Yes, the the 2012 triple-a All-Star Game is being held in Buffalo this year, but that is not the game that has the baseball world talking. The 2013 MLB All-Star Game is being held in New York City at Citi Field. This will be the first All-Star Game hosted by the Mets since 1964 and the first one ever at Citi Field. Of course, Citi Field has only been open since 2009, but still, this All-Star Game will be the young ballpark’s first.

Some possible logos:

And my favorite:

Photos: Courtesy of metsmerizedonline.com, metspolice.com, uni-watch.com

-Danny

Ah, Mothers Day is here! While we all celebrate our Mothers on Mothers Day, there are some celebrations done in baseball, too! The field is coated with pink! Players use limited edition pink bats manufactured by Louisville Slugger for the occasion. They were first used in 2006, and have been in use for about 6 years today. In addition to using the unique Sluggers, players and field-staff wear pink wristbands and pink ribbons, while bases and homeplates were tagged with the breast cancer awareness logo, and line-ups were written on a pink card lineup card. All of the specially produced memorabilia is later autographed and auctioned off on MLB.com to benefit Komen for the Cure. In its debut season, “Major League Baseball and its fans collectively raised $350,000″ through the program. Players such as Manny Ramirez, Richie Sexson, Ryan Howard, Alex Rios, Jimmy Rollins, Xavier Nady, Jim Thome, Carl Crawford, David Ortiz, Mark Teizara, Ken Griffey Jr, and many many more. Other players, including Geoff Blum, KhalilGreene and Mike Cameron, flatly refused to use the unorthodox bats. (Because apparently they think their hotshots).

In 2007, Biggio, Blalock, Berkman, Dye, Hunter, Griffey, Young, Teixeira, Hall, Rollins, Garko (Thats for you, Danny), and Pujols used the pink bats, along with over 200 more players. Pitcher Mike Myers of the New York Yankees ordered a pink glove. Myers said he would ignore the rule and face a fine. Ultimately there was no issue since
Myers did not appear in the game. The MLB thought the pink glove would distract batters. Right, because those pink bats don’t distract pitchers?

A picture of the pink bats.

In its third year, 2008, the program offered pink wristbands and pink titanium necklaces. Nick Swisher of the Chicago White Sox also dyed his goatee pink in honor of his deceased grandmother Betty. Last year, I got a pink wristband from Buffalo bullpen pitcher Jose De La Torre, which I will post later.

The pink titanium necklaces

….and the pink wristbands.

In 2009 and 2010 a lot of players donned the bats, including the players from previous years. The MLB ran an honorary batgirl contest in 2009, of which the proceeds went to fund breast cancer awareness. In 2010, Chris Coghlan planned on giving the bat he used to his mother, after having recorded his first three-hit game of the season with it.

In 2011, among with the pink wristbands and necklaces, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia wore pink plated catchers gear.

The pink plated catchers gear worn by Jarrod S. it was engraved with R.S. and A.S., his grandmothers and mothers initials.

In 2012, many players will wear the pink wristbands, necklaces, and will bat with the pink bats. I will post an update if any special out of the ordinary pink gear pops up.

-Austin

I just wanted to say that we split into separate authors writing for the same blog. And, for those of you who saw the Twitter controversy, we don’t know if Quinn is coming back.

Last year, my dad and I went on my favorite baseball trip ever. We saw 5 games in 5 days in 3 cities and in 3 stadiums I had never been to. Here are some photos from that trip:

6/28/11 New York Mets vs Detroit Tigers @ Comerica Park

Yes, I used to have long hair. It looked stupid. I get it.

That’s a nice view from our seats.

Here’s another view from our seats:

These water spouts went off every time there was a home run. They went off a lot this particular game. The Mets hit grand slams in back to back innings. The first on was hit by Carlos Beltran and I almost got it too. The ball flew into the stands and bounced out and over the bullpen. It came back on the field and the outfielder gave it to the ball boy.Before the game started, I had asked the ball boy to give me a ball when he got one. He responded “Yes.” but when this ball came, he gave it to the kid behind him.

I did end up getting 2 baseballs during batting practice. Comerica was a nice stadium, but really terrible for ballhawking. That was it for Detroit. That night we drove out and checked in to a Red Roof Inn in Ann Arbor. The next day we drove to the day the Days Inn Chicago and then the game that night.

6/29/11 San Francisco Giants vs Chicago Cubs @ Wrigley Field

I couldn’t wait to see one of the most historic ballparks in baseball, but we had to go to our hotel first. Here is a view from our room:

That was the second tallest building in Chicago (behind the Sears Tower) and here is the view from the top:

Here I am outside of Giordano’s. If you are ever in Chicago, you have to eat here. It has the best deep dish pizza ever. But, I didn’t go there until the next day.

