Chaos and Kanji is the blog where I write about my adventures through Japan!

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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Almost Got It

You ever have one of those moments where if you had done something just a little differently it would have changed the outcome of something major? 

There are a lot of what ifs out there and I do a lot of second guessing but I don't really dwell on things. But I was reflecting a little on the game I saw last night and thought I'd share something with you. 

The game itself was great. It stayed pretty close the whole time and I saw some good fielding. The hitting wasn't quite there as both teams left more than one runner on base per inning on average, frequently with runners in scoring position with no outs or one out, or the bases loaded. 

As I mentioned before, I'll share more of my baseball experiences with you later. Here's my real story: as a baseball fan and collector one thing I want to have is a game ball from each professional league, including all the minor leagues and foreign leagues. It's not impossible but very unlikely that I'll complete such a collection. I don't go out of my way to purchase them on eBay or anything, and while I went ahead and bought an NPB ball this spring I would like to have game used balls. 

I don't mind batting practice balls; I have plenty of minor and major league BP balls, many with different markings from game balls. And I mentioned that I was lucky enough to get a batting practice ball at Sunday's game. I also grabbed a BP ball on Tuesday. Both of these have very light markings, though. It's difficult to see that it's even a KBO ball, let alone be able to admire the markings. 

I've been to plenty of games and I know the odds of getting balls (BP or game used) are slim but I also usually pay close attention. I've often thought about the infinite number of possible ways a ball could come to me - lined or popped up, bounced off a wall or seats, a carom off the net, for instance. A foul ball at yesterday's game bounced off the upper deck facade and flew just overhead. I threw my hand up to try to catch it but it was a little too high. 

If I had stood up during the foul ball to watch it, I could have easily caught the ricochet. But I didn't. And I didn't get the ball. 

Oh well, maybe tonight!

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