So Close! Meet the Fans That Blew Their Chance to Catch New York History
As Aaron Judge's record-breaking 62nd home run flew over the left-field fence at Globe Life Field, one lucky fan had it land right in his glove. He'll be known forever as the person who caught baseball history.
This story isn't about him, though.
What I'm far more fascinated by, are the fans who *almost* caught baseball history. The people who bought seats in the outfield in Texas, and came within feet of coming down with the Judge home run ball in their hands.
These are their stories.
"He Caught it Right in Front of Me" - Ashin Rangani
One fan got so close to catching the home run ball, that he ended up with his own story in The New York Post. The man who got this consolation prize is Ashin Rangani, who went viral on Twitter last night for being the guy next to the guy who caught the ball.
He posted this video on his Twitter last night:
Rangani credits his boss for buying the tickets for Tuesday night's game, saying that he had forecasted Judge would be somewhere near the historic blast by the time the game rolled around. It was Ashin Rangani, however, that got eerily close to catching the ball in those seats.
The Fan That Went After a Ball That Wasn't Even There
This fan deserves an A+ for effort, but an F- for execution. As the ball began its flight out to left field, the broadcast cameras panned out to the left field stands to watch it sail over the fence. In the process, however, they caught a fan who tried to out-smart everyone by jumping down from his seat, into a crevice between the fence and the stands.
Here's what it looked like:
This type of action isn't particularly uncommon after historic home runs. Fans have come pouring over outfield fences to try to snag souvenirs for decades, and this fan thought he could jump into the history books by doing the exact same thing.
Instead, someone in the stands caught the ball, and this fan was left empty-handed.
And probably pretty sore, too.
Noted Home Run Catcher Zack Hample Missed It, Thankfully
Ah, yes, we've made it Zack Hample. The man who caught Alex Rodriguez's 3000th hit, and Mike Trout's first career home run, was unable to get his glove on Aaron Judge's 62nd home run.
Did you hear that? That was every other fan in baseball exhaling at once.
Hample was reportedly in the ballpark, but didn't end up spending money on the seats in left field that would've put him in prime position to catch the ball.
So, if none of these gentlemen caught the baseball, who did?
Meet the Man That Caught Aaron Judge's Home Run
This is Cory Youmans, a Dallas native, and officially, the luckiest fan in all of baseball. Youmans was the person in the video above, in the Rangers' hat and T-shirt, who was able to wedge his way to the front row of the stands in left field, and snag Judge's home run.
Security was quick to descend onto the scene and take Youmans away:
Here's the catch, though. Youmans went into negotiation mode, and as of last night's postgame press conference, Aaron Judge didn't have his ball yet:
We're curious to see what comes of these high-stakes negotiations, and we hope that both parties come out with something that satisfies them.
Either way, there are hundreds of ticket stub-holders in Texas this morning, that will probably never be completely satisfied.