Fans who interfere with Major League Baseball games almost always are ejected, but the Atlanta Braves took that to a pretty unnecessary level.
During the eighth inning of their game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday in Atlanta, a fan reached over and picked up a fair ball, leaving Braves third baseman Rio Ruiz with a ground-rule double. The fan seemingly didn’t realize what happened and handed the ball over to a little kid before security ran over to escort him out.
But when the security guard hopped into the stands and saw the young boy jumping around with the ball in the air, he took it away for some reason.
The story has a happy ending, though, as the Braves told ESPN.com in an email that they gave the kid a ball signed by first baseman Freddie Freeman and invited him back to SunTrust Park in June for his birthday. The man was allowed to return to his seat, too, though the ending wasn’t as happy for him, as the Braves lost 12-5 in extras after the Pirates exploded for seven runs in the 10th.
