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Aaron Judge finally did it last night – he belted home run No. 61 to tie former Yankees great Roger Maris for the most homers in a season in American League history and was able to get the special ball back without giving anything up.
While that was all awesome for Judge, it was not awesome for a couple of Blue Jays fans sitting in left field who came so close to catching the ball, only to see it bounce off the blue wall a few feet below them and land in the Toronto bullpen.
Look at how close they were to catching it:
No one got the ball 🤣 pic.twitter.com/KS1Nr3fiTr
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) September 29, 2022
And just like that the riches that would have probably come along with securing that historic ball were gone.
So long, future beach house.
See ya later, lavish European vacations.
Hello again, credit card debts that continue to poke at your side.
Oh, sorry. That was me thinking a little bit about what I would have done with the money that I would have asked for if I caught that ball because there’s no way I’d be giving that thing back for free, especially when you think about how much money Judge is going to make this offseason as a free agent.
Instead, the guy in the blue shirt who came close to the ball but didn’t want to be afterward and the other fan, Frankie Lasagna (what a gosh darn name!), who shared his sad story with a Toronto media outlet, went home last night wondering what could have been if that ball traveled just a few feet higher.
A little guide to the guys who missed Aaron Judge's 61st HR ball pic.twitter.com/jfLl6cz4Sb
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) September 29, 2022
Lasagna (again, tremendous name) felt that pain last night, telling Info News:
“The disbelief comes over you and just the shock and the amazement. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I almost had it.'”
And, oh yes, he was going to do the right thing with ball. He was gonna make some cash off it:
“I would have held on to it for as long as I could (to) negotiate. Maybe get Judge to try to come to the restaurant.”
Again, the other fan who was so darn close wanted nothing to do with sharing his story. He knew his life could have changed if he caught that ball. It was all right there for him and then… it was in the Blue Jays bullpen.
I don’t know if I could ever go to another baseball game again after experiencing that. Any time would be “too soon” for me. Heck, I don’t know if I’d ever want to see a home run again because each one would remind me of the time I almost made a boatload of money off of one.
Ugh.
I feel for Frankie Lasagna and the other nameless fella. Today could have been the biggest party of their lives.
Instead, it is not.
Man, I’d be extremely hungover and sad right now if I were them.
Baseball!
Quick hits: Lip readers think Garoppolo ripped Shanahan… Tony Kemp’s sweet catch… NFL Week 4 picks against the spread… And more.
– Did NBC cameras pick up Jimmy Garoppolo ripping Kyle Shanahan’s play-calling during SNF last week? A bunch of lip-reading fans think so.
– Oakland A’s 2B Tony Kemp took flight to make one of the coolest catches of the MLB season.
– Here are our NFL Week 4 picks against the spread.
– Speaking of football, here are the 5 teams that Robert Zeglinski thinks can actually win the Super Bowl this year.
