SAN FRANCISCO – That baseball instinct … it never leaves you.
Even – especially? – if you’re a dad perched in the second deck at Oracle Park holding your toddler son.
In the second inning of Friday’s Angels vs. Giants game in San Francisco, Michael O’Brien found himself in the spotlight when Wade Meckler laced a foul ball on an offering from Logan Webb, sending it at 82.1 mph into the seats …
… and into the hands of O’Brien, who pulled off an especially slick backhanded, bare-handed grab, all while keeping his son out of harm’s way.
What was going through his head as the ball sailed in his direction?
“Shield him from the ball and make a play,” O’Brien told MLB.com.
This wasn’t his first time catching a foul ball, by the way. O’Brien recounted reeling one in from Dodgers slugger Yasiel Puig back in 2014 while sitting behind home plate – though that one was “certainly not” a backhanded grab.
But that’s not the only experience O’Brien has catching baseballs. His track record goes back a while.
“I’ve been playing baseball for 30 years, just to have that moment happen to me,” O’Brien said. “And I’m happy I made a play.”
It’s the dream he always had as a kid when he was playing Little League, right?
“Yeah. This, or two outs in the World Series.”
