Camden Yards Ball Hawk: 6/9 v. Red Sox – The Adam Jones Incident

Even though I have been to a few games since the last one I recapped, what happened on Monday against the Red Sox must be addressed immediately.

That will come at the end.

Let’s start where my day started:

Work. With classes over for the year, I’m now working full time with my dad doing general warehouse work. Since I don’t get off until 5, I don’t make it to the stadium until around 5:30, meaning I miss all of Orioles’ batting practice, and all but a couple minutes of the visiting team’s session.

However, when I got into the stadium on Monday, I saw something I didn’t want to see:

There were Red Sox on the field and even one in the cage. But they were just doing infield practice, and making it clear they were not going to take batting practice; the basket of baseballs was not anywhere on the field.

In just arriving and not having a ball yet on the day, I did all I could to attempt to snag one.

I stalked Koji Uehara while he threw by the left field foul line:

I stood in the first few rows on the left field seats as a coach hit fungos to Brock Holt, hoping that one was hit a little too hard.

I hung out by the wall down the third base line, thinking that maybe one would get past the third baseman taking grounders.

None of that worked.

Once the Red Sox cleared the field, I went above the bullpens and waited for Orioles’ bullpen coach Dom Chiti to come out and toss up the baseballs left in there from Orioles’ BP.

Instead, one of the bullpen cops grabbed all the balls and threw them up. He gave one to the lady a few feet to my left, but none to me.

After that, Alex Kopp, Grant Edrington and I went to the concourse behind first base and visited the Chevrolet booth.

Why?

Well, we waited in this line to play a game of trivia:

The winner gets $10 in “Orioles bucks” that can be used anywhere in the stadium. I usually play with Alex and whoever wins just gives the other person $5. So, essentially, we waited in line for a free $5 bill.

We also got a glimpse of this awesome car:

When done with that, I waited a little while longer, then claimed my spot in the cross aisle above the Orioles’ dugout.

Of course, I was waiting for Adam Jones to throw so that maybe he could throw it to me when he’s done like he sometimes does. However, Jones was DHing, so I guess that means he doesn’t have a need to throw.

In that previous photo, you can really see how empty left field was. On this chance-of-rain, no-promotion, Monday night game, I guess a lot of people opted to watch the game at home. Paid attendance that night was less than 20,000.

The decision was pretty easy – I sat in left field:

P.S.: I hope his last name is actually “Holleywood” and he doesn’t just struggle with spelling proper nouns.

In the first inning, things really got interesting, and we began to enter into what I mentioned briefly to begin this post.

Earlier in the day, Alex sent me a text telling me that Jones was sitting on 149 home runs for his career, meaning the next would be 150, a milestone that he may want back. Why does that matter to us? Well, catching milestone home runs means you probably get to meet the player – always an awesome experience. You also get the chance to trade the ball for some cool stuff that you wouldn’t normally get, like autographed bats.

Alex’s text message seemed to be geared more towards me – even though Jones has hit some home runs to the opposite field, he mainly slugs them into the left field seats. For the most part, Alex and Grant never leave their posts in right field. So, maybe I’ll have the chance to catch Jones’ 150th?

But, in the first inning, Jones threw us a curveball. He knocked a Jake Peavy offering to deep right-center field. The ball barely made it over the wall, landing in what I have commonly referred to as “the gap.” It’s the area during batting practice where I use my ball retriever.

Immediately after the ball landed, I watched Alex lunge for his bag, pull out his retriever and run towards the section that the ball landed in front of.

It was a quick operation by Alex, and it really needed to be, as using ball retrievers during the games are iffy, and you really need to bring the ball up in one attempt. If you do it quick, most people won’t even notice. And if they do, oh well, see ya!

Alex stopped and talked to the ushers at the top of the section after getting the ball. No, they didn’t stop him to tell him he couldn’t use his device, he stopped to let them know that the ball was Jones’ 150th home run and that they should let someone know.

A couple minutes later, I got this text from Grant, who was with Alex: “Tim foot home plate plaza quick.”

I initially had no idea what that meant. As I was preparing to text Grant back, asking what he was talking about, I looked over towards where Grant and Alex were sitting and they were gone. It hit me: they were going to negotiate something for the Jones ball.

I grabbed another Orioles friend of mine, music man Ed Lauer, and we booked it to home plate plaza.

We stood around and waited for someone to show up, assuming that Jeff Lantz, the media relations director for the Orioles and the guy who negotiated with Alex last season when he caught two milestone Chris Davis home runs, would be the one.

While waiting, Alex demonstrated how he got the baseball:

Then posed with the ball:

Instead of Lantz, close friend of Jones and presumed assistant known as @PTisFly on Twitter came through the doors of the plaza with a black bat in his hand. He offered the bat to Alex immediately for the baseball, but Alex wanted to slow things down.

You see, when Alex caught the two Davis home runs last season, he really wanted a jersey in exchange, but was denied both times. He was hoping a third time would be the charm, especially since it was a different person on the other side of the negotiation.

But he was turned down for a jersey and it was explained that they only have limited amounts for the players. Then he asked for a batting helmet instead, the same thing he got for catching Davis’ 40th home run of 2013. PT said he couldn’t do that either.

