A fan's journey to 3,000 hits

My quest for seeing Derek Jeter get his 3,000th hit started roughly as soon as my season tickets arrived at my house. Keep in mind I have a half season plan with tickets to every other home game. There were plenty of people guesstimating the date that the milestone would be reached and the earliest choice was also the majority- somewhere around June 7-9 when the Yankees would be facing the Red Sox at home.

As luck would have it I had June 7th and June 9th and every other game thereafter on that home stand. I looked around in March and April at tickets for the missing Boston game and then decided I would just wait and see if I can score one from a friend in the bleachers. As the season went on and Jeter gathered up some hits I found myself looking more and more at the dates, the rate he was going, etc. Sometime in May I purchased a ticket for June 10th partially in case Jeter was close, and partially for the Jorge Posada statue they were giving away that night.

The purchase of the June 10th ticket had me and my friend who I share my season tickets with in a frenzy. We then thought it would probably be a good idea to have tickets to every game that we were missing on that home stand, you know, just in case. Long story short, we went from having about 8 games to having 16 games. Great.

By the time June 10th rolled around, Jeter was not even close it was boiling hot out, and I got to the stadium so early that I debated just leaving after getting my crappy quality statue. Instead of leaving I decided to trade in some rain out tickets for free tickets to a later game, got into a fight with someone that barely spoke English, got tickets for Yankees v. Brewers, then hopped back on my broom to get a steak sandwich and relax.

June 12th or 13th (?) we are sitting at the game, Jeter runs down the first base line and gets hurt. First thought, "oh my God I hope he's ok and it's nothing serious." Second thought, "FML we have all these tickets."

I wondered more than once if I was more stressed about being there to witness this historical milestone, or if Jeter was more stressed about trying to get there. I think I might win considering he was definitely going to be there, and well eventually it would happen.

Fast forward to June 28th when Jeter is eligible to come off the DL and when I have tickets to 2 games at home, and also purchased tickets for July 1st at Citi Field (just in case). Jeter not ready, I go to 3 games anyway.

The view from Section 420B on June 28th, Yankees v. Brewers.


I like Citi Field so I wasn't that disappointed that Jeter wasn't playing. However, I was disappointed that the line at the Shake Shack was just longer than I could even bare to consider waiting on. Yankees won that game and we had a pretty nice view of the game.

The view from July 1st at Citi Field, Section 526, Yankees v. Mets.


July 7th... Getting closer and closer. (If you skipped down to here this is the best part.) I have tickets secured for July 7,9 and I am super pumped up. I went through so many debates and dilemmas about why I needed to be there, why Mastercard would eventually hate me, and what is wrong with me? July 7th he finished a mere 2 hits away.... I go home and bought tickets immediately for Friday (just in case). I end up getting a ticket secured from a friend in the bleachers and flip the tickets I bought.... (Headache)

July 8th.... around 4pm it starts thundering and lightning outside. 5pm it looks like it's 10pm outside, it's dark and stormy.... I was supposed to be on a 5:12pm train to meet my friend to get my ticket. I decided to wait until they announce a start time before I waste 2 rides on my train pass. Around 5:45pm they cancel the game.

JULY 9TH, 2011...

A day game. I do not ever go to day games, but this game I was up at 9:30am bright eyed and bushy tailed for Derek Jeter. I get my morning coffee and hit the train. In the Bronx by 11:30am and I am pumped up. I had a really good feeling about the game and about it happening today. I also really didn't want to buy a ticket for Sunday.

After roll call you could feel the tension in the stadium, the anticipation of everyone there could definitely be felt. The only other time I can recall the crowd being that anxious in the new stadium was with 2 outs in the 9th inning during Game 6 of the 2009 World Series.

Derek Jeter comes up for his first at bat and the entire stadium was on their feet cheering him on to hit #2,999. The stadium was chanting, De-rek Je-ter, De-rek Je-ter.... After battling David Price, Jeter won and hit a single. The stadium erupts with cheers and people jumping up and down including myself. I felt like my eyes even teared up. (I know, what a girl.)

Between Jeter's first AB and his second AB, I felt like you could literally cut the tension with a knife. The place was on pins and needles waiting for his next AB.

3rd inning, Jeter is due up. He walks up to the plate and not one person was in their seat. The entire place was clapping and chanting his name again. This AB turned into a battle between Jeter and Price with Jeter running the count full and fouling off a couple. The crowd was in every pitch of this at bat. I was recording the beginning of this AB just in case he got the hit then I decided that I would rather just enjoy the moment if it happened, so I stopped recording. Boy am I glad I did. The ball takes off of Jeter's bat and it was like it happened in slow motion for me. I watched the ball with my arms high in the air screaming, and watched it leave the yard.

