Getting GU item during a game

[joelsabi]

I guess everyone wishes they got a foul ball or a bat during a game that they attend.

Once went to an Angels and A's game and was sitting on the first base side when a gradeschool
girl, with the help of her father, got onto the field during an angel's at bat. the little ran to jose canseco and got a hug before security got her. before she left canseco gave her his batting glove that was in his back pocket.
the girl got escorted out of the stand but saw a few women wish they had that glove. the little was waving the glove, all smiles, as she left the stands.

Later a fat chick tried the same thing but was tackled by security before getting to canseco

You ever witness anything similar at a game?

[bigtruck260]

I have. At Busch, there are the shirtless wonders (usually from the south city (JK) that have too many tall glasses of Busch. The idea is to make it from one foul pole to the other. They know better than to approach the players. If memory serves correctly, Rex Hudler (bad a--) gave a clothesline to a kid approaching him in the outfield.

A night in the downtown jail is not a good experience to tell the kids about. They put all of the detainees in the same cell.

[ahuff]

It wasn't for a game worn item.

I did see JR Rider's mom come out on the court and defend her son against a ref's call. That was classic. Even my girlfriend (now my wife) remembers that one.

[bigtruck260]

It wasn't for a game worn item.



Well...not really, but did that little girl go out there with the sole purpose of obtaining a gamer?

In my experience at ball games, the gift of a gamer usually comes from one of several events:

A player injures a fan accidentally.
A player is trading a fan for an item (special HR ball, ect.)
An item is unuseable (lacing breaks in old glove)
It is the end of the season and a player tosses some stuff in the stands

I doubt anyone actually goes onto the field to specifically get something that was used in a game.

Could be wrong though...

Dave

[joelsabi]

no dont think she went there on the intent of getting a gamer but to get a hug and kiss from her favorite player. thought it was a nice gesture by canseco to give the glove. he offered, not the other way around.


Well...not really, but did that little girl go out there with the sole purpose of obtaining a gamer?

In my experience at ball games, the gift of a gamer usually comes from one of several events:

A player injures a fan accidentally.
A player is trading a fan for an item (special HR ball, ect.)
An item is unuseable (lacing breaks in old glove)
It is the end of the season and a player tosses some stuff in the stands

I doubt anyone actually goes onto the field to specifically get something that was used in a game.

Could be wrong though...

Dave

[Vintagedeputy]

Can we ever really forget Morganna's game used lips?

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20010706/226morganna.jpg

[bigtruck260]

Agree about Canseco being fan friendly and taking care of the little girl...

I once saw Barry Bonds give a little kid a bat a Wrigley after bashing the side of his head with a foul ball down the third base line (WGN). Might be nice to have the bat that caused your brain injury...

Seriously though, who has the testes to walk up to a pro athlete and ask him for a GU item during the game? I would guess not many would oblige.

Dave

[suave1477]

I doubt anyone actually goes onto the field to specifically get something that was used in a game.

Could be wrong though...

Dave

I beg to differ plenty people have since way back in the day.

If you watch the video from the Late 70's when Chambliss hit the Home Run and he is running around the bases you can see a fan run right behind him and trying to grab his helmet off his head and you can see Chambliss trying to push the guy off as he is running.

[suave1477]

Seriously though, who has the testes to walk up to a pro athlete and ask him for a GU item during the game? I would guess not many would oblige.

Dave

Again its really not that big of a deal I have seen it many times. Its nothing different then asking for an autograph. I have seen people ask players "Hey can I get a batting glove" or "Hey do you have any broken bats" or "Can I get a ball"

People ask the players all the time its no biggie

[bigtruck260]

Ok - for the sake of not being argumentative...let me just spell out what I think I was trying to say...

Most normal (polite) people do not ask athletes for equipment during games by yelling to them, unless they are kids who do not know any better. Not saying that all requests are impolite, but when I hear adults asking players for stuff during the game, it is embarrassing for me, because I collect (though I would probably be jealous if someone actually got something)

The guys trying to steal Chambliss's helmet almost got cold cocked by Chambliss (or at least elbowed)...

and I watched the Fisk video after his WS homer (looked like a lineman ready to flatten someone when the fans charged).

All I am saying is that it seems like most athletes are not keen on giving up stuff just because someone begs them for it during a game. If that was the case, the hobby would be disgustingly diluted.

Sure there are instances of this happening...but it can't be THAT common. I have been to hundreds of games, and rarely see this happen...at least not in recent memory.

Dave

[kylehess10]

I saw something similiar when Gary Sheffield was in Atlanta. This little boy, probably around the age of 4, was yelling at Sheffield for a ball in right field. Sheffield was joking around with him, signaling him to come get it himself. The boy thought he was serious and he leaped onto the field but security got him right away. Sheffield later gave him a ball.

[cohibasmoker]

When Ricky Henderson was playing for the Yankees, we were at a game seated in the front row. During the pre-game, Henderson was walking back to the Yankee dugout with a couple of bats in his hand. My buddy yells out and asks Ricky if he would sell one of the bats for a $100.00 bucks? To our surprise, Ricky said sure then asked if we threw-in another $25.00, he’d autograph it.

