I know you will enjoy reading the remarkable events experienced by Matthew DeVore II,a student in my Baseball and Statistics on his visit to Citi Field. What happened to him is a dream come true for any true baseball fan when they attend a baseball game.I know it was always my dream but it never happened to me. But it happened not once but twice to him. Please look at the picture of his evidence at the end of the story. Here is my student’s remarkable adventure in his own words.
On April 2nd, my friend and I attended a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the New York Mets at Citi Field. Being a Washington Nationals fan myself, I wanted to get to the park early to watch them take batting practice. In order to make it to batting practice on time we had to leave around 3:30 pm. After making the one and a half hour drive, we arrived at the stadium. Citi Field is a gorgeous venue for baseball; I would recommend catching a game there. Upon entering Citi Field we headed straight for the left field stands. While we were walking down the steps in left field, I noticed that Ian Desmond –the Nationals slugging shortstop—was up and decided to stop where I was and watch him. My friend Andrew decided to move further over to the left when…CRACK! Desmond launches a ball to left and it’s coming right at me! I didn’t even have time to think about how I was going to catch the ball because it was coming at me so fast, so I just reached out and plucked the ball out of thin air to a round of applause from the other fans in the section. It was the hype. I will admit that catching the ball did hurt my hands a bit, but it was worth it. After catching the ball I went down to the front row to see if I would get lucky and catch another. Turns out it was my lucky day, because right when I got down to the front I was the only Nationals fan in a crowd of Mets fans. This was lucky because a ball was hit to Danny Espinosa, the Nats second basemen, and he looked in the crowd and pointed at me before tossing me the ball. I remember thinking to myself, “I’ve caught two balls before the game even started?! This is unreal!” So, we watched the rest of BP.
Once BP ended we headed towards the tarp near the Nationals dugout in order to hopefully snag some autographs. The first autograph I got was from Nationals CF Denard Span. After that I got an autograph from Nationals third basemen Anthony Rendon. I was ready to call it a day after that, but I waited just in case Bryce Harper decided to come over. I did mention it was my lucky day, right? Bryce Harper ended up walking right over to us to start signing for fans. People started mobbing him the second he came over, it’s clear that the guy is a superstar. I happened to be wearing my Bryce Harper jersey this day, and my friend Andrew told me to take it off so Harper would sign it. So I took the jersey off and laid it on the tarp hoping he would see it. He saw it. Harper came over and signed the jersey, then went back into the dugout. I was luckier than Lou Gehrig. We went to our seats and watched the game after that. The Nationals would beat the Mets, 5-1, on a gem from Gio Gonzalez and homers from Ian Desmond and Gonzalez. Overall it was a great day for me at the ballpark. Pictured below is the proof of my successes.
Yes, the dream is to catch a ball at the ballgame. If you have a story about catching a ball please email it to me.