Here I am with a sign I bought at the gift shop and the ball I got during batting practice. If you are at Wrigley, you will see these signs all over the ballpark. They are like $10 in the gift shop too.

6/30/11 San Francisco Giants vs Chicago Cubs @ Wrigley Field

This was a 1:00 game so we didn’t know if there would be batting practice or not. Just because I’m smiling, doesn’t mean I am happy in this picture. Waiting for that train was pretty boring. These trains are very loud and there were houses right next to them. The whole time, I was thinking “How much could these houses be worth?” This is called the “L” train because “L” is short for elevated.

We decided to wait outside for BP along with a lot of Chicago’s most experienced ballhawks. The most famous was Moe Mullins who caught Sammy Sosa’s 62nd home run in 1998 and had it stolen from him.

Standing there paid off when this flew out of the park:

 There is a photo of me with the greatest pizza ever. It’s at Giordano’s. We first heard about this place from the Travel Channel. That’s how good it is.

7/1/11 Cleveland Indians vs Cincinnati Reds @ Great American Ballpark

I want to start off this entry with saying I’m sorry for not being able to post this sooner.  I have had a lot of stuff going on in school and as a result, I have never gotten a chance to post this.  Okay, now to the game part:

Yes!!  My first Bisons game of the 2012 year!  Today was the 1st coin giveaway in remembrance of the 25 years at Coca-Cola Field.  The gates opened at 12:00 p.m. for the 1:05 p.m. start and my mom, brother, and I arrived at the stadium at about 11:15 a.m.  I then waited in line while my brother and mom went to go get tickets.  At about 11:25 a.m., I saw Austin and his family get in line about 30 people behind me.  My brother and mom came back at about 11:35 a.m., and I asked her if I could go out into right field and try to get a baseball.  I asked Austin if he wanted to come to and he said yes and tagged along.  When we got there, the fence was open!  We could pretty much run onto the field.  Bisons pitcher Jeremy Hefner was standing right by the open fence and Austin asked him for a ball that he just got.  Jeremy Hefner replied by rolling it to Austin.  So Austin had 1 baseball on the day.  Another ball came to Jeremy Hefner and I asked for it.  Mr. Hefner then kicked the ball to me for my first Triple-A ball of the season and my 45th career baseball.  Here is the ball:

Here is the view from where we saw Jeremy Hefner:

Austin and I then went to an area where a fence was and Austin asked Bisons pitcher, Chuck James, for a baseball.  Chuck James then throw the ball about 50 feet right into Austin’s glove.  I tried to get another ball, but I couldn’t get one.  Austin and I did see 2 baseballs get hit for an HR while we were out in right field.  We decided that Austin would get in line with my mom, brother, and I, so we could get 1 of those balls for ourselves.  We got into the stadium and received the coins.  Here they are:

Austin and I then went out to right field and got those baseballs.  Unfortunately, I was not able to take anymore pictures because my camera stopped working.  Of course, right when I got home after the game, it worked fine.  After Austin and I got those baseballs, we saw Danny by the Bisons dugout.  We learned that he had no baseballs on the day yet, while Austin had 3 and I had 2.  All of us then went by the Bisons dugout to look into it.  Danny and Austin then went to the Red Sox side while I stayed by the Bisons dugout.  The reason I stayed was I saw a ball tucked underneath the tire of the groundscrew car.  I don’t know what to call it, so I’ll call it the groundscrew car.  Danny then came back to see what I was waiting there for.  I pointed out the ball and the all of sudden, 2 baseballs got rolled by a groundscrew member and sat in front of us.  The next groundscrew member we saw, we asked him for the baseballs.  He flipped Danny and I one baseball each.  After Austin saw this, he came over and started to try to get the ball that was underneath the tire.  That’s what I thought, but he was convincing an Bisons employee to give him a ball inside of a cup holder in the groundscrew car.  She gave him that ball and I asked her for the ball underneath the tire.  She then picked up the ball and handed it to me.  That was 4 baseballs for me on the day.  Right after I got that ball, I went over to the foul line on the 3rd base side because the Pawtucket Red Sox started to play catch.  After Will Middlebrooks of the Pawtucket Red Sox finished playing catch with Jason Repko, I called out to him for the baseball.  Will heard me call his name and he flipped me the ball.  The ball fell really short though, but I reached over and almost fell, but managed to catch the ball and not fall over.  That was it for me before the game.  5 baseballs is great.  It tied my single game record for most baseballs snagged on a day.  This is pretty much my first game ballhawking at a Bisons games.  Before I started ballhawking, I just sat by the dugout and only tried for third out balls.  Fast forward to the game:

