Not Phillies Karen
 

SEATTLE -- Cal Raleigh's 60th home run put the Mariners' All-Star catcher into one of the most exclusive clubs in baseball. It also made for a memorable moment in the outfield stands at T-Mobile Park.

During Wednesday night's 9-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies, which gave Seattle its first American League West title in 24 years, the fan who caught Raleigh's 60th home run ball gave it away to a boy in the right-field seats.

Team security workers led the child and his father away to have the ball authenticated. The Mariners said the boy traded the ball for a bat signed by Raleigh and an invitation to watch batting practice on the field.

The Mariners now are looking to connect with the man, with senior manager of communications Adam Gresch making a plea on social media for anyone who knows "this incredible fan" to send him a direct message.

The father of the boy, meanwhile, called it a "complete, gracious, sincere, random act of kindness."

"I told him the lesson: 'No matter what happens, this is the kind of moment that you should pay forward later in life,'" Galan Ruelos said on "The Gee and Ursula Show." "It was beautiful, and so heartwarming."

Ruelos said his 12-year-old son, Marcus, never brought up trying to get money for the ball. The Mariners offered the signed bat and took down the family's contact information, and they left it at that.

"My son whispered to me and said, 'Dad, because it's Cal, I want him to have [the ball],'" Galan Ruelos said. "He was never thinking, are we going to keep it for money? That wasn't even a thought.

"We have the future MVP, hopefully, and [Marcus] touched history. That's kind of more precious. He'll live with that forever."

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...th-hr-ball-boy

This is incredible. Thanks for sharing this.

That ball would've gotten how much at auction? $50k? $100k?

And it is great to see that there are at least two families out there who can't be bought for that amount. I think it's great. Really great.

I'm pulling for Cal Raleigh to at least tie Aaron Judge's 62 home run record!

:cool:

How much would the Phillies Karen ball be worth if she came out of hiding?

Good question, I don't know. Does she still have it?

The story is simply outstanding.

I know a lot of people don't think so, but, by and large, there still are a lot of great people in this world. I see it every day - someone opening the door for an older person - someone letting a person go before them in the checkout line because they only have 1 item - someone taking the time to compliment someone they have ever met.

Unfortunately, way too often the bad stuff captures the headline.

The big question is, did the guy who caught it know how valuable it was? Of course it's a nice thing to see either way, but I would not even slightly blame the guy for keeping it if he knew.. That's a huge (and potentially life-changing) amount of money for lots of people.

I think the ball is closer to 10 to 15K but who knows.

I heard the Philly Karen is flying to Seattle to claim the ball was hers.