Tagged: baseball
Spring Training winding down…
It’s going on week six of Spring Training and there have been over 60 teams covered in collegiate and professional baseball over that span, with still at least a week to go! So far in post only a small percentage has been put online and things have gotten behind a good amount with no end in site so this post will be short and sweet!
An extremely slow internet connection dragging tasks out along with a non-stop schedule have made this spring interesting. The shooting aspect has been great, the colleges could not have been better, along with seeing those I get to see in the regular season down here has made it all worth it. Put on top of being able to shoot along side some of my favorite photographers at some games/photo days in David Schofield and Tom DiPace it’s been a great time! Both of them are reasons I got into photography some 12 years ago now. I got to meet David my first year with the Batavia Muckdogs and he gave some great advice to a newbie, while Tom’s images in USA Today and several other publications were always an inspiration.
Only problem is falling behind, so next year will make some changes and see if that can improve post time. I knew before coming down things would be difficult and build up, however, even the priority games post work that needed to be done immediately dragged out a bit longer than expected for several reasons. Hopefully a few changes will speed that up next year and be able to deliver quicker and leave some time to relax as well, which have yet to do this spring working almost all hours of the day, every day, in catch up mode. Of course though would rather be busy than not!
Randomly pulled some images with the who, what, where’s below…
Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale, FL (outside Lakeland)
Genesee Community College pitcher Mike Hackett delivers a pitch.
Dodgertown in Vero Beach, FL – former home of the LA Dodgers
Former Indians/Mets organization pitcher Jim Ed Warden delivers a pitch
while playing for the Long Island Storm, an independent league travel team.
Warden and others will start with the indie leagues this year and look to
get picked up, the way several of them played/pitched there is good
opportunity for that to happen, hopefully not too long into the season!
Comedian/Actor Jerry Seinfeld was on hand at some Mets games with
his family. There was no sign of George, Elaine, or Kramer. However,
the Soup Nazi did make several appearances over the loud speaker.
NY Mets David Wright gets fully extended while playing an exhibition game
vs. the Michigan Wolverines in Port St. Lucie, FL at Tradition Field.
Former Batavia Muckdog Colt Sedbrook getting extended on a hit
during an intrasquad scrimmage in Jupiter, FL
Derek Norris sliding in during a game vs. Houston, he was safe on the play.
Back to baseball, waiting for regulation!
After a break from baseball for at least one night at the Dropkick Murphys show it was back to baseball, and since I have yet to create an entry focusing on the game it’s due time. Yesterday was a college game with Central Michigan visiting Central Florida. CMU came out on top by the score of 7-4 with the last inning a bit of a nail biter. Today was back to professional baseball with the Twins playing the Orioles, who are now making their home in Sarasota after a move from Ft. Lauderdale.
For those that don’t know the Reds left Sarasota to a new home in Arizona for several reasons including the lack of updates to the stadium. Well, for photographers a badly needed update is due in the construction of a photo well, any photo well! The last photo in series below shows how photographers are situated on the field with no protection. The dugouts are unprotected just the same leaving players in harms way as well. Players for the most part are paying attention to every pitch, but not always considering the happenings going on around them at modern day games that provide a much different atmosphere than twenty years ago. Photographers on the other hand could be focusing anywhere on the field to get the shot to do their job and not watching the ball every pitch leaving them unaware if a ball or bat is screaming towards them. I cannot count how many close calls I see a season from either a photographer shooting the opposite direction or simply not paying attention. You hear it on TV watching the games with announcers joking about how a screamer sends the dugout or photographers scurrying but one of these times may not be so funny.
The tragic death of Mike Coolbaugh should have served more of a lesson to all teams at every level, but especially professional baseball where players are bigger and stronger than say high school or college. The question is not if a player on the bench, or a photographer without a well, will get seriously injured, it’s when. MLB should implement a rule that all dugouts must be protected with fencing like you see throughout most stadiums, and make sure it includes Spring Training sites. With that dugout fence a photo well of some sort should be placed in each stadium at the end of each dugout, even a cheap make shift one would work better than leaving photographers exposed with nothing to protect them. Need design ideas? Ask a photographer, we have plenty!
Onto today’s game…
Ben Revere of the Twins slides into third safely on a triple.
Brandon Snyder gets the throw from the pitcher on a pick off attempt.
Former first round draft pick Mike Hinckley delivers for the Orioles.
Steve Singleton turning a double play.
Photographers are left without a photo pit to shoot from.
All Photos copyright Mike Janes Photography 2010 and cannot
be used without express written permission. Unauthorized use of
images will be pursued to the highest extent of lickable laws 😛
Dropkick Murphys provide a break from baseball!
The weather is changing, spring training has kicked in, colleges and high schools are starting their regular season in the warm climate areas, winter clothes are starting to disappear; we all know what that means, so what other way to welcome baseball season than getting your earn drums kicked in at a Dropkick Murphys concert?
It’s been over two weeks straight of covering baseball with more than thirty teams in the books so a nice break is always in order! When seeing the Dropkick Murphys would be in town on their warm up tour for the now annual St. Patty’s day concert series that is just important to Boston as the parade it was time to contact Ken Casey (singer/bassist) and get some shots for the band just like the old days.
Starting in 1999 I had the pleasure of covering the band on several of their tours including the first St. Patty’s day gig. Currently I’m having hundreds of old negatives scanned from those shows, and those of you who own their album “Sing Loud, Sing Proud” have already seen some of the images in the artwork. They’ll be online someday in the future!
Onto the show…
Dropkick Murphys Al Barr spent much of the show with the crowd as has been a staple for years! By the end of the show the stage is packed with fans singing along!
Ken Casey leads the crowd towards the end of the show.
James Lynch performs with the stage full of fans.
Al Barr holds the mic out for the fans to sing along!
Fans take over the stage as Ken Casey performs.
Al Barr and Ken Casey finish the set in Tampa.
Images shot with a Mark III and either 24-105 f/4 or 70-200 f/2.8 at ISO 3200 or 6400 with various shutter speeds. No flash photography allowed at these venues.
The Dropkick Murphys new album, LIVE ON LANSDOWNE, hits streets March 16th. Visit their official website at http://www.dropkickmurphys.com to pre-order with the chance to win a trip to see the band in Dublin along with several other prizes!
Four Seam Images 