If you’re an adult at a Major League Baseball game, there are both written and unwritten rules to follow. And the most well-known unwritten guideline of them all was flagrantly violated Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
… or was it?
In the fourth inning of the Chicago Cubs’ 7-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, cameras caught Chicago first base coach Will Venable tossing a ball toward a young fan in the front row. But the little boy misplayed the ball, allowing a shaved-head, sunglasses-wearing man to scoop it up instead.
Here’s the play:
When going to a baseball game, DON'T be this guy. pic.twitter.com/pAeiRN6Q2X
— Cut4 (@Cut4) July 22, 2018
As you can imagine, the man was almost universally condemned by those who saw the clip.
Furthermore, the Cubs responded by giving the boy a ball autographed by Chicago second baseman Javier Baez.
A @javy23baez signed ball should take care of it. #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/4YzUlG8qfN
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 22, 2018
Happy ending, right? Perhaps, but the true victim in this tale actually might have been the man scorned for taking the ball.
Check out these tweets from Cubs fan Chuck MyCoff:
The other ball the kid has was the one the same guy caught and gave him before this. I was sitting next to him.
— Chuck Mycoff (@cmycoff2) July 22, 2018
He had already helped that kid get a ball. He gave two more away to kids also. He was a great guy. TV got this all wrong.
— Chuck Mycoff (@cmycoff2) July 22, 2018
Yep. He got 4. He was just with his wife. The kids next to his wife were with the couple on the other side of them. The guys on the other side of me also got one. Every inning the players toss balls into the crowd there. The guy was great taking care of the kids around him first
— Chuck Mycoff (@cmycoff2) July 23, 2018
NBC Sports Chicago broadcaster David Kaplan also weighed in on #BallGate.
Here is the final wrap up on BallGate at Wrigley on Sunday: Eddie Olczyk and I just spoke with a man who was sitting next to the gentleman in question. "That guy did nothing wrong. He gave three balls out to people around him including the little boy in question. He was great."
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) July 23, 2018
CNBC’s Jeff Rose corroborated MyCoff’s claims.
I was sitting next to the little boy and in front of the Cubs fan getting called every name in the book. Here's what they forgot to mention…
1. The boy already got a ball two innings before this.
2. The guy was able to snag at least 2 other balls & gave them to other kids https://t.co/Z13cxIKzVs
— Jeff Rose, CFP® (@jjeffrose) July 23, 2018
At this point, the evidence is overwhelming that the man who “stole” the ball actually was rather generous throughout the game, and that the little boy actually made out like a bandit in his afternoon at the Friendly Confines.
But does that excuse the man from snatching the ball in the fourth inning?
Maybe, maybe not. Maybe there are more important things to worry about.
Regardless, let this be yet another lesson to not jump to conclusions.
