Last week, we had another of Mike Chamernik’s “Question of the Week” series, the response was great, and Mike is back again with his next question.
Question of the Week
by Mike Chamernik
I went to the Mets-White Sox game on Sunday. I was sitting in the 300-level of seats, which is a great spot for foul balls at Sox Park.
I’ve never caught a foul ball. I was hoping to get one on Sunday, but the one ball that came anywhere near me was still 15 feet away.
Readers? Fire away!
Have you ever caught a foul ball? Or a home run ball or batting practice ball, or a bat, or anything? Outside of baseball, what other game-used objects have you taken home from a game? Has an athlete ever tossed you a piece of gear? If you did get a ball or other item, what did you do with it?
Thanks, Mike. This is definitely another fun QOTW.
I caught one foul ball in my life.
Can’t wait to hear the readers stories! OK guys…fire away!
I have never caught a foul ball or home run.
Last month I was a Nats – Rockies game with my broomball teammates and we walked down to the 100 level, right field hoping to get something hit near us. We walked past right Center field and I said, “no, nobody in this lineup will hit one there”
A few seconds later…
CJ Abrams puts one in that section. SMDH
The most impressive foul ball I ever saw caught was in RFK, 2005. A Friday night series against the Cubs. A family of Cubs fans were just arriving to their seats when a foul ball came up our way in upper deck 1st base side. A boy snagged it with his glove. Very cool.
Oh and I got a guitar pick after the Wallflowers set at a concert.
I’d rather had a foul ball
I caught a guitar pick at a Guess Who concert. … I think all the original members had retired by then (2012-ish)
I was at WWE Monday Night Raw and Big E from The New Day threw me a pancake
Tremendous wrestling gimmick
That’s awesome
I caught the first foul ball of my life a couple of months ago while working at a Wilmington, NC Sharks game. Not actually a catch, but it landed just behind my booth where I draw caricatures for fans, and I picked it up. It was a beat-up relic. The next night, the same thing happened, but a much cleaner baseball this time
In both cases, kids came up and begged or demanded that I hand it to them.
I have three responses that I’ve rehearsed just in case this situation ever happened…
1: “I’m 58 years old! I’ve been waiting way longer than you have! Scram, kiddo!”
2: “When my daughter wakes up tomorrow morning, this will be on her nightstand!“ Never mind that she’s 21 years old and doesn’t live with me.
3: Find someone older than me and ask if they ever caught one. Then give it to that person. They’ve been waiting longer than I have.
July 2005… I was sitting behind the home (3rd base) dugout to watch the Mariners against the Blue Jays at the (then) SkyDome. Mariners went three up, three down in the top of the first. My memory tells me that Adrian Beltre hit a ground ball to Corey Koskie, who fielded it and threw to Shea Hillenbrand at first.
Koskie ended up with the ball again as the Jays headed to the dugout. My friend and I started screaming for the ball and waving our arms frantically. Koskie tossed the ball over the netting, and it landed about 8 seats to my right, perfectly between myself and a grown man. We brought pizza to our seats, which was promptly discarded as I made a mad dash for the ball. I grabbed, held it up high in celebration, and then looked back to see my pizza lying face-down on the ground. That ball became my go to for signatures, the most notable of which was probably John Hattig – MLB’s first ever Guam-born player.
As an adult I have tried to determine exactly what game it was, and confirm which players were involved. It was definitely the July 19-21 series, but Corey Koskie wasn’t involved at all. Raul Ibanez batted third for the Ms in all three games, so it was most likely him who hit the ball. Hillenbrand was actually playing third for two of the games, and first for the other (Aaron Hill was at 3B). So at least I got one of the players involved right!
My dad’s friend caught a Home run ball in Seattle
Dover Spring Race 2018: Denny Hamlin made a pre-race appearance and threw hats into the crowd. I caught one…then tossed said cap to nearest kid – that way he could say he caught it The Monster Mile.
At the 100th anniversary game at Wrigley, I was on the right field line, past the dugout, during batting practice. A foul ball was coming toward my hands as I leaned over, but the guy to the left of me leaned over further at the last second and it went off his hand and landed on the field. Nothing quite like making sure no one gets it.
