The New York Yankees recently set a new single-season MLB record in home runs by a team, so each home run they hit is a piece of history. A Boston Red Sox fan decided to give a piece of history back to the Yankees, and hit Giancarlo Stanton in the process.
In the top of the 7th inning on Saturday afternoon, Giancarlo Stanton stepped up to the plate for the New York Yankees only one RBI shy of 100 for the season. After Gleyber Torres set a new single-season team home run record in the 4th inning, Stanton was able to obtain RBI number 100 while adding onto the newly set team home run record.
After Boston Red Sox reliever Steven Wright tossed up a 79.8 MPH knuckle ball on a 2-2 count, Stanton deposited it into the left field stands above the Green Monster at Fenway Park. This solo home run gave Stanton 38 in his first season as a Bronx Bomber, alongside providing the aforementioned 100th RBI of the year. Stanton now also has 102 runs scored on the season.
When the ball landed, both the Yankees and Stanton were most likely interested in getting the ball back, as it could be very valuable if another home run is not hit during Sunday’s season finale. However, the fan who caught the ball decided to help both the Yankees and Stanton reclaim a piece of history by throwing it back onto the field directly at the 2017 NL MVP.
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Although the intent of the fan was not to help the Yankees reclaim a piece of history, another likely intention of the fan did happen. This likely intention was to either throw the ball as far as possible, or attempt to hit Stanton with it. As Stanton approached second base, the fan chucked the ball back onto the field, it went very far, and it even hit Stanton as he passed second base.
After the game, Meredith Marakovits of the YES Network asked Stanton if he was surprised about the ball hitting him when he rounded the bases. Stanton responded: “Of course. I wouldn’t have thought it would’ve got to me that fast from a fan throwing it. I’ve never seen that happen before, so that wasn’t my first thought.”
Stanton was then asked in the same interview if it was alarming that a fan could throw something at him that could potentially cause an injury, even though that was not the case in this situation. Stanton responded: “That’s the idea when you’re an opposing fan, but I don’t think that’s what he meant to do, either way, if I was looking up, I could’ve grabbed it.”
Stanton continued with some humor: “Plus that could be a special ball, so we needed it anyway. I think he lost some money on it, anyway.” The fan was most likely not trying to harm Stanton as the intent was likely to just throw the ball as far as possible, so Stanton did a great job laughing the situation off instead of turning it into a negative one.