Dodgers Fans Gives Priceless ESPN Interview After Pulling Switcheroo With Home Run Ball
The San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3 on Sunday as they took two out of three games in their weekend series at Dodger Stadium.
Manny Machado homered to lead off the top of the fourth inning to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. As is tradition, the Dodgers fan who caught the Machado home run immediately threw the ball back to the delight of the home crowd. Or so it seemed!
While the fan did throw a baseball back onto the field, it was not the home run ball. Instead, he pulled the old switcheroo. And he would have gotten away with it too, if it were not for that meddling ESPN Sunday Night Baseball crew. Moments later, Buster Olney was in the bleachers interviewing the fan and viewers were treated to a delightful interview that touched on fandom and family dynamics.
"Well, I got caught but every ballhawk out here knows to come prepared for a reason like this. You know, a hated Padre hits a home run, you don't throw it back, you get booed by the Dodger faithful. That's happened to me in the past before so I try to come prepared. And I put the ball in my pocket just in case it happened and I knew Machado, a big power hitter was up and it could happen so I was ready."
He also said that no one around him in the stands realized what had really happened and Olney threw it back to the booth, except Karl Ravech wanted more. The fan then told a story about catching an Albert Pujols ball in the Home Run Derby and explained he was going to keep the Machado ball, even if his wife won't like it. Asked why his wife would be mad at him, the fan said, "We don't have enough time in the telecast to talk about that."
You would think this fan would be optimistic. He just fooled thousands of people at Dodger Stadium. Convincing his wife that ball has always been sitting above the fireplace should be easy.
