...against ballpark bullies.
In the ninth inning of Arizona's 9-2 drubbing of Cincinnati yesterday, the Diamondbacks' Eduardo Escobar hit a home run into the first row out in right. The ball was picked up by a father and his young, maybe six-year-old son, who were wearing Cincinnati gear. The camera didn't stay on them, but a moment later I heard a small cheer go up and I knew what had happened and cringed inwardly. Sure enough, they later showed the father instructing his kid to throw the homerun ball back onto the field. Idiot.
Throwing a homerun ball that was hit by the "enemy" team back onto the field, far from being some time-honored old Baseball tradition, was something started by a self-important, self-styled "Bleacher Bum" at Wrigley Field in 1969. In some ballparks, it will actually get you tossed out, as will throwing anything else onto the field during a game, and as bad as I would have felt for that kid in Cincinnati, I would have liked to have seen that happen, as an example. It's one thing to be a spineless jerk, but another to teach your kid to be one, as well.
A few minutes later, my faith was somewhat restored. Diamondbacks First Baseman Paul Goldschmidt hit a massive dinger into the left field seats and a kid, maybe eleven or twelve, caught it in his glove like a pro. This kid was so excited he looked like he was going to have a heart attack. As he stood there, happy and amazed, in his Reds cap and t-shirt, he suddenly began looking around, shaking his head "no" and clutching the baseball to his chest, and one could imagine the shouts of "Throw it back!" that (so-called) adults in the crowd were pelting him with. At least the kid wasn't at Wrigley, where the "Bleacher Bums" would likely have physically threatened him, as they've been known to do. Anyway, the kid stood his ground and kept his souvenir, and that's a good thing.
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Originally Posted by Safety