I don't think there are words that can describe witnessing something of this magnitude. I was in total shock at the fact that I just saw the guy I grew up watching get his 3,000th hit. I also was in disbelief that he hit a homerun. Only Derek Jeter would be able to deliver such a hit to end his journey to one of the most elite clubs in baseball. He became the 28th player to join the 3,000 hit club, the second to hit a homerun as his 3,000th hit (Boggs was the first), and later that day the second player to go 5-for-5 on the day that he reached 3,000 hits (Biggio was the first).

This was one of the best games I have ever been to, one of the best baseball experiences I was ever a part of, and is definitely something I am grateful to have been able to attend. I don't think I came down from the high of this game until last night. It's such a rare feat for a player to accomplish and for a guy that I have grown up watching on my favorite team to do it was amazing. Being the first Yankee to do it, and to do it at home was just priceless. While Craig Biggio and Wade Boggs both accomplished this not that long ago, it is still something that for you to witness of a player on your home team is a once in a life time experience.



I didn't take any pictures of the hit as it happened because I wanted to cheer and enjoy it when it did. Plenty of my friends took great pictures that they sent me.

Many people thought I was crazy for trying so hard to fill in the opposite games in my plan and others thought nothing of it. I felt like either people were feeling how I was or just figured that if they had tickets to that game then great, and if they didn't it wasn't a big deal. I don't regret driving myself crazy making sure I was there. I had the ticket for that game all along because it was in my ticket plan, so it was meant to be.

I can't say I will be doing the same when A-Rod gets closer because I just don't care that much. But for Derek Jeter, absolutely.

AL Playoff Preview

If anyone was unsure up until this point what the AL East was made of and why it is a tough division, you need to check out the Yankees and Rays game that took place last night. This game was the stuff that playoffs are made of and the type of game that showcases what great pitching does for a team, especially in a short series.

Despite the lack of fans in the stands (roughly 26,000) to see their team fight for first place, David Price came out like a prize fighter and gave the Rays everything he had. Yankees had C.C. Sabathia on the mound going for his 20th win of the season, and he and Price matched each other zero for zero the whole game. Sabathia threw 119 pitches over 8 innings striking out 9, while Price threw 114 pitches over 8 innings and had 4 strikeouts. You could not ask for more out of two starters than what Price and Sabathia gave their teams.

The game was turned over to the bullpen in the 9th with Rays closer Rafael Soriano
and Yankees pitcher Kerry Wood. While I will admit Kerry Wood pitching is still a little frightening for me to watch, he has been lights out with the Yankees. Maybe all he needed was a team that was fighting for something to be re-born. Both Soriano and Wood put up zeros in the 9th.... Benoit (Rays) and Logan/Gaudin put up zeros in the 10th despite Gaudin loading the bases and getting out of it on luck.

The Yankees came up empty in the 11th against Grant Balfour despite a leadoff hit by Austin Kearns. Mitre came in to lose, I mean, pitch in the 11th inning and gave up a leadoff homerun to Reid Brignac to end the game. The loss extends the Yankees to a 4 game losing streak, and the fans are on their 4th straight night of indigestion and Tums.

Despite the game outcome, the game was great with 2 Cy Young candidates battling it out for 8 strong innings.

Here are some rookie cards of Sabathia and Price:

C.C. Sabathia Rookies

David Price Rookies

Humor me and look....

Kerry Wood Rookies

This Kerry Wood on card auto is pretty nice for $10 and it's on card

Yankee Stadium painted in a new light

Over this past weekend I had the opportunity to see Yankee stadium and some games from a perspective I never thought possible, the Luxury seats. When they say luxury, they are not kidding. Sunday for dinner we were offered amongst other things, lobster, bison steak, and lamp chops (with a hint o' mint). To keep you "hungry" for more you will have to read more about that experience later in the week. Last night my dad was offered tickets in a luxury suite upstairs at the stadium so he called me and my brother to go with him. My brother having been there 3 days straight, and on Friday for 15 innings was baseball-ed out told me to call Kouzmanoff a.k.a. Sooz and give her his ticket.

Coincidentally Sooz was kind of on her way here if she kept driving an extra hour from Rutgers, so she was more than willing to take the ticket. We made it down to the stadium in no time really, I parked in the first possible lot so that I didn't get all psychotic in the car sitting in traffic and we met my dad inside. My dad came down with a nice guy from WCBS, I believe his name was Danny, who handed us-I kid you not, gold lettered tickets. I will scan those by the end of me writing this so you can see the difference in even the paper money buys there.

We hop on the air-conditioned elevator and were whisked away to the H&R Block suite level. As we are walking to the suite we pass by a small bar area where fans were waiting to get someone's autograph. I looked in and didn't recognize who it was and honestly didn't care all that much, thenmy dad tapped me and said, "that's Mickey Rivers, wanna go get his autograph." My reply, "Great, I'm not buying a ball for that." I know it sounds terrible, but neither of us really cared that much and kept going.

