Cubs fan Keith Hartley is the man who caught the foul ball while holding his baby at Wrigley Field on Tuesday.
2015 @Cubs: “We are good…and so are our fans!” Watch this dad make a #JustRidiculous catch with his baby in hand.https://t.co/jjbHc2ZPVh — 120 Sports (@120Sports) June 24, 2015
Hartley was on ESPN talking about his overnight fame, and the Cubs dad said he wasn’t even supposed to be there.
We were gifted the tickets minutes before I left work yesterday. One of my colleagues is visiting from New York, and I wanted to give him the whole Chicago experience and what better way to do that than Wrigley. So one of my colleagues gave us the tickets and we decided to go to the game and it was a last minutes decision. We didn’t know where the tickets were at or anything. When we got there, we were completely surprised and very grateful to have that experience and it was really cool because I’ve never been that close at a game.
Bringing his baby to the game was a last second decision, but Hartley said he wasn’t afraid for his baby’s safety.
We had instituted a plan so we had three grown men in case of a sharp liner came our way. It did concern us at first, but I think we had a good plan in place and it kind of ended up working out over night.
Once Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel hit that ball, Hartley said his first reaction was to protect his baby, and he just ended up with the ball in his hand.
It was one of those crazy scenarios that just works itself out I guess.
When asked about his baby still drinking the bottle while he caught the ball, Hartley responded with it was just his time to eat dinner.
As most new parents know, you kind of have to get the one-handed technic going so you’re not handcuffed so you have a free hand that’s kind of how it worked out.
Hartley said the fans had mixed reactions, but he knew his baby was safe when he caught the ball.
