Meyer Sets New Single-Season Record
Kansas City Ballhawk Continues In-Game Success, Snags 25th Game Ball of 2011
by Alan Schuster, June 10, 2011Meyer poses with the three game balls he snagged at yesterday's game in Kansas City.Kauffman Stadium has one of the worst gate opening policies in baseball -- 60 minutes on weekdays and 90 minutes on weekends. Not surprisingly, Kansas City ballhawk Garrett Meyer has struggled to put up big numbers during batting practice while trying to snag balls during such a limited time frame. That being said, Meyer is still putting together a great season of ballhawking, because what he lacks during BP he more than makes up for during the game. As of yesterday Meyer has snagged 25 baseballs during games, setting a new myGameBalls.com record for game balls snagged in a season. He's been a permanaent fixture behind the visiting team's dugout at Kauffman Stadium and has successfully snagged a third-out ball in just about every game he's been to this year. Yesterday was perhaps his best outing of the year. Wearing a t-shirt of the visiting Toronto Blue Jays, he snagged three game-used baseballs, including two from a single at-bat. Jeff Franceour fouled off a pitch that was tossed up to Meyer from the dugout, and then when he grounded out Adam Lind hooked Meyer up with the third-out ball. Just an inning later, he snagged another third-out toss-up supplied by Lind. Meyer isn't shy about sharing his in-game ballhawking strategies. "For anyone wanting to snag third out balls, I would recommend trying as early in the game as possible," he said. "There have been numerous instances where I was almost the only fan asking for a third out ball after the first inning because most fans may not realize they get thrown into the crowd after every inning. Once the kids see me get one, then they rush down every inning after that." He's definitely cleaned up in Kansas City, but it's not the only placed he's snagged game balls. In a recent trip to the West Coast, he snagged game balls from PETCO Park, Dodger Stadium, and Angels Stadium. Meyer is 19 years old and in just his second season of ballhawking, but has already collected a total of 242 career balls. Visit Garrett Meyer's Member Page to see his full collection