Scoring autographs at the Aberdeen Ironbirds game

[Carllamy]

My friend who works at Leidos invited me to sit in the Leidos skybox at Leidos Fireld at Ripken Stadium tonight, so I went.

First, the stadium is very nice - a sort-of miniature version of Camden Yards. Same brick and green iron construction material, a long brick building in the outfield (a hotel in left field instead of a warehouse in right field), down to the same name signs and graphics on the name plates on the outside of the luxury boxes.

When we got to the stadium they let us in, but they had to rip our tickets because they were suffering through a power outage, and nothing was working. That eventually was solved.

Before the game I bought a baseball and asked one of the ushers, a fellow old-guy, if it was okay to go down and ask for an autograph. He said yes, and told me that #1 draft pick D.J. Stewart had just gone in the dugout, but if I waited he'd be out again. Sure enough he walked by, I yelled "D.J.", he walked over and gave me an autograph. Score!

Later, I was sitting in the Lidos skybox, I looked over in the next box to my left, the Ripken baseball box, and who was sitting in there but Dan Duquette! I ran downstairs, bought a baseball, and bingo, I have Dan Duquettes autograph on a baseball. Score!

[hoosiers]

My son and I attended an Ironbirds game last year in Staten Island and scored about 18 Ironbird autos, a game used ball and a game used broken bat. Very poor Staten Island attendance enabled us to sit first row and talk to the bat boy and the guys on deck. My son was 8 last year and could not have been more excited about the experience. At one point he turned to me and said, "Dad, 18 autographs must be some sort of record, right?"

As I posted last month, we saw the Ironbirds in Brooklyn and he scored about 21 autos and a game used ball that he had DJ Stewart sign. We also saw DJ and a couple players walking back to the team hotel passing the famous Coney Island Nathan's Hot Dog Stabd after the game. My son ran up to DJ and received a "Hey, bro, what's up" with a fist bump.

The players were all very chatty in conversation, posed for a picture w my son when asked, and overall were very pleasant. Easy guys to cheer for and a testament to our front office for drafting good guys.

We plan to catch the Ironbirds in Staten Island later this month.

[Frobby]

Later, I was sitting in the Lidos skybox, I looked over in the next box to my left, the Ripken baseball box, and who was sitting in there but Dan Duquette! I ran downstairs, bought a baseball, and bingo, I have Dan Duquettes autograph on a baseball. Score!

Yeah, but did you pry any intel out of DD? I ran into him at an O's-Nats game in DC and got a photo with him.

[hoosiers]

I plan to be at the Delmarva game tonight, Aug 5, and will report on the game as well as provide an update on whether my son is able to experience similar success there that's he had at other games. Anyone on here who is going to the game and wants to meet up, please PM me.

[Frobby]

I plan to be at the Delmarva game tonight, Aug 5, and will report on the game as well as provide an update on whether my son is able to experience similar success there that's he had at other games. Anyone on here who is going to the game and wants to meet up, please PM me.

Have a great time! Interested to get your impressions of Reyes.

[hoosiers]

So, my family took our Bethany Beach vacation to Salisbury Wednesday night to catch the Shorebirds. It was my first time at Perdue Stadium and the facility was very nice and very well run. There was a nice bingo baseball promotion that had many fans tracking various game actions on their bingo card (4-6 putout, wild pitch, slide, etc). It was a beautiful night for baseball and the sun had set over most of the field when play began. I remember looking around and thinking this was a very nice environment all around.

My son continued his streak of getting a game used ball after he ran down the aisle, waved his arms frantically at Shorebirds catcher Yermin Mercedes after a third out strike out and was rewarded with the toss. That ball later was signed by Reyes and Mercedes. I purchased a ball for my son before the game because he did not have his glove and that ball had 18 autographs on it including Reyes, Coach Minor and many others. My middle daughter took the packet of team baseball cards and scored several more autographs. My son also took pictures with Coach Minor, Reyes and various others. We ended up with a greedy four Jomar Reyes autographs.

Regarding the play, I focused on Jose Reyes who had a clean single over the 3B's head and a flyout to RF sandwiched between two strikeouts. The first was from the Hickory starter who was more a junkballer throwing an 84-86 FB and two different offspeed pitches that registered as low as 66 on the Delmarva gun. That pitcher dialed it up to 88-89 on the third swinging strike. Reyes later struck out to the Hickory closer who threw pure gas hitting 94-95 consistently.

Ledesma's HR was a blast. Delmarva has two advertising tiers to the OF fence that must reach 18-25 feet high. In left center and right center there are scoreboards that appear to be 20-25 feet high above the OF fence just described. Ledesma hit the middle of the scoreboard in left center. Salas had a legit HR down the LF foul line.

Salas made two sparkling plays at SS both grounders deep in the hole. On one, he threw the lead runner out at 2B and threw to first to barely get the batter on the second. I think on some plays, while fans were figuring out where the ball was hit, Salas might have taken six to eight steps. He was quick. The Shorebirds turned two on a liner right at the 2B and Salas was at the bag before one looked up. The guy can play SS in my opinion.

Mercedes was making all kinds of stops behind the plate, but really messed up the defensive side of a first-third double steal. He double-clutched the throw to 2B and then had no chance at that runner, but still threw the ball down there instead of eating it. The throw back was late and both runners were easily safe. I could hear multiple conversations around me blaming Mercedes for not realizing he should have held the ball and conceded 2B to that runner and nothing else.

Tanner Scott threw 94-95 on the Delmarva gun. He takes a deep breath and shrugs his shoulder to get set and then delivers his pitch - every pitch. Perhaps he is working to get the delivery together first and then will abandon this, but it allows batters to time his delivery more than most pitchers IMO.

The game had a big play at the plate where a nice throw from the Orioles RF arrived well in advance of the runner and Mercedes appeared to apply a wide sweeping tag in a play the umpire called "safe" to the amazement of most everyone in the park. Mercedes raised his hands and then slapped his hips in exasperation at the call and Coach Minor came out to argue. That run was the Crawdad's fifth and the sixth would soon follow, but the Shorebirds only scored three and might have lost anyway. Most of the park thought the ump missed a strike three on a curveball earlier in the inning.

We scored some of the autographs after the game and the players were very kind (before the game also) and threw their wristbands to the kids as well, but the players took the loss hard and appeared more dejected after the game than any losing Orioles minor league team I've seen. Anyway, that's what I noticed.