A fan went a great length trying to catch New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge’s record-breaking 62nd home run ball – jumping down a section of stands.
Unfortunately for the fan, he came up empty-handed.
Video of Judge’s homer at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday night showed a man holding the railing of the front of Section 31 as the baseball soared in that direction.
The fan then let go and fell to the ground behind the left field fence. The move wound up being in vain – the ball flew about 10 seats away, into the glove of another spectator who pulled no dangerous stunt.
Fans at the game between the Yankees and Texas Rangers and online onlookers were shocked at the jumping fan.
YES Network Yankees clubhouse reporter Meredith Marakovits recounted the unusual incident.
‘I’m watching the ball travel into left field, all of a sudden, I see a body go over the railing in left field and I’m thinking, “Did I just see that, right? Was that a person that fell over?”‘ said Marakovits.
‘I couldn’t tell if they had accidentally fallen over, if they had intentionally fallen over. It was interesting.’
Play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay, who made the call on Judge’s homer, wondered what led the fan to jump, given the ball was a distance away.
‘Maybe it was a strategic move?’ said Kay, ‘Where he felt if the ball did carom off someone’s hand, it was going to drop down in the section between the wall and the outfield wall.’
Marakovits agreed it ‘could’ve been what he was doing’.
‘I don’t know that it’s worth breaking both legs,’ she continued. ‘We hope that individual is OK. It’s scary.’
According to Dallas Morning News Rangers beat writer Evan Grant, the ‘guy did not incur injuries, but was escorted out of park for trying to jump fence’.
Cory Youmans is the fan who ended up catching Judge’s homer, which broke the American League single-season home run record previously held by Roger Maris.
Asked what he will do with the prized ball, Youmans, a Fisher Investments VP, said: ‘Good question. I haven’t thought about it.’
The president of Memory Lane Auctions, JP Cohen, has already offered $2million for the ball.
Meanwhile, Judge showed respect for the fan who caught it.
‘We’ll see what happens with that. It would be great to get it back, but that’s a souvenir for a fan,’ Judge said. ‘He made a great catch out there, and they’ve got every right to it.’
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