Last year, I wrote about my experience of attending seven Major League Baseball games in six different stadiums across the Midwest in the span of eight days.  (You can read more about my 2021 baseball vacation here.)  This year, I had no interest in attempting anything nearly as ambitious, but I did attend a few games.  Now with this year’s Major League Baseball season finally over, I thought I would take this opportunity to recap my baseball excursions in 2022, as well as a newly discovered ability.  Read further to find out the answers to the following questions that people might be wondering about:

• How many games did I go to this year?
• Did I see any interesting games?
• How many baseballs did I end up with?
• Did I catch any baseballs that might make me famous?
• Have I achieved some sort of record?
• How did the 2022 baseball season turn out?

To provide some additional context, as I noted in this blog shortly after my baseball vacation in July 2021, I caught my first ever official Major League baseball last year in Detroit, off a home run hit during batting practice by a player from the Texas Rangers.  Although the home run wasn’t hit during the actual game, it still counts as the start of my baseball collection.  Later that year, in September 2021, I attended a Minor League Baseball game between the Indianapolis Indians and the Nashville Sounds.  During that game, I caught a foul ball, bringing my lifetime total of baseballs from professional baseball games all the way up to 2.  I thought, this is cool, maybe I can snag some more baseballs at future games that I attend.  That brings us to this year.

Thursday, May 26, 2022: Cubs vs. Reds.  This past May, I made the two-hour drive to Cincinnati to catch a weekday afternoon game between the Cincinnati Reds and the visiting Chicago Cubs.  My favorite team overall is the Boston Red Sox, but I consider the Cubs to be my favorite National League team.  I also like the Reds, and Cincinnati is the closest Major League Baseball stadium to where I live, so I thought this would be a good game to go to.  The Cubs and Reds always have a good rivalry, although both teams were bad this year.  Overall, I was there to root for the Cubs, but I like both teams, and I wasn’t too emotionally invested in the outcome of the game.

My day was immediately made in the top of the first inning, when the Cubs’ Wilson Contreras hit a foul ball in my general direction along the third base line.  The ball hit a seat in my row about ten seats away, but since nobody else was sitting in my row, I was there instantly to pick it up before anyone else could get to it.  This brought my lifetime total of professional game balls to 3, and also marked my second game in a row where I was able to snag a baseball (with the Indians game from last September being the first in this streak).

With my baseball souvenir already in tow, I was able to sit back and enjoy the rest of the game.  The Reds, who had the worst record in baseball at that time, actually got hot, getting 8 runs in the 3^rd inning to go up 10-3.  A torrential rain after the 5^th inning with the Reds up 11-5 threatened the rest of the game, but play resumed after a one-hour delay.  I stayed to watch the rest of the onslaught.  The Reds won that game, 20-5, although I’m still not sure how the worst team in baseball at the time scored 20 runs against the Cubs that day.

Friday, July 1, 2022: Red Sox vs. Cubs.  As previously mentioned, my favorite team is the Boston Red Sox.  Since the Red Sox and Cubs are in opposite leagues, they don’t play each other very often, but they did play a weekend series against each other this year in Chicago.  I was able to make it up to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field for their opening game of the series on a Friday afternoon.

Although the game was in Chicago, there were a lot of Red Sox fans in my section where I was sitting behind the Red Sox dugout along the first base line.  The game was a sellout and the atmosphere was electric.  Things started off with a bang, as Red Sox’ Jarrad Durran homered on the very first pitch of the game.  While everyone was still buzzing about the sudden 1-0 start, Xander Bogaerts crushed the very next pitch out of the park…except that one was foul by inches.  It was still an exciting way to start the game.  The Red Sox rode their hot start into the 5^th inning with a 4-0 lead when things finally unraveled.  Starting pitcher Rich Hill suffered a knee injury but tried to tough it out and keep pitching anyway.  He was clearly not 100%, giving up three runs to make it 4-3.  The bullpen could not hold the lead after that, and the Cubs came back to win, 6-5.

This was not the result I was hoping for, but it was a good game.  And if the Red Sox are going to lose, I would much rather it be to the Cubs than, say, the Yankees.  However, going into this game on July 1, the Red Sox were having a good season and sitting in playoff position.  After this game, they would have a terrible July, falling way out of contention for the rest of the season.  It appears that is the game that started the collapse, so perhaps I am to blame for going to the game and jinxing them?  Surely, I can’t be held accountable for this, but just it’s a thought.

On a brighter note, during the game, after recording the third out of an inning on defense, Red Sox first baseman Franchy Cordero tossed the ball into the stands, as players frequently do, essentially tossing a souvenir to a fan.  Two guys who were two rows behind me both tried to grab it, but it deflected off their hands and right to me.  I had just snagged a souvenir baseball in my third consecutive game, bringing my lifetime baseball total to 4, all in the span of one year.  Would this be the start of a trend?  Maybe I have a knack for catching baseballs…

Wednesday, September 14, 2022: Indianapolis Indians vs. Toledo Mud Hens.  In September, my company took its employees to an Indianapolis Indians game.  The Indians are the minor league baseball team of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and while it wasn’t a Major League game, it’s still professional baseball and a fun way to spend an afternoon at work.

