For any baseball fan, a day game at Wrigley Field is one of the greatest experiences in Major League Baseball. There might only be a couple of people who disagree following Sunday's series finale between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals.
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In the bottom of the fourth inning in the Windy City, a foul ball down the first-base line caused quite the social media frenzy across the country.
When Cubs first base coach Will Venable picked up the ball, he tossed it in the direction of a little kid in the front row. The kid didn't catch the ball, rolling to the row behind him.
A gentleman in a jersey in the second row leaned over to grab it, and instead of giving the ball to the kid — something fans should absolutely always do at MLB games — he gave it to the woman sitting next to him.
It was all on TV, was quickly posted to social media during the game, and the entire Internet went bonkers over the fan's poor baseball-watch etiquette.
Welcome to BallGate.
Way to act like a total douche instead of giving the ball back to the little kid in front of you buddy. #Cubs fans suck pic.twitter.com/AoZAf2vZ1j
— Bear Grills (@DiceBeck) July 22, 2018
The amount of criticism this man got was insane, and luckily the Cubs, and All-Star infielder Javier Baez, made it right with the little boy with a signed baseball.
It was a classy and heroic move to save the day and the man from getting completely destroyed on Twitter.
A @javy23baez signed ball should take care of it. #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/4YzUlG8qfN
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 22, 2018
Much like anything else in life, there are at least two sides to every story. What appeared to be a selfish act by one fan and resolved by the Cubs, who beat the Cardinals 7-2 in the game, might not have been the full story of the group sitting in the stands.
Was the game ball meant for the young fan? Yes. Did the man pick it up and not give it back to the kid? Yes.
Those are the facts and the proof is in the video.
However, as NBC Sports Chicago reporter and SportsTalk Live host David Kaplan reported, the "evil fan" in question was actually giving balls away the entire game and just so happened to keep the one everyone is talking about.
I spoke with people from the Cubs. The man who grabbed the ball on the widely seen video had actually already helped the little boy get a ball earlier. The young man has a game used ball and a Javy Baez ball. All is well. Guy is A-OK so let it go people.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) July 23, 2018
Here is the final wrap up on BallGate at Wrigley on Sunday: Eddie Olczyk and I just spoke with a man who was sitting next to the gentleman in question. "That guy did nothing wrong. He gave three balls out to people around him including the little boy in question. He was great."
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) July 23, 2018
What a mess of a situation.
The good news is the little kid got a ball and an awesome memorabilia item. The bad news is the Cubs fan who snatched the ball probably will never here the end of this, no matter how well the entire event played out.
He might not be as evil as everyone originally thought after all, but there are some lessons to learn here:
If you are ever at a Cubs baseball game, the first-base line seems like a hot spot for getting foul balls, and the camera is always watching.
