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Friday, April 27, 2012

Fox News: Texas dad defends couple who caught souvenir baseball as son cried

The father of a little boy who broke down at a Texas Rangers game after not getting a ball tossed into the stands said the couple who got the souvenir was unfairly demonized by a Yankees broadcaster.

Kyle Shores’ three-year-old son Cameron had his heart set on the ball tossed to the crowd by Rangers first basemen Mitch Moreland during the eighth inning of Wednesday’s game against the visiting New York Yankees. When Sean Leonard, who was sitting nearby with his fiancee, Shannon Moore, ended up with the ball, Cameron’s waterworks began. That caught the attention of Yankees play-by-play man Michael Kay, who lambasted the couple - who have seven kids of their own - on air, calling them “greedy.”

But Shores told FoxNews.com the couple didn’t realize what was happening until after the Rangers gave the boy a ball of his own later in the game.

JE (Jason Epstein) Posted: April 27, 2012 at 07:07 PM | 28 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: media, rangers, yankees

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1. Dangerous Dean Posted: April 27, 2012 at 09:01 PM (#4118117)

I saw the replay. I can't tell if Moreland specifically said the ball was for the kid. If so, the other guy should have given it to him. If Moreland didn't specify that, the other guy shouldn't be shamed by Kay or anyone else.

I don't ever watch/listen to Yankee games. Is Kay always as pompous a douche as he sounds here?

2. Enrico Pallazzo Posted: April 27, 2012 at 09:05 PM (#4118121)

Is Kay always as pompous a douche as he sounds here?

Yes.

3. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: April 27, 2012 at 10:10 PM (#4118179)

I think its terrible if an adult goes out of his way to knock a kid over or run past a kid to get a ball. But I hate how some feel like you should hand over any baseball you catch to a nearby kid. Hey, I've never caught a foul ball either! And I have two kids at home!

Also, I rather doubt the three year old really knew the significance of the ball. You probably could have handed him any ol' ball and he'd be happy. Or cotton candy.

4. jyjjy Posted: April 27, 2012 at 10:32 PM (#4118192)

Is Kay always as pompous a douche as he sounds here?

No, he probably sleeps sometimes.

5. Bhaakon Posted: April 27, 2012 at 10:37 PM (#4118194)

Hey, I've never caught a foul ball either! And I have two kids at home!

Oh, that would be a fun conversation.

"Sorry Son. Not only did I not take you to the game today, but I caught a foul ball and gave to a kid whose Dad did take him. Oh, now stop crying boy. This is precisely why I can't take you out in public."

6. Srul Itza Posted: April 27, 2012 at 11:06 PM (#4118221)

Is Kay always as pompous a douche as he sounds here?

Yes.

Hell no.

He's usually twice as pompous and three times douchier. You caught him on a good day.

7. Robert in Manhattan Beach Posted: April 27, 2012 at 11:09 PM (#4118222)

Just give the kid the ball. You get to be a hero and it costs you nothing.

8. Repoz

Posted: April 27, 2012 at 11:17 PM (#4118225)

Is Kay always as pompous a douche as he sounds here?

Michael the Kay admitted to a mistake tonight (I didn't hear what it was)...but he told everyone "I was wrong...mark this day on your calender"

Now there's pompasss.

9. YR Misses Reggie Bars Posted: April 27, 2012 at 11:29 PM (#4118239)

Just give the kid the ball.

But that would be socialism.

10. PreservedFish Posted: April 27, 2012 at 11:35 PM (#4118247)

This isn't catching a foul ball, people. This is getting tossed a souvenir. Foul balls are earned.

11. Misirlou is bad, he's nationwide Posted: April 27, 2012 at 11:56 PM (#4118254)

This isn't catching a foul ball, people. This is getting tossed a souvenir. Foul balls are earned.

I was at a few Rays spring training games in March. At one, we were sitting on the grass berm on the RF line. Matt Joyce was playing RF and caught a fly ball for the third out. As he was jogging in to the dugout, my two kids and my wife ran to the rail asking for the ball. He tossed it toward them, but overthrew my kids, right to my wife. She, being a girl, dropped it, and a middle aged guy (not me) picked it up and ran out of the area before he became shamed to give it to my kids.

12. asdf1234 Posted: April 28, 2012 at 12:05 AM (#4118264)

But that would be socialism.

It would be a donation. Hold a gun to his head first and you'd have socialism.

Agreed on the distinction between foul and tossed balls. Foul and HR balls are to be treasured as a sign of catching/retrieving prowess; tossed balls are meant for children (excepting circumstances in which you're accompanied by a non-wife date).

13. Tulo's Fishy Mullet (mrams) Posted: April 28, 2012 at 12:31 AM (#4118274)

I've probably collected 20+ balls at MLB games over the years, but the only ones I can possibly remember were the 3 foul balls and 1 HRs I caught/retrieved. It is a feeling that is really hard to explain. At this point in my life, I'd probably toss one to a kid, barring unusual circumstances.

