Child Snatches Foul Ball Away From Adult Who Could’ve Really Used The Win

CINCINNATI—A heartrending scene unfolded at a Tuesday night baseball game between the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers when a child reportedly snatched a foul ball away from an adult who could’ve really used the win. When the foul ball was hit into the stands during the sixth inning, it reportedly roused the excitement of Mason Gardner, a 32-year-old man who was attending the game in the midst of a series of personal and professional crises that had left him feeling depressed for months, a condition which inspired two of his friends to bring him out to a baseball game in hopes of cheering him up. These friends of Gardner, who is now over three months into a fruitless job search, confirmed that he had also just broken up with his girlfriend of five years, and would have benefited from a moment of happiness or childish joy, especially while watching his hometown team play his favorite sport, which seemed to be in the offing when a foul ball was hit right to him. Initially, Gardner bobbled the ball, which dropped onto his seat, whereupon it was snatched up by an 11-year-old Reds fan seated behind him, leaving Gardner crestfallen and inspiring looks of concern among his friends that, as small as this incident was in the grand scheme of things, it might be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Sources close to Gardner stressed that in nearly all other circumstances, they would completely agree that a child should take priority over an adult in receiving a foul ball, but in this specific case, they believed that the man whose dog also recently died deserved the little pick-me-up that taking home a foul ball hit from the bat of his favorite player would bring. The man’s need for even a tiny victory or small solace for the ongoing discouraging state of his life was reportedly evident even to strangers sitting in his vicinity, who backed one of Gardner’s friends in his hesitating, apology-filled endeavor to request the ball from the celebrating youth, who was reportedly taken aback by the request. At press time, the situation had become tense following the involvement of the foul-ball-catching boy’s belligerent father, resulting in shouting and a light shoving match that succeeded in sending the heretofore uninvolved Gardner sprawling head-first into the seats in front of him.