An 8-year-old Los Angeles Dodgers fan is recovering and in good condition after catching a foul ball off the bat of All-Star slugger Mookie Betts.
The terrifying scene unfolded during the fourth inning of Friday’s game against the visiting Cincinnati Reds. Sitting halfway up the stands at Dodger Stadium, on the first base side of the field, were the Sánchez family and his son Nathan, who brought his glove to the game in hopes of catching a foul ball.
Unfortunately, this projectile was simply too fast for Nathan.
“As soon as the ball hits him, all I hear is, ‘My eye!'” said Daisy Sanchez, young Nathan’s mother. KTLA.
Fortunately for Nathan, a doctor was sitting nearby and quickly tended to the young Dodger fan until the stadium medical staff arrived. Best of all, Nathan was soon cleared to return to the game, which his Dodgers won 7-3, thanks to Betts’ leadoff home run.
Nathan Sanchez is seen with his parents Daisy and Samuel at their home in Lynwood.
Nathan Sanchez later received the ball from a fan sitting nearby on Friday.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Mookie Betts reacts after a foul during the sixth inning on Friday
As seen in the KTLA footage, Nathan’s eye is bruised, but he did not suffer any major injuries.
“There are so many things that go through your mind,” Nathan’s father, Samuel Sanchez, told KTLA. “Coming up the stairs when the doctors came to see him.”
Luckily for Nathan, a nearby fan picked up the foul ball and gave it to the 8-year-old upon his return.
Now the family would like to see the souvenir signed.
“We just want him to sign our ball, the ball that hit him,” the family told KTLA. ‘At least a signature, you know?’
Sánchez received some stickers and a button after the hit, but hopes to get an autograph
The family received some stickers and a button from the team, but were hoping to see more communication about the incident. The Dodgers have not commented publicly.
Major League Baseball teams have ordered protective netting to be extended between the stands and the playing field.
Before that 2019 change, NBC News found 808 reports of fan injuries from foul balls over the previous seven years and that study lacked data from 26 stadiums.
Getting an autograph from Betts shouldn’t be too difficult, as he has a reputation for being nice to fans.
In 2021, Betts surprised a spectator, Michael Diddle, in Cincinnati with an autographed bat after the fan was kind enough to return a home run that had been hit by a Reds rookie.
Cincinnati’s TJ Friedl homered for his first major league hit in September 2021.
Realizing the importance of the moment, Betts asked Diddle to throw it back into the outfield so he could return it to Friedl as a souvenir.
Betts is seen giving Diddle an autographed bat for rookie TJ Friedl’s first home run.
The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosencrans confirmed that Diddle’s new bat was, indeed, autographed.
Betts was secretly recorded giving food to homeless people in downtown Boston in 2018.
Diddle obliged and was rewarded the next inning when Betts returned to right field with an autographed bat to give to the man.
“It’s amazing,” Friedl said afterward. “For (Betts) to do something like that, it’s definitely world-class on his part. “I want to go there (to the Dodger clubhouse) and just say ‘thank you’ in person.”
Betts, a two-time World Series winner and named American League Most Valuable Player with the Boston Red Sox in 2018, has earned a reputation for friendliness throughout his eight seasons in the Major Leagues.
For example, after beating the Dodgers in Game 2 of the 2018 World Series, Betts was secretly recorded giving food to homeless people gathered around the Boston Public Library.
In 2015, he and then-teammate Blake Swihart were also seen giving pizza to a homeless man in New York.