Hooray for being nerdy and obsessive!

I caught my first ball in 1990, but didn't document my collection on a daily basis until 1993. I'd snagged 146 balls by then and started keeping track of several things:

1) the date of each game
2) the number of balls I snagged (including game balls in parentheses)
3) the stadium
4) whether or not there was batting practice
5) the attendance

As you scroll through the following lists, you'll find single-line entries like this:

It's pretty simple. But I need to point out a few things:

1) Teams don't take batting practice when it rains, and they often skip it on day games (so their fragile superstars can sleep late). This makes it much harder to get balls.

2) When someone tosses me a ball that was used during a game, I don't count it as a "game ball." It doesn't matter if it comes from the left fielder after a foul ball, the first baseman after the 3rd out, a reliever after the final out, the first base coach, ballboy, umpire, photographer, usher, vendor, or mascot. My gamers reached the seats on their own, and I snagged them without any help.

3) I've caught lots of minor league and spring training balls, but those're too easy so I don't count them in my collection.

Got it? Click a year and you're off . . .

Want even more? Check out the list of players and coaches who have thrown baseballs to me, all the game home runs that I've snagged, my stadium totals, and yearly totals.