On this particular day, I got out of bed late. I had set my alarm for 6am, with the hopes of being in Oakland around 8 or 8:30, but I woke up around 8am. For me, this reminded me of this game last year.

We left at 8:25, and arrived at the Coliseum around 9am. This was going to be my first Orioles game since Last September, and I was hoping that they would still be using commemorative balls.

Like my last game, I made a video with behind-the-scenes and vlogs, so check it out!

Once we had pulled into the parking lot, I headed to get in line at Gate MM.

The line was LONG!

But, believe it or not, this was the shortest line!

I walked around the Coliseum a bit to check out the scene, but I decided to get in line at 9:15.

Around 9:30, I decided to walk around the BART Plaza area and take some pictures.

The line at Gate LL was getting pretty long!

But I was in line at MM.

The A’s have these ticket kiosks everywhere around the Coliseum.

And of course, this banner! 4x > 2x (Just saying Giants fans)

Lines were just getting LONGER and LONGER.

I was chatting with a bunch of the bleacher folks, like Will.

When Will runs in to the bleachers, he carries these flags and banners.

I noticed these boxes… BOBBLEHEADS!

Around 10:30, Arlene invited Pascale and I to jump in line with the bleacher folks. Thank You!

Once I joined them, I noticed Ross’s shirt, which I absolutely LOVED!

Oaklandish is an Oakland-based clothing company. You can check out their website here.

Daniel, one of the bleacher guys had this little speaker.

Great sound quality for a device that small!

Guess what it was playing…

BERNIE LEAN!

At 11:07, the gates opened, and my sister and I sprinted inside, grabbing our bobbleheads along the way.

I was one of the first people in the bleachers, after of course, Will.

The run is actually somewhat tough, but it is MUCH harder for him, as he is carrying everyone’s flags and banners.

I headed over to the A’s bullpen, where the most action was taking place.

The players were all getting loose.

Stretching and such. (S/O to my sister for taking those last two pictures)

I was over there because Jarrod Parker was throwing a bullpen session.

Eventually, I decided to head over to the Orioles bullpen area, since the pitchers were arriving and the nearby stands were almost empty.

They started off stretching.

As the A’s players began to throw.

Pictured below are Grant Balfour (Upper Left) and Jesse Chavez (Lower Right)

Even though they were playing catch, it was getting a bit crowded.

And the Orioles began to toss.

I was all ready in my Orioles gear.

A’s pitchers that were running interacted with Orioles players when they were in that area.

Soon enough, it was 11:45 and there were only two guys playing catch, so I headed over there.

My parents were soaking up the sun in the RF Bleachers.

As the last two guys finished playing catch, I called out to Darren O’Day “Hit me here Darren!”

With that, he submarined me the ball!

If you want to know why I am smirking, I have NO clue at all.

Here I am with my Reggie Jackson bobblehead.

BTW, remember when I mentioned the RF bleacher shirt in my last game entry? That’s the one I’m wearing! Do you like it?

After grabbing a quick pizza lunch, I got back to notice Rollie Fingers in the bullpen. Oh yeah!

There were lots of players from the 1973 A’s gathered around the dugout.

Each current player or coach walked out with the player or coach that held the same position in 1973. Curt Young, the A’s pitching coach walked out with the pitching coach of the 1973 A’s.

Nate Freiman,the A’s first baseman is HUGE! 6 foot 8 inches.

Brandon Moss and the 1973 first baseman.

I seriously got chills watching it all.

Brett Andersosn

John Jaso was out in the bullpen, warming up with AJ Griffin.

Ray Fosse was on the field with Derek Norris.

The 1973 team started to line up.

Soon, Norris walked out with Ray Fosse and the Coliseum exploded!

I could tell all of the current and past players were enjoying it!

Eric Sogard walked out with Dick Green.

Vida Blue and Blue Moon Odom were standing out by the pitching crown.

Josh Donaldson walked out with then-3rd Baseman Sal Bando, along with manager Bob Melvin, who wears the number 6 in honor of Captain Sal.

Jed Lowrie was going to walk out with Bert “Campy” Campaneris.

