ZipperJJ, that just made me ache. There ain’t no justice!
I’m 35. I have no shame about this. I have a deep and passionate love for the game. Every game I go to, I watch multiple people have foul balls come at them where they wind up either ducking away from it completely, or where they try to catch it, only to have it bounce off of their bare hands and into the hands of someone else.
Having a foul ball come to you is far too rare an opportunity to blow it for lack of proper gear. I had my one chance, and I made it count. I will always bring a glove with me if seated in an area where I might get a shot.
I’ve been to over a hundred games, most at Wrigley, and have never really been close. One time my girlfriend and I were sitting along the 1st base line near the visiting bull pen and she claims a ball landed just a couple rows up from my seat while I was in the bathroom or concessions. She claims I’d have easily caught it instead of the guys 3 rows back, but I never saw it.
Another time on my birthday a handful of friends and me were in the bleachers for a night game getting pretty drunk. At the end of an inning Corey Patterson caught a fly ball for the 3rd out and threw the ball into the stands when I wasn’t looking, in my half-drunk and distracted state the ball hit me square in the top of my head and bounced about 6 rows up. I was wearing a baseball hat and it hit that stupid little button directly and hurt like the dickens. Not my finest moment.
Caught a home run from Jay Johnstone of the cubbies at Wrigley when I was about 11?? Over cast day and my dad wanted to sit with the bleacher bums… (i think he felt by then I knew all of the cuss words I’d later here) left field stands it bounced once and right to me…
Thankfully it was from a Cub… because if say one of the cards had hit it… theirs no fucking way I was throwing the ball back… I know i took it out with my buddies and played with it…
I was in the bleachers at Fenway and went from “Looks well hit!” to “Looks like a home run into the bleachers” to “Hey, that’s coming right this way!” to “Yeah, right this way” to “Wait do I want to try to bare-hand a baseball that’s moving fast enough to travel 300 feet in the air or do I let it drop?”
Hadn’t quite answered that when it landed about two rows away. Guy just reached up and bare-handed it out of the air.
Loge level (2nd deck) down the right field line, Dodger Stadium.
The date was significant because the Lakers won the NBA Championship that night and, like many others, I brought a portable TV to watch the game (huge Lakers fan here). After the Lakers game had ended I just sorta sat in a blissful daze when I was awoken by screaming fans. I turned to my left and a pretty hard liner off Bill Russell’s bat was coming directly at me. Everyone in front of me scattered and I just stuck my hands out and caught it. Crowd applause and everything. Purely surreal – it didn’t even hurt. If I had seen it coming I’m betting I would have missed it. At the time it was one of the great nights of my life. (Clearly I had yet to discover alcohol or women:)) Actually, it still is.
I’ve had one other come directly my way (soft blooper off Willie McGee’s bat, Three Rivers Stadiuim), but choked it while battling some other guy for it.
Last game I went to with my girlfriend (a lurker on these boards), the female half of a couple caught a ball right behind us. My girlfriend is probably still upset. She wants a baseball so bad.
A six hit by Andrew Flintoff at Karachi fell literally a foot away from me and there was a whole huddle to try and catch it, no one succeeded. Damn that was some innings.
Yes what kind of game has fielders wearing gloves. I could hit what are they called… home runs all the time, a where all deliveries are full tosses etc etc.
