Let's recall the best fan catch of the 2017 MLB season
Some fan catch moments just rise above the rest -- and that sentiment applies to the winner of the Esurance MLB Award for Best Fan Catch, as revealed Friday night.
You probably already remember the play: It was Game 5 of the World Series. Ninth inning, Minute Maid Park.
Fan catches and their aftermaths are often emotional eperiences -- but few carry the weight of a tense, back-and-forth World Series game. So it makes sense, then, that this truly unbelievable sequence came about during a game filled with truly unbelievable sequences.
That particular fan catch moment was voted the winner in the Esurance MLB Awards after an industry-wide balloting process that includes five groups, each of which accounts for 20 percent of the overall vote: Media, front-office personnel, retired MLB players, fans at MLB.com and Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) members.
This isn't to say that the other fan catch moments in the running didn't merit strong consideration. They're all pretty special:
A surprise from
Back on May 19, the Dodgers beat the Marlins, 7-2, and in the eighth inning Cody Bellinger swatted an opposite-field homer that landed in the cap of a Dodgers fan ... but she had no idea it happened at first:
That's a fun surprise!
Phillies fan's one-handed, diving play
A few days later on May 22, this Phillies fan put it all on the line in the name of a souvenir:
Into the river!
Some fans choose to throw homers hit by the opposition back onto the field. But this Pirates fan had more dramatic plans after
Fan makes a barehanded grab, avoids a BBQ disaster, gets a kiss
Look up the definition of "smooth" in the dictionary and you'll get a definition of the word "smooth" -- but this Sept. 7 display by a Padres fan who barehanded a foul, didn't spill his messy BBQ dinner and received a kiss for his efforts -- also applies.
Mariners fan's lucky leap
On July 31, eventual AL Rookie of the Year
Some very fine examples of fans doing it right this season.
Want to end up on this type of list next year? Better bring your A-game, baseball fans ... the bar's been set pretty high.