Chris Young was out in LF with Joe Rudi.

Coco Crisp was out in CF with Billy North.

Do you recognize that name or face? Check out this photo. I got my picture with him, Sal Bando, and the 4 A’s World Series trophies at 2013 A’s FanFest.

As this all was taking place, AJ Griffin and his golden locks of hair were warming up in the bullpen.

There was a large group of photographers gathered on the field.

Almost all of the players were on the field.

Except for 1. Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, as presented by Josh Reddick.

It gave me chills. I could yell Josh was soaking it all in.

The field was now full with the 1973 World Series Champion Oakland A’s!

Everyone was taking pictures.

The coaches were gathered up behind home plate.

It was crazy to see such a talented team on the field.

There was a presentation of a check of some sort on the mound area.

As this was all taking place, players were warming up and mingling.

There was a group photo on the mound.

Then, the National Anthem was performed.

The people holding signs representing players that are no longer with us walked in the CF tunnel.

They gathered for one last group picture.

And then I took my focus to the players warming up.

As usual, the LF Bleachers were rocking. (Not like Right Field, but still cool!)At 1:05, they all took the field!

The home plate meeting look place.

And we were ready to go!

AJ Griffin was on the hill for Oakland.

Adam Jones got to the plate in the top of the 1st.

And flied out to right field.

Coco Crisp led off for the A’s.

And popped out to the catcher…

John Jaso was due up after Coco…

And singled to right field.

Seth Smith was hitting in the 3-hole for the Green and Gold.

With a runner on first, the bleachers were getting pumped up.

After Jaso advanced to 2nd base on an error, Agent Smith flied out, bringing Jed Lowrie to the plate.

I can’t tell who this hitter is, but I LOVE his face!

This person had a ticket from the 1973 WS in Oakland.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Josh Donaldson doubled in Brandon Moss, giving the A’s a 1-0 lead.

Josh Reddick walked in his at bat in the 2nd inning.

Everyone was feeling good!

Coco Crisp then grounded out to end the inning.

Griffin took the mound in the top of the 3rd and he was dealing!

The bullpen was enjoying the game.

Around the time, my dad gave me the camera, and I had some fun taking pictures.

Here is the ball smacking into Brandon Moss’s glove on a foul popup.

Donaldson had another RBI hit, bringing the score to 2-0, before Reddick popped out to end the inning.

In the 4th inning, Chris Young doubled. But, it wasn’t before the Orioles scored 4 runs in the top of the inning.

Like I mentioned earlier, I had a blast taking pictures.

Jed Lowrie flied out in the 5th inning.

Josh Donaldson singled in the 6th for his 3rd hit of the game.

Even though the A’s were down, everyone was still confident.

This row of fans did a mid-inning trivia contest, where everyone got shirts.

Ross was drumming it out.

In the 7th inning, Ryan Flaherty grounded out first baseman Brandon Moss to pitcher AJ Griffin.

Sean Doolittle started to get loose in the bullpen. Note the balls above and below the bullpen phone on the left side of the picture.

Brian Matusz came into the game for the Orioles in the bottom of the 7th.

Josh Donaldson and Chris Young were sitting at the top step of the dugout.

Throughout the day, both the A’s TV and Radio booths brought in players and coaches from the 1973 A’s team to talk.

For those of you who don’t know… Josh Reddick makes a LARGE mess of seeds in RF. This photo doesn’t do it justice.

Jerry Blevins came on to pitch in the top of the 8th.

This is where things got interesting…

If you didn’t click the link, Nate McClouth hit a home run to Right Field. Shin, one of the bleacher folks caught the ball. He then tossed it to Jorge.

Guess what he did? He threw it back!

Believe it or not, that did not go over well with security. He got up on his seat and the ENTIRE stadium started chanting “LET HIM STAY! LET HIM STAY!”

He was getting everyone riled up, everyone was on his side.

Except for security…

Ross (Left) and Anson (Green Shirt) were pleading their case to security to let Jorge stay.

Then the cops showed up and more or less led him out of the bleachers.

He DID NOT want to leave.

But this guy meant business.

