Foul Ball!
This week's Brush With Greatness involved going to the Red Sox/Brewers game with my friend Brian and his wife Beth. As part of Internet Night, we got half-price upper deck box seats in the first row, so we had a very nice view of the field from the third-base side. But, more than that, foul balls were being hit to the left and right of us - many more to our side of the field than the first-base side. And in just the second inning, Red Sox catcher Scott Hatteberg hit a high, foul pop-up - right at us! As we all stood up to get ready for it, it arced closer and closer...
And right into Brian's bare hands!
"That smarts," said Brian, who was content to let me gloat about it for him (but he got to keep the ball, of course). Now I'm trying to persuade him to come to Sunday's game with me to get it autographed; don't know whether he'll give it a shot. It was a great catch, though; he even got a little applause from the surrounding audience.
I've heard it estimated that a typical game-going baseball fan will have about three opportunities to catch a foul ball in their lifetime. I guess this was one of mine. But I don't mind!
Oh, yeah; the Red Sox won 4-2, on four home runs (including two by rookie shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, almost certain to win the Rookie of the Year Award). I've gone to five games this year, and the team I was rooting for has won four of them. Not a bad result!
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