The KID, The CATCH and The STORY!

10 year old Jake Shuster snags a homer

at his 1st Major League Baseball game

By John Witt

        After I read AlanSchuster's post on www.mygameballs.comfrom Monday Sept. 6^th I felt, like Alan, that this youngsterdeserved the applause and accolades that go with catching a home run ballespecially when you are in a sea of adults. We set out to find out who thislittle guy was. I posted Alan's column from Monday on my MLBlog and my websiteand later that morning I had a note from his uncle. A couple days later and Ihad talked to his mom and aunt as well and this is the Story of Jake Shusterand the Brad Hawpe 9^th inning home run on Saturday September 4^th,2010 at Camden Yards.

            Jake Shuster and his family were headed on a trip to seehis Aunt. Jakes 10^th birthday was less than a week away and theweekend before it he was headed to Baltimore. Jake's mom, Stacie Shuster hadnot seen her sister in a while. Her sister Sami was excited that she was goingto get to see her niece and nephew the weekend of September 3^rd -5th. The family knew that part of the trip was going to be a trip to CamdenYard's to see the Orioles play the Tampa Ray's on Saturday September 4^th. This would be Jake's 1^stMajor League Baseball game ever!

As the family left their Freehold, New Jersey home someoneimmediately realized that something was wrong. Oh no, Jake had forgotten hisbaseball glove. Why did this matter? Jake knew he was going to go the game andhe wanted to catch a baseball. "I told him it was a one in a million chance forhim to get a ball" said his mom Stacie. "He had his mind set on getting a balland I just hoped he wouldn't be to hurt when he didn't get one." Luckily forJake his grandpa's baseball glove was in the trunk of the car so he would notbe gloveless at the game.

Saturday night the Shuster family, with relatives in tow, headedout to Camden Yards. They did not get there for batting practice and walked inthe park just as the National Anthem was being sung. Jake's mom Stacie recallsthat Jake was constantly asking "Do you think I can get a ball". Her answer wasthe same "It's a one in a million chance."

They went to their seats which were in the 2^nd row ofthe centerfield bleachers. There was a chance that they could get a ball but itwould have to be hit right at them. As the game went on the Orioles built up alead and as the game headed into the 9^th inning the score was 8-2Baltimore. Stacie Shuster wanted Jake to go home with a ball so she headed overto the bullpen area just a few feet away from their seats and asked a coach fora ball. The coach tossed one to her and she dropped it, he threw it again, shedropped it again. "This is the last chance you get lady!" the coach said. Hethrew it the 3^rd time and she caught it. Jake would have a baseballafter all.

Just then Jakes sister ran over to her mom and said "Dad justgot a ball from BJ Upton for Jake!" As Jakes sister said that Stacie held upthe ball that she had gotten Jake as well. Now the little guy had 2 baseballsthat his parents had snagged for him. With the goal of the night seeminglyaccomplished the family was thinking about leaving. Just then a couple of seatsopened up in front of them in the first row. Jake immediately hopped over theseats and sat down with his dad. At that point Matt Joyce was up and the countwas 3-2 and there were 2 outs. Joyce launched a ball for a home run about asection and a half to their left.

With that I am guessing that there was no way Jake was going tolet anyone leave the game before the last out. Brad Hawpe now stepped in andthe count went to 2-2 on him. What happened next is something that most fansand Ballhawks dream about. Brad Hawpe launches a ball to centerfield, right atJake and his dad. Jake's dad starts leaning in towards Jake and the ball andthen all of a sudden puts his hands up. Jake is now leaning over the wall inthe direction of the baseball and he still has the ball that his dad got fromBJ Upton in his non glove hand. Jake leans out over the wall, the ball hits hisglove, he squeezes it as tight as he can and pulls it in.

Immediately Jake is a celebrity, a man with a video camera fromeither the Orioles or MