About a week and half ago I received a phone call from a mysterious number which I chose not to answer. My phone buzzed shortly after to notify me I had a new voicemail. Curious as to who had just called, I checked my voicemail right away to reveal I had a message from Western and Southern.
“Why would they be calling me?” It only took a moment to remember that a few weeks prior I had entered a contest on their site for a chance to win batting practice at Great American Ballpark. “Could it be?” I thought. I was certain that if I called back they were going to try to get me to sign up for something. No way did I win bp…or did I? I proceed to call back and a week and a half later I find myself walking out on the field with my buddy Josh about to take batting practice. I was one of ten lucky winners and I still can’t believe it.
Armed with four cameras between the two of us we make our way onto the field and head towards the visitors dugout to await our turn. We immediately notice the crew setting up the cage at second base instead of home plate. A bit disappointed we hear that this is the last batting practice of the year and the move to second was in hopes to have a few people hit a homerun which I soon came to appreciate.
BP was glorious. We each received right around 10-12 pitches and then later learned we would get 5 more bonus pitches. I decided it was time to break out the Hammer of Thor. Although in my case, my hammer barely classifies as a rubber mallet. Okay, its really more like the plastic hammer you would find in a Fisher Price “My First Tool Box” set. I break it out regardless and somehow manage to hit two into the seats. Even though we were hitting from second base (120 feet) closer, it still felt good. Take a close listen to the video right around the 1 minute mark after I hit my first, apparently someone invited a professional umpire as you can hear someone say it would’ve been foul. Really?
We had an outstanding time and thank everyone who put it together. Below you can check out the video clips of us in the cage as well as a clip of what was going through my head during batting practice.
