Let's set the scene. Tuesday night, Sept. 20, 2005. Hideki Matsui at the plate in the eighth inning. Yanks holding on to a 12-7 lead with one out. Matsui swings and fouls a ball off toward the Tier Box area of Section 12, Row E, seat 14, right where I'm sitting. After 25 years and between 100-150 Yankees games attended, this is my shot. Don't drop it. Don't drop it. And, for god's sake, don't let the lady in seat 12 get in the way...
I make a perfect two-handed grab. The section cheers in appreciation.
• Thank you, Tom Gordon, for allowing a run in the top of the eighth and forcing me to stay instead of bailing, as hoped, with a four-run lead and three outs left to get.
• Thank you, whoever should have been sitting in seat 13 for not showing up. The ball would have been right in your lap. Sucka.
• Thank you, gods of baseball, for giving me a chance to catch a ball cleanly instead of hurling myself into a row of kids like some asshat, or rummaging through hot dog wrappers and mustard packets underneath a seat after it bounded off some uncoordinated chunkmonster's spare tire.
• Aside from the one-handed grab while holding a beer, you just can't beat a flawless snare of a foul pop when the ball makes a bee-line for ya in the upper boxes. The worst? Leaning over the rail on a foul grounder, like a garbage-picker. Simply a product of your overpriced seats, not a devine reward.
• What a relief to have my first foul catch come off the bat of a name player. It just doesn't sound the same to say you caught a pop from Bubba Crosby.
• Walking out of the stadium with ball in hand was cool as shit. You know I was flipping the thing from hand to hand, making sure everyone on the subway noticed I had an Allan H. Selig original.
Way to go Paul!
Posted by Christine Deborah at September 21, 2005 7:09 AM