While he was signing the bat, my pal asked Ricky if he would sell his warm-up jersey? Ricky said sure for $500.00 bucks. We checked out pockets and we both had just over $300.00. When we offered Ricky what we had, he said he'd take what we had but he wasn’t going to sign it for that price. He then went into the dugout, took the jersey off and threw on a jacket then came out - we give him the money and he gave us the jersey.

I wish we would have had more money.

Jim

[Christopher]

The way i have got stuff at games is to ask them before the game and then if you are lucky they will give it to you after the game. Its so hard though at the new stadiums but at the Sun Devil stadium when the cardinals played there i would get so much GU stuff just by asking them nicely and waiting afterwards for them to bring it out.

Do alot of people here get there stuff themselves at games, practices, etc?

[godwulf]

At the conclusion of an Arizona Fall League game this year, I asked DBacks prospect Aaron Cunningham for the bat that he'd cracked in the fourth inning. That's the only time I've ever done something like that, and I made sure to wait till the game was over. Apparently, I shouldn't have waited, 'cause he checked in the dugout and told me that it had already been asked for and claimed by somebody.

Shawn Green has a pretty nice custom - as he heads into the dugout after hitting a home run, he always takes his batting gloves off and tosses them to a kid in the stands.

[yanks12025]

This year i remember watching a yankee game on tv. And they were talking about how a kid offered Johnny Damon $5 for a ball. Damon gave him the ball and then gave another kid about 5 seats away the $5. I believe thats what happened.

Yes i get some BP balls before. One time at a yankee game me and two friends of mine got baseballs.

[geoff]

Jim that great that Henderson would do something like that for you and your pal.I wish I had something like that happen to me before at Orioles Games.

[OaklandAsFan]

At the conclusion of an Arizona Fall League game this year, I asked DBacks prospect Aaron Cunningham for the bat that he'd cracked in the fourth inning. That's the only time I've ever done something like that, and I made sure to wait till the game was over. Apparently, I shouldn't have waited, 'cause he checked in the dugout and told me that it had already been asked for and claimed by somebody.

Shawn Green has a pretty nice custom - as he heads into the dugout after hitting a home run, he always takes his batting gloves off and tosses them to a kid in the stands.

unfortunately this is the way it is if you are trying to get game used items from the players its cutthroat and if you don't have the chutzpah to stand up and ask for it another 20 people will. I normally will wait to ask the player after the game but there are times that I feel it not neccesarily inappropriate to ask during the game. The day I got 4 bats i was sitting along the fence in Phoenix that runs from the clubhouse to the dugout on the Deset Dogs side. When Baisley cracked his bat he was DHing that day when he was walking back to the clubhouse to get a new bat I quietly asked if I could have the broken one after the game he said sure then came back a few minutes later and handed it too me during the game. Same with Nolan Reimold he broke it on a fly ball, he came back extremely upset that he made an out and threw his helmet to the ground and it bouced back to the clubhouse door. I obviously didn't ask at that time but when he came back after playing the field he was smiling and laughing with another player as he walked past to retrieve his helmet so on his way back I politely asked him if I could get his broken bat after the game. He didn't say anything to me and I assumed he ignored me so i didn't say anything more about it. A minute later he walked back towards the clubhouse and handed me the bat needless to say I was surprised. I thanked him and he said no problem, had he still be fuming over making the out I wouldn't have said a word to him. I got the other 2 bats after the game.
A few weeks back there was the absolutely obnoxious girl asking players for their bats while they were in the on deck circle in the middle of the game and what made matters worse was that Matt Laporta actually gave her his broken bat after the game (aside from being jealous cause i REALLY wanted that bat I was upset cause she didn't deserve the thing after being so obnoxious during the game)
The first AFL game of the season Lou Palmisano broke a bat and I asked him for it right after the game and he gave it too me. I got it signed by him up by the team bus and thanked him again and explained that nowadays its harder for adults such as myself to get broken bats because alot of adults are just in it for profit and the players prefer to give them to kids or just keep them. He said his philosophy is first to ask gets it i thought that was cool and fair.

[both-teams-played-hard]

While he was signing the bat, my pal asked Ricky if he would sell his warm-up jersey? Ricky said sure for $500.00 bucks. We checked out pockets and we both had just over $300.00. When we offered Ricky what we had, he said he'd take what we had but he wasn’t going to sign it for that price. He then went into the dugout, took the jersey off and threw on a jacket then came out - we give him the money and he gave us the jersey.

CLASSIC!
Rickey Henderson has got to do what's best for Rickey Henderson. They should go ahead and put this dude in the HOF...skip waiting five years.

[nomarmauerfan]

This year at the Brewers vs. Twins game at the Dome on Father's Day, a lot of the players had on the light blue wristbands for prostate cancer. The players that were Dads had "DAD" written across them. I thought it was very cool (since I'm a Dad myself). While Chris Spurling was warming up in the 8th inning, I went down by the bullpen (our seats are 8 rows up). I asked him if I could have his wristband (since I knew he couldn't wear it while he was pitching). He said that he gave it to the bullpen coach to hold. The bullpen coach slipped it off of his forearm and chucked it up to me. Besides fould balls, the only GU item I've ever asked for and gotten at a game. Unfortunately for Spurling, he gave up a game-winning HR to Justin Morneau in the 9th. Sits in my office in a ball holder....cool piece.

Mike

Love the story about Rickey!!!