Foul Balls

[Gastric ReFlux]

When I was a young kid, I remember how I always would get excited by going to a Phillies game because of the chance, that chance, to get a foul ball. I would, of course, take my mitt with me, the one I used for Little League, with the expectation that a foul ball would arch its way to me. It never happened, even though I kept that fervent hope even when we went cheaply to the general admission at the Vet, where lesser mortals were prone to have nosebleeds at the altitude.

Who here has gotten a foul ball at a major league game?

The one foul ball I got was at the minor league level, AA, Reading, about 2 years ago now.

[Erik W.]

I've never snagged a baseball, but when I was a kid I caught a puck at a Colorado Flames game. Heh, I don't think that team even exists now. I don't even remember what league they were in.

[Y0DA55]

If you took that GR, that's one awesome picture!

And no foul balls for me.

[Gastric ReFlux]

Originally Posted by Y0DA55

If you took that GR, that's one awesome picture!

And no foul balls for me.

Thanks, but it didn't really involve too much effort beyond lining up the ball in the direction I wanted, setting the macro function on the camera, pointing, and clicking.

[Hammer755]

I have quite the collection of foul balls that I've collected.

- An NCAA from my college days (this one was actually the most difficult to snag since they usually ask that you give them back)
- A Texas Leaguer from when I lived in Midland, TX
- One from The Ballpark at Arlington caught one-handed in the upper deck off the bat of Rusty Greer
- A HR Derby Ball from BP at the 2004 event in Houston. It was actually a ball that Derek Jeter hit off the wall, and one of the players tossed it back into the crowd

I almost had infield ball that Sean Casey tossed into the stands, but my buddy standing right beside me scooped it up.

[jgross68]

Cool picture, indeed.

I've never caught a foul ball at a minor or major league game. My oldest son has a few from kindly ushers that we got at Frisco RoughRider games/batting practice.

When I was about 14, I went to a White Sox game with my parents. We sat in the 2nd row of the upper deck in right field at old Comiskey. At one point, I got up to go get some drinks and while I was at the concession stand I heard the commotion when Harold Baines went yard. When I came back to the seats I asked my dad where the homer went and he told me it sailed right over my empty seat and glanced off his hand when he tried to catch it. Somebody a row or two back came up with it.

[congobeast]

Not me, but not for lack of trying.

The one time that I would otherwise have had a shot at is was back in... um... '03? The fam and I were at a Berkshire Black Bears game (low, low independant league) at Wahconah Park in Pittsfield MA. Being that no one turned out to see the Bears, we got fantastic seats right behind the catcher, first row for a song. Over the course of the game, some dozen foul ball banged into the glorified chickenwire in front of us; about half came right at one of the four of us.

Of course, the drawback to being able to catch those, were the chickenwire not there, is that we probably would have caught 'em with our teeth.

Que sera, sera.

[nate7891]

almost caught a line drive but flew over my head and popped a girl in the head who wasent paying attention

[Hammer755]

Originally Posted by jgross68

Cool picture, indeed.

I've never caught a foul ball at a minor or major league game. My oldest son has a few from kindly ushers that we got at Frisco RoughRider games/batting practice.

When I was about 14, I went to a White Sox game with my parents. We sat in the 2nd row of the upper deck in right field at old Comiskey. At one point, I got up to go get some drinks and while I was at the concession stand I heard the commotion when Harold Baines went yard. When I came back to the seats I asked my dad where the homer went and he told me it sailed right over my empty seat and glanced off his hand when he tried to catch it. Somebody a row or two back came up with it.

I've probably told this story before, but you probably don't remember it.

Opening Day 2004, and I was sitting next to two of the guys you don't want to sit next to at a game - loudmouth preppy knowitalls who don't really know anything who talk on their cell phone the whole night. I was sitting in the club (second) level between home and first, which is a prime foul ball catching area. Of course, one of the guys was on his cell when a right-handed hitter lined a scorcher right at us. I yelled 'HEADS UP!' at the guy and he noticed the ball coming his direction.

He stuck his hand out to catch the ball that was coming directly toward him - luckily enough for me, the hand he stuck out still had the cell phone in it. Screaming line drive met phone and ball won. The cell phone burst into a dozen pieces, the guy screamed bloody murder because the collision broke his thumb, and the ball landed right between my feet. While I asked the guy if he was OK, his buddy reaches down and snatches the ball. The guy with the busted cell phone sat the rest of the game with his thumb resting in a cup of ice, while his friend taunted him by repeatedly showing him the ball that made a mockery of him and his phone. The guy did thank me later for alerting him and preventing him from getting hit in the head.