Seeing he wasn’t getting much more, Alex asked for the usual: meeting Jones after the game, the signed bat, and two autographed (by Jones) 60th anniversary baseballs.

PT was hesitant on one part: meeting Jones after the game.

At that time, Lantz came through on his way to somewhere else. He saw the negotiation and asked PT if he had this one handled.

“He wants to meet him after the game, but I don’t know if Adam will want to,” he said.

“Meet me here after the game, and I’ll take you down there,” said Lantz to Alex without hesitation.

Alex handed the ball to PT, who then gave it to Lantz.

We left home plate plaza and went our separate ways: Alex and Grant to right field and Ed and I to left.

In left, I enjoyed my view for the rest of the game:

I also enjoyed this little slice of heaven:

In the 5th inning, Nick Markakis sent a blast onto the flag court in right field. From our seats, Ed and I watched as Alex and Grant took off towards the ball. We waited to see which one, if any, would come up with the ball. Would it be Alex’s second home run of the game, or Grant’s second ever?

After a few moments, both Grant and Alex appeared at the side railing of the flag court, and Grant victoriously held the ball up to us.

After the bottom of the eighth, Ed and I left to meet Alex and Grant at home plate plaza.

Check out Grant and his Markakis home run:

We watched the top of the ninth from the lobby of home plate plaza, and after the game ended, we waited around for Lantz, watching the elevators:

After a while, the employees were turning off the lights in the lobby, and there were still no signs of Lantz. We were getting nervous.

Alex decided to call Lantz since he had given him his business card earlier in the day. He answered and said PT was on his way to get us.

Seconds later, the elevator door opens and PT walks out. We follow him into the next elevator and down we went.

We exited into the underbelly of the stadium and followed PT towards the clubhouse.

We sat on some chairs outside the clubhouse doors as we waited for Jones to come out. The four of us were extremely excited for the experience, and that was increased when we realized Red Sox players were standing all around us. See?

That’s my once-in-a-lifetime sneaked picture of Dustin Pedroia.

It was not long until the clubhouse doors swung open and Adam Jones walked out.

His face told the story not of a player who just hit his 150th career home run in a shutout win against the defending World Series champions, but of one who was being forced to meet with a fan. He did not want to be there.

He walked up to Alex, handed him him the bat and two balls.

“I heard you were trying to make a hellacious deal,” said Jones.

Alex just laughed, shook his hand, and congratulated him on hitting #150.

“I have to get my ass home,” said Jones as he started to walk away.

You’re telling me there will not be a picture? And you’re not even going to sign the balls, part of the negotiated trade?

I stopped Jones before he walked away and asked him a question. I wanted to know if he recognizes us when he throws us baseballs, which he frequently does.

He said no.

Then Alex asked him for a picture, standard practice on deals like that. Adam obliged. Well, sort of ….

After the picture, Alex asked him to sign one of the baseballs, which, as I mentioned before, were supposed to be autographed as part of the deal.

Here’s where it gets shocking.

Jones grabbed the ball and said, “Jesus [expletive] Christ, I’m the one who hit the [expletive] home run.”

We laughed.

At first.

I looked at him to see if he was laughing, too. He wasn’t. He was being serious. Amazing. His language was only trumped by his arrogance; both were topped by his utter rudeness.

He signed the ball and walked away, leaving us there shocked. Red Sox outfielder Brock Holt and another player were standing close by. Judging by their faces, they were shocked, too.

How is that a way to treat a fan, let alone one who is doing you a favor? He owned your 150th home run, and you wanted it back.

For Alex (and for me, and I’m sure Ed and Grant) meeting Adam Jones was supposed to be exciting. All four of us are fans of him and his play. Instead of a good memory, we have this awful story about Adam Jones.

Maybe Jones didn’t want to meet Alex, maybe he was mad about the jersey request, maybe he thought Alex was going to sell the bat and the baseballs (he did say something like “this is America …” as he signed the balls). For the record, Alex never has, and does not plan to, sell any of the baseballs or memorabilia that he gets from ball hawking. He is purely a collector, a hobbyist having fun in his free time. And how is it even fair for Jones to assume that he would sell it, anyway?

[Ed. Note: We have no reason to believe that Tim is telling anything but the entire truth here. Perhaps Adam was having a bad day. Maybe he didn’t feel good. Maybe his young child at home was sick. Maybe he felt his original offer of the bat was more than enough. We don’t know. If he’d like to defend himself, we’re more than happy to hear his side of the story. As it stands though, we feel his behavior/language is completely unwarranted and despicable. There is no reason to treat a fan like this. In the age of social media – and with someone right there taking his picture with a phone – it’s not like nobody was ever going to hear about it if you treat folks this way. It’s a shame, really. Not much more to say.]

I knew many unfriendly players were scattered throughout the majors; the same is true with any other sport. But it is disheartening to know that the Orioles’ proclaimed team leader would act so childishly, arrogantly, and rudely when meeting a fan.

Alongside some attitude, Alex received a signed bat and two 60th anniversary baseballs, one of them autographed:

Season Stats:
25 games
63 balls
– 35 hit
– 12 thrown
– 9 ball retrieved
– 7 found