Jackson Snags 200th Career Baseball
Los Angeles Ballhawk Reaches Milestone on Toss-Up From Kanekoa Texeira
by Alan Schuster, June 15, 2010Jackson (center, red shirt) competes for a fly ball during batting practice.In just his third season of ballhawking, Los Angeles ballhawk Matthew Jackson snagged his 200th career baseball on May 28 at Angel Stadium. The milestone ball came on a toss-up from Kanekoa Texeira of the Seattle Mariners. The Friday night game was the kickoff to a weekend-long celebration of his wedding anniversary. Jackson entered the game with 198 total balls, so in addition to the anniversary he was fully expecting to be celebrating his 200th ball as well. He snagged his first ball of the day fairly quickly on a ground ball in the left field corner, setting the stage for the big milestone snag. He headed over to right field, a location where the majority of his 200-plus snags have come from. It was there that he saw Mariners' pitcher Kanekoa Texeira, who just a week later was shipped out to the Kansas City Royals. "I didn't know how to say his first name," he wrote on his blog. "...but I was the only person who knew his last name and he stopped his motion of throwing the ball back to the bucket and instead threw it right to my waiting glove in the front row. Woo!" It was the second major milestone of his ballhawking career, the first coming late last season when he snagged his 100th. Jackson's ballhawking prowess has rapidly increased since his first season in 2008. He averaged 2.0 balls per game in 2008, then averaged 3.05 balls per game in 2009, and now this season is currently averaging 4.36 balls per game after 11 games. Read more about Matt Jackson's 200th ball on his blog