Haven’t caught a foul ball, but I saw Todd Rundgren and Utopia about 20 years ago at a small venue and was leaning on the stage, left of center. The fan girls to my right were doing their thing as Utopia finished their set and Kasim Sulton, bass player/singer, pointed to the girl just to my right and flipped his pick toward her from about 20 feet away. It went right to me instead, and I caught it, turned to the girl it was meant for and gave it to her. He smiled, nodded his head and gave me a thumbs up as they were getting ready to head backstage to prep for the encore. After the encore was over, he walked up to the front of the stage, reached out his hand and gave me a signature series Kasim bass pick, shook my hand and said, “that was pretty cool, man, thanks!” Sometimes, it pays to be nice.
The catch rate on foul balls is probably like 5%. Everyone is all thumbs when a ball is hit to them
Got a foul ball at a Yankees-Blue Jays game in… 1998? 99? Something like that. All I remember is Jorge Posada hit it. It bounced up right in front of me and I got it. A kid who wasn’t going for the ball asked if he could have it and my twentysomething self, who had never caught a ball at a game before, refused to give it to him. I still feel bad about that, but I also still have the ball.
Similar-ish story, I caught a BP home run ball in Milwaukee in 2007. One-hop off of the patio in RF. I caught it clean but a 10-year-old kid was also reaching for it (I was 17). He didn’t ask for it but was like “Oh man, I almost had it!” I didn’t give the ball up… because it was hit by Ken Griffey Jr. I feel kinda bad but hey it’s a legend.
I’ve been to 35 major and minor league parks (going to Ft. Wayne tonight) and have never snagged a foul/home run ball. However, several years ago in Dayton first pitch of the game was fouled off right to my girlfriend and she promptly lost her sandwich. I’m assuming she still has the ball. I’m 53 now and have no desire for such things. My m.o. is to find the child nearest to me and promise myself if a ball comes my way to give it to said child. One baseball, two smiling faces.
I was a student who stormed the field after the Rutgers vs Louisville game back in 2006, and ended up right behind the Louisville bench. I was wearing a red t-shirt and khaki shorts. I guess a Louisville player mistook me for a student manager, because he unstrapped his helmet and handed it to me. Next thing I know, 2 other players came over to me and handed me their helmets, so I was walking around holding 3 Louisville helmets.
I went to find a Louisville staff member to give them to and had no luck, they were all off the field, and security wouldn’t let me in the players tunnel, or let me leave them there, so I started to walk up the stairs into the stadium. A security guard saw me, and asked where I got those helmets, and I said players just started handing them to me. I thought he would tell me to leave them on the field, but he just shrugged his shoulders and let me walk out.
They are definitely still in a box somewhere in my garage
Hahaha love it
The Colorado Rockies have an award, the Clean Catch pin. If you catch a foul ball, homer, or ball thrown into the crowd without it hitting the ground, a nearby usher is supposed to hand it to you. The design has changed over the years, but here is one…. link
That’s awesome!
When I was a kid in the 60s/70s if you caught one in Cincinnati they gave you an honorary contract.
The Savannah Bananas have a rule at their home park that if a fan cleanly catches a ball- fair or foul- with two outs in the top or bottom of the ninth inning, the game is officially over.
Never caught one, but I’ve got several game balls from umpires when I was a kid. Company my dad worked for had one of the field level suites at Jacobs Field and it was right next to the door where the umps would go in/out. At the end of the games I’d ask them for a ball and maybe trade them a bag of chips or something for one.
Good answers, everyone!
Not a foul, but I caught a BP home run ball (described above). Also, Darryl Hamilton tossed me a ball when I was 9. That was cool.
When I was a kid I was in the front row behind the dugout in Olympic Stadium wearing Expos gear and a player tossed me a warmup ball. No idea who.
My dad caught a foul ball off Omar Vizquel’s bat in Toronto. He kept it, I ended up with it when he died. My only “game” ball.
When I was a kid I went to every home Long Beach State basketball game when Jerry Tarkanian coached them before leaving for UNLV. They played in a small gym the first couple of years he coached there. My Dad taught there, and I got in for free. After the game I’d stand by where they’d exit to go to the locker room. I’d ask the players for their wrist sweatbands. Looking back, it must have been gross to get all these sweaty wrist bands. Of course I’d wash them, but I’d carry these home with me. I had so many that by the time I was playing competitive tennis in high school and college, I never needed to purchase one.
