You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy.™
Catching not one home run ball at a major league game, but catching two home run balls at a major League game.
And not just catching them in different innings, but catching them in back to back at bats.
Can you say go buy a powerball ticket! Can you say go ask out the girl of your dreams because she cannot say no.
Only Warlocks and Mark Zuckerburg have this kind of luck.
2 homers in back to back at bats? Crazy, but it really happened this week at a Cincinnatti Reds home game.
The luckier than lucky guy is named Caleb Lloyd. He’s a 20 year old college kid seated in the left field bleachers.
So he’s sitting there like all of us thinking what if? What if a ball comes my way? How will I snag it? The guy didn’t even bring a mitt.
While he may be thinking what if, it’s doubtful he’s thinking it at this precise moment. That’s because the pitcher, Mike Leake is up. Pitchers don’t have a lot of pop in their bats, so Lloyd is probably relaxed, waiting for the top of the line up to worry about what if?
What if comes without notice.
Crack!
The ball is sailing his way.
“The first one I actually barehanded, ” Lloyd said, according to Cincinnati.com.
“It hit my hand and I didn’t expect to actually catch it … it hurt really bad, so I’m like, ‘I’m not doing it again.’
People start high fiving the 20 year old and patting him on the back. Good thing he’s not A.D.D because the very next batter, Zack Cozart, is digging in.
What if knows no time frame.
Crack!
The ball is whistling toward the left field stands, almost to the exact same spot.
Are you kidding? Not again?
“The second one bounced behind me and then it bounced into my lap. My buddy’s like, ‘You caught a second one!’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is crazy.’
“Right now, I can’t believe that it’s happening. It’s amazing.”
Lloyd is a junior soccer player at Thomas More College.
Most people never catch one home run in their lives. Nobody ever catches 2 home runs back to back.
No big deal to Lloyd. He didn’t keep either ball.
He gave one to the pitcher as a souvenir. He gave the other homer ball to his buddy because his friend said “hey let’s go catch a Reds game.”
Lloyd said all he was going to do that day was play video games.
“My buddy actually dragged me to the game today,” Lloyd said. “I was playing video games. He said, ‘Come on, come to the game with me’ and his uncle. I said, ‘Oh, that sounds good.’
“I decided to come to the game and I got two home run balls — it’s pretty special.”
They say lightning doesn’t strike twice.
In this case it did, disguised a cow hide spheroid.
I sure hope the kid with the Midas touch goes out and buys a lottery ticket. Sometimes it is, as they say, better to be lucky than good.
And that is crazy.™