GETTING FANS INVOLVED
They could make bids on sections of stadium where they think foul and home run balls will land during games
Though it was 33 years ago, the scene remains as vivid as if it were yesterday.
Zack Baur was determined to get a baseball.
Standing alongside the stadium’s left-field foul pole before a Padres game against Cincinnati, Baur watched Reds star Eric Davis step to the plate for a few batting practice swings.
Davis stroked a couple of balls to center field, then sent a pitch deep to left field ... going, going, gone.
Baur never took his eyes off the ball.
But it was hit too deep, carrying over his head where it bounced off a Plaza level seat and into the waiting hands of another fan.
Baur, his Padres cap slightly askew, calmly walked up to Plaza section 9, row 3, seat 9 and planted himself in the exact seat the ball had struck.
Quick study for a 5-year-old. Baur was going to glove the next ball — even if his mitt was on the wrong hand.
That moment at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium illustrated how baseball — in fact, the ball itself — captures the imagination from the earliest age.
And it never lets go.
With that in mind, MLB has an opportunity here to create some goodwill for a good cause. And after all the bickering between the teams and the players (or their union) on terms of this restart, heaven knows the game could use some good PR.
During the average major league game, there are probably four dozen baseballs that find their way into the stands — foul balls, home runs and those balls tossed to fans by players, coaches and umpires. That’s in addition to dozens of baseballs that go into the stands during batting practice and dozens of others that are thrown out during the game because of scuffs and scrapes.
With no fans in the stands for the 2020 season, a question: What to do with all the balls that leave the field of play?
Here’s an idea: Auction them off to fans and then donate the money to charity.
Baseball teams once were adamantly opposed to players throwing balls to fans.
“When I first came up, they told me it was a $50 fine to throw one into the stands,” Tony Gwynn once said.
That changed after the 1994 strike, when players were encouraged to share baseballs in the game’s effort to be more fanfriendly.
Let’s take that one step further now.
In 30 home games, there likely will be more than 3,000 baseballs looking for a permanent home (and, yes, they can be sanitized before being sent out). That could translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity. Here’s a proposal:
• Allow fans to make pregame bids on sections of the ballpark where they think a foul ball or home run will land.
Veteran tip: At Petco Park, Sections 122, 117 and 203 are some of the hot spots for foul balls and Section 130 for home runs.
The highest bidder gets that section for the game. Take backup bids (one ball to a customer, please) in case more than one ball lands in a section.
Keep track of which batter hit the ball and offer fans the opportunity to have the ball signed by that hitter for an additional charge.
• Balls tossed aside by a player, base coach or umpire can be listed in a separate category, with fans purchasing a chance to win one of those if their name is picked from a
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