Watch: Fan Earns Applause for Perhaps the Best Foul Ball Catch of the Year

By Ross Kelly August 16, 2018 at 11:27am

Have you ever watched a baseball game and seen someone hit a foul ball that’s then followed by applause indicating a nice fan catch was made?

Most of the time those catches aren’t shown on the broadcast so those watching on TV don’t get to see them. But fortunately, Wednesday night’s great fan catch wasn’t one of those, as we saw an all-timer in the Red Sox-Phillies game.

A fan was talking on the phone while sitting in a folding chair when a foul ball was suddenly headed his way. Most people would instinctively drop their phone and try to catch the ball with two hands or maybe even just move out of the way of the ball.

Not this fan, who casually reached up with his left hand, plucked the ball out of the air and had a heck of a story to tell the person on the other end of the phone.

Here’s another look in slow motion that shows just how nonchalantly the fan made the grab.

Casual.

Link: https://t.co/xtCqnYKUZF pic.twitter.com/wGokKTi3SX

— Jessica Kleinschmidt (@KleinschmidtJD) August 16, 2018

Perhaps this is just a Philly thing as another amazing catch came at a Phillies game in July, except this fan was holding something a little more valuable than a phone.

If you were in this position, would you have dropped your phone to attempt the catch?

This Phillies fan backhanded a home run ball with his right hand while holding a baby in his left arm. If you look closely, you’ll see a woman supporting the man’s arm with the baby in it to make sure he didn’t drop the baby in order to catch the ball.

After doing some more digging, you have to wonder if catching balls while holding babies is some sort of a tradition in Philadelphia.

You can find as many balls being caught by Phillies fans holding babies as you can balls being caught by all other teams’ fans holding babies combined.

Here are some others: