Did you ever get a baseball at a Twins game?

[lecroy24fan]

35 years of going to Twins games and not a single ball.

[Halsey Hall]

I used to get many balls, as we'd get dropped off at the Met by the neighbor, he' fill the back of the pickup with us.  BP balls would fall thru the left field bleachers.  Some days we came home with around 15 balls.  Those really shouldn't count though.

 

I've gotten some and dropped some at Hammond.  But the one I remember most was Gene Larkin fouled off a pitch from Charlie Liebrant that I caught. 

[mickeymental]

twice, several years apart, both in the metrodome press box while freelancing for the a.p.

 

one bounced off the lip of the windowless opening and right into my hands, the other rolled around the floor and ended up at my feet. i flipped both to little kids and one kid came by later to ask for my autograph. i told him he'd be better off finding a player to sign it but his dad said, "no, he wants you to sign it." so i did.

 

can't remember who hit either ball. but both flips elicited minor golf-clap ovations from nearby fans.

[IndianaTwin]

The first ball I got was from 1986, late summer. I was a young 20-something at a game with my then boyfriend. Thanks to work, I got us tickets right over the Twins dugout. Bert Blyleven was pitching. I don’t remember what inning it was, who they were playing, or anything about the game, but Bert finished that inning with a strikeout. As he was leaving the mound to head to the dugout, the catcher threw the ball back to him and he walked off field. Just before he went into the dugout he looked up and tossed me the ball. Just as I was about to catch it, my then boyfriend jumped in front of me and took the ball. Nope, nuh uh, no way. That ball was mine. And yes, I still have it. That was almost unforgivable.

The other one I got was at Spring Training a few years ago. I was watching batting practice on the full field directly behind Hammond Stadium when Tony Oliva walked by. After a brief exchange he asked me if I had good hands. I think I said sure, or I think so. He tossed a ball to me over the fence. When I looked at it it was signed. He does this ... tosses out balls here and there to fans. And yes, I still have that one, too.

“...THEN boyfriend...” seems logical enough, given his actions.

[IndianaTwin]

Add the “Did you ever...” fan experience stories to the “things I like about Twins Daily” and “what we should have more of” responses from the “Getting to know people” thread.

 

Fun stuff, folks.

[Squirrel]

“...THEN boyfriend...” seems logical enough, given his actions.

In hindsight I think it was the beginning of the end.

[USAFChief]

Much to my chagrin, I have never gotten an actual MLB foul ball, despite having attended quite a few MLB games. It's on my bucket list, though. 

 

However: I have gotten dozens of BP HRs through the years, because I'm the schmuck that still shows up as early as they'll let me in to watch as much of BP as I am allowed. Those don't count, in my book though.

 

AND

 

I DID get a ball tossed to me by Kirby Puckett at the Big A in Anaheim after he warmed up prior to a game. I made a clean, nonchalant one handed grab too, and made eye contact with Kirby. That sorta counts, right?

 

AND
 

I came THIS close to catching Greg Gagne's 1991 WS game one HR in the left field stands. I had been in LF for so many BP's that I just KNEW, at the crack of the bat, that ball was coming RIGHT to me. It tracked perfectly, before it somehow just stopped in mid air and fell like a brick one row in front of me. You can see me reaching for it on the DVD of the World Series I own. 

 

AND

 

My daughter, who has been to probably 5 percent as many games as me, got a line drive foul off the bat of one Joe Mauer at the dome years ago. It bounced off several hands before coming to rest at her feet, where she calmly reached down and picked it up uncontested. She still holds that over my head like the Sword of Damocles.

[VATwinsFan]

Way back in the Dark Ages my dad took me to a game at the Met to see the Twins play the Senators.  We were sitting in the "box seats" along the left field line which were nothing more than glorified bleacher seats that were close to the field.  During warm-up Frank Howard came by and tossed a ball to me when I wasn't looking so I didn't see it--it either bounced off a seat or my head and went farther up into the bleachers and someone else got it.  That's as close as I've gotten in all my 60+ years.