14. Morty Causa Posted: April 28, 2012 at 12:40 AM (#4118278)

Tell the kid, it's not enough to want that cracker, you have to earn it.

15. Repoz

Posted: April 28, 2012 at 08:19 AM (#4118324)

BTW...for those interested, I got the Kay flub...and it's a beaut.

Kay and O'Neill were talking about pitchers winning MVP's

"Denny McLain? Nope Paul, he never won an MVP! Nope."

"...Wait I'm being told I'm wrong..Am I wrong???? Oh, I'm wrong! You were right....Wow.

"Wow. I was wrong...mark this day on your calender"

16. salajander Posted: April 28, 2012 at 09:16 AM (#4118338)

I think its terrible if an adult goes out of his way to knock a kid over or run past a kid to get a ball. But I hate how some feel like you should hand over any baseball you catch to a nearby kid. Hey, I've never caught a foul ball either! And I have two kids at home!

Exactly. My rule: the first foul ball comes my way is mine, no matter how adorable the kid in the seat next to me us. After I catch one, the rest I'll give away.

17. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship

Posted: April 28, 2012 at 09:25 AM (#4118342)

I sometimes wonder how long Repoz would last at BTF if Ted Williams had once refused him an autograph.

18. cardsfanboy

Posted: April 28, 2012 at 10:16 AM (#4118364)

Exactly. My rule: the first foul ball comes my way is mine, no matter how adorable the kid in the seat next to me us. After I catch one, the rest I'll give away.

\

Glad to see I'm not the only one with this thought. I've waited 40 years for a foul ball, screw the kid, he's young, he has plenty of time left. (If it's a cancer kid of course I might feel different)

19. MHS Posted: April 28, 2012 at 10:34 AM (#4118378)

Cancer can be cured. Dumb is forever.

20. YR Misses Reggie Bars Posted: April 28, 2012 at 11:18 AM (#4118411)

It would be a donation. Hold a gun to his head first and you'd have socialism.

Either way you're encouraging parasitism. There's a reason you don't feed the bears, hippie.

21. Fat Al Posted: April 28, 2012 at 11:47 AM (#4118434)

Here was my (uncensored) take when I heard this story:

But my take would be #### the kid. Life’s tough. You want that ball, fight for it. You don’t get it, man up and move on. Total crybaby. And from the video it looks like the kid didn’t even have his own seat. So they don’t even buy him a ticket and they think they can Bogart someone’s ball because the kid tears up.

This is what’s wrong with America.

22. Barry`s_Lazy_Boy Posted: April 28, 2012 at 12:09 PM (#4118455)

Just give the kid the ball. You get to be a hero and it costs you nothing.

You have a low bar for "hero".

23. Kurt Posted: April 28, 2012 at 12:28 PM (#4118465)

So they don’t even buy him a ticket and they think they can Bogart someone’s ball because the kid tears up.

My understanding is that the parents of the kid didn't even ask for the ball, and were quoted elsewhere as saying that the kids has to learn he can't have everything he wants.

24. Fat Al Posted: April 28, 2012 at 12:42 PM (#4118476)

My understanding is that the parents of the kid didn't even ask for the ball, and were quoted elsewhere as saying that the kids has to learn he can't have everything he wants.

Then good for them. Even more insane that Michael Kay and his ilk think the kid should get whatever he wants handed to him. Not that I necessarily wouldn't give the kid the ball (although in decades of attending MLB games I've gotten exactly one foul ball, and that was in Toronto -- I've never gotten one in NY), but the idea that people are being chided for keeping a ball they got fair and square seems insane to me. Equally stupid (for different reasons) is the moronic mob demand that people throw back opposing home run balls. Great, so you give up the ball you caught, feel good for a second, and it gets tossed to someone in far pricier seats in foul territory. Quite a statement there.

25. Ray (RDP)

Posted: April 28, 2012 at 12:47 PM (#4118479)

There's no indication the couple even saw the brat crying, and even if they had, so what? And it's not like the people around them were stressed by the incident. The only one who appears to have noticed was Michael Kay. Not even the parents were upset.

26. Joe Bivens, Minor Genius Posted: April 28, 2012 at 02:07 PM (#4118525)

I'll give that kid something to cry about goddammit.

27. zachtoma Posted: April 28, 2012 at 04:28 PM (#4118592)

So this round of "who's the arsehole?" seems to have settled squarely on Michael Kay. Sounds about right.

28. The Yankee Clapper Posted: April 28, 2012 at 05:35 PM (#4118633)

IIRC, this was also an ESPN game and their broadcast team, or possibly the Texas feed, made a big deal about not giving the kid the ball - made Sports Center, or was it BBTN, or both?

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Fox News: Texas dad defends couple who caught souvenir baseball as son cried

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