The Fan Who Caught Two Foul Balls in a Row
The chances of that happening? 1-in-10 million.
I’ve been to dozens and dozens of baseball games in my life. Never once have I caught a foul ball.
So imagine if it happened twice…on consecutive pitches.
That would be, according to the MLB, the type of event that happens once in every 10 million possibilities. And on Monday, when the Seattle Mariners hosted the Kansas City Royals, well, it was 1-in-10-million.
In the bottom of the first inning, Mariners third baseman Josh Rojas hit a slicing ball down the left field line. Arms stretched for the ball. Josh George, a local fan, took a different tact. He sought to catch the ball like a punt, two arms ready to cradle it. The ball just missed another fan before falling into George’s lap. He got it.
Royals pitcher Brady Singer reared back again. Rojas swung. And no, this wasn’t a replay. The ball went to the same exact spot. The arms stretched again. “I thought that second one was definitely going to be going over my head,” George said. For a moment, it was hard to tell who caught it. And then, George raised two balls over his head. “Sure enough, it was coming straight for me.”
“He’s got both!” said the announcers on the local broadcast, screaming like the Mariners had clinched the pennant. “He’s got ‘em both!”
As if the odds weren’t long enough, George wasn’t even supposed to be at the game on Monday. He had originally bought tickets on Sunday for his mom as a Mother’s Day present. But his mom couldn’t attend, so he sold those tickets and bought new ones on Monday, when his grandfather could join him at the ballpark.
“I’ve gone to 30-plus games,” George said, “and I’ve never even had a ball land in my section.”
The Mariners won, and then, George got another call. He’d been invited back to the ballpark the next day to attend batting practice. George checked in at work, and a colleague agreed to come in on his off-day to cover for him. On the field, George met Rojas, the player who hit the two foul balls, and he signed both. “Hey,” Rojas told him, “They’re going to have you throw out the first pitch.”
They’re going to what?
George was given a ball and took a few warm-up pitches. Before he knew it, he heard his name announced to the crowd. He stood on the mound and threw a pitch. Then the PA Announcer butted in. “You know what?” she said, “You caught two balls, why don’t you throw two pitches.”
Once in a lifetime.
Or several.
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