New Britain Rock Cats.......

[howiek]

Driving up to New Britain for Saturdays game vs. Reading. I never been there. Anyone have any tips. The game is at 6:35, what time do the players start arriving and are they accessible? Any help would be great

[Keith11580]

Dude the rock cat games are so great you can get autographs after the game if you by the dugout kr wait outside the stadium bc there bus is at the gate I live so close the the stadium and you should get a autograph

[GoWarrior]

I grew up right near the stadium but live in NY now. Used to graph there A LOT, though it's been a few years. Guys were always pretty decent on the field next to the dugouts before the game but, like anywhere else, this will be hit or miss depending on players' moods.

The real action at New Britain Stadium is outside the club houses after the game. You can literally stand at the back door to the home team's clubhouse. The players park their cars right there in public parking so you can get them as they're leaving. Sometimes they have security for the visiting team by their clubhouse, but the bus pulls up to the curb and you can still stand on the sidewalk right there and ask for autographs.

I met and watched so many great players come through New Britain... Torii Hunter, AJ Pierzynski, Johan Santana, David Ortiz, Doug Mientkiewicz, Dan Cey (Ron's son), Joe Mauer. Some graphs I got from visitors, Pete Rose Jr., Pat Burrell.

A couple cool quick New Britain stories...
I went to a game one night (probably 1997 or 1998?) and it turned out to be the night Torii Hunter got called up to Triple A. I had seen Torii play many times already and had a bunch of things signed by him. Had a good feeling he was going to be a star. So anyway, they make an announcement over the PA, "congratulations Torii, he'll be flying out to Triple A Salt Lake City tomorrow morning, etc." but Torii isn't playing that night. Instead he's just hanging in the stands all night. Around the second or third inning, I see Torii sitting high up behind the plate (not in the scout seats, further back than that) so I go over, sit down, and watch a few innings of the game while just chatting with him. He was happy to sign a few more things for me, I went on my way, and a couple years later there's my pal Torii tearing up the MLB.

Another quick story... some nights I'd go out behind the outfield wall and try to shag home runs with a few other local kids. Everything was real laid back so if we had a ticket, they'd let us go in and back out of the stadium as we pleased. After a couple innings behind the wall I come in and go to the visitor's bullpen down the third base line. The Rock Cats were playing the Reading Phillies that night. The bullpen catcher must have seen me coming and going and as I'm standing there he says to me "Hey kid, you might want to go back out there right now". I asked why and he said the guy who was at bat hits A LOT of home runs. I asked what his name was. Pat Burrell, the guy told me, and you'll be seeing him in the majors soon. Don't remember if Burrell homered in that at bat, but it's a cool story.

I could tell many more, but those are a couple of the good ones. Have fun at the game... I love that ballpark!

[ZombieTom]

@GoWarrior - Great stories, can not beat the Minors.

[howiek]

Thanks Guys for the input. Very helpful. Quick note. Joe Benson was not a happy after going 0-5. Then even more so, that he got sent back to AA after batting 0.125 in AAA. So, I got the "Not Tonight" after the game outside. I have not been writing about my success on here this season. Check out my blog page for more and some pics. Thanks Again