NEW YORK — Josh Donaldson might’ve ended up with a home run in the bottom of the fifth inning, breaking a 1-1 tie, if not for a beer sale happening in right field. Row 1, seats 1 and 2, section 307: A beer vendor set down his Bud Lights on a narrow concrete ledge that separated the wall from the first row. Donaldson then poked one through the small porch.
That was when Matt Bateman’s instincts kicked in. Bateman, a 44-year-old man living in Brooklyn, has had season tickets for six years now with his uncle in the seats where Donaldson’s ball landed short. His uncle is a Yankees season ticket holder going back to the old stadium in 1985, meaning he’s seen a similar incident in the playoffs before.
“My friends are calling me the anti-Jeffrey Maier,” Bateman told The Athletic, referencing Derek Jeter’s home runThe 1996 ALCS. “I can’t even open my phone because of all the messages I’m getting. They’re saying I should lose my pinstripes. I don’t know what the rule is. If it lands on top of the wall or if I catch it, would it have been a home run?”
Bateman has only caught one home run from those seats, while his uncle, who brought a glove Tuesday evening in the hope that one would find it, has two. While not on the same level of ballhawking as Zack Hample, who has made a career of catching home runs and posting the clips on social media, these are experienced hands we’re discussing.
