Many people have a fond memory of playing catch with someone special — a parent, a grandparent, a sibling, a lifelong friend.
A fan who sat 485 feet from home plate at Coors Field on Saturday probably never dreamed he’d be doing so with a future Hall of Famer.
But thanks to his quick thinking, the fan, whose first name reportedly is Alberto, boldly asked Mike Trout for the favor after the Angels defeated the Colorado Rockies 3-0.
What a cool request! Trout had already agreed to give Alberto — who attended the game with his wife and two children — three signed bats and two signed baseballs in exchange for the ball he crushed.
While Trout signed the balls and bats in the dugout long after the game had ended, Alberto politely asked him while making a throwing motion with his right arm, “You mind if we play catch with a ball on the field?” the three-time American League Most Valuable Player didn’t hesitate, saying, “Yeah, you want to do it?” Alberto grabbed his glove.
A post on the MLB.com X account shows Alberto tossing the ball back and forth to Trout, who catches it with his bare hands while wearing his cap backward. At one point, Trout says something to Alberto’s young son, who is watching in awe.
And no wonder. Shortly before Trout hit No. 400, Alberto told Trout he’d turned to his son and said, “He’s got a lot of power.” No kidding, enough to drive the ball deep into the left-center field stands. Alberto caught the blast with his bare hands.
It was Trout’s third home run of at least 485 feet since Statcast began tracking long balls in 2015, the most of any player. The 34-year old outfielder in his 15th season became the 59th MLB player to reach 400 homers and the 20th to hit them all with one franchise.
The No. 400 ball clearly had more monetary value than the signed balls and bats, but nowhere near the value of a career 500 home run ball or, say, the home run the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman hit to win Game 1 of the 2024 World Series — which was sold at auction for $1.56 million.
Read more: Shaikin: Mike Trout hit his 400th career home run. Here’s an appreciation, not a lament
The home run was meaningful to Trout, who admitted to feeling pressure as he approached the milestone. It was only his second long ball since Aug. 7.
He also recognized that catching the ball and returning it to the player who belted it was meaningful to Alberto, who likely has already done what dads do — play catch with his children.
“Once they get older and realize, that’ll be an awesome memory for the dad to tell the kids, to experience that,” Trout told reporters. “I know how I felt when I went to a ballgame with my dad.”
Read more: Kid makes family more than $1 million after Freddie Freeman grand slam ball he caught sells
Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Read the full article here