NBA haven't started yet. Since there have been few opportunities to get autographs in-person, I figured I'd share some of my most recent mail successes.

Current Kansas City Royals pitcher and former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie signed two cards for me, including one personalized. I mailed these to the stadium in Kansas City and got them back in about a month.

Former New York Yankee and journeyman pitcher Bob Shirley signed four card for me and personalized one of them. 

Remember Mike Cameron? He played for eight different teams over a 16 year MLB career. He is known for his Gold Glove winning defense, thanks to plays like this and this. He signed five cards for me.

Speaking of people named Mike, Mike Stanton (the pitcher) signed three cards for me in the mail. Not to be confused with Giancarlo (Mike) Stanton. Stanton pitched for both New York teams, and he was also named in the Mitchell Report, although he denies using any banned substance. 

Bruce Berenyi, a member of the 1986 New York Mets, signed a card and personalized an index card for me. I sent a few cards, but he only signed one of them. 

Brian Schneider is now the manager of a Single-A team in Jupiter, Florida. He was previsouly a catcher for the Mets and Nationals, among other teams. I sent three cards to his new team, and he signed all three of them in about two weeks. 

The 1990 World Series ended when Todd Benzinger caught a foul pop-up, giving the Reds the championship. He signed two cards from the 1989 Upper Deck series for me. 

17 year MLB veteran Rick Cerone signed one card for me. I senate a few, but he only got the one. He is notorious for only doing one item per person. 

Former Yankees and Phillies starter Charles Hudson signed three cards for me. 

So did Greg Brock. 

Phillies broadcaster and former pitcher Larry Andersen also signed three, personalizing one. I sent five cards, but I guess he kept the other two. 

At a Mets game last season, I took a picture with Mets third base coach Tim Teufel. I mailed him a copy of the photo and a couple cards. He signed them all and sent them back to me. Very happy to get this one back. 

To close out this entry, I'll switch sports, and genders. In all of NHL history, only one female has played in a pre-season game. That female is Manon Rheaume. She played goalie for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a preseason game in 1992. She signed a photo for me.