I was at the game last night (6/13) with my wife and her 10 year old sister. We had seats in the right field mezzanine (behind the HOU bullpen.) We got there early to see warmups and sure enough, Mariano was running down the fly balls in the outfield. We started chanting for him and he waved at us which my sister in law thought was the coolest thing ever. My sister-in-law (M henceforth) asked if he'd throw us a ball. I said probably not because it was such a far distance. All of a sudden, he turns and points to us and throws the ball to us. Awesome! Except he missed. Badly. LOL He was about 10 feet short so the ball fell into the Houston dugout. M was really upset and I said, hey, at least he tried! Amazingly enough, he tried again! This time though, it fell about five inches short of my hands as I reached over the railing and hug out over the bullpen. FOILED AGAIN! M was really upset now because he had tried twice to get us the ball and we hadn't gotten either one. I was trying to tell her how awesome it was that even tried once, let alone twice considering where we were sitting. Then, inexplicably, he tried again! This time he really gunned the ball and got it up into the mezzanine...too far. Sailed about 10 feet over my head and walloped this lady sitting up the section in the hip. POOR LADY! No way I was going to ask for the ball from her right? Of course, Mo could see he hit someone and was genuinely upset about it. We motioned for him that she was alright and he went back to shagging fly balls. And then, as he wrapped up warmups, he stole M's heart. He threw all the practice balls back except one, turned and pointed to us, and said "Last one" and smiled. He threw a perfect strike. I bobbled the ball for a moment with my hands hanging out over the bullpen, but finally secured it. M was thrilled. The rest of the game she kept asking about Mo and when he would pitch. She had been to a baseball game before as part of a church outing, but never really paid much attention. She loves the Yankees (because I do) but only knew the name "Jeter" because it was on the back of the shirt we got her in NY. Now, because of her interest in Mo for throwing her that ball, she knows his full name, how to pronounce it, where he is from, and what a closer is. Mariano Rivera you are awesome. Trying four times to get the ball to us? FOUR TIMES to the outfield mezzanine? Stay classy Mo.
I dislike the Yankees more than any other team in pro sports, by far. A good part of the little time I spend on baseball is checking to see if they lose. Once they are out of the playoffs my baseball season becomes complete. But I have always like Mariano Rivera. A classy guy with a burning competitive fire. A baseball legend. Thanks for the great story!
That's super neat! It's nice to see someone going out of their way (several times) just because they know it'd make your day.
That's really cool. There are some ball players like that who are so good to their fans and others that make you want to take them out behind the woodshed and teach them respect.
Very cool. I hate the Yankees the organization, but I've never really had too big a problem with most of their players.
Yep Biggio is in that camp (in my experience.) When I was a young whipper snapper I went to a baseball camp and he was instructing. He was so awesome and was very friendly and instructive.
Yuck. Nothing disgusts me more than Yankee/Red Sox/Lakers/(insert popular big market team here) fans in a state where they have their own teams they should root for, especially Texas. Have some freakin' pride. (If you are actually from NY or close-by, please disregard).
