Video of Royals fan’s crazy fantasy-camp catch went viral, but it upset Alex Gordon
CBS Sports said this “could end up being the MLB play of the year,” while Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett said it was “an awesome play”.
Sure, the start of spring training is in jeopardy because Major League Baseball and its players remain at an impasse over a labor dispute. But the Royals fantasy camp was held in January in Arizona, and Jason C. Brown’s incredible catch went viral Monday.
Brown set up the situation: tie game, bottom of the seventh (and final) inning, the opposing team had the bases loaded with no outs. The batter at the plate popped up a ball in foul territory along the third-base line. Brown drifted over to make a play but the ball kept moving away from the playing field.
As you can see in the video above, Brown had to jump and reach over the dugout to make what turned out to be a dazzling catch.
“Until I made the jump I never knew it was in my glove,” Brown said by phone from Los Angeles. “As you can see in the video I looked down and opened the glove to look to see that the ball was there. I had no idea that it was actually in my glove.”
As Brown celebrated the catch, he received a hug from Brett. What’s noticeable is the third-base coach didn’t move a muscle.
“It’s amazing because the third base coach on that play is John Buck, former Royals catcher, the first base coach on that play is Alex Gordon,” Brown said. “And I showed the video to Alex when we were still in camp, and he looked at and he goes ‘What you don’t see is me throwing my clipboard after you made the catch.’”
Yeah, Gordon may be retired by his competitive fire still burns hot.
Fantasy camp was Jan. 24-28, and Brown and the others played eight games. The catch came in their second contest.
“So I made the catch in a big moment and then the next hitter walked us off,” Brown said. “So after we got walked off and we all shook hands, I went straight to the video guy and said, ‘Any amount of money you want, I will pay for that video.’”
A single up the middle won the game, but it didn’t dampen experience for Brown, a Hollywood director and assistant director who has worked on TV shows like “NCIS: Los Angeles” “CSI: New York” and “Heathers.”
His time in a Royals uniform made him feel like a movie star.
“At Royals fantasy camp you literally live your dream for a week,” he said.
Brown was born in Kansas City in 1977, and remembers the World Series championship of 1985 very well. His father was transferred to Cincinnati when Brown was 10, but he’s remained a Royals fan, and still has a lot of family in KC.
They reached out to him after video of the catch was shared by CBS Sports on Monday.
“I’ve definitely gotten some text today based on the video getting out there,” Brown said. “I posted it on Facebook yesterday too. And yeah, it was just comments after comments.
“it’s not often that one of the best moments of your life gets caught on video. But I was lucky enough to have it happen this way.”
That catch was just one of the notable moments at camp for Brown.
“The other highlight was that Bo Jackson showed up at camp this year,” said Brown, who had been at camp one other time. “And not knowing that he was going to be there and he was, oh my gosh, like Bo Jackson! So Bo Jackson showing up was another highlight.”