Good:
Caught a foul ball on the fly at a Florida State League (High-A Ball). Got an ovation from the crowd for it.
Not as good:
Stood behind goal before a US Open Cup match when a David Beckham practice kick sailed wide and I dislocated BOTH knuckles in my pinky finger trying to stop it.
Spectators getting blasted in the face by soccer kicks always make the blooper reels… but those balls are kicked HARD.
I remember at old Busch watching a guy get hit in the back with a Mark McGwire BP ball. He was in the Batter’s Eye club seats in left center, and for some reason facing away from the field during BP. He was covered in the beer he had been holding and his buddies got quite the laugh out of it.
McGwire BP was like Steph Curry shootarounds — people would arrive early to watch. Bizarre someone was in HR territory and wasn’t watching!
Another great topic!
I thought I was the only baseball “regular” who never got a foul ball! . . . until I got two over the course of a week (Jacques Jones and Justin Morneau).
Fast forward: I’m now retired and often work as an usher at Spring Training and Arizona Fall League games. That’s given me the opportunity to observe Foul Ball Etiquette, such as older kids giving chase for no other reason than the competition; whoever leaves the ballpark with the most is the winner, I guess. But it’s especially endearing to see 10-year-olds yield to smaller kids.
I’ve also watched adults walk three sections over to make sure that each kid in a family got a ball to take home. Always gets applause. Still, there’s nothing like “catching” one on your own, even if it’s finding one under a seat an inning later.
“But it’s especially endearing to see 10-year-olds yield to smaller kids.” I saw that at a game this past weekend! Foul ball was hit, a man picked it up and gave it to a kid … and he gave it to a younger kid sitting behind him.
I have caught one legitimate foul ball, one-handed, on the fly in 2009 at a Diamondbacks game. I also snagged a BP ball as thrown by a player at the World Series last year in Phoenix. I was there with my son and gave it to him, so that was pretty special. My Dad caught a foul ball at Dodger Stadium during the 1978 World Series a few days before I was born. I have that on my mantle.
About a decade ago my wife and I attended an Astros-Cardinals game at Minute Maid Park. We had nice seats down the third base side low in Section 107 which is about where the stands curve to meet the foul line. We were on the aisle on the home plate side of the section. Prime foul ball territory no doubt. When we sat down I told my wife to be sure to be paying attention, we were in the line of fire.
Sure enough Astros’ catcher Chris Snyder ripped the second pitch of the bottom of the second inning. And I do mean ‘ripped’. I know because I saw the replay later that night, and therein lies the problem. When he hit the ball I was texting my son. I never saw it coming. My wife said she saw Snyder swing but couldn’t follow the ball. Luckily (and I’m not even sure of the physics involved here) instead of killing someone in the vicinity the ball clipped the edge of the aisle seat in front of me, inches from my knee. It ricocheted off my wife’s ankle rattled around under our seats and came to rest between our feet. How it passed over (or through!) the folks to our right yet hit so low on the side of that seat I’ll never know. I had no idea what was coming or, when it hit, what was happening. It happened just that fast.
Didn’t take long for my wife’s ankle to swell a bit so we got her looked at by a medical tech called by an usher supervisor. All that was required was a bag of ice and we enjoyed the rest of the game. The supervisor handed us four Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast vouchers which we passed on the my father-in-law who loved Denny’s. My wife had a nice bump and bruise by the next morning.
I checked the MLB-TV replays to get TV views of the action. The Houston crew showed our section as we settled back down. The Cardinal broadcast stayed with Snyder.
Looked to me like he took a glance to see if he’d killed anyone. The I gave the ball to a kid behind us. I’ve been to a lot of games but that was the first time I’ve gotten a batted ball. I had a few tossed to me as a kid and had a Willie McCovey foul hit an armrest in front of me in the Astrodome and whistle past my head.
Those foul balls are rockets. Glad you and your wife were OK.
I went to a minor league game a few weeks ago and a woman was hit on the arm by a screaming foul ball. Got a big red mark. And yeah the staff came over and gave her ice, but that was about it.
