Stitchface

by Grant on May 7, 2005 11:18 PM PDT in News Comment 17 comments

It's a funny thing, growing older. You start to see people cradling newborns, doting on them and showing them off, and you start to wonder what it feels like to hold something that precious, that magnificent. There is no way to imagine the overflowing joy, the sheer wonder.

Unless you catch your first foul ball. Which I did today. That was the zenith of my life. Sorry about that, unborn child. Or, as I've already nicknamed you, "Non-Ball".

After hundreds of games, not having caught a ball was something of an insult. I didn't even have any war stories or close calls. Now, I have my white whale, and I even got talked up by Mike Krukow. Quoth the Kruk:

A guy in the lower section made a catch, and I don't know how he did it. Because he was looking at his feet when the ball went in his glove. But it went right into that big ol' chunk of leather. Atta babe.

Now, being called "babe" by Mike Krukow is reward enough, but I have a couple of points to make.

I wasn't looking at my feet to avoid getting hit in the face with a baseball, dropping to the ground, and writhing in a puddle of my own blood. I was looking down because of the style points involved.
Actually, number one pretty much covers it, and is not a lie in any way.
Okay, so I was being a weenie. But if I were killed, who would have looked after the ball?

Now, after the close up of my ugly mug, there was a silence. Krukow has seen a lot of baseball games, but he just couldn't believe the unadulterated display of pure athleticism he had just seen. Then, still dumbfounded, says:

Sometimes the best plays of the game are made in the stands.

And that's the story of my first foul ball. Also, the Giants lost in a humiliating fashion, taking our hearts and running them through a citrus juicer. Again. Eight runs in a game Jason Schmidt starts, and they still lose to a lineup with Ryan Church, Jamey Carroll, Endy Chavez, Brian Schneider and Cristian Guzman.

Oof. It'd be just dandy for Bonds to come back, but I hope he brings Schmidt with him when he shows.

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Congrats

At least one good thing came out of today's game. But of course it was only on local TV so I couldn't catch your fine glovery on Extra Innings. Boo.

"I been waitin' a long time for this! I been waitin' since the f***ing amateurs!" --WILL "THE THRILL" CLARK

by Josh from Hollywood on May 8, 2005 2:02 AM PDT reply actions

I totally...

...saw that! I remember that! It was the only thing from that horrible game that I will try to commit to memory...
wait what happened?
Today's(May 8th) my 26th birthday. They'd better win....

PS-It's funny, when I was a kid, they would always play the Expos on my birthday...

HummBaby.tribe.net

by Hanging Fastball on May 8, 2005 2:45 AM PDT reply actions

Congratulations!

And nice "stitchface" reference.

I've nabbed six foul balls in my life (none at Mays Field). Two of them were caught in shameless self-defense, and I don't love those two any less. But the pop-up that I dropped and then picked up off of the seat next to me? We don't speak about him in mixed company.

Who's the father? I mean, who hit it?

"Robb Nen is going to get you" - Benito Santiago to Chipper Jones, 10/7/02

by Pants Man on May 8, 2005 7:44 AM PDT reply actions

Vinny Castilla

I know, I know. I'm not jazzed about it either.

by Grant on May 8, 2005 11:14 AM PDT up reply actions

don't...

let the failings of the father bias you against his son

DYG

by kenshin1 on May 8, 2005 11:28 AM PDT up reply actions

Congrats Grant

I wish I could have seen it.

I caught a HR at Candlestick off Jeff Kent's bat--he has since run away from home (or been kicked out depending on whom you believe).

by slcgiant on May 8, 2005 9:20 AM PDT reply actions

I wanna see it!

Did anyone TiVo Grant's catch? Who can post it online?

by Gordo on May 8, 2005 10:11 AM PDT reply actions

Screencaps/Video

We have to see this. This is one of the few times where a description is simply not enough

by jpolorolu on May 8, 2005 12:08 PM PDT reply actions

I TiVoed the game...

...but if I knew how to get that on my computer, I'd be too busy at my NASA job to write here.