The Bisons where down 9-3 and Bisons 2B, Bobby Scales, stepped up to the plate with runners on 1st and 2nd.  The wind was blowing at this game and Booby took a swing and hit a deep opposite field fly ball.  It didn’t look like it was going out, but the wind carried it over the left field fence for an HR.  I was standing in the cross aisles in hopes for foul balls and was 100 feet away from the left field fence.  The HR ball then bounced back onto the field and Red Sox OF, Lars Anderson, picked up the ball and threw in into the crowd way over the heads of the asking kids.  By that time i was running towards the ball, but thought I had no chance because I was at least a 100 feet away.  I noticed that the kids could not find the ball while I was running towards it.  When I got closer, I realized that the ball was rolling down the steps and the kids kept reaching for it instead of running down a couple of steps to pick the ball up when it reached that row.  I did that though when I got  over there.  I ran down 5 rows away for the ball and waited for the ball to come toward me.  The next thing I knew, my 50th career Triple A baseball was in my glove.  I got a couple of high-fives from some fans.  Of course, right after I marked the baseball with a 50, it came to me that it was Booby Scales first HR as a Bison.  I would have given it to him, but I already marked it , so I didn’t give it to him.  The Pawtucket Red Sox ended up winning this game 9-6.  That was it for me on the day.  6 baseballs and a game home run.  Awesome!  Here is a look at the Bobby Scales HR ball:

Here are my 6 baseballs on the day:

2012 Stats for Triple A Baseballs:

Total Baseballs at this Game: 6

Total Baseballs for 2012 Season: 6

Average Baseballs Per Game: 6

-Quinn

Jeff Stevens has a 1-0 record in the majors. It doesn’t seem like much but he is really more of a middle-reliever so he has a pretty solid excuse. Stevens attended and pitched in Division 1 at Loyola Marymount University. In 2005 Jeff was picked in the sixth round (182nd overall) by the Cincinnati Reds. After climbing to class A Dayton in 2006, the Reds sent him to the Cleveland Indians organization to complete a Brandon Phillips trade. He finished 2006 with the Single A Lake County Captains. He was promoted to the Double A Akron Aeros for 2007. During the 2008 season he was promoted to the then AAA affiliate of the Indians, the Buffalo Bisons.

Jeff Stevens was chosen to go to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics pitching for team USA. After that, Stevens spent 2009, 2010, and 2011 with the Iowa Cubs of the Pacific Coast League. Stevens also pitched a little for the Chicago Cubs during these years, making 33 total MLB relief appearences. This year he made his way into the Mets organization and back to Buffalo for the 2012 season. This quadruple A reliever will probably be in the majors soon, so let’s all root for him.

-Danny

Steve Henderson was originally drafted in the fifth round of the 1974 Major League Draft by the Cincinnati Reds, out of Prairie View A&M University. He was leading the Double-A Eastern league in hits, 158 hits, eleven triples and 255 total bases, and batting .312 in 1976 for the Reds’ double A affiliate, the Trois-Rivieres Aigles. In 1977 he was batting .324 while with the Reds Triple-A affiliate the Indianapolis Indians, when he was traded to the New York Mets on June 15, 1977 along with Pat Zachry, Doug Flynn, and Dan Norman for Tom Seaver. The Mets wasted no time bringing him into a game, as he was summoned as a pinch runner for Ed Kranepool, and scored his first Major League run, a game tying run against the Houston Astros which the Mets ended up winning 4-3. In Shea Stadium on June 21^st in a game against the Atlanta Brave, he hit a ninth inning bomb off of Braves closer Andy Messersmith to send the game in extra innings. In the 11^th inning, with a runner on, the Brave intentionally walked Felix Millan to get to Henderson, a strategy that didn’t work. About 20 seconds after issuing the walk, a ball was sailing in the air, going over the wall, and the Mets were celebrating at home plate.

For the season, Henderson had a .297 batting average in 99 games and 350 at-bats with twelve home runs, 65 runs batted in, 67 runs, 104 hits, sixteen doubles, six triples, six stolen bases, 43 base on balls, 4 sacrifice flies. He finished second to Andre Dawson of the Montreal Expos in National League Rookie Of The Year balloting by only one point (10 to 9). On February 28, 1981 he was traded to thw Chicago Cubs along with money in exchange for Dave Kingman.

