Springfield Cardinals AA Baseball
Over the 4th of July weekend, my parents came down to Missouri and visited Lauren and I. One thing that we really wanted to do was to catch a Springfield Cardinals game. I have been pretty busy on the office renovation so I haven’t had time to get down to the ballpark since we moved out here. It had been a month since I opened the camera dry cabinet and turned on my camera. That is a really long time for me. Lauren has me busy with chores around the house!
I applied for my press pass a couple of days before we wanted to go and to I was an excited boy to learn that I was approved. That puts me one step closer to shooting the St. Louis Cardinals and that is #1 on my Sports Photography goals journey…Progress is a great thing.
Lucky for us, the temps in the south were manageable and it wasn’t too hot on this sunny Saturday. Lauren was annoyed because she couldn’t find her cardinals hat and I was leaving her. I kissed her on the cheek and left her high and dry to sit and watch baseball with my parents. Lucky for her, Dave snagged her a new tee shirt on a shirt toss between innings.
Lars Nootbar was down on a rehab assignment that night, which was pretty cool to be taking photos of a big leaguer, let alone one that I like. It was a treat. I was 2 feet from him at one point. My only wish is that Tommy Edman was there as well!
I started the game in the photo hole off the first base dugout, which is the cardinals dugout. I peered into the dugout quite a bit and got a lot of behind the scenes shots today. The game was really humming along, which means there wasn’t a lot of action. It was a pretty slow game until the 7th inning. A drone flew overhead for about 10 minutes as play was stopped and all players left the field. Everyone in the stands and in the dugouts were powerless to do anything as the drone hovered overhead. Someone out past the center field wall was a jerk and couldn’t take the hit. This ground the game to a halt and fans grew restless.
Things really got interesting at that time. Springfield took an early lead and the Naturals roared back with 3 runs in the middle innings. Springfield remained down two until they tied the game in the bottom of the 7th. The Redbirds got some timely hitting to tie the game and the snuffed out any rally in the 8th from the Naturals. In the bottom half of the 8th, a big 3 run home run moved the game out of reach. I got some shots of the hit and the ball going over the fence. The crowed came to life and the Redbirds shut the door in the 9th.
I wanted to get a couple of shots today. I wanted a called third strike and the ump ringing him up, a pick off play at first and an over the shoulder catch in the outfield. I was able to get all three of those. Any other shots I get that are any good is just luck. The last photo is the final out of the game, a looking K to end the game. That is a less than optimal way to end the game if you are the losing team.
I missed focus on a key double play and again on a Natural player that was safe on a steal attempt at second base. I missed my focus point and it was locked in on the outfield wall. That was frustrating. I started playing with my settings, as if it was the cameras fault…
Post game, the Redbirds put on a fireworks show that was pretty neat. I had the camera put away for that and just tried to enjoy it with Lauren.
Equipment used:
Sony a1
Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GMii
Tamron 28-75 mm f/2.8 G2
Called third strike to end the game!