I was at a Pistons-Celtics game at the Silverdome in 1987. In the dome you could roam all over the place, except for the portable seats. Near the end of the game, my friends and I had made our way courtside behind the Celtics bench. During a time out we were yelling not so nice things at the Celtics, Larry Bird had a towel in his hand and was wiping off sweat with it, and he threw it at me, which was kinda nasty (the Bird sweat part). It had the NBA logo on it, but my mom somehow put it in our regular hand towel rotation.
I love that. Really it’s cool you continued to use the towel like normal. I probably would do the same.
My then girlfriend gave me endless grief for bringing my glove to games. Anyway, we get primo seats behind home, I bring my glove as usual and she’s going on and on about how we are too close to the net behind the plate to get anything, the odds of something coming my way, yada yada yada. And as she says I’m childish and I’ll never get anything a ball is lined back, ricochets off a closed press box window and screams straight back at us, I stand, put my arm up and snag the ball.
I never heard anything about bringing my glove to a game ever again.
BTW, I’ve caught 3 foul balls, dropped 2 and given away one. Give it time, the foul ball gods will find you eventually.
At Sox Park it feels like most foul balls are ricochets, like you describe. Liners that clear the net, bounce off the middle tier, and shoot back at people sitting closer to the net.
At old Comiskey, the upper deck was very much in play. I was sitting on the aisle one day and had a clean shot at catching a Harold Baines foul ball straight back, but it splashed off the heel of my hand and rolled sideways down the row to the feet of someone who got the souvenir without even standing up.
I was with my Dad at Ebbets Field seated field level, second or third row, near the visitor’s bullpen which was located on the field. Forgot who B’klyn. was playing.
Jim Gilliam sent a one hop line drive right to my Dad. He juggled it a second. Then secured it.
I remember being immediately surrounded by a group of fans looking for the ball. Where was it? My Dad was somehow able to sort of sit on it. When the crowd dissapated Dad produced the ball.
Sad to say, I don’t remember what happened to the ball.
1990, Tiger Stadium, Tigers vs. Yankees. My friend Whit and I are on a four-stadium tour, late in the season. Comiskey Park is in its final month, Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium and Detroit’s Tiger Stadium aren’t long for this world. Only Wrigley Field stands a chance at immortality.
We’re front-row down the left field line, one section beyond the bullpen. Roberto Kelly hits a screaming liner. It takes a single giant skipping hop off of the dirt track. I steady myself, raise my glove and make a clean catch. I was sure I’d muff it, major league screaming liners being what they are.
link
Whit, returning from the concession stand a few batters later, says “nice grab!” He’s seen it on the TV screen. The kids in that section had grown bored and wandered away. When they return, they’re told a foul ball came RIGHT HERE. They looked stunned. An adult tells them “see, you should’ve stuck around and watched a baseball game.”
I have that ball, still tinted with Delaware River mud, sitting on my desk RIGHT HERE.
* * * * * * * *
A grumpy, curmudgeonly and wholly valid point: I’ve had it with the fascist bullying demand that if you don’t give some rando kid a foul ball, you’re a monster. I’m not talking about balls tossed by a player who’s pointing right at a specific kid. Catching that ball and keeping it is assuredly a dick move.
Look…plenty of kids catch or run-down foul balls on their own. They have parents or guardians who can do that for them. If you want to catch your own foul ball and give it to a kid, fantastic. Kids don’t automatically get stuff just because they’re e a kid.
Fantastic!
I’m 50/50 on if I would give up a foul ball to a kid.
I meant to take my glove… I forgot it. I was in a perfect spot for foul balls. The ball was mine – 100% meant for me. Coming straight down – no one else had a chance. I had a hat, I had a giant coke I could have dumped. It was hit by Jake Meyers sooooooo high and it was coming down so fast. At the last second fearing a broken finger, I panicked and I pulled away just slightly so of course missed it. I offered to buy it from the guy that got it on the bounce – but it was way more sentimental to him than the money I had.
Yes, I’ve been camped under a few home run shots… on TV it looks like they come down so gently, but in reality they’re speeding toward you. Trying to catch one bare handed would be dangerous.
