I love baseball. Played on summer league teams until I was 16 years old and that year I was the second leading hitter for average in the league. Best kept secret it was because no one on the High School baseball team ever approached me about playing. I played on softball teams for many years after. I remember making an error while playing shortstop in trying to throw out my best friend on a ground ball. I did not tell him that I had a jammed thumb so basically threw a wild palm ball toward first.

I took my fiance to a baseball game and we sat in the favorite spot that my best friend and I used to sit, upper deck behind the plate. There were about 20 total up there. We got a big bucket of popcorn, and my fiance learned that I am not very good at sharing my popcorn. She went to the restroom while we were at bat, something I would never do as a fan with the home team at the plate. My favorite player was even up to bat, Andre “Thunder” Thornton. A couple of pitches into the at bat he hit a foul ball straight back and up into our section. There were some people 6 rows below me, and when the ball cleared their hands I knew that I could go down 3 rows faster than they could up 3 rows to reach it. The popcorn sailed to my right and down I flew to grab the ball. I returned to our seats with the ball and retrieved the bucket with about half the popcorn still in it, the rest spread on the ground.

When my bride to be returned, she disappointingly exclaimed, “What happened to our popcorn?” I said I got a foul ball. She said “No you didn’t”, figuring that I had somehow tripped and dropped it. It sure looked that way, until I showed her the foul ball.

Years later, I was able to hear Andre Thornton tell his story and he has a really amazing one to tell. He lost his wife and child in a car accident, but by the time I heard heard him talk, he had remarried and had a teenage son. I had the ball with me and asked him to sign it. He was amazed I had kept it and he was truly honored that the ball meant that much to me. What can I say? I love baseball.

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