Yasiel Puig's persistance pays off as young fan finally gets souvenir
The Los Angeles Dodgers had no problem giving away a baseball game on Friday night. Thanks to an unexpected bullpen implosion, they saw a one-run lead turn into a 13-5 loss when the Arizona Diamondbacks pelted them for nine runs in the eighth inning.
They did, however, have all kinds of trouble giving away actual baseballs.
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Case in point, right fielder Yasiel Puig did his best to live up to his #PuigYourFriend mantra. After making an inning-ending grab, Puig spotted a very young Dodgers fan that he wanted to give the baseball to.
Three attempts later, a successful transaction was finally made. But the two failures truly captured what turned into a long and excruciating evening for Los Angeles.
On the first attempt, Puig jogged right over to the young fan and seemed to place the ball safely in his glove. Unfortunately, the fan is still at that stage where squeezing his glove shut is a difficult task. First, the ball squirted away, then his guardian compounded it by accidentally swatting the ball back toward the field.
No problem, said Puig. He circled right back around for a second attempt. This time he used a little more force, and the young guy never had a chance. Down the baseball went again.
After briefly assessing the situation, Puig retrieved the baseball again thanks to a Chase Field security guard. Then, he placed his own glove under the kid’s glove and made sure the ball stuck.
It ended up being a pretty amusing scene. The crowd around the young fan seemed to appreciate Puig’s efforts. We know the fan did, and certainly will even more as he grows older.
These types of exchanges are what make baseball unique in many ways. Sure, all sports have some degree of fan interaction. But baseball players can take it to another level even while the game is still going on. And say what you will about Puig, he seems to understand and embrace that aspect more than most.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