In 1981, a season that was shortened by strike, Henderson hit .293 with five home runs and 35 RBIs. He declined in 1982, with his average falling to .233, and he was fighting with Jay Johnstone and Keith Moreland for left field playing time. He was traded to the Seattle Mariners at the end of the season for Rich Bordi. He was released from the Mariners after two uneventful and disappointing seasons.

He was signed as a free agent by the Oakland Athletics on March 31, 1985, and only batted .077 on the season. He was released on May 29, 1986, and picked up by the Chicago White Sox shortly afterward, and spent the rest of the season in Buffalo playing for the Bisons (Coincidence.), and batted .288 with 5 home runs. He was released by Chicago at the end of the season, and again signed with the Athletics for the 1987 season, splitting time between playing in the big leagues and playing for their Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Tigers.

In 1988, he signed a minor league deal with the Houston Astros. He once again split time playing for their Major League team and Triple-A affiliate, the Tucson Toros. He was released during the offseason and picked up at the end of free agency by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was assigned to their now Triple-A affiliate the Buffalo Bisons (Again!). He then retired at the end of the 1988 season.

Between 1990-1993 he served as a coach in the Pirates minor league system, and moved to Houston, coaching in their minor league system in 1994, and served as the Astros Major League hitting coach in 1995 and 1996. He moved to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization in 1996, serving as hitting coach during their inaugural 1998 season and from 2006 to 2009, making the first trip of his baseball career to the post season in 2008. He was relieved of his duties as hitting coach of the Tampa Bay Rays on October 5, 2009.

-Austin 

Harrison Tishler gives away hats. Erik Jabs gives away shirts. Here at nybisons, we give away jerseys. We are giving away a Buffalo Bisons screen printed youth XL road jersey. Youth XL may seem a little small, but it should fit a person who wears an adult M or even L. Here are some pictures:

Here is the right sleeve:Here is the left sleeve:Just a quick note; I never took the jersey out of the package. In the pictures where it is removed from the package, that was my jersey. The winner will recieve the jersey in the the first photo. The second place winner will get this 2006 10 card Bisons update set. The set includes: Jason Alfaro, Vic Darensbourg, Jason Davis, Tom Mastny, Edward Mujica, Jonathon Van Every, the first ever card of Belle “The Ballpark Diva” (mascot), and Chip T. Bison.

The third place winner will get this 2012 triple-a All Star Game folder from the Buffalo Bisons luncheon in February. The front:The back:The inside:

The rules are as follows: every comment will count as one entry. But, you can only get one entry per post. So, if you comment twice on one post, that will be one entry. Also, if you are on Twitter, every retweet will give you an entry. We will decide if we are going to do a drawing or something else later. A winner will be chosen when there are 150 entries of right after the World Series is over, whichever comes first. This is a big giveaway, so we want a lot of entries. Tell your friends, please!

-Danny

The Buffalo Bisons, who are 15-11 on the season so far are set to face the Syracuse Chiefs, who have gone  10-6 this season tonight at 6:05 p.m. The Bisons last two games against Syracuse were cut short by rain, yesterday, and on Tuesday lost 8-0 is a slugging fest for the Chiefs against Garret Olson. The Bisons starting lineup tonight is as follows, with the players being listed in the batting order.

#32 Dustin Martin, CF

#4 Vinny Rottino, LF

#2 Josh Satin, 1B

#33 Fred Lewis, RF

#7 Matt Tuiasosopo, SS

#29 Brad Emaus, 2B

#46 Rob Johnson, C

#9 Omar Quintanilla, 3B

#28 Jeurys Familia, P

The Bisons destroyed Philadelphia’s AAA affiliate Lehigh Valley 12-1 today.That’s not a typo. 12-1. Mets top prospect Matt Harvey pitched 7 scoreless and even added some offense with a 2-run homer in the fifth. That was 2 days after Bison hurler Dylan Owen left the yard. Search Dylan Owen in the search engine in the top right of the sceen to see our Q&A with Dylan. Dylan Owen’s homer was the first by a Bison pitcher since John Hope on 8/6/94 against the Indianapolis Indians.

Also, how about Daniel Murphy and Kirk Nieuwenhuis? Murphy is currently batting .333 and Nieuwenhuis has really been heating up in the outfield and he is batting .327. I’m watching the Mets/ Marlins game right now and Bisons’ announcer Ben Wagner was just on talking about prospects. I’m sure Quinn is betting with Austin on tonight’s game, so let’s go Mets!

-Danny