The only thing I have that even comes close to qualifying is a snooker ball potted by Ronnie O’Sullivan (one of the greatest to compete in that sport).
He was the special guest on an episode of the BBC’s “Top Gear” in 2004 that my then-housemate managed to get tickets for. As part of the show he had to clear a table of balls before The Stig could complete a lap of the test track, which he did at the last second. Once filming stopped and moved across the studio, I sneakily grabbed the blue ball and trousered it. I still have it somewhere, 20 years later.
That’s a great story and souvenir! We were living in Amsterdam at the time, and the BBC was our English-language TV, so we watched a lot of snooker (and Top Gear) at the height of Ronnie the Rocket’s powers. Including a tournament where he switched mid-game to playing left-handed and finished, and won, the tournament that way. I know he’s still playing and doing amazing things, but back then the rest of the field hadn’t really begun to catch up to him yet.
I’ve never caught a foul ball but did get hit in the back of my shoulder at a game in Memphis several years ago.
My then future wife and I were visiting Memphis so when we were making plans, I checked the Redbirds schedule and sure enough they were in town that week. Added bonus…bobblehead night! We bought a couple of lower level seats along the first-base line.
Ffwd to some point in the sixth inning: a batter sent a foul back behind home plate nowhere near where we were sitting…or so I thought. At some point, the ball must’ve hit a seat and bounced towards me but I didn’t realize that until the ball hit me in the shoulder. Never got the ball and didn’t see where it went because an usher immediately came over to ask if I was OK. “Yeah, I’m fine…there’ll be a bruise tomorrow but I’m OK”
No bruise and, alas, no ball but I still have the bobblehead. :-)
Guitar pick story: back in 2014, I finally was able to score some front row seats for a Cheap Trick show. As most CT fans know, guitarist Rick Nielsen loves to throw guitar picks into the crowd so I figured “Cool! I’ll surely be able to get one!”
Well, it turns out we were sitting at the wrong end of the stage and catching one of his picks appeared to be more difficult than I’d thought. Kinda like trying to catch a foul ball, I guess you’d say.
Near the end of the show, though, Nielsen walked out with a small plastic tub *full* of guitar picks and started throwing them everywhere. I managed to grab a few and my wife passed a few others around to the people in the row behind us.
Three vignettes for you:
1. At a White Sox game with a bunch of co-workers. We had 12 seats total (3 rows of 4 seats) about 20 rows behind 3rd base, and when a bunch of us went on a beer/food run a foul ball landed right in the middle of where our group was sitting, bounced off the concrete, and landed another 10-12 rows back. A missed opportunity.
2. At a White Sox game with the Better Half and another couple, one of whom knew the first base umpire. We were seated in the front row down the first base line about a third of the way into the outfield. During the game a grounder went foul just past the dugout. The first base umpire picked it up and handed it to us between innings. Very cool.
3. At Naperville Last Fling festival several years back I caught one of (many) guitar picks thrown into the crowd by Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen – better than the foul ball
Consecutive Cheap Trick stories in the comments!
Off topic, but Rick Nielsen owns Piece pizza in Chicago. I like that place.
Does carving up a goalpost count? I had an approximate 5 foot section of goalpost from the 1989 Nebraska v. Oklahoma game. Got a machine shop to slice a couple of pieces to give to friends. Now I have about 2 feet remaining.
Those things are a tough nut to crack. Me and a bunch of fans went through about 25 hacksaws and made no progress carving it up in the mall in front of the Nebraska Student Union. Finally, someone showed up with a tank of acetylene. That finally did the trick.
Oh fantastic!
Have come reasonably close a few times in 60 years of going to games, but never got one at a major league game. I did get one at a AAA game in Indianapolis in the late 70s, but I didn’t catch it. Sparse crowd, I was behind home plate, a foul ball bounced off the press box, ricocheted back, and more or less rolled to a stop at my feet.
At a Rockies spring training game in Arizona, I think in 1994, a foul ball went down the LF line and Rockies backup catcher Joe Girardi ended up with it. He tossed it to my 7-year-old son. After the game we looked to get it autographed by someone; all the Rockies went straight to the bus, maybe autographing one item along the way, except for Andres Galarraga. He stopped and signed for as long as anyone had anything for him to sign, including my son’s ball.