 

But one of these days............

[Falcon73]

The best I can do is an 'almost'...

April 12, 2010 - First official game at Target Field

My brother and I had seats in the left field corner, down the foul line by the limestone wall.

In the 5th inning, with Carl Pavano on the hill, Mike Cameron sent a shot down the left field line.  The ball ended up going between the foul pole and the limestone wall...bounced off of the railing in the left field bleachers...caromed straight back between the foul pole and wall...glanced off the foul pole and was headed straight for me.  I put my hands up waiting to grab the ball and some jack-a$$ (my brother) reached his hand in front of mine and snagged the ball before I could put a finger on it.

 

It ended up being the first replay review in Target Field, which was helpful because I then had a number of replays showing that the ball was rightfully mine.  Video replays also showed me shoving my brother after he usurped my one chance to catch an elusive baseball.

 

Ultimately, the foul call by the third base umpire was upheld and Cameron struck out on the next pitch.  Twins won...all was good.

 

In the other 100+ baseball games I've been to, I haven't come close.

[Blake]

 

 

 

My daughter, who has been to probably 5 percent as many games as me, got a line drive foul off the bat of one Joe Mauer at the dome years ago. It bounced off several hands before coming to rest at her feet, where she calmly reached down and picked it up uncontested. She still holds that over my head like the Sword of Damocles.

Apple, tree, some assembly. 

[jharaldson]

5 years ago I took my kids to a game and we got there early. We hung around the dugout and Tony Oliva saw my kids and autographed a couple of balls and rolled them over the limestone to them. Made their night.

 

[Doctor Wu]

Sadly, never. Nothing at major league games or even at spring training games. But one time back in the early 1990s I went with t friend to Memphis for "Elvis Weekend" in August (the anniversary of his death) and by coincidence the Orlando Twins were playing a series with the Memphis Chicks at Tim McCarver Stadium. Naturally, I had to go to the games. Also, we stayed at the same hotel as the Twins. I bumped into Willie Banks and Lenny Webster (Lenny was playing the piano in the lobby!) and chatted with them for a while. Nice guys. That night at the game I caught a foul ball hit by David Howard (later a utility player in the  majors for the Royals, Cardinals, and other teams). But that was one and only foul  ball catch.

[Mill1634]

Yes...I got one from Yordano Ventura the year before he died. Loved watching him play. Still have that baseball sitting in my room.

[BobAzar]

Why tell you about it, when I can show you...

 

https://www.mlb.com/video/fan-catches-foul-ball-with-hat/c-137618983

 

[ashbury]

Why tell you about it, when I can show you...

 

https://www.mlb.com/video/fan-catches-foul-ball-with-hat/c-137618983

Did the Twins offer you a minor-league contract on the spot?

[BoofBonser]

I think it was in 2011 or 2012 at Target Field against the Mariners: 
We had seats behind home plate about 20 rows up and to the left a bit... There was a foul ball hit straight to my stepbrothers and I and it landed right in the seat where one of my stepbrothers was sitting. A lady, seated right behind us, then literally punched my stepbrother in the ear trying to grab the ball AND she got it... didn't even apologize 

 

[Jerr]

 

Why tell you about it, when I can show you...

 

https://www.mlb.com/video/fan-catches-foul-ball-with-hat/c-137618983

I was going to say "hat catches" don't count, but that was more of a "hat knockdown" and not dropped. Pretty cool!

 

[Oldgoat_MN]

I been to well over 100 ballgames in the last, well, over half a century. Never got a baseball.

My youngest daughter got a ball when my folks took her to the Metrodome in 1987. She was 5 years old.

 

Fast forward 33 years and I took my oldest daughter to her first game at Target Field and her first baseball game in years. We sat in the first row down the left field line. The guy fielding foul balls there during the game gave her one. She even offered it to me (sweet woman). I don't know if she still has it.