Tag: Ball Boy

The Giants’ ball dude accidentally robbed the A’s of a sweet play thanks to an unusual MLB rule

Someone tell him he’s not on the team.

Major League Baseball recently put bat/ball boys and girls on notice for job performance, so we really can’t blame the San Francisco Giants’ ball dude for giving max effort on the play.

Oakland A’s outfielder Conner Capel might have a different opinion on the matter, though. His nifty sliding catch was taken away by a rarely seen MLB rule.

During the sixth inning of the Giants’ spring training game against the Oakland A’s at Oracle Park, Bryce Johnson hit a foul ball down the left-field line and towards the tarp. The Giants’ ball dude was stationed right at the tarp, and rather than getting out of the way, he tried to make a play on the ball.

The problem: Capel was right there to make a play too.

Initially, it looked like Capel came up with the ball and made a nice catch. But the umpires correctly ruled that the ball had hit the ball dude’s glove first, making it a foul ball. According to MLB rules, the ball boy/girl is considered part of the tarp on a foul ball. Interference can be called for live balls if there’s intent from the ball boy/girl. But in this case, it was just a foul ball despite Capel coming up with the baseball (and it not hitting the ground).

Luckily for the A’s the play wasn’t costly. It was an exhibition game that they were already leading by nine runs, and Johnson would end up striking out to end the inning.

Still, MLB fans had thoughts on the bizarre sequence and rule.

NBA Twitter reacts to the Thunder ball boy breaking up a Timberwolves transition bucket

NBA Twitter had its fun with the OKC ball boy mishap that prevented a Timberwolves bucket.

Arguably the highlight of the night during the shorthanded Oklahoma City Thunder’s 37-point blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday came in the form of the cleanup crew who are assigned to help mop the empty side of the court in between possessions.

Late in the third quarter, with the Thunder bringing the ball up midcourt, Isaiah Roby lost the ball to Jordan McLaughlin, who then had a clear path for an easy layup before running into one of the ball boys. The Timberwolves failed to score despite getting an additional putback attempt on the miss and the Thunder got the ball back. Ultimately, there was no harm and no foul since the Timberwolves were up by 17 points up to this point of the game and ended up winning by 37 points.

When asked about the incident after the game, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault called it weird and said that it was their fault for playing so loose with the ball and turning it over.

This clip made its rounds on Twitter as many said it’s some of the best defense the league has seen this year. Let’s take a look at some of the best tweets from this hilarious incident.