Earlier this month, Brewers first-base coach Quintin Berry installed a bell in the home dugout at American Family Field -- not just for home run celebrations, but to commemorate, in Berry's words, "baseball plays." Big home runs. Gutsy outings. Great baserunning. It's a "you'll know it when you see it" kind of thing.
Because the so-called "Ballplayer Bell" is a new innovation, it doesn't have a permanent home in the road ballparks the Brewers travel through. This appeared to be why the bell ended up on the far side of the dugout on Tuesday night at Petco Park, where a clever, persistent and extremely cute young fan took special interest in it.
After Brewers reliever Hoby Milner worked out of a jam during Milwaukee's 4-1 victory over San Diego, earning himself a celebration, sidelined infielder Willy Adames went to reset the bell. There he noticed the little Padres fan seated by the dugout with his family, intent on getting a chance to ring it, too.
Adames offered the boy a fist bump, but that was merely a temporary distraction from the mission at hand. What followed was a tenacious attempt to get a hand to the bell through the protective netting, complete with reconnaissance from all angles.
Unfortunately, it appears the netting kept the little one from his prize for the remainder of the evening -- but for our part, we hope he may someday get his chance to ring the Happy Hour bell.