Beware of Foul Balls This Time of Year

Recently college basketball analyst Dick Vitale was struck in the abdomen by a foul ball at a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game. Fortunately Vitale was fine and had a sense of humor about the situation when interviewed on camera a few minutes later. It seems there’s been an unusual amount of foul ball incidents lately in baseball games. It started during spring training when Hideki Matsui, a member of the Los Angeles Angels, stroked a foul ball that sailed into the parking lot and struck the team owner’s car, smashing the windshield. What are the odds? I’ve always been fascinated with foul balls. When I was eleven years old, I had the opportunity to experience the thrill of a foul ball headed right toward me at a Pirates-Braves game in Atlanta. The ball was hit by one of my favorite players, Manny Sanguillen, and I would have given my entire baseball card collection at the time to have that ball. I would love to tell you that someone jumped in front of me and caught it, but that would be a major embellishment. The truth is that I bailed out and ducked for cover, thus wasting a perfectly magnificent opportunity to achieve sports immortality- in my own mind at least. I’ve seen fans catch line drives bare handed while overpaid players on the field miss line drives often, and they’re wearing gloves. I saw at man at the College World Series in Omaha in 2004 catch a line drive with his jacket. I’ve witnessed fans clapping and cheering wildly at high school games when they heard a foul ball smash a car outside of the stadium. For the life of me I can’t figure out why that deserves an ovation but it happens all the time. And not to be outdone, the sound effects people in the press box even press buttons when foul balls leave the park to make it sound like the ball is smashing a windshield. People even clap for that, too. I’m not the first person to ask this question, but why do folks holler “Heads up!” when a foul ball is headed in someone’s direction. It would seem more appropriate to duck instead of raising up, thus exposing the dome within which your brain resides. My youngest son is not a huge baseball fan but he loves to go to his older brother’s games lately. He has caught the fever for catching- or more appropriately retrieving- foul balls. At major league games you keep the ball. At youth league games there’s an even better deal- take it to the concession stand and trade it for a drink or candy. My son hauls in five balls a game on a good night, adequate to supply him with enough Coke and Sour Patch Kids candy to keep him awake until 3 a.m. I’ve retrieved plenty of foul balls at various sorts of games before but I’ve never caught one in the air to the best of my recollection. It has now become a goal of mine. And since I don’t carry a glove around on my person, I will be forced to accomplish the feat barehanded. I am looking forward to hearing the crowd cheer when I make a highlight reel catch. I just hope I don’t bail out again.