‘He never left his seat!’ Youngster sends baseball fans wild by effortlessly beating player to viral catch at first game (VIDEO)
A young baseball fan enjoyed a dream first game in the stands by making a fantastic catch during the MLB meeting between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Atlanta Braves.
Diamondbacks star Kole Calhoun was attempting to meet a foul fly ball, but found himself having to battle with a 13-year-old supporter of the home team Braves who had brought his own mitt.
The youngster, Cord McLerran, made the catch, but rather than get irritated by the play that helped the Braves, Calhoun could only show respect through a warm fist-bump in a touching moment.
The Trust Park crowd – and many more online – was sent into raptures by the highlight of a 5-4 win for the hosts, after which, the Fan of the Night was interviewed by local media.
This young fan stole an out with a great catch, and @KoleCalhoun can only show his respect.What a cool moment. pic.twitter.com/XRbnDsGUXE
— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) April 24, 2021
As a pundit bigged the boy up as a "celebrity" with the "coolest glasses I've ever seen", McLerran revealed that Calhoun told him: "You caught that one, let me catch the next one."
"At first when I saw it I was, like, 'That can't be coming to me,'" he explained, when starting to tell the story of the event.
"Then I realized it was and I didn't know whether to stand up or sit down. So I just went for it. And once I saw it was in my glove, I felt so good," McLerran went on.
Asked what he was going to "tell the guys at school" about his feat, the boy answered: "Well first I'm going to brag about how close to the foul line I was. Then I'm gonna say 'Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm famous in Atlanta, Georgia now'."
"𝗜'𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗜'𝗺 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮, 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗮 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄."@PaulByrd36 caught up with the Fan of the Night, who says @KoleCalhoun told him, "You caught that one, let me catch the next one." 😂 pic.twitter.com/dlR8ldJlEO
— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) April 24, 2021
Replying to the clip on Twitter, his mother Samantha remarked that she "would have really loved to have gotten his baseball signed, but Kole Calhoun was so awesome to my son!!!"
"It was Cord’s first ever MLB game!," she added.
what a great memory for your family and classy move by kole, hope your son’s second favorite team will be the dbacks!
— Sherry (@slchen_) April 24, 2021
"What a great memory for your family and [a] classy move by Kole. Hope your son’s second favorite team will be the Diamonbacks!," another MLB enthusiast commented.
Golf social media stunner Paige Spiranac also approved, dropping a simple "I love this" message alongside a welling-up-with-tears emoji.
I love this🥺
— Paige Spiranac (@PaigeSpiranac) April 24, 2021