It's all mine

[smotan_02]

Originally Posted by murphusa

It's mine

That beautifully captures the essence of why catching a foul/HR ball will not bring you the joy you think it will. Unfortunately you will not know what I mean until your moment happens.

[mcgwirecom]

I have two thoughts on the issue. They are foul ball or tossed ball vs Homerun ball.

Now , I always wanted to get a ball anyway possible when I was a kid. But my father would rarely take us to a game and when he did they were cheap seats and no way were we getting there for BP. So when I was older we would always get there for BP and I'd bring a glove. I usually am in the bleachers trying to get a homerun BP ball. I was in my 40's and had my step son at his first game. the kid was about 9 and managed by hook or crook to get 3, yes 3 baseballs! Stepson 3, me 0! A few years later we got there earky to watch Barry Bonds take BP. My stepson managed to get a ricochet off the third deck. Finally a year later I caught a Bonds BP HR off the second deck in the air. A year or so later I got an Andre Ethier BP HR on the fly. If there was a little kid nearby I would probably hand it over. I did in Txas after catching a BP HR ball.

I had seats near 1st base once an Ryan Howard tossed a foul tip over and I caught it. I knew they tend to show you on TV when this happens so I handed the ball to a little kid nearby. I was right, several people at work said they saw it so it looked better to hand it over!

Now as for a HR ball during a game, no way, no how am I giving it away to anyone, even a crying child. Sorry. I came close once. Had it all lined up and at the last second the guy in front of me tipped it away from my glove.

There is one caveat to my giving away of a foul ball. If it was an important historic game I would probably keep it. I was at Randy Johnson's 300th win game. There was hardly anyone there so I was hoping to get a ball. One was fouled over my head into the next section which had only a few people in it. I watched a guy hopping over seats to try and catch up to it as it rolled downhill. I ran over and got several rows in front of it and it rolled to me. I got booed by the crowd as they thought the guy chasing it should get it. But I do not care, I got a game used 300th win ball. plus he was a grown man and had a shot to catch it and blew it. Sorry.

[Runscott]

At the Seattle/KC game Thursday, I noticed that any ball that hits the dirt gets removed from the game. I was thinking what a waste of money that was, but then after the game I noticed a huge pile of balls at a concession table, with a sign that said something like: 'souvenir balls used in today's game'.

Another thing to think about - it's unlikely that as a 54-yr old man, I could walk down to the 1st row and have a player toss me a ball, but this year I've noticed that almost any kid can get a ball if he hangs around the dugout or the bat girl. Plus, the kid's parents can always go buy them one at the concession table (not sure how much).

Of course, I have no need for a ball, so I'd give a foul ball to a kid, but I might keep a HR ball.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by mcgwirecom

I have two thoughts on the issue. They are foul ball or tossed ball vs Homerun ball.

Now , I always wanted to get a ball anyway possible when I was a kid. But my father would rarely take us to a game and when he did they were cheap seats and no way were we getting there for BP. So when I was older we would always get there for BP and I'd bring a glove. I usually am in the bleachers trying to get a homerun BP ball. I was in my 40's and had my step son at his first game. the kid was about 9 and managed by hook or crook to get 3, yes 3 baseballs! Stepson 3, me 0! A few years later we got there earky to watch Barry Bonds take BP. My stepson managed to get a ricochet off the third deck. Finally a year later I caught a Bonds BP HR off the second deck in the air. A year or so later I got an Andre Ethier BP HR on the fly. If there was a little kid nearby I would probably hand it over. I did in Txas after catching a BP HR ball.

I had seats near 1st base once an Ryan Howard tossed a foul tip over and I caught it. I knew they tend to show you on TV when this happens so I handed the ball to a little kid nearby. I was right, several people at work said they saw it so it looked better to hand it over!

Now as for a HR ball during a game, no way, no how am I giving it away to anyone, even a crying child. Sorry. I came close once. Had it all lined up and at the last second the guy in front of me tipped it away from my glove.

There is one caveat to my giving away of a foul ball. If it was an important historic game I would probably keep it. I was at Randy Johnson's 300th win game. There was hardly anyone there so I was hoping to get a ball. One was fouled over my head into the next section which had only a few people in it. I watched a guy hopping over seats to try and catch up to it as it rolled downhill. I ran over and got several rows in front of it and it rolled to me. I got booed by the crowd as they thought the guy chasing it should get it. But I do not care, I got a game used 300th win ball. plus he was a grown man and had a shot to catch it and blew it. Sorry.

Awesome post, Randall!

I'm with you, I'm keeping the HR ball no matter what as you know so well.
Good style on returning the one ball to the kid, given a chance.

The video posted earlier where the kid was crying demonstrated the ultimate in self absorbance by the two Rangers fans. Get your photo holding up the trophy, but give the kid the dang ball, please!

[steve B]

I "caught" a foul finally at a minor league game. They have a concesion stand down the far end of the stands in right. The batter hit a long foul just short of there, and I started wondering if he'd hit another. Two pitches later as I'm holding a cardboard tray of drinks waiting for hotdogs and pretzels he hits another. Right at us. The guy in front tries for it, it deflects off his hand about 6-7 feet into my stomach and drops in the tray. He and his two girls borrowed it to have a look then gave it back. They weren't all that interested in the ball after about 30 seconds. I'm not sure what I'd have done if they wanted it.

About a week later I'm at a Sox-Yankees game sitting in one of the seats next to a pole, just right of the screen. Hardly any fouls go back there. Hands full again, soda and nachos and one of the yanks hits a hard foul right at us. Quickly figuring the soda and nachos cost more than the ball and not knowing if it was going off the pole or not (I've seen a couple nasty deflections over the years) I did the only sensible thing - Held the food and ducked so the Yankee fans behind me could get the ball. I think it hit the pole head on, and bounced lower since the guys behind me didn't get it.

Steve B