So we walk in and the first thing I noticed was there was a private marble bathroom, bonus. There was a kitchen area with flat screen tv, food everywhere, water, soda and beer in the fridge. Small tv area with a couch and two chairs (everything leather), and a flat screen tv. There was a really cool phone in there with a screen all it's own, however it didn't call the dugout or the bullpen so I didn't touch it. Chairs along the window looking out onto the field were awesome because you could watch the whole game sans 100% humidity. There were also two rows out seats outside the box which were cushioned like the $1300 seats downstairs. Marble ledges lined the inside and outside seating areas so you could eat, drink, or keep score. Programs were provided free in the suite as were the scorecards the press gets which is what we used to keep score. We joined forces to complete the scorecard (all but when the free ice cream got there was completed), and with minimal information missing.

When Mickey Rivers showed up the guys in the suite, excluding my dad and his friends were practically on his lap like Babe Ruth himself was ressurected and brought to us. I wish that were an exaggeration but Sooz can vouch for that. Neither of us got up at that point to go back inside because of all the hulabaloo, so we watched the first few innings outside before the heat wilted our spirits. Besides, I had my own tickets for that game and wasn't going to go because Mitre was pitching, but I figured if I could watch him suck from an air conditioned room, then way the hell not. So we migrated inside, and got to listen to Rivers for a good long time.

If anyone has seen King of the Hill and knows who Boomhauer is, that is how Rivers talks. Not one of us understood a word out of his mouth for a good hour until we learned how to translate. I wish I were making it up, but it's true. All the guys that were from another company were sitting around talking baseball with the guy, and he just ate it up and went with it. Me and Sooz only understood/paid attention to one story he told and happened to be as he was walking out. One of the guys said, "Hey Mickey, as a kid I don't remember you walking alot. Did you have alot of walks in your career?" Mickey's response was, "I used to walk alot when I first started playing, then I asked some people how do I make more money playing and they said to stop walking. So I hit the ball and didn't walk anymore." (I am quoting to the best of my memory, but it was pretty much the same.) You can imagine that made us laugh, and pretty good too.

We had free food, free ice cream, free suite, free tickets and a good time. It's nice to see how the other half lives for a little while. Though I did enjoy the seats and the experience, I prefer to sit outside in the bleachers or somewhere in the actual crowd.

Yankee Game

OK, the game was freakin' awesome! I bought a scorecard/program because I was hopeful of ending my streak of them losing when I keep score. Don't know why I decided to tempt fate today, but I did. Sooz would say that I don't have that much power, and she's probably right but just the same it's a coincidence that they lose everytime I had kept score in the past. During the 4th inning I was totalling up and noticed Boston didn't have a hit yet and was like oh that's interesting. Then in the 5th I heard someone a few rows back go, "Oh hey, C.C. has a no hitter so far," and then the whole section grumbled and most called him an asshole for opening his mouth. Whatever, it's not like anyone on tv or the radio hadn't said it.

Now, at the point where he was into the 6th and the hit hadn't happened yet I was thinking what a cool scorecard to have done if it does happen. Then it "unhappened" and they got a hit. C.C. got a much deserved standing ovation from the crowd and kept going. He threw 123 pitches total and was still throwing 94 mph when he left the game to another standing ovation. C.C. tipped his cap to the crowd, and Hughes finished the inning.

My seats were absolutely incredible, the view was awesome and the players were so close it was insane. Then again after sitting in right field all the time I guess anything would be closer. The crowd in this area however, not so much fun. This was a $375 per seat section, and most people were not rowdy and cheering like I'm used to. The fans made the atmosphere a snoozefest, and you would be surprised how many people don't even get up when the Yankees score. I loved the seats, for once I had a back to my seat and if that weren't enough of a luxury the seat was more padded than the chair I sit in at my computer typing this.

As great as the seats were, I wouldn't trade my bleacher seat for one of these. I like sitting where I know everyone and where the people around me give a you know what about the game, and know the teams- not just the Yankees or Jeter. I took some pics, one of which includes a fairly terrible one of me. Tomorrow we have seats even closer than today inside the "moat". I'm hoping to get there early enough to attempt to snag an autograph though I'm sure that plenty of other people will have the same intentions. They are calling for rain on and off tomorrow so if there is any rain there probably won't be any outdoor B.P. so I'll end up out of luck.

I may bring my actual camera tomorrow because I noticed the crackberry camera comes across kind of grainy when the pictures are bigger. I really don't want to carry my camera so the odds are kind of slim that I follow through on that one.

P.S. I kept a complete score card that had no mystery outs... and they won. I'm rather proud.

P.P.S. The second to last picture was an accidental picture of Jeter's butt. I was going to delete it but well, someone around here might like it... (He bent over as I was snapping a pic of just his back towards me.)