In this game, I was able to catch one of the T-shirts that were thrown into the crowd by stadium workers.  I gave the T-shirt to a co-worker sitting next to me (it wasn’t the right size for me anyway), but it continued my knack of catching things at baseball games.  And before you say, “But Ryan, that doesn’t count, that wasn’t a baseball,” I’ve got that covered too.  Shortly afterward, a foul ball came our direction, hit the row of seats behind us, then hit the guy next to me in the arm, bounced on the ground, and I was able to scoop it up.  I gave it to him though, as I didn’t really need to keep another baseball.  (What would I do with all these baseballs if I start catching enough of them?)  Also, my thought is, if the ball hits you, generally, you should get to keep it.  But, since I did scoop up the ball, even though I didn’t keep it, it still counts for my total.  This brought my “Official Lifetime Total Number of Baseballs” up to 5.  This also marked my fourth consecutive game in which I was able to snag a baseball.

The Indians lost to the Toledo Mud Hens, 4-3, but it was a fun outing enjoyed by all.  And the game also featured a sliding home run grab by one of our employees, which wound up being featured on SportsCenter. Again, I was not the fan who caught this ball shown below, but I’m recognizing it as the most interesting moment of the game:

Albert Pujols Home Run Watch:  By this time, with three weeks remaining in the Major League Baseball season, I had been following the home run chase by Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals, one of the greatest home run hitters in the history of the game.  He had already announced his retirement, effective at the end of the 2022 season, and was on pace to potentially reach 700 home runs for his career near the end of the season – a milestone only three other players in history had reached.  And I began to think, what if I went to a Cardinals game and caught his 700^th home run?  I began to do some research.  I discovered that a potential 700^th home run ball from Albert Pujols could generate a six-figure dollar amount at an auction for the fan who caught it.  More research showed that Pujols hit 90% of his home runs to left field (many of those near the foul pole), and that the final three games of his career would be in Pittsburgh, with the Cardinals visiting the Pirates from October 3-5.  I filed away this information in my brain for future reference, just in case Pujols got to 698 or 699 home runs at the end of the season.  If it came right down to it, would I try to get off work for those three days just to make a 6-hour drive to Pittsburgh to try to catch a potential home run #700?  It seemed like a crazy and unlikely idea to consider, but I decided to at least monitor this development anyway.  But first, there were two more games I definitely wanted to attend…

Tuesday, September 20, 2022: Red Sox vs. Reds.  In another interleague matchup that doesn’t happen very often, the Red Sox traveled to Cincinnati on September 20-21 for a two-game Tuesday/Wednesday series against the Reds.  I made the two-hour drive to Cincinnati on Tuesday evening and sat along the third base line behind the Red Sox dugout, surrounded by quite a few other Red Sox fans.  After each inning, third baseman Rafael Devers always tossed the ball into the stands, and while several of the balls would find its way to someone near me, I wasn’t fortunate enough to actually get one.  And no foul balls came my way either.  When the game was over, my streak was snapped.  Oh well – it was crazy that I had been able to grab a baseball at four games in a row in the first place.

As far as the actual game was concerned, the Red Sox got off to a 5-1 lead before trying to give the game away in the 9^th inning.  After their closer walked three batters in a row and gave up two runs, the score was 5-3, forcing the manager to bring in someone else who could actually throw strikes.  It worked, and Red Sox eventually escaped with a 5-3 win that was much closer than it should have been.

Wednesday, September 21, 2022:  Red Sox vs. Reds.  The following day, I attended the second of the two-game series between these same two teams.  I had taken the day off work and spent the day in Cincinnati.  I took advantage of this time to visit the Cincinnati Zoo, named this year by a USA Today readers’ contest as the best zoo in the country.  I saw some interesting animals, as you do at zoos – hippos, elephants, giraffes, kangaroos, penguins, gorillas, and lions.

After spending hours walking around outside in sweltering 90-degree weather to look at animals, I made my way from the zoo to Great American Ballpark for the game.  Both teams were in last place in their respective divisions, and there wasn’t really anything to play for except pride.  I decided to take a seat in right field, figuring my odds of getting a baseball would be better, since there weren’t as many fans there.  The game itself was not very suspenseful after the 5^th inning, when the Reds scored three runs to open up a 4-1 lead.  The Reds would go on to win, 5-1, as the two teams split the two games of their series.

