The Start of the 2013 Pro Baseball Season Is Here!

The Start of the 2013 Pro Baseball Season Is Here!

As millions of fans are currently aware of… THE MLB SEASON IS HERE! And where does this MLB season find me at? A city by the name of Frederick, Maryland, just over an hour away from Baltimore and Washington D.C. Today, April 4th, is the start of my 2 month stint in this new city, as requested by my on-the-move job. I must say, after the previous 5 months in New York City, it is nice to be back in a town where the ushers at the local ballpark know me by name. But, enough about my new residence and my job. It's not important. What is important is that I will be spending the first 2 months of the professional baseball season living on the East Coast, just spitting distance from some amazing ball clubs! Also, for those of you that don't know, Frederick is the home of the Class A+ Keys, which is part of the Baltimore Orioles organization. Needless to say, I will be frequenting their weekend home games over the next couple of months.

As I mentioned, it is April 4th, and today is my first day in this new city. I arrived in the late afternoon and began acquainting myself with the neighborhoods surrounding my new residence. Upon arrival here, I was not aware that there was a professional ball club in town, and one can only imagine my joy when I came across the gem that is Harry Grove Stadium. My first spotting of the stadium found me in search of a place to eat with my travel companions/ co-workers. At first I just saw a bunch of high school ballplayers milling around a series of practice fields right next to the interstate and I assumed they were warming up for a game. I excitedly pointed them out to my friends and stated that I would try to make it to the game after dinner. As we got closer, I realized that there was a much larger field behind the practice fields; a stadium in fact. I couldn't wait to arrive at the restaurant so I could Google it on my BlackBerry.

My group quickly found a Wendy's down the street and began ordering. When it was my turn to approach the register and order, a small bundle of papers on the counter caught my eye. I looked closer and saw that it was a stack of the 2013 Frederick Keys pocket schedules! I WAS RIGHT! Baseball did exist in this glorious new town! I quickly ordered my meal and then ripped open the schedule, anxious to see when their next home game would be. I was pleased to see that their home opener would actually be the next night, a Friday, at 7 PM. Bingo. I will definitely be there!

Our meal concluded and my group headed back to our new home to decompress for the night. I, on the other hand, had work to do. I excitedly jogged down the street to the ballpark to check out the new situation. Whenever I go to a game at an unfamiliar stadium I like to walk around it a couple of times. That way I can find where the teams' locker room entrances are (for autographs) and to otherwise familiarize myself with the new park. As I lightly paced across the parking lot outside the stadium, I heard a beautiful *CRACK*. The crack of a wooden baseball bat to be more precise. There is nothing more beautiful and satisfying than that sound! I stopped and listened carefully. I heard a couple of more cracks and what sounded like playful outfield banter. The team was having on-field batting practice! 

I sprinted towards the mini stadium, elated to have the opportunity to catch my first glimpse of pro ball in months! As I got closer I heard another beautiful *CRACK* followed by a muted but very audible *DUNT*. What was that? Then I heard another, and another. After I heard four in a row, I realized that it was the sound of a baseball repeatedly hitting the towering outfield wall. And then I had another realization. Players typically crush the ball in BP, which means it is highly likely that there is a small fortune of baseballs sitting right behind the outfield fence. There were no other fans or staff around, so I ran around the back of the outfield wall and immediately spotted a pearl white baseball with "Official Ball- Carolina League" stamped on the sweet spot. YES! My first pass down the outfield fence turned up 7 or 8 balls, all of which were nearly perfect and relatively un-marred. Over the next 15 minutes I stood on the berm behind the field and snagged homers as they came my way. By the time BP ended, I had an even dozen baseballs. 11 of which were official Carolina League game balls, and strangely enough, the last ball I snagged was an Official Major League Baseball. Minor League teams NEVER use those in BP, or even in games for that matter. Perhaps a player that was in the Orioles Major League spring training camp had it left over in their bag and just tossed it into the mix. 

The cracks finally stopped and I walked around to the right field foul pole to confirm that BP was done. It was. My hooded sweatshirt was bulging with baseballs so I quickly found a small box in the parking lot and packed up my new finds. I then excitedly ran back to my new place and went about planning my attendance to the Keys home opener the following night. My roommates were confused by my new wealth of baseballs, but they definitely weren't surprised. Let's just say I'm very up front about my baseball fandom. They smiled and shrugged it off, and I went about looking up the rosters for the next evening's game, glad to be chasing yet another summer filled with baseball.