Last night Jeff Granger and I attended the Louisville Bats vs. Syracuse Chiefs game in Syracuse, NY. I am pretty sure Jeff and I were the only Reds/Bats fans in the house. It was really cool to chat with and meet some of the players. (2nd time meeting Ted Power and Corky Miller) The Bats starter Sean Gallagher pitched an excellent 5 innings until being hit by a line drive, which he caught. The Teams Bats were on fire, collecting 13 hits, 1 of them a homerun, and 8 runs. The Bats won convincingly 8-2. (Maybe our presence helped the team get the W last night? Maybe not!!!)
We exchanged some gifts when we first met up. I gave Jeff an InTheGap Class of 2012 Larkin Granger special shirt and he gave me a nice Burnt Hill HS Spartans Varsity Baseball hat (in the photo), Jay Bruce Camo BB Card, Johnny Bench HOF Card, and a Ted Power card for signing at the game (I felt bad I didn't get him anything else). We did some running around the Syracuse University campus seeing the sites, Jeff's old College stomp'n ground and got some good wings at the Varsity (Bar & Grill).
At the game we both got some good autographs - Corky Miller, Ted Power, Neftali Soto, Cody Pucket, Joey Gathright, Willie Harris, Mike Costanzo, & Carlos Fisher.
Thanks Guys for the Autos and small chat. We both got a game used ball. Jeff actually got two but let a young girl have the first one (he almost didn't get the 2nd!!) Costanzo tossed me mine and Soto tossed Jeff both of his. (I would have given my ball to a child, but the one little boy behind got a ball before I did, honest you can ask Jeff to confirm)
Jeff and I got to see an umpire make himself bigger than the game. The ump tossed Miguel Rojas for supposedly throwing his bat in the umps direction, after he hit a line out. Then David Bell went to defend Rojas and got tossed. He didn't do a Lou Pinella or anything. The replacement player for Rojas, Bill Rhinehart hit a solo homerun in the 9th. Jeff and I did some slight law skirting and snuck into the right field area behind the stadium and rescued the Rhinehart HR ball!! Jeff has the ball in Albany. We almost thought about scaling a fence for another ball. (We are such kids at heart when it comes to baseball!).
All in all we had a great day hanging out, two kindred Reds souls. Jeff thanks for the BHV Hat, BB cards, and the memories. (I'm not the only 40+ guy who gets giddy for ball player autographs and will sneak into a ball park for a Homerun ball!!)
Thanks all and Cheers from the Cheap Seats.
