New York Yankees megastar Aaron Judge smashed his 61st home run of the regular season on Wednesday night, but Toronto Blue Jays fan Frankie Lasagna was left devastated after coming within inches of catching the ball.
Lasagna was ready prepared with a glove as Blue Jays fans knew that Judge could break the record on Wednesday night at the Rogers Centre, and the ball came right towards him in the seventh inning. Lasagna stretched for it, but narrowly missed as it cannoned off the railing, and bullpen coach Matt Buschmann managed to catch it instead.
The Blue Jays fan was distraught, throwing his glove and sitting down with his hands on his head. But it turns out Buschmann is the husband of FOX NFL reporter Sara Walsh, who has now joked she could have retired with the money raised by selling the ball. Experts had speculated the ball could have been worth an astronomical $350,000-$500,000 if sold.
The day after the New York Yankees clinched the American League East title, Judge tied Roger Maris' home run record of 61 in a single season, and he still has seven games to extend his tally and be well clear at the top. The record was set in 1961, and Maris' record beat the old tally of 60, which was set all the way back in 1927.
Therefore, it's not a regular occurrence that a moment of this magnitude would land just two feet in front of you. However, Lasagna will unfortunately be playing that moment back in his head for a while. Lasagna spoke after the game, as the 37-year-old restaurant owner said: "I would never ever bring a glove other than this situation. I needed a bigger one."
"Two more feet and I would have had it," added. "I needed a fishing net and I would have got it." But Lasagna's near miss was Buschmann's gain, as the coach caught the ball once it bounced off the railings, and instantly became the talk of social media.
This was spotted by his wife, who took to Twitter herself to boast that she can now retire off her husband's fame. "Bad news is I’m down here in Florida battling a hurricane, but the good news is I can announce my retirement," the NFL reporter said.
Her husband's name was trending along with record-breaker Judge, although Walsh wasn't happy to hear that Buschmann handed the ball back to the Yankees. She tweeted: "Oh cool. He just handed that back without checking to see if our house is still here? I’d next like to announce our divorce."
Due to the magnitude of the record, the ball would've been worth a hefty sum, and whoever is the lucky recipient of the 62nd home run ball will probably be able to enjoy an early retirement also. It's understandable why Lasagna was so devastated, although the clip of him missing has gone viral.
The record-breaker, Judge, was 'honoured' to achieve such a goal, and reflected on the 'dream' situation that had occurred. "It's an incredible honor, getting a chance to be associated with one of the Yankee greats, one of baseball's greats, words can't describe it.
"That's one thing so special about the Yankees organisation, is all the guys that came before us and kind of paved the way and played the game the right way, did things the right way, did a lot of great things in this game and getting a chance to be mentioned with those guys now is, I can't even describe it. It's an incredible honour that's for sure."
"Getting a chance to tie Roger Maris, you dream about that kind of stuff, it's unreal," Judge added. The game finished 8-3 to the Yankees, who strolled past the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
