There is more to the story of the man who ‘stole’ a ball from kid at Cubs game

Perhaps nothing can unite this country quite like the collective outrage of seeing an adult take a baseball from a kid during a game.

That’s what appeared to happen during the Cubs-Cardinals game Sunday at Wrigley Field.

Cubs first base coach Will Venable grabbed a foul ball and tossed it to a young boy in the front row. However, the boy missed the ball and it rolled behind him.

A man in the second row reached down and got the ball, which he handed to a woman seated next to him.

Oh boy, that is a bad look as Major League Baseball’s Cut 4 noted in its tweet: “When going to a baseball game, DON’T be this guy.”

The comments to that tweet were not kind about the man, but Cubs second baseman Javy Baez came to the rescue and gave the boy a signed baseball.

You may have noticed that the kid has two baseballs. Where did he get the other? Well, according to David Kaplan of NBC Sports Chicago, the man who was vilified had given the boy a baseball earlier in the game.

Kaplan tweeted: “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.”

This story was originally published July 23, 2018 at 8:46 AM.