Catching a foul ball at a Detroit Tigers game

[torbusto]

duly noted Blarf :-)

[eno]

What bugs me to no end are the kids and adults who beg for a ball from a player. Getting a ball at a game should be earned.

[East Detroit]

Wow, torbusto, you're in rare form here.

By the way, I enjoyed reading the article in my copy of the Free Press.

[torbusto]

Yeah East Detroit, I'm just having fun on here with some of the others ragging on the whole foul ball thing and the "worthless" project we did.
Glad you checked out the project. I figured there were Tigers fans that would like it :-)

With message boards you'll always get the negativity kind of people so I'm just giving shit back to them

This is a great forum and I get tons of story ideas from here.

[CLAUDE G]

Are you one of those grown men I laugh at who chase balls? If you want one that bad, I will buy you one. They can't be more than $5.

Hey if it comes within 5 feet of my seat, im gonna get up and try to get it. If for anything, I get up to avoid getting hit.

[ct4438]

We were at a game in July out in rightfield and after the last out of an inning, Ordonez tossed a ball up into our section and a 30-something gentleman reached out and caught it over a bunch of kids.....and received a chorus of boos. He then held up his 3-4 year old son whom he'd given the ball to, and received a chorus of cheers. Just a reminder that not every grown man reaching to get a foul ball is doing it for themselves.....many of them have their own children that they're trying to help "grab" a happy memory.

[EastSider]

This is a great forum and I get tons of story ideas from here.

Ah, that explains a lot!

Clunk!

[Genesyxx]

It was the inaugural season for Comerica Park and I worked in the Big Cat Court. We were playing the White Sox but the game was delayed 2 hours because of rain. Eventually, we closed up shop and I sauntered down to the lower levels. Just then Frank Thomas hits a high foul ball and its coming right towards me. The ball hits me square in the hands and stings the mess out of me, so I drop it. A couple fans swooped in and fought over it like vultures.

[Johnlodge]

And I'm an Indians fan, so it was perfect.

My condolences...

[TKshreve]

Funny thing. I was at a Tigers game last season sitting in the section where you get four chairs [[two behind two with tables) behind the plate. We ended up catching/scooping two foul balls that game.

Much to my dismay, I went home with zero.

My understanding is the first seats next to the dug out are prime locale for scooping up foul grounders. Plus the players and officials will throw them into the crowd there as well.

[jackie5275]

After going to Tiger games for over 30 yrs., I've never caught one. The closest one came to me was in the 80s. I was sitting in the upperdeck in sec 425 which was just about right behind home plate. The Tigers were playing the Red Sox. About 2 rows in front & 3 seats over from me was a guy who was wearing one of those halo contraptions that sits on your shoulders and goes like a brace around your head for when you have a closed head injury. A foul ball comes up to my section and hits on the stairs. The first person scrambling for it in the crowd is this guy with the halo. I just about died when I saw him dive for that ball with no regard for further injury to himself. Since then I've decided, I am not going for one anymore.

[Downriviera]

Props go out to Cubs fans, who throw homerun balls hit by the visiting team back onto the field.

[Downriviera]

I still get a kick out of 40-year-old men to run and scramble after a ball. It's kind of an embarrassment. If I ever ended up with a ball somehow, I would just give it to the nearest child.

If you like watching grown men chase balls, check out the Golf Channel!

[marcwigle]

If you like watching grown men chase balls, check out the Golf Channel!

Or head over to the nearest gay bar. ;-)

[EastsideAl]

I went to my first Tigers game in May of 1967 with my dad. We sat in the upper deck in right field, which was maybe a third full. Al Kaline hit a home run that looked like it was coming right towards me. The ball hit a seat two rows in front of us with a loud "clack" [[wood seats still in those days) and bounced directly over my father's outstretched hand and landed right in the lap of an elderly woman two rows behind us.