[atarizx3]

cool topic,

conveniently my only foul ball is also from an Eastern League game as well, a thrilling 7/7/1986 game between the Nashua Pirates and the Vermont Reds



I did have it signed by the gentleman who hit it, a Mike Berger (current? asst to the GM / director of pro scouting for the Expos/Nats), who never made to the bigs. Unfortunate for me, of course, that the on-deck hitter was Bobby Bonilla that day...

[Eric]

I caught a batting practice home run ball at Candlestick park when I was in High School. I didn't really see who hit the ball. Matter of fact, I don't know where the ball is anymore.

[Jason Moyer]

Originally Posted by Gastric ReFlux

The one foul ball I got was at the minor league level, AA, Reading, about 2 years ago now. [/IMG]

I need to take a picture of the one I have. It's from a Reading game (I grew up about 10 miles outside Reading) and it's autographed by Ricky Jordan, Bruce Ruffin, and Joe Oliver among other people.

[Astros33Resurrected]

I have about 4. One is a homerun I caught off the bat of Richard Hidalgo. Glad I brought my glove that day.
Other one was in 1990. A coach for the Padres(Pat Dobson) picked up a ball at the old Astrodome and handed to me. He also signed it. I still have it in my room.
Another was given to my mom in 86? Astros vs Mets, Glenn Davis hit a bomb to the warning track(the dome was not big on HR's) and Strawberry caught it and threw it up to her. She kept it and gave it to me recently.
Other one was a shot that landed in the Houston bullpen that Brandon Puffer threw to me. I've been lucky so far, I hope to snag a few more

[2B#1]

I caught a foul ball a couple years ago at Dodger Stadium off the bat of Adrian Beltre and thrown by Seth Etherton in a game between the Angels and Dodgers.

[pfreek11]

I "caught" a foul ball hit by Wally Joyner at Anaheim Stadium when I was 9. I know I've told this story somewhere, but what was weird about getting it was that I had a broken wrist at the time and my arm was in a sling. I was at the game with my dad and his friend and we were sitting in the lower level on the 3rd base side. The ball was fouled into the upper deck, about 2 sections over from us. It deflected off of someone, down to our level, hit someone else, and spun all the way over to us. Really odd. My dad and his friend battled for it, knocked it down into one of their seats (they had stood up to grab it), and I picked it up. I wanted to get it autographed, but it was a school night, so my dad promised to take me to a game that weekend to get it signed, which we did.

Funny that I always brought my glove to games just in case I could catch a ball, but the one time I didn't bring it (due to the broken wrist), I got one...

[mauboy]

I got a foul ball off Royce Clayton's bat at Wrigley Field. I was 16 at the time. Clayton ripped one down the left field line out of play and it bounced up 'bout 5 rows before my dad snagged it out of my hand.

Then! At the metrodome a year later, my brother his friend and myself jumped down to the field and went behind the right field wall. We looked around and found about four balls all beat and torn up from whatever. We did find a good clean one, we think it was from a homerun that game; I can't remember who hit it though, nobody on the Cubs, that's for sure(interleague game.. lost 3-0 or somethin, can't remember off the top of my head). We ended up walking around in the back with no luck in finding a door to get out of there so we had to sneak back onto the field. From there we went through yet another door on the sideline and managed to get out unseen. It was a pretty whacky 15 minutes.

[rangers85]

I got one at The Ballpark in Arlington way back in 1994 I think it was. Sitting 29th row behind home if I remember right. The ball caroomed off the concrete facade that's on the 2nd deck and bounced right to my seat (Well more specifically, bounced under my seat). Manuel Lee hit the foul ball, Scott Erickson was the pitcher that day back when he was good with the Orioles.

[phenom]

I've gotten two at Comerica Park. First one was off the bat of Garret Anderson with Hideo Nomo pitching. Snatched it from the hands of three other guys as we all got our hands on it, but I had the best hold of the ball. It went up above us in the mezzanine level but we kept watching because those always bounce back. Sure enough, it came down and we grabbed it, and I pulled it away.

Second one was off the bat of Bobby Higginson; it flew directly at me and a few of us bobbled it. Then it dropped and we all assumed somebody had it. I looked back at the seat behind me and it was underneath it, so I grabbed it. Then I gave it to the 3 or 4 year old kid in front of me, who got all excited and happy, then turned to his dad and said "can we go now?"

Priceless.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Never caught a ball at a game, although I've come close more times than I could count, most recently in late June, when M and I went to the Saturday night Angels-Dodgers game courtesy of her Big Rich Lawyer Job. A pop-up from one of the Dodgers (don't ask me which; all those guys in blue look the same to me) looked like it was coming straight at us and ended up being caught by the guy two seats in front of me.