Foul Ball Foul-Up: Man Nearly Knocks Down Boy, Keeps Ball

NBC5.com ^ | June 15, 2004

[Cultural Jihad]

Foul Ball Foul-Up: Man Nearly Knocks Down Boy, Keeps Ball
Reggie Sanders Awards Boy Bat

UPDATED: 12:24 PM EDT June 15, 2004

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The mother of a boy who was nearly knocked over when a man leaped for a foul ball says she was shocked that the man didn't give her son the ball.

The incident happened in the third inning of Sunday's Texas Rangers game against the St. Louis Cardinals when Gary Matthews Jr. lifted a foul ball into the stands at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas.

A man went tumbling to get the baseball and nearly knocked over 4-year-old Nicholas O'Brien. The boy's mother, Eddie O'Brien, was not happy about it as she whacked the man with her program before he managed to escape back to his seat. Texas Rangers broadcaster Tom Grieve was also not impressed.

"Yeah, you got the ball, buddy. Nice going, you took it away from a little kid. Hold it up, you should be real proud of yourself," Grieve said during the televised broadcast. "Go to a sporting goods store and buy a dozen baseballs if you want them that bad."

"You know, there is a jerk in every park, and there is the biggest jerk in this park," Grieve said while the camera was focused on the man.

Little Nicholas proved to come out the winner in the end, as other kids gave him baseballs. Even better, the Cardinals' Reggie Sanders, who was watching the game in the clubhouse, came out and gave the boy a baseball and a bat.

The Texas Rangers also gave the boy a shirt, cap, tickets, a signed Nolan Ryan baseball, and an autographed Kevin Mench bat.

"I was just shocked that this man had jumped over all of us just for a ball, and he wouldn't move. He was determined to keep the ball, and he didn't seem to care who he hit. I was just amazed at the crowd -- their support, to be honest, it was amazing," the boy's mother said.

"The ball had come down ... and it landed at [Eddie's] feet. He was laying crossways in the aisle on the ground, and he had the bottom half of the ball, and I had the top half ... and I realized that the longer I wrestled with it, the longer he was going to be [there]," the boy's father, Jeff O'Brien, said.

Other fans were chanting for the man to "give [the boy] the ball"... The man kept the ball all to himself and reportedly left the game after the fourth inning.

[Cultural Jihad]

Apparently the crowd at the ballpark wasn't too impressed with the antics of the adult-centric Me-ocrat.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I watched it. He bailed over the seats and crushed the little kid who was standing next to the ball. Big doofus. I bet his girlfriend broke up with him.

[cripplecreek]

From the look on the girlfriends face, I would bet that jerk is flying solo today.

[Cultural Jihad]

Another account:

...

Mench sent a high foul ball toward Section 22, between home plate and the St. Louis Cardinals' third-base dugout.

"It was coming straight at us," Edie O'Brien said. "I felt this person jumping, and I felt my husband trying to grab Nick. The guy was on my legs and feet, and I was trying to push the guy off.

"The next thing we knew, the guy had the ball."

The man, who appeared to be in his 30s, was sitting a row behind the O'Briens. When he dove for the ball, he knocked Nicholas into the seats and ended up sprawled at the O'Briens' feet. The man came up with the foul ball and -- despite jeers and boos from the crowd, who wanted him to give the ball to Nicholas -- put it in his pocket.

"It was just rude," said Austin resident Mark Mann, who witnessed the commotion from a few rows back. "You should have just gave the ball to the kid and be done with it.

"My thought is, what is he going to with a foul ball? Sell it on Ebay? What are you going to put, 'This is the foul ball that I didn't give to some kid?'"

As the boos grew louder, two youths gave their baseballs to Nicholas.

During one break in the game, security guards called the O'Briens down to the first row, where St. Louis outfielder Reggie Sanders gave Nicholas a bat.

"When it first happened, I was inside (the clubhouse) and I was watching it on television," Sanders said after the Cardinals' 13-2 victory. "I saw that the guy wasn't giving the ball up, so I felt in my heart to go out and give him a bat.

"As we all know, it's all about the kids. They like to come here and have fun and sometimes, unfortunately, get involved with things like that."

...

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/8916125.htm?1c

[cripplecreek]

Apeaking of baseball, can I be a proud Tigers fan again?

[Cultural Jihad]

Any guesses which month the sister of the foul-ball-keeper will show up to resurrect this thread? ;-)

[Cultural Jihad]

Did you see the game, too?

[cripplecreek]

I didn't see it but ive seen plenty about it on the news.

[Lawgvr1955]

I watched the game (Cardinals fan) and thought a riot might break out before it was over. The guy with the ball was being interviewed by a radio reporter right after kicking the little kid. I would have liked to hear that interview.

I thought Sanders giving the kid a ball and bat was a nice touch.

I concur that the oaf is living alone today. The girlfriend didn't look too impressed with her man's antics. Nothing like going to a game with somebody, getting booed and criticized on television.

[wardaddy]

I saw that too. He tried to embrace his date and she was having none of it.

Any grown man knocking down a four year old (I have one) to get a foul ball is foul himself....he had that white trash burrhead look anyhow.

Shame there wasn't an alpha male around to tune his bullying ass up.

(i know...i'm a barbarian so i'm told)

glad the kid got all those accolades and goodies...glad too to see his mom swatting at the ogre.