Padres fan immediately redeems himself after foul ball mishap
Baseball is a game that affords multiple chances to redeem one’s self within the framework of a single game. Fortunately for one lucky guy attending Friday’s Pittsburgh Pirates-San Diego Padres game at Petco Park, that’s sometimes true for the fans too.
When Pittsburgh’s Gregory Polanco stepped to the plate in the third inning, the fan was given two chances at the seemingly elusive opportunity of catching a foul ball. He needed both, but when his chance for redemption came he made the most of it.
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Missed opportunity
On the fourth pitch of Polanco’s at-bat, he hit a pop foul down the third-base line that bounced off the fan’s hands, deflected off the wall of concrete behind him and then rolled under his feet where the lady next to him retrieved it. You could almost feel his pain, realizing he’d had the opportunity to catch a foul ball and it literally clanked off his hands.
If at first you don’t succeed…
Try again, and again if necessary.
That’s a lesson we’re taught at a young age, and it’s typically applicable to every setback we experience in life.
Honestly though, if there was one scenario we’d think would be a clear exception, it’s catching a baseball at a Major League Baseball game. For most of us, it feels like an opportunity that would only present itself once in a lifetime, if it even comes at all.
As we’ve seen over the years, that’s not exactly true. There are many examples of fans catching multiple baseballs during a single game, a single inning and even a single at-bat, exactly like what happened Friday night in San Diego.
Just two pitches later, the same fan in the same spot was given another chance during the same Polanco at-bat, and this time he made a clean one-handed catch.
It was a better at-bat for the fan than it was for the Padres. One pitch later, Polanco would deliver a two-run double against San Diego starter Eric Lauer to break the game open. Pittsburgh went on to win 6-3.
Two for the price of one
As keen observers will note, this fan did actually end up with both baseballs. We’ll give credit to the lady next to him for making that happen. Because of that, the experience wasn’t going to be too haunting regardless. But there’s no doubt catching and being able to hold up the second baseball felt mighty good.
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• Chris Mannix: LeBron James’ decision will be bigger circus than previous dramas
• Tiger Woods surges into contention at Quicken Loans tournament
• World Cup: Power ranking teams Nos. 1-16
• Eric Adelson: Bucs shouldn’t hand back Jameis Winston his starting job
