The adventures of a baseball fan who bungled a home run ball but emerged a hero
Oh man. This ... this is pretty much every fan's worst nightmare. There's no other way to describe it.
Louie World, my man. LOUIE! I feel for you. I really do.
That catch was almost Taylor made. 😬 pic.twitter.com/CpUmHjMYWP
— MLB (@MLB) September 3, 2019
Nobody wants to live this scenario. A home run ball, headed right at you? And you have a glove? You're ready. You're standing there, anticipating, squaring it up ... and then this.
Oh. OH NO. No. Louie! No.
I've been in his shoes for batting practice, sure, home run after home run evading my clutches as I stand there, frustrated. But in a game? I have not had a chance to catch a real, in-game home run ball throughout my hundreds of baseball games of experience, but if it ever happens ... I really hope this doesn't happen to me, mostly because I wouldn't have reacted the way Louie did.
You see, Mr. Louie World actually deserves nothing but accolades, despite this clank of a non-catch. Because as dramatic as his fail was, the result of his outstretched glove being ever so slightly at the wrong angle as Chris Taylor's homer in Monday's Rockies-Dodgers game came down from the sky, this guy bore the brunt of judgement of his peers, and emerged unscathed.
A crowd of excited Dodgers fans and some police officers witnessed this epic bungle, and they had reactions:
That guy on the right is all "C'MON, MAN! UGHHHH NO!" and looks like he's about to angrily throw his cap on the field. The officers up on top of the steps, meanwhile, are fully caught up in the moment too.
Meanwhile, Louie knew it. He knew what had happened, and everything was terrible.
This is the sort of anguish that can only happen at a baseball game. The moment you wait for your entire life, maybe, and then it just clanks out of your glove and bounces away, while thousands of eyes watch on in abject horror.
Louie World wound up getting this baseball in the end, though, finishing the emotional roller coaster of a sequence that he'll no doubt be hearing about for quite some time.
And Louie -- I salute you. This is a real-world worst-case scenario for fans at baseball games, and you lived it. As far as I'm concerned, you deserve some sort of fan award for this, because your expressive reaction -- hands on your head, doing what I imagine is shouting "NOOOOOOOOOOOO" to the heavens as your concerned bleacher cohorts shout at you -- is what makes this an all-time moment. It looked great on TV, too.
Just catch the ball next time, OK?
Adrian Garro joined MLB.com in 2016. Throughout his travels, both Bartolo Colon and Vin Scully have placed their hands on his shoulders. Not at the same time, though. That'd be amazing.