Big Cat!
I caught a puck at the end of a pregame warmup. Was with friends down by ice level just to watch warmups and as it was ending a player tossed a puck into the crowd and it just happened to land where I was. Quickly picked it up and got a souvenir. I had displayed it on my desk at some point but moved it elsewhere.
I’ve not come close to catching a foul ball. Such balls have landed one section away from me or several rows in front of me. One time a foul ball was hit back behind the plate and it bounced and landed next to me and another fan but we just froze in place and just as the other guy tried to get it, someone else had run to the spot, snatched the ball, and walked away. The game was part of a single admission doubleheader and there weren’t too many people in the stands.
I was at an Indians game at old Municipal Stadium back in the ’70s. It was a September afternoon, so naturally the Tribe was about 30 games out of first and the Stadium had its usual sparse crowd.
Late in the game, we moved into the section behind home plate, and even that was pretty empty. A ball was fouled back into the upper deck. I guess it rattled around up there, and it eventually rolled down one of the ramps and fell into the lower stands about 10 rows in front of us. I calmly walked down and picked it up.
On our way out, a guy offered to buy it from me, but I turned him down. Have no idea whatever happened to that ball.
I’ve had the same season-ticket seats near midfield for several seasons with my local minor-league soccer team. The other regulars who sit just behind us – Dave, Renata, and Renata’s guy, porkpie hat dude whose name I still can’t remember even after four seasons – keep hoping we’ll get to catch a ball kicked out of play. The sections on either side of us have fielded balls over the years, but our Section 109 seems to have a protective force field around it. Only a couple of games left to realize the dream of catching and throwing back a game ball before this season ends, our last as season ticket holders due to our move an hour away.
In bat-and-ball sports, I’ve never caught a ball hit into the stands. I’ve been close a couple of times! Kent Hrbek’s Game Six grand slam in the 1987 World Series landed not far from our outfield seats. And at the T20 Cricket World Cup games we watched earlier this summer a couple of maximums were hit close to us. I love how cricket culture makes kind of a big deal about fans throwing the ball back. Which is required – in cricket, it’s important for teams to use the same ball for as long as possible. Whereas the modern thing of throwing home run balls back in baseball annoys the heck out of me. When I was a kid, that was a quirky thing about two particular parks where local fans were mildly infamous around the league for being jerks in different ways. Around the turn of the century, it seems to have spread league-wide such that even in places with otherwise good fan culture you’ll see fans get booed for not immediately throwing back visiting-team home run balls. Screw that! The home run doesn’t get turned into a ground-rule double if the ball comes back onto the field. If I catch a home run ball, I’m keeping that sucker as a prized souvenir no matter who hit it. The ball isn’t a contract that once you keep it you’re obligated to root for the team whose player hit it. If I’m at, say, a Twins game and I’m lucky enough to catch a White Sox batter’s home run ball, I’m keeping that ball and I’m continuing to hope that the Sox lose.
I agree, I would not toss back a home run ball. Even if it’s hit by a hated opponent
Never caught a foul or home run ball despite going to at least 50 baseball games in my lifetime.
Did get a practice puck that flew into the stands at a Bruins/Sabres game when I flew out to Boston to go the old Garden before it closed.
Two Pogues concert snags: I caught Spider Stacy’s whistle at the Borgata in Atlantic City in 2006, and then on St. Patrick’s Day in 2011 I caught his beer tray at Terminal 5 in New York. If you know what he was famous for doing with beer trays I’m sure you’ll chuckle.
Never caught anything. But I will always remember this announcement during an Arena Football game at America West Arena:
“Remember, fans, if a ball enters the stands, it’s yours to keep!
If a player enters the stands… please return him.”
Once.
Opposite field home run by Jayson Werth at Citizens Bank Park versus the Reds. Can’t remember the date, could look it up.
I have a partial plan at CBP in the right field bleachers. Great home run landing spot, 8 rows off the fence.
Caught a foul ball at an Angels preseason game at UC Irvine. Don’t recall who hit it. Later it was autographed by Mark Fidrych when he was a phenom. He signed pregame at the “Big A” while he sat in a “bird cage”.
Also got a guitar pick from Pete Townshend.