We’ve had some great conversations here in the past about baseball fan etiquette and, more specifically, what is right and wrong when it comes to little kids and foul balls. Last night in Arlington, we witnessed yet another classic “What would you do?” situation, when Texas Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland flipped a foul ball into the crowd and it was caught by a couple. Seated next to that couple was another couple with a young son, who proceeded to cry like all holy hell was raining down because he didn’t get that ball.
Obviously, since I wasn’t at the game, I don’t know exactly what happened, but between Twitter and SportsCenter endlessly analyzing this incident, I have formed an opinion… Little dude needs to suck it up and be a man.
Maybe before Moreland tossed the ball, he shouted, “Hey, this is for the little kid!” and the yuppie couple was all like, “Screw that, we’re taking it home to throw at poor people from our balcony!” But we don’t know if that happened, only that Moreland threw the ball right at the couple and they caught it. Look, if that kid wanted the ball so badly, he had a glove. Catch the damn ball, kid. What’s that? You’re too young to catch it? Tough titties, this is life and life is hard.
But the kid cried and cried, so Rangers staff gave him a ball of his very own, thus teaching him that crying – not hard work and effort – will get him whatever he wants.
Now before you call me heartless for being tough on this small child, I do believe that the couple should have given the kid the ball out of the kindness of their hearts. Sure, take your cell phone pics and upload them to your Facebook account for your yuppie friends to see, but give the kid the ball. That way, when you tell your brunch buddies Parker and Madyson the story, you can claim that you gave something back and then snort and order more lobster scones.
In defense of the couple, though, they paid a lot for those seats only to discover that they had to sit next to another couple that had a crying baby on their laps. However, that probably would have been even more of an excuse to just say, “Fine, take the f*cking ball” and order another round of Stellas.
(Images via Hypervocal.)
