worth the wait

please allow me to set the scene for you...bottom of the ninth. tigers lead the tribe 6-4. one out. left-handed rusell branyan is pinch hitting for mason and has a 1-2 count on him against the tigers' shutdown closer, jose valverde.

h.paul, yi and myself have been freezin' our bottoms off for the past three hours. at this point, the stadium is about seventy five percent empty, and we have since moved closer to the field from our ticket-listed, nose bleed seats--section 570 of progressive field for those of you who are keeping track at home. after finishing our $3.50 cup of lukewarm hot chocolate, we are just about ready to chalk up another tribe lost and hit the road when...


the 1-2 pitch...a swing and a pop foul to the left (wait a minute...oh my goodness, i might have a chance at this!)

since i was a boy, i have always brought my baseball mit to every MLB game that i've attended. i figure it is always good to be prepared. you never know when you might need to use the glove. well, today, for the first time in awhile, it would be put to use.

that ball that branyan fouled back was still climbing higher and higher. as soon as i realized that this was going to be a close play in the empty seats in front of me, i sprang from my seat and quickly darted down the steps, all the while keeping a close eye on the descending baseball. not a single fan was within 20 feet of me, when the ball hit the heel of my raised mitt (and painfully the palm of my left hand) squarely and bounced onto the pavement below this empty row of seats. before the rush of kids and die-hards reached "my row," i doze on top of the baseball, before it could escape me. as i rose to my feet victoriously with this timeless token, fans behind me began "BOOing" me!?! i couldn't believe it, especially since I HAD THE BALL!soon enough, i had those same fans cheering for my dear friend, yi, because of the occasion described below.

because this was the first professional baseball game that yi had ever attended, i decided that she needed an official MLB baseball as a memento of this historic event in her life. yi now possesses the first ever foul ball that i almost caught (see margins).