I lost my draft diary (fanpost) with the new AN format.  That was my fault.  I drafted it soon after I threw out the first pitch at the end of last season.  And, obviously, I waited way too long to publish it.  Politics and baseball are my favorite pastimes and politics won out this offseason.  After learning that my edited draft wouldn't accept comments and, at the request of other members, I am re-posting this as a new FanPost.  Apologies to those who previously voted in the poll.

 Anyway, to make a long story short, Justine, Galt and I arrived at the park early that day in late September 2007.  We had been given the tickets by fellow season ticket holders who sit right behind our seats.  Shortly after we arrived, two young men wandered down the aisle.  They turned toward us and asked if we were season ticket holders?  We hesitated briefly, then, answered "yes," adding that we weren't sitting in our seats this day as they were the ones directly in front of us.

 The two young men walked a few steps down the aisle, huddled for a moment and conversed over their two-way radio with some unseen A's officialdom.  As they walked back up the stairs, they said:  "Would you like to throw out the first pitch?"  Surprise, suspicion, shock, followed by fear, all crossed my mind in an instant.  But, they looked official, so I responded succinctly:  "Ummm...  sure."  "Okay," one of them said, "we'll come and get you about 45 minutes before gametime and bring you back to the offices and, then, down to the field."

As promised, they came back and took us back to the offices where they asked for our names and filled out our field passes.  David Rinetti, the V.P. of Stadium Operations, came out to hand us the passes after seeing my name on it.  I know David from Massimo's Restaurant in Fremont.  And, I had thought initially that he might have been behind this.  But, it turns out he was just as surprised to see me as I was to be randomly selected.

 A couple of other people wandered into the waiting area outside the offices, one of which turned out to be the singer scheduled to sing the National Anthem.  He turned out to be pretty good.  We all then rode down in the elevator to field level and walked through the hallway connecting the clubhouses to the field (just as you would if occupying the Diamond Level seats).  I got to say hello to a couple of players on the way back in...  Swish and Scoot, as I recall.

We were escorted to the field by a young woman who had an earpiece in her ear.  As we waited for our turn in the pre-game ceremonies, she asked me if I was the Dan Gordon who owned Gordon Biersch?  I'm pretty sure she was prompted by the scoreboard guy or someone else on her earpiece to ask me that question.  And, I was momentarily tempted to say "yes" just to see if Lew would invite me up to his box.  Alas, I said "no" and that ended my potential VIP treatment.

Daric Barton was assigned as my catcher.  We got to chat with him briefly before I threw the first pitch.  I was surprised that I wasn't more nervous.  They gave me the option of throwing from in front of the mound, half-way up the mound or from the rubber.  I thought to myself, "Hey, if I'm going to make a fool of myself, I might as well do it from the top of the mound."  I asked Daric if he could handle a "hard slider, low and away" and he said:  "Sure, if it gets to me."  (Thanks, Daric, for the boost in confidence.)

After walking out to the mound, I realized I'd probably made a mistake choosing to throw from the rubber.  Damn!  That's far, I thought to myself...  a lot farther than it looks from my normal vantage point in Section 120.  Mind you, I haven't thrown a baseball from a mound in probably 30 years, perhaps longer.  "Aim high" Daric had told me as we walked out to our positions.  I reminded myself to take his advice.

As it turned out, it was a pretty good pitch.  It bounced on the plate, but I think Bobby Crosby would have swung at it.  Daric caught it and also autographed it.  Whew, no complete humiliation!  And, a great experience overall.  I'd recommend it to everybody who is ever offered the chance.

Oh, of course, the one and only time in the last three seasons that Justine doesn't bring her digital camera, it was this day.  Thanks to the A's camera folks for taking the pictures and e-mailing them to us.

Anyway, here are some of the pics:

On the Mound (I almost missed the sign to throw the ball)

The Scoreboard

The Pitch

The Pitch (close-up)

Daric Barton and Me (after the pitch)

Justine and Galt on the field to watch the first pitch