On Sunday I spent the day in Round Rock for the Dallas Morning News, covering the debut of baseball player Manny Ramirez with the Round Rock Express.
There was a full day scheduled, starting with a press conference at 2:30 p.m., followed by warm-ups at 4 p.m. The game didn’t start until 7 p.m.
I was there early. Too early. Getting to Round Rock is sometimes a gamble for me. Sometimes it takes 45 min., sometimes it takes 2 hours. Austin traffic is a bit of a frustration in that sense. Anyway, I got there around 1:30p.m., picked up my credential and set up in the press box.
At 2:30 p.m. all of the media members gathered for the press conference and Manny came in and sat down. He was in a good mood and everything went according to plan. He even took our picture with a borrowed cell phone.
Honestly, still photographers don’t get much out of these kinds of press conferences. They’re great for TV cameras and reporters who need sound bites and quotes, but the still pictures always come out looking the same. I tried to get a bit of variety, with the photo at the top of the post being my best shot.
Then I went back up to the press box to edit and transmit. The whole thing, including editing, took about 30-45 min.
At 4 p.m. I peaked out on to the field to see if any baseball players had appeared to start warm-ups. The field was empty except for the grounds keepers, so I continued to wait.
At 4:30 p.m. I asked what the deal was with warm-ups. Apparently Ramirez was meeting with a batting coach, but that was closed to media. The rest of the team had opted to skip early warm-ups because of the heat. That meant that I had nothing to do until about a half hour before the game.
I stayed in the press box, driving myself crazy looking out on to the empty stadium and constantly asking about what was going on. It’s very hard for photographers to sit still on assignment. I would’ve taken a nap, but the press box was full of MLB scouts and radio and TV people.
Finally, around 6:30 p.m., fans gathered near the locker room doors. I grabbed my gear and headed down, waiting for Manny to come out and sign autographs.
In the mean time, I shot some of his team mates, like Mike Olt (20), and fans.
Manny didn’t appear until about 6:50, 15 min. before the game started, so he didn’t have time to sign autographs before taking the field.
He warmed up a bit with his team mates, then stood in the dugout.
He took a minute or two to sign a hand full of autographs, but those lucky few were the only ones he signed all night.
Then it was time for the national anthem, a great time to get a nice shot of Manny in his new uniform.
When the game started, I opted to shoot from third base for the first inning, mostly because it’s right next to the Express dugout. It was a risk because Manny’s right-handed and would be facing away from me as he went up to bat.
I got him warming up in the dugout and talking with team mates, then following through on his first time up to bat.
At the end of the inning I ran back up to the press box to start editing. I listened to the TV and checked the batting line up, and suddenly realized Manny was up next!
I grabbed my camera and ran down to first base. I just stepped in to the photo area when Manny walked up to the plate. He swung twice and hit a fly ball, which was caught, ending the inning.
At that point it was getting dark and I had the pictures I needed, so I went ahead and transmitted.
It was a classic hurry-up and wait type of day, but I was shooting sports for the Dallas Morning News. That’s never a bad day.
One Comment