Sunday, April 18, 2010

One Streak of Futility Ended Today

A momentous thing happened at Wrigley today.  No, it wasn't Geoff Blum's tying double off of Marmol. Geoff Blum is one of those guys who pretty much sucks until it is a big moment.  Then he's Ted Williams.  It's unreal.  So that wasn't it.

It wasn't Marmol blowing the save, it wasn't Marshall getting the loss, it wasn't Byrd's three hits including the only hit with runners in scoring position for the Cubs.  It wasn't Soto throwing out Michael Bourn, nor the fact that a pitchout actually worked.

It wasn't even Tom Ricketts visiting very near by in Aisle 423, nor the fact that hardly anyone recognized him (or if they did, they didn't care).

I got a foul ball.  You may remember that in the thirty years that I have been attending baseball games and the roughly 650 games in that time, I had caught a grand total of zero foul balls before today.

Today, Houston catcher, Humberto Quintero fouled off a fastball on the 7th pitch of the at-bat.  It came straight back, but it was coming in a little low.  There was a woman with a couple of kids below me and I resisted sticking my hand in there and possibly either deflecting the ball into one of the kids, or shield the view of the mother protecting the kids.  However, the woman ducked and it sailed over her and struck below the empty seat next to me and miraculously bounced towards me.  I managed to corral the rebound and I now have my first souvenir baseball of my life.

It would have been nice if the Cubs had won the game, and I'm pretty pissed they lost two of three at home to a pretty bad team, but I got a ball.

Now I need to work on catching one on a fly.  I figure I should manage that feat in about 2040.

9 comments:

Jon Boyd said...

This is awesome! Many congrats. I'm in the same boat as you have been (though only 18 years as a serious fan, and not a season-ticket holder). I have been given a ball by an umpire, though, so I take some consolation in that. :0

danieldschell said...

Closest I've ever come was having a warm-up ball tossed to me by then-Cub Matt Stairs between innings at PNC Park. I DID, however, catch an extra-point football from Gary Anderson at 3 Rivers Stadium!

Aisle 424 said...

Catching a football is way more impressive than a foul ball. There are dozens of foul balls per game and 162 games per year. There are only a few field goals or extra points kicked per football game and there are only 16 of them per season. Nicely done.

I snagged a ball tossed by Leo Mazzone almost 20 years ago, but an actual foul ball is way better. You have to want it.

Seat 106 said...

Glad I could help by not being in the seat next to you today. And sorry I wasn't there to see it. Welcome to the club!

Aisle 424 said...

106, it hit seat 104 when the occupants were off at the concession stand. But you were wise in staying away. It was colder today than yesterday.

Augie said...

Did you give the ball to the kids? That would have been classy.

Kris said...

Darn this illness! Today was my game - that should be my ball!

Aisle 424 said...

Augie, I did not give it to the kids. They have their whole lives to catch a ball. This one is mine.

There is no balls joke I can make that will not get me in trouble with Kris, so I'll refrain.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Haven't even come close to being remotely near a foul ball, let alone snag one.
-@adaveyouknow

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