It didn’t look good.
At some stage in recent memory, you may have come across a clip of a Chicago Cubs fan seemingly stealing a baseball that had been thrown to a young fan in the crowd at Wrigley Field.
It was rage-inducing stuff…
When going to a baseball game, DON'T be this guy. pic.twitter.com/pAeiRN6Q2X
— Cut4 (@Cut4) July 22, 2018
The clip soon went viral and even came to the attention of staff at the Cubs, who gave the kid in question a baseball autographed by infielder Javier Báez to make up for his apparent disappointment.
A @javy23baez signed ball should take care of it. #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/4YzUlG8qfN
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 22, 2018
As it turns out, the man who ‘stole’ the ball wasn’t as bad as he had initially seemed.
A Reddit user named ‘btbrian’ did a bit of digging and found out that, according to fans who were sat close by (see below) that he had already given a ball to the young child sitting in front of him and gave other balls that came his way to fans in his vicinity.
He had already helped that kid get a ball. He gave two more away to kids also. He was a great guy. TV got this all wrong.
— Chuck Mycoff (@cmycoff2) July 22, 2018
I was sitting next to this guy. That ball was between my feet. The kid already had a ball the same guy helped him get. He handed it to his wife. She took a picture of it and they gave it to the kid next to them. This guy was great. This story is BAD.
— Chuck Mycoff (@cmycoff2) July 23, 2018
I was sitting the next to the boy and the same fan helped him snag a ball a few innings before this.
— Jeff Rose, CFP® (@jjeffrose) July 23, 2018
His generosity has been acknowledged by the Cubs themselves, as was confirmed by local sports anchor David Kaplan on Monday.
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
All’s well that ends well.
