Giants fan leaves game in shame after making a huge mistake

On Monday night during the Diamondbacks-Giants game, a San Francisco Giants fan made the one mistake you don’t want to make when you’re in the front row of the stadium: he interfered with a live ball.

It was all innocent enough, and it started like any other play. Brandon Crawford sliced a ball down the left field line that first landed on the fair side, and then rolled toward the stands on the third base side. Three fans were reaching down to grab the ball, but only one of them had a glove, and he’s the one who got it. When he stands up, he thinks he has a cool memento from the game. And then he realizes from the reaction on the field that the ball was fair, and as it washes over him his expressions take us all on an emotional journey: his face goes from happy, to surprised, to regret tinged with embarrassment in just a few seconds.

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Watching this fan realize what he’s done isn’t the best (or most cringe-worthy) moment of this video, though. The reaction of his female companion is an instant classic. Once she understands what has happened, she immediately covers her face with her hands out of sheer embarrassment. She knows that they won’t be able to stay (spectator interference typically results in the fan being ejected from the park), and that the camera is definitely on them. So she pulls the hood of her shirt over her face and makes a run for it. Can you blame her?

Lost in all of this is what happened once the fan scooped up the live ball. Crawford was awarded a ground-rule double on the play, and after the two fans were escorted from the stands (with some sympathetic shoulder pats from fellow spectators) the Arizona Diamondbacks challenged the ruling on the field. Umpires can make a call on fan interference plays based on what most likely would have happened if the ball hadn’t been touched, and in this case they thought Crawford would have ended up on second. The D-backs wanted an official ruling on that, perhaps trying to turn that ground-rule double into a single, but the umpire in New York agreed with the crew in San Francisco and the call was confirmed.

That ground-rule double didn’t do the Giants much good in the long run, though. That inning ended with two groundouts and a strikeout, and they lost to the Diamondbacks in 11 innings after late game heroics from Jake Lamb.

It’s hard not to feel bad for that Giants fan. It’s a mistake that anyone could make, and from that fan’s angle the ball may have looked foul. To their great credit, the fan and his friend left the stands right away with no complaining. We should all hope to react that well if we ever interfere with a live ball. Though it should be said: don’t do that!

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