Back in July of 2011, Burnsy answered the question, “How do you declare the villain in a foul ball dispute?” The examination covered a lot of variables — children throwing tantrums, grown men stealing foul balls from teenage girls, kids trying to get a soccer ball up over a fence and having it stolen from them at the last second by a randomly-occurring jerk — but it never mentioned the touchiest of foul ball subjects: the dad who tries, but fails.
That’s what happened in the sixth inning of Sunday’s Giants/Marlins game at AT&T Park. A dad attempted to snag a line drive but he’s got bad hands, so it bounces into the seats below him. In response, his child turns and begins beating the shit out of him while he smiles. Because what can do you, you know? You tried*.
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*To catch the ball, I mean. Not “raise a child without crazy anger issues.”
My one experience like this happened at Oriole Park at Camden Yards back in the long long ago. Brady Anderson hit a home run to right over the scoreboard, and my dad was right there with a glove raised waiting to catch it. He was the only person within thirty feet, if my memory is correct. Just before he catches it, some random dude explodes out of nowhere, knocks him down to keep him from catching it, then scrambles to scoop up the ball himself and run away. I was sad, because I wanted a home run ball, you know? But I didn’t start kicking my dad in the face over it.
Any great missed foul ball memories of your own? Let us know in the comments section below.
