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Todd Frazier used rubber ball to trick umpire into thinking he made an amazing catch

Mike Oz

New York Mets third baseman Todd Frazier made a seemingly amazing catch Monday night at Dodger Stadium, following a foul pop-up into crowd, making the catch, tumbling into the stands and holding onto the ball. But what if he didn’t? What if he actually fooled everyone — and the umpire in particular — into just thinking he did?

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The video above shows what happened: Frazier going into the crowd, umpire Mark Wegner checking to see if Frazier had the ball and calling Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Alex Verdugo out. But upon further review from SNY, the Mets’ TV affiliate, it looks like Frazier might have duped everyone and pulled off a different type of hidden ball trick.

How did Todd Frazier trick the umpire?

He did it with a little bit of quick thinking, mainly. This video from SNY’s Steve Gelbs breaks it all down. Frazier tumbled into the crowd, grabbed a rubber ball that previously belonged to a kid in the crowd and passed it off as the game ball.

You can see the actual game ball spill out in the commotion. It was grabbed by a fan.

The catch ended the inning and Frazier was quick to throw the fake ball into the crowd, so nobody could catch on to his ruse. Another bout of quick-thinking for Frazier.

Is Todd Frazier admitting what he did?

More or less, yes. This is what he tweeted Tuesday night to the apparent mother of the son to whom the other ball belonged:

Did Frazier’s trick affect the game any?

It’s hard to say with complete certainty, but it doesn’t seem like it. The “catch” came with two outs in the second inning. Verdugo had two strikes against Jacob deGrom and nobody was on base. Yes, the same deGrom who is the best pitcher in baseball this season.

So while the Dodgers did lose the game 4-2, it’s hard to imagine that moment might have otherwise changed the course of the game too much.

However, we all should have a newfound appreciation for Frazier’s trickery.

(MLB)
(MLB)

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Mike Oz is a writer at Yahoo Sports. Contact him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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