But Ryan, did you get a baseball?  Well, I was sitting in right field in foul territory, near where Red Sox right fielder Alex Verdugo would often toss a ball into the stands before the inning would start.  Since I was the only one in that section wearing a Red Sox shirt, I thought my odds of getting one from him were pretty good.  He did look at me and toss a ball my way once – but a kid just in front of me caught it.  That’s fine – the kids should get priority anyway.  But that was the closest I came.  So no, I did not get a baseball at either of these games in Cincinnati.  Oh well.  It was a fun two-game trip anyway.  And it was the last one I attended this season.

But Ryan, weren’t you going to go try to catch a home run from Albert Pujols?  Oh right.  Well, Albert Pujols hit his 700^th home run in Los Angeles on September 23^rd – almost two weeks before the end of the season.  At that point, any thought I had of possibly going to Pittsburgh to catch his 700^th home run during the final series of 2022 so I could then auction it off for a six-figure sum went out the window.  But, let’s pretend for a minute that we live in an alternate universe where Pujols had 699 home runs leading up to the final series in Pittsburgh from October 3-5, and let’s pretend that I would have decided (and been able) to go to Pittsburgh to try to catch his 700^th home run.  In that reality, I would have bought a ticket in left field, probably near the foul pole in the lower level, since my research indicated that’s where he would be the most likely to hit a home run.

With that information in mind, in our actual reality, on Monday, October 3^rd, Pujols stepped into the batter’s box in Pittsburgh, having already hit 702 career home runs.  If you watch the video below, just imagine the other reality where he was sitting at 699 at the time instead of 702:

So, if I had been to that game with the goal of catching home run #700 from him, that’s about where I would have sat!  Who knows if the milestone baseball would have found its way to my exact location anyway (probably not), or if I would have merely been a nearby onlooker in that section (the more likely outcome).  As it is, home run #703 might be worth a little something as well, as it turned out to be the final home run he ever hit, but I’m not concerned about that.  I just thought it was interesting that I was able to predict the location of a home run ahead of time.

Season Totals:  I attended five baseball games in 2022.  That’s four Major League games (each featuring some two-team combination of the Red Sox, Cubs, and Reds), plus one work outing to a Minor League game.  The best game was the Cubs 6-5 win over the Red Sox in Chicago on July 1, even though the Red Sox lost, but it was a great game in front of a sold-out crowd.  The most fun game to go to was the Indians minor league game.  Also, I got three baseballs this year, which, between 2021 and 2022, brings my “Official Lifetime Total Number of Baseballs” to five – four of which I have kept.

You’ve got to have some sort of record!  Well, no.  As I’ve shared these stories with others over the past few months, people have asked me how I got so lucky to get a baseball at a game so frequently, and remarked that perhaps there’s some sort of record I might be approaching.  Although there’s no official Guinness record for this sort of thing, the unofficial record-holder in number of lifetime baseballs caught at stadiums by one fan is almost universally recognized as a guy named Zack Hample, with over 12,000 baseballs.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I’ve caught five, so I have a long way to go to catch him.  Not that I have any ambition to try to do that.  But if you’re interested in seeing how he makes a living as a YouTuber catching baseballs at stadiums, he has a ton of videos on YouTube where he documents himself routinely getting several baseballs per game.  (Most of those are from batting practice or thrown into the stands from a player, but those still count.)  Other than Zack, there are also other “ballhawks” out there who like to go to games, go to batting practice, and try to catch as many baseballs as possible.  So, while I feel fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time just to catch five baseballs in the 13 games I’ve attended in the past year and a half, it’s not even close to a record.

Season Recap:  I waited until now to post about the games I went to this year because I decided to wait until the end of the 2022 baseball season, and then do this as sort of an overall season recap.  The World Series just ended a week ago, with the Houston Astros (also colloquially known as the Cheaters) defeating the Philadelphia Phillies, 4 games to 2.  I would say congratulations to the winning team, but I was rooting against them because of their cheating scandal from 2017, so this is more of an acknowledgement that they won this year than a congratulations.  And while the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber became this year’s World Series Taco Hero for Taco Bell’s “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion (which I wrote about in both 2020 and 2021), this year’s promotion was a bit of a letdown because you had to download the Taco Bell app this year to claim a free taco, and I didn’t care enough to do that.  Between the Red Sox being a last place team in 2022 and the Astros winning it all, I was hoping this season’s results would be different.  But at least I made it to a few games and started a baseball collection of sorts.  And at least there’s always next year.

Speaking of next year, what’s going to happen in 2023?  Will the Red Sox get any better and be a playoff team again?  Or if you root for another team, how will your favorite team do?  Will I go to any games next year?  If I do, will I catch any more baseballs?  Will I ask any co-workers to pass a quiz over the rules of baseball before attending a game next year?  Will I get a free taco from Taco Bell next year?  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.  But I hope you enjoyed my 2022 baseball recap. Thanks for reading.