Note: they did not show the catch. Just my trying-to-hide-the-bubbling-joy face for a few seconds.

by Grant on May 8, 2005 12:11 PM PDT reply actions

Questions for the TiVo spokesperson

Does the TiVo have a DVD burner in it or can you attach one to it? I was thinking you could burn it to DVD and then somehow transfer it to the computer. Not that I know how to do that either, but I bet someone here does.

Another question: how would TiVo handle it if you had two shows on at the same time that you wanted to watch? Can it tape both? If you programmed it to tape all Giants games and American Idol, and both things came on Tuesday night at the same time, how would it know which one to tape? Not that I watch American Idol. Nope, not me...'cause it's Mother's Day and I was thinking of getting my mom one. No, really. :)

by asga algun pino carne on May 8, 2005 1:03 PM PDT up reply actions

My commission checks aren't that big....

The tech savvy can hook the TiVo to a VCR, DVD Burner, or computer. I can not, so I have no idea how it works.

As to the second question, you can't record two shows, but you can watch one while recording the other. You can set priority lists for the shows that are automatically recorded. For example, if "24" is on, the TiVo will record it no matter what, even if a Giants game is on. If a Giants game is on, it will have recording priority over everything but "24", and so on.

TiVo people are all drooling zealots. Beware.

by Grant on May 8, 2005 1:22 PM PDT up reply actions

The TiVo 411

As Grant said, you set a priority list for which shows you want recorded, but, unlike he said, you actually CAN record two programs at once on the combo TiVo/DirecTv receivers. And there is now a brand new combo TiVo/DVD burner for just the need discussed here.

"I been waitin' a long time for this! I been waitin' since the f***ing amateurs!" --WILL "THE THRILL" CLARK

by Josh from Hollywood on May 8, 2005 3:15 PM PDT up reply actions

Dueling Tivos

We've got a "dual tuner" Direct TV satellite, so Tivo is able to tape two different things at once. We can even watch a third Tivo recording at the same time, although we can't watch a third live program. It's a wonderful time to be alive.

"Robb Nen is going to get you" - Benito Santiago to Chipper Jones, 10/7/02

by Pants Man on May 8, 2005 8:22 PM PDT up reply actions

ahem!

Credit where credit's due. Who sold Grant those tickets? Me! On Craigslist! Three cheers for my grandma, who was a season ticketholder for thirty years, beginning in 1963. She's gone now but a group of friends held onto those great seats so we'd have them at Pac Bell. Fast forward to Grant's catch, May 7, 2005. Congratulations Grant, & thanks Grandma--happy Mother's Day wherever you are.

by Michelle on May 8, 2005 12:41 PM PDT reply actions

The seats were incredible.

So many, many thanks to Michelle. I have never sold a ticket for above face value, so I would like to think it is some variety of karma that got the seats to me at face value.

True Giants fans sell tickets only at face value to true Giants fans. Thanks again, Michelle!

by Grant on May 8, 2005 4:18 PM PDT up reply actions

Congratulations, and...

I find it remarkable that you begin your post talking about babies, since I caught my first and only foul ball while holding my 3-month-old son. He was attending his first game at Candlestick. Had the work tickets which were field level, just out of the shadow of the upper deck overhang on the first base side. My son was snoozing when Kent sent a towering foul up above our heads. Everyone in our row stood up (myself included, son tucked away in the crook of my left arm) expectantly, and watched the ball disappear into the second deck. Groans all around as everyone sits except me, having watched too many foul balls roll off the top of the luxury boxes and back into the lower-level stands. Sure enough, like a homing device, the ball sails off the boxes and lands, gently, into my bare righthand. While Kent later went on to win the game with a walkoff homer, the ball has always been a bit tainted (even then, I didn't like the jerk). Epilogue: My son, now six, has been using the ball for batting practice.

by jchastings on May 9, 2005 8:53 AM PDT reply actions

by the way

The boy in the above post turns 7 tomorrow, and I'll be trying to swap that storied ball with some brand new shiny storebought balls for his birthday. Don't mean to be sacrilegious or scornful about the whole foul ball thing, even if the ball did come off of Kent's bat...

by jchastings on May 9, 2005 9:01 AM PDT up reply actions