GREAT WEEKEND: Three games in three days

Posted on May 29, 2012

Melky Cabrera, Gregor Blanco, and Angel Pagan of the San Francisco Giants celebrate after beating the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, May 28, 2012 at AT&T Park in San Francisco. (Photo by Brad Mangin/MLB Photos)

 

Memorial Day weekend just wrapped up. While most Americans enjoyed a few days off to spend time with their families I spent the three-day weekend doing what I love. Shooting baseball. Every day. I worked three games in three days in two cities and could not have had a better time. Over the course of the three games in Oakland and San Francisco I drove 220 miles, shot 3,298 frames with my Canon cameras, and shot eight Instagrams with my iPhone 4s.

I started my busy weekend Saturday morning getting to the Oakland Coliseum around 10:15am for batting practice before the A’s hosted the Yankees at 1:05pm. It is always a big deal when the star-studded Yankees come to town. We usually only get them once a season in Oakland, but this year we get them twice. The Yankees have many stars to photograph, but the lone star at the top of the heap for me has always been Derek Jeter. This guy is the modern-day Joe DiMaggio. Jeter will finish his career in a few seasons in the top four or five in all-time career hits. I can’t get enough good stuff of this guy, and he never disappoints. His batting practice is always great and once the game starts he makes pictures all over the field. This weekend was no exception (see above).

After spending Saturday’s game shooting from the field I decided to go WAY upstairs for Sunday’s game in Oakland by visiting one of my favorite nutty places to shoot: the tarped-off third deck. I shot batting practice and pre-game stuff on the field, then headed upstairs at the start of the game. I love being up high like this every once-in-awhile to break things up and try to see the game differently. My goal when I go up there is to try and get one picture I really like, and luckily for me Yankees prankster Nick Swisher cooperated by sticking his tongue out towards his dugout as he ran up the first base line after knocking a single into the outfield (see below). This is not a picture you see everyday, so I was happy later Sunday night when I spent three hours editing and captioning my take.

Monday morning came rather quickly and it was time to make the drive to San Francisco to shoot the holiday meeting between the Diamondbacks and Giants. The game had a special 2:05pm start, so we would have some really nice light towards the end of the game. I got there early as usual and had fun shooting batting practice and details of caps and bats in the Diamondbacks dugout before the game. Once the game started the Giants got some quick runs on the board and a wobbly Barry Zito settled down to toss seven good innings. The Giants held on to win 4-2 on a very emotional day that saw the Giants hosting a wonderful pre-game ceremony honoring the troops who have sacrificed for our country. They even brought out the legendary Steve Poltz to sing the National Anthem. I saw Poltz in concert in the 1990’s with my friends Matt Maiocco and Clark Judge. The San Diego-based musician was one of our favorite singers back in the day when he traveled with his band The Rugburns. Their song “The Ballad of Tommy and Marla” was always one of our favorites, so seeing Poltz perform a flawless Anthem was a real thrill.

I have the rest of the week off to catch up on office work and television viewing. My next game is Saturday afternoon when the Giants host the Cubs in a 1912 turn back the century game starting at 4:05pm. Great light and nutty uniforms- I can’t wait!