This commercial should be right up your alley, then.
Well, last year Josh Hamilton tossed a ball into the crowd for a father to give his kid. That, of course, did not end well. If fans aren’t supposed to throw anything onto the field/rink/court, maybe players shouldn’t throw anything into the crowd either.
I got told not to be a Want Whiney 
I wish we could Ty Cobb’s answer to this burning question concerning kids and foul balls.
The kid was three years old. What do you want him to do, get a job and buy his own baseball?
Now, now–I dated Mr. Demandy-pants back in the '80s, and let me tell you, I liked him *very *much.
I took my four-year-old daughter to a college women’s basketball game in January. At some point the cheerleaders launched t-shirts into the crowd. My daughter was waving her hands, but none of the t-shirts came near us. There was what I assume was a girls team of middle school basketball players a few rows in front of us on a team outing, and the cheerleaders launched a number of t-shirts right at them, so they snagged about four or five and were pretty happy about it.
My daughter was very unhappy and pouted and maybe cried even, I don’t remember exactly, except that she was very unhappy for quite a while, maybe ten minutes even. It didn’t matter that she had never even expected t-shirts to be launched randomly into the crowd five minutes before and was having a great time, and that nothing had really changed. Of course, none of the cheerleaders noticed my distraught daughter or cared enough to hand deliver her a t-shirt, and none of the girls a few rows down bothered to check around and see if there were any nearby children younger than them who might have wanted a t-shirt before they settled back into their seats basking in free t-shirt glory.
Of course they didn’t, because that is not how life works, and it was a great opportunity for my daughter to gain a little experience with the fact that “life is not fair” in an extremely minor but age appropriate and ultimately harmless way, a lot better than, say, mom dying of cancer. Sometimes you are lucky and get a t-shirt, sometimes other people are lucky and get a t-shirt. If someone sees you are unhappy and gives you a t-shirt, that’s super nice of them, but you can’t expect someone to do that…that’s what makes it a super nice thing when it does happen.
If the couple in the video noticed that toddler crying and just thought, “we got the ball, you didn’t, sucks to be you, ha, ha” then yes, they are jerks. But I can’t fault them for being excited to get a major league ball and not notice that the kid crying next to them is crying because he wanted the ball and not some other random reason that kids cry about.
Three months have passed since the t-shirt incident, and my daughter seems to be fine, but we can only hope there is no latent trauma that will manifest itself later in her life.
If the kid wants to grow up to be a good Republican, then yes.
The kid and his parents were on Morning Joe this morning.
A squirming, yakking, uncontrolled little kid. If he behaved that way at the ball park and his passive parents said “he’s just tired” like they did today, I probably wouldn’t reward his behavior with a baseball either!
Yup, crabby old lady not amused at cute little boy who so obviously runs that family.
We use that phrase sometimes too. It’s always been my opinion that just because he’s a singleton (no siblings) does NOT mean he’s allowed to act like a spoiled little brat. BECAUSE he’s a singleton, we have had to work extra hard on concepts like sharing and not getting your way ALL THE DAMN TIME. We have to remind him sometimes that he’s not the only kid in the world and that sharing his (whatever) with his cousin/friend/that cute girl down the street for a little while won’t kill him.
I’ve also never subscribed to the notion that just because Slim is a special needs kiddo that he should get to do whatever the hell he wants BECAUSE he’s not like everybody else. I’ve run into those parents too and I always end up thinking “You’re not doing your kid ANY favors by adopting that attitude.”.
Just glad I always sit behind home plate so I don’t have to worry about this kind of drama.
And if those kids are really lucky, the shirts might still be in style by the time they grow enough to be able to wear them.
I can count the number of MLB games I’ve been to on my fingers. If I happen to be one of the less than 1% of fans who happen to catch a ball that gets into the stands, I’ll be keeping it. I’m not going over or through anyone to get it, mind you, but I sure as hell won’t be handing it off to some stupid kid. If that makes me a bad person, well, the whole entire world can kiss my hairy ass. 
Serious question: And do what with it? Build a trophy case for it? Or throw it on your desk and forget where it came from in a few years?
I really don’t get it. If I caught a foul ball at a game, I’d think it was pretty neat, but what the fuck do I want with another baseball? I probably have a few knocking around a closet or two. Hell, I wouldn’t even want the burden of having to stuff in my pocket and tote it around 'til I get home.
I can tell people that I caught a foul ball. I’m not going to freak out if they refuse to believe me without a baseball to show them as proof.
Serious answer: I like to collect souvenirs from the places I’ve been. Our refrigerator is covered in magnets from various places we’ve travelled to. We’ve got a chunk of rock from the Crazyhorse monument in South Dakota. I have a concert tee from every single concert I’ve ever attended (where they’ve had shirts available, at least). We have photos on the wall of us posing with William Freaking Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. And if I had a baseball from a Major League game, that would go on a shelf somewhere as a keepsake as well.
If your memory of an event is all you’re looking for out of a particular experience, good on you. I happen to attach a certain amount of value to my various mementos and I’m willing to carry the burden of a five-ounce ball with me from the diamond in the unlikely event that one comes my way and hits me in the hands. YMMV.
My understanding is based on watching players throw balls into the stands.
Sometimes, they are clearly throwing the ball to a particular individual. In some cases, they will actually point first to make sure that the crowd knows who the ball is going to. In such cases, it is most often a kid or a woman.
Sometimes they just toss the ball in the general direction of the crowd, without making clear who they are throwing to, and sometimes without even really looking. I’ve seen players toss the ball from the dugout, when they couldn’t even see who the ball was going to. I’ve seen outfielders make the final out of an inning, and then turn and lob the ball into the stand in a manner that was clearly not intended for any particular person. I’ve first and third basemen grab a foul ball and quickly flick it into the seats, without any real purpose or intention regarding a specific target.
If you haven’t seen any of those things, i submit that you might not watch very much baseball.
I’m not sure how I feel about this issue. I will wait until we hear from curlcoat before deciding.
I’ve gotta chime in here and ask what is wrong if you’re an adult who wants to catch a foul ball, or a thrown ball, whatever? Maybe that player was the dudes favorite player and now he’s going to keep it make sweet, sweet love to it each night. Maybe he has a kid at home, or a niece or nephew somewhere that told him they wanted one and he’s being a good dad or uncle. How would their kid feel if he said “Sorry sport, I had a ball from (insert player name here), but the crowd made me give it to this kid near me. I’ll try to get you another one before the cancer takes you to jesus.”
Also, if he had given it to the kid, within 10 minutes of leaving the game, it most likely would have been completely forgotten about by the child.
p.s. - I caught a thrown ball at a spring training game in Phoenix about 10 years ago and gave it to the hottest chick near me. Might as well have given it to a little kid for all the good it did me. 
Personally, I like kids. Which is why I ducked outa the way and let the lil ones have a chance at that broken bat that flew into the seats.
