Braves fan makes excellent one-handed catch no one will remember
If a fan makes an excellent catch during a game that doesn’t exist, did it really happen? One fan is about to find out the answer to that question.
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During the fourth inning of Thursday’s New York Mets-Atlanta Braves game, Jay Bruce drove a 3-2 fastball deep to right field for a two-run homer. The ball was hit directly at a fan standing near the Chop House area in right. The fan reached out with one hand, and casually snagged the ball out of the air. He did all of this while holding a beer in his other hand. He didn’t spill a drop.
Pretty impressive, right? That’s the type of fan catch you usually see posted on highlight shows. Broadcasters praise the fan for making a great play on a ball. The fan gets his 15 minutes of fame and a nice video clip to show all his friends.
Except that didn’t happen. Bruce’s home run probably wasn’t featured on a ton of highlight shows because Thursday’s Mets-Braves game no longer exists.
Don’t worry. We’ll explain.
You notice how there aren’t many fans in the seats? And how most of the fans in the park seem to be huddled under some type of shelter? That’s not because Braves fans hate their new park already, it’s due to the weather.
It was already raining at a decent clip when Bruce smacked his go-ahead run in the fourth inning. Shortly after his blast, the game officially went into a rain delay. That delay lasted nearly two hours before the game was postponed.
Since the contest didn’t reach five innings, that means the whole thing never happened. The Braves and Mets will eventually make up the game, but will have to start from the beginning. The score and the stats, including Bruce’s home run, don’t carry over. As far as baseball history is concerned, that home run never happened.
That leaves our fan here in a strange spot. He made a fantastic catch. We all saw it. Video exists. And yet, that play doesn’t count. There’s no official record of the game or the home run.
So, philosophy experts, where do you stand on this one? Should our fan get credit for a play that no one else will recognize? Or, like Bruce’s blast, was his excellent performance washed away by the rain?
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
