Bracco Gives Speech on Ballhawking
New Yorker Presents His Top Ballhawking Tips to Class
by Avi Miller, March 30, 2011Bracco points out the essential elements of ballhawking.It's one thing to learn from others about ballhawking. It's another thing to teach others about it. And that is exactly what myGameBalls member and New York Yankees fan Tony Bracco did earlier this month. Bracco, a student at Briarcliffe College in New York, gave a speech to his classmates about the basics of ballhawking. Speaking to people who have most likely never ballhawked before or even been to many baseball games, Bracco faced the tough challenge of narrowing down the details in explaining the hobby while trying not to confuse people with the wording. Bracco, before doing a Q&A with the members of the class, gave his idea of the seven basic steps to catch a baseball at a Major League Game:

1. Bring a glove,
2. Arrive early,
3. Know your area,
4. Play the field,
5. Know the players,
6. Talk the talk,
7. 'Benedict Arnold'.

Throughout the speech, Bracco informed the listeners on tips such as wearing the visiting team's apparel, asking players for baseballs in other languages, and best of all, told them of the myGameBalls.com community. Bracco, 'MakinPlay' on the site, recorded his entire presentation and posted it on YouTube. The video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxDPg7r28uQ Here are some of the spots in the recording that I wrote down to mention:

• 4:57 mark: Bracco brings up the myGameBalls community and talks about what it is
• 6:03 mark: Bracco brings up Zack Hample and his accomplishments
• 8:15 mark: Bracco speaks more in depth on myGameBalls.com and what can be found on the site
• 10:43 mark: Bracco, responding to a question from an interested participant in Zack Hample's book, tells more about where information can be found about a few different ballhawking things online

In the end, Tony Bracco's speech opened up the eyes of his classmates to a new age hobby that we share here on myGameBalls.com. Speaking from experience, I had to give an instructional speech during the 2010 Fall semester, and I spoke on the same subject of snagging a baseball. While I focused on a few different points (Being from Baltimore, you take a different perspective on ballhawking than being in New York), it goes to show that ballhawking has become quite the complex hobby to have, and it is more of a skill than most people would think.