Nice gesture by a fan

[cjclong]

In the Rangers game at Baltimore tonight Josh Hamilton had his bat slip out of his hand (again) and sail into the stands. A Baltimore fan with an Orioles jersey caught the bat (partly in self defense) and then gave it to a little boy sitting in front of him with his parents. When interviewed at the end of the inning he said that the little boy was a Josh Hamilton fan and he just wanted to give him the bat. Its one thing to give a a young kid a foul ball and its another to give a kid a game used (no question about it) bat from a star player. Its something that young boy will remember all his life.Thought that was really nice.

[OaklandAsFan]

Thats great to hear, I honestly don't know if I woulda given up the bat.

Today on the 2nd or 3rd pitch of the game Rafael Furcal smoked a HR to the main concourse in CF vs the Dbacks. It drilled a little girl (about 7 or 8 years old) right in the leg just above the knee and rolled past my seat until some guy picked it up and started walking away. I looked over and the little girl was bawling in pain and security was calling EMS. I looked at the guy and said dude that girl got drilled by that ball you should give it to her. Much to my surprise he actually walked over and did.

[flota89]

Similar thing happeded in last night's Cardinals game in Arizona. Tyler Greene let go of two bats during the game. The first was grabbed by a fan about 20-30 rows up. A kid from about 10 rows away ran right up to the guy that caught it and it was immediately handed the bat.

[camarokids]

That is a nice gesture. But being a collector I would have kept the bat for myself.

It is NOT all about the kids all of the time. Adults are fans too. I have given balls to kids plenty of times too. But some of these kids seem to think they are more entitled to items than an adult.

If the bat was meant for a kid then that would be different. But the adult caught the bat fair & square.

[cjclong]

Of course the fan who caught the bat had the right to keep it. And being a Josh Hamilton fan in all honesty I would almost certainly would have kept the bat. That being said, if the bat had come from an Orioles player and I knew some 6 or 8 year old kid in front of me was a big fan of his I hope I'd consider giving him the bat. And the kid did not ask for it. It was just a real nice gesture on the man's part.

[camarokids]

In referring to the man caught the bat fair & square. I was talking about the story that Flota89 posted with the kid running up to the guy that caught a bat.

[Jags Fan Dan]

Thats great to hear, I honestly don't know if I woulda given up the bat.

Today on the 2nd or 3rd pitch of the game Rafael Furcal smoked a HR to the main concourse in CF vs the Dbacks. It drilled a little girl (about 7 or 8 years old) right in the leg just above the knee and rolled past my seat until some guy picked it up and started walking away. I looked over and the little girl was bawling in pain and security was calling EMS. I looked at the guy and said dude that girl got drilled by that ball you should give it to her. Much to my surprise he actually walked over and did.

Sadly, the thought probably had not even occurred to him to do that. Good call on your part.

[jppopma]

While I often take the daddy role in these arguments and will readily admit that I am now at the games just for my kids, I do feel that there is too much pressure to let kids get away with everything.

I for one will get front row seats to take my kids to the game and give them a chance to interact with the players (if they get anything, that's just a bonus). Even with my two kids there at the game with me, I am often made to look like the bad guy for not allowing 10 other kids (sometimes with parents too) to come and push my family out of the way and want to stand right in front of us and our seats. It gets pretty obnoxious and I can't blame anyone for being jaded toward those brats.

My kids are taught respect in talking with these players. Also that if they want a ball or something, that daddy will not ask for them and that they have to use manners and accept not getting one. It's really not hard for them to figure out and they are only 5 and 2. While they do pretty decent getting balls, I know that the games they enjoy and remember are ones where they get a bunch of high fives or sit and talk to a player for 20 minutes about who watches their dogs when they are out of town (yes, major serious concerns of a then 4 year old).

Back to the pressure to the kidless fans, who are we, the other fans, or announcers to tell them what they need to do with that ball or bat? How does anyone know what their plans are with it? Everyone immediately thinks that they are keeping it for themselves or planning to sell it. What if they have a kid, nephew(or niece Frik), or grandkid who is a super fan but not at the game with them....and they plan to take it home for someone alot more special that someone they don't even know.

[cjclong]

jppopma. It was absolutely clear that NO ONE pressured or tried to force the Orioles fan to give the bat to anyone. TOTALLY ON HIS OWN he decided to give the bat to a young boy who he knew to be a Josh Hamilton fan. That was very kind of him. It was something nice he did on his own and would have been the same story if the Orioles fan had given the bat to an 80 year old man who was a Hamilton fan. Look, I'm a Hamilton fan. If I had caught the bat the I would have kept it. If a kid had asked me for it I would have told him I was keeping the bat. So why do you, and other people keep writing in with what seems to be objections or reasons the guy shouldn't have given the bat to the kid. If a man had caught a bat or ball and some kid had come up and whinned about the man not giving it to him then you would have a reason to write about kids demanding a ball. That did not happen here. What I see is that every time there is a story about someone doing something nice for another person , and not just in the sprots world, there is always some person who writes in and gives some reason why the person who did the kind act shouldn't have done it. And I'm tired of it and that's why I won't let go of this. It was nice story about a man who did an act of kindess and that's all that needed to be said!

[jppopma]

cjclong: My post was in reply to the overall trend of things at the stadiums and in reference to many of the other post. Please accept my apologies for raining on your Kumbaya party about the niceness of this guy.