I've been to several hundred Tigers games and other major league games since then and that's still as close as I've ever come to ending up with a ball.

[RO_Resident]

40 replies and no mention of Zack Hample? He's snagged 18 balls at Tiger Stadium and 7 balls at Comerica Park.

[jerrytimes]

I've been to over 40 games, no ball. When I was 7 [[over 20 years ago) I was at a game I believe against the Royal and Dan Quisenberry was warming up for the Royals and a ball rolled over by me and I asked him if I could have it. He looked right at me and told me if I rooted for the right team I would and walked away. I had a Tigers hat on. I hated him ever since.

[Honeyman]

Went early for BP once and Willie Horton [[yeah, I'm pretty old!) was running back to the dugout after. He had a ball in his glove and I yelled to him. He looked right at me and tossed it to me. Guy in front of me jumped up and caught it. I STILL am pissed off about that!

Now I live in California and about 15-20 years ago a buddy and I moved down around the dugouts toward the end of a Tiger-Angel game. Jerry Turner hits a pop up right at us. I had a beer in one hand and just reached out and grabbed the ball with my other. One of the smoothest moves of my life. I get home and a friend I hadn't talked to in years from Detroit calls me up saying he saw it on TV and thought it was me. I'd pay thousands for a tape of that.

[Ray1936]

In reviewing this thread, I was a bit surprised at the couple of posters who thought it was a lousy story for a major metropolitan newspaper.

Hey, I thought it was a cute story; a casual upbeat side to the other dreary news of the city, state, and world. Huzzah for the Freep team, I say.

[torbusto]

In reviewing this thread, I was a bit surprised at the couple of posters who thought it was a lousy story for a major metropolitan newspaper.

Hey, I thought it was a cute story; a casual upbeat side to the other dreary news of the city, state, and world. Huzzah for the Freep team, I say.

I second that Ray1936.....oh wait I shot that foul ball video piece and I'm a bit biased obviously ;-)

[Downriviera]

I agree, it was a feel good, fun piece. The people complaining are the same ones who gripe about the news being all war, murders, etc, etc, etc. Hey torbusto, you need to do this at the Joe for people that catch pucks. I have some great stories of fans getting beaned at the Olympia.

[ScienceFair]

Torbusto, I enjoyed the article as well. As an avid Tigers fan, it's fun to read something positive about the team at a time when there's not a whole lot to be excited about. I think people forget how important sports can be in the community as a way to forget the stresses of everyday life for a couple hours and enjoy watching the game and participating in the tradition.

I caught a home run ball earlier this year and caught my first foul ball soon after that [[mostly in defense of my wife pregnant wife.) Adam Everett hit a foul ball right at her! So i pulled some strings and he's no longer with the team ;-)

[torbusto]

I agree, it was a feel good, fun piece. The people complaining are the same ones who gripe about the news being all war, murders, etc, etc, etc. Hey torbusto, you need to do this at the Joe for people that catch pucks. I have some great stories of fans getting beaned at the Olympia.

Good idea!
I wonder how many pucks go into the crowd during a game. Can't be more than 5 or 6 since they have all that netting behind the goals

[Downriviera]

True, not as many pucks go into the stands as in baseball, which makes them more valuable. As an added bonus, the pucks have the team logo on them. I must confess, I am a puck head. I got my first puck when I was about 9 years old many years ago. My dad was at a Wings game with some of his coworkers when one of them caught a puck. Knowing I was a huge hockey fan, he gave it to my dad to give to me. I put it on my shelf and years later I still have it, along with about 1,500 others. Some are worth over $200. My entire collection was appraised by Lelands sports auction house at between 12k - 15k.

[CLAUDE G]

I remember my first experence with a foul ball was at Tiger Stadium in June of 1988 sitting behind 3rd base. There was a pop fly ball and there was a girl sitting in the first row, and she wasn't paying attention and the ball right on the top of her head.

I remember the paramedics coming down and she left the game.