You could tell everyone was pretty pissed about the whole situation.

Like I said, the police officer “led” Jorge out of the bleachers.

Everyone was entranced.

I could tell the players were kind of confused.

Oh… And there was a game going on. The solo home run made the score 5-2. Then, a Chris Davis sac fly made it 6-2.

Jed Lowrie came up in the bottom of the 8th.

Then guess what happened?

Jorge was led back!

That made everyone pretty happy!

I think he was pretty happy.

Spencer got a picture with him.

You have to give the man props though.

Oh, and it was a ROCKET throw! He threw it from 3 rows back in the RF bleachers, in the middle of the row, to 2nd BASE! It was like I was watching the movie Rookie of the Year!

Everyone was cheering for him.

In the 8th, Josh Donaldson doubled for his 4th hit of the game.

Josh Reddick stepped to the plate.

He then flied out center field, but Brandon Moss came in to score, making it 6-3.

Not many people were paying attention to the game though.
Then Chris Young stepped to the dish.

Where he struck out…

Jorge was getting into it. Everyone had a good feeling about the game!

Omar Gonzalez was spending quality time with his young daughter Rhema.

Chris Resop took the mound for the A’s in the 9th.

Rodrigo was enjoying the game.

So was Anson!

The Orioles scored another run in the 9th, brining the score to 7-3.

Adam Rosales stepped into the box to lead off the 9th for Oakland.

And on the 6th pitch of the at bat, the pitch was thrown inside.

Hitting him in the head, causing him to dive to the ground.

Wow. Look at the reactions of the people sitting right behind home plate, on the right side of the picture!

The training staff and Bob Melvin came out to check on him.

He was walked to first base.

But… He stayed in the game!

This brought Coco Crisp to the plate, where…

Pedro Strop threw a wild pitch juuuuuust a bit inside.

Coco Crisp showed off his sweet dance moves.

Adam Rosales advanced to 2nd on the pitch.

Then, Coco walked.

This put runners on first and second, with no outs, putting the tying run in the on deck circle. The stadium went nuts!

The Orioles brought in closer Jim Johnson as John Jason stepped to the plate.

After 5 pitches, he slapped the 6th pitch of the at bat to left field to load the bases.

Rosales was on 3rd, Crisp on 2nd.

Seth “Agent” Smith stepped to the plate with no outs and the bases loaded.

Where he flied out to right.

With one out, Jed Lowrie came up, representing the tying run.

He found a pitch he liked…

Made contact with it…

Ran the ball out…

But he grounded into a game ending double play.

And that was the ballgame. 7-3 L to Baltimore.

Ah frustrations…

I got a picture with the 1 ball and my bobblehead.

And then Spencer photobombed me!!’

W

We gathered everything up.

And everyone started to file out.

Drew, one of the right field bleacher guys has an AWESOME mustache. Appropriate facial hair and shirt for the day.

After gathering our stuff, everyone filed out of the bleachers and gathered out in the concourse.

I was planning on attending the A’s game on Friday, May 17th, which is the 3rd Annual BACON FRIDAY, and I was planning on ordering a shirt, so I needed to give Omar Gonzalez, one of the RF Bleacher folks, my money for the shirt.

While I was talking with him, Rhema was being awfully cute!

I got one last picture of the field before we left the stadium.

We exited the stadium.

And we headed back to our car.

Overall, it was a great day!

BALLHAWKING STATS:

• 7th Game this Year
• 1 Ball at this Game
• 5 balls in 5 MLB games this season = 1 Ball Per Game
• 20 Balls in 7 Games this season = 2.86 Balls Per Game
• 6 Consecutive Games with at least 1 Ball
• 4 Consecutive MLB Games with at least 1 Ball
• 33 Lifetime MLB Baseballs
• 63 Total Balls

Nick Badders is a unofficial reporter for MLB.com. He writes the blog, 7000 Coliseum Way, and you can follow him on Twitter @nickbatters or his blog @7000ColiseumWay. You can also LIKE his blog on Facebook or follow him @nickbatters or his blog @7000ColiseumWay on Instagram. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.