Pirates fan catches Cardinals homer, tosses it into river instead of giving it to kids

During the Cardinals-Pirates game Friday night, Jedd Gyorko hit a home run to center that put the Cards up 2-0 in the first inning. Andrew McCutchen made an attempt at the wall to prevent the homer but it was far out of his reach, so he could only look on as a fan caught the ball. Which is usually a nice ending, seeing a fan catch a ball and smiling or realizing they have a cool keepsake.

Unfortunately that wasn’t the case for this particular homer, as the fan who caught the ball was a Pirates supporter and took no joy in catching it. He just turned and chucked it in the river that flows past PNC Park.

There’s even gif evidence of the act, in which the fan in question does not come off well at all.

This is not great on several levels, the foremost being that there was a whole slew of people around him that almost certainly would have taken that ball off of his hands. Especially kids, who are at games to have fun and create good memories with their parents. Catching a ball is one of the best kinds of childhood ballpark memories there is and they would not have cared if it didn’t fall directly into their hands but was passed on by another person.

Some people are highly superstitious about catching home runs that weren’t hit by their team, but even if that was the case here there’s more than one way to avoid taking the ball home with you. It’s not like once you touch a homer in the stands that ball has to stay with you forever because of some mysterious curse. Baseball has unwritten rules, that is not one of them.

This fan could have just stepped aside when he saw the incoming ball and let somebody else catch it, removing himself from the equation completely if he was so superstitious he couldn’t even let his skin touch the leather for a brief second. He also could have simply tossed it back to McCutchen who was right by the wall and let him toss it to a fan of his choice - which makes an even better memory for people!

Or, as would have been the easiest option, he could have just handed it to a kid and gone about his business for the rest of the night. Whoever got it probably wouldn’t care whether it was a Cardinals homer or one from the Pirates. Anyone familiar with the cheap seats at a Friday night baseball game knows that there’s a decent chance alcohol was involved here, but that’s not much of a better excuse if that’s the case.

Are you suspicious enough to get rid of a ball completely if it’s not from your team? Let us know in the comments.