http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/061604_foul_ball.html
Foul Ball Flap, Kid Gets Last Laugh
Four-year-old Nick O'Brien
A 4-year-old boy, who was knocked away from getting a foul ball by a man at a Major League Baseball game, is in the midst of a whirlwind string of TV appearances that brought him to the Channel 6 airwaves.
Rangers management provided Nick with a Nolan Ryan autographed baseball. Even other fans who saw what happened at the game gave Nick mementos, including balls, hats and other items, which were on display during Good Morning America Wednesday.
As the interview concluded, Charlie Gibson gave Nick a small New York Mets duffel bag, and inside were tickets for the family to go to tonight's Mets-Indians game at Shea Stadium.
Four-year-old Nick O'Brien was at his first professional baseball, watching the Texas Rangers take on the St. Louis Cardinals in Arlington, Texas Sunday. With the hometown Rangers losing 12-0 in the 3rd inning, a foul ball looped into the stands where Nick and his family were sitting along the third base line. Television cameras caught a man leaping over a row of seats, landing in the midst of Nick and his family and taking the foul ball from the feet of Nick's mother. He also pushed Nick into the seats in front of him a couple of times and climbed back to his seat with the foul ball.
The crowd began chanting, "Give him the ball" in unison, but the man refused.
The announcers for the Texas Rangers had no problem voicing their opinions about what happened.
"There's a jerk in every park, and there's the biggest jerk in this park... I bet you his girlfriend is really proud of him." Despite the chants of the crowd, the fan still refused, even when he was offered something in compensation by the broadcasting staff during a live telecast of the game. Field reporter: "If you give up that ball... (they'll) send down anything you want."
Foul Ball Man: "I'm really not doing it for that. I just caught the foul ball."
Booth Announcer: "You didn't catch the ball, you stole it away from a little kid."
ABC News brought Nick and his family to New York City Wednesday for an live interview during Good Morning America. Nick's mother, Edie, told Charlie Gibson how she tried to get the man off of her, and even swatted him with a piece of cardboard.
Edie O'Brien/mother: "At first when he stood up he told me don't hit him again, and then I said, 'You trampled a 4-year-old little boy to get this ball,' and he said, 'Oh well' and just got back to his seat and he was so proud that he got the ball... He didn't care."
Jeff O'Brien, Nick's father, said that the woman who was at the ballpark with the man asked the man to give the ball to Nick, but he still refused. The couple then left the game in about the 4th inning, apparently using separate exits according to people who talked with the O'Briens. As a gesture, both the Rangers and Cardinals provided Nick with souvenirs from his trip to the ballpark. Reggie Sanders of the Cardinals gave Nick a bat and a ball. Rangers management provided Nick with a Nolan Ryan autographed baseball. Even other fans who saw what happened at the game gave Nick mementos, including balls, hats and other items, which were on display during Good Morning America Wednesday.
As the interview concluded, Charlie Gibson gave Nick a small New York Mets duffel bag, and inside were tickets for the family to go to tonight's Mets-Indians game at Shea Stadium.
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I love the photos that go with the original article. The jerk looks so smug, but gets out of the stadium to avoid getting lynched. I also doubt he'll have another date with that girl or any other female fan of the game after seeing this plastered across the network tv news.
If that had been my wife and so, she would have been hitting him with more than a paper fan. She probably would have kicked him bloody.....
Foul Ball Flap, Kid Gets Last Laugh
Four-year-old Nick O'Brien
A 4-year-old boy, who was knocked away from getting a foul ball by a man at a Major League Baseball game, is in the midst of a whirlwind string of TV appearances that brought him to the Channel 6 airwaves.
Rangers management provided Nick with a Nolan Ryan autographed baseball. Even other fans who saw what happened at the game gave Nick mementos, including balls, hats and other items, which were on display during Good Morning America Wednesday.
As the interview concluded, Charlie Gibson gave Nick a small New York Mets duffel bag, and inside were tickets for the family to go to tonight's Mets-Indians game at Shea Stadium.
Four-year-old Nick O'Brien was at his first professional baseball, watching the Texas Rangers take on the St. Louis Cardinals in Arlington, Texas Sunday. With the hometown Rangers losing 12-0 in the 3rd inning, a foul ball looped into the stands where Nick and his family were sitting along the third base line. Television cameras caught a man leaping over a row of seats, landing in the midst of Nick and his family and taking the foul ball from the feet of Nick's mother. He also pushed Nick into the seats in front of him a couple of times and climbed back to his seat with the foul ball.
The crowd began chanting, "Give him the ball" in unison, but the man refused.
The announcers for the Texas Rangers had no problem voicing their opinions about what happened.
"There's a jerk in every park, and there's the biggest jerk in this park... I bet you his girlfriend is really proud of him." Despite the chants of the crowd, the fan still refused, even when he was offered something in compensation by the broadcasting staff during a live telecast of the game. Field reporter: "If you give up that ball... (they'll) send down anything you want."
Foul Ball Man: "I'm really not doing it for that. I just caught the foul ball."
Booth Announcer: "You didn't catch the ball, you stole it away from a little kid."
ABC News brought Nick and his family to New York City Wednesday for an live interview during Good Morning America. Nick's mother, Edie, told Charlie Gibson how she tried to get the man off of her, and even swatted him with a piece of cardboard.
Edie O'Brien/mother: "At first when he stood up he told me don't hit him again, and then I said, 'You trampled a 4-year-old little boy to get this ball,' and he said, 'Oh well' and just got back to his seat and he was so proud that he got the ball... He didn't care."
Jeff O'Brien, Nick's father, said that the woman who was at the ballpark with the man asked the man to give the ball to Nick, but he still refused. The couple then left the game in about the 4th inning, apparently using separate exits according to people who talked with the O'Briens. As a gesture, both the Rangers and Cardinals provided Nick with souvenirs from his trip to the ballpark. Reggie Sanders of the Cardinals gave Nick a bat and a ball. Rangers management provided Nick with a Nolan Ryan autographed baseball. Even other fans who saw what happened at the game gave Nick mementos, including balls, hats and other items, which were on display during Good Morning America Wednesday.
As the interview concluded, Charlie Gibson gave Nick a small New York Mets duffel bag, and inside were tickets for the family to go to tonight's Mets-Indians game at Shea Stadium.
++++
I love the photos that go with the original article. The jerk looks so smug, but gets out of the stadium to avoid getting lynched. I also doubt he'll have another date with that girl or any other female fan of the game after seeing this plastered across the network tv news.
If that had been my wife and so, she would have been hitting him with more than a paper fan. She probably would have kicked him bloody.....
