San Antonio Missions Baseball

10 June Update: Mike Baxter, San Antonio Missions outfielder, was named Texas League player of the month for May, 2009 by the San Diego Padres.

With the exception of club sports, summer is usually a slow period for sports photography, but I recently spent some time shooting the San Antonio Missions. While the speed of play was faster it was interesting to compare shooting at Nelson W. Wolff Stadium vs somewhere like Boerne-Champion or TMI.

Nelson Wolff stadium has wonderful line of sight with the only nets being between you and the players if you are behind home plate. The downside is that foul balls and bats can do some real damage, particularly if you have you eye to the camera and don't have a clue what's coming at you. In my most recent game we had the usual foul balls go into the stands, including one that took a policeman out with a hit to his elbow, interspersed with two bats into the stands, one of which was broken as it hit the ball.

I'm not that happy with my first effort there; mid-day sun made the light harsh, but better than stadium lights I guess, but the inability to be at the same level as the players means it's harder to get under the helmet and see the eyes. Just more to work on, though I'm not sure I have enough time left to get to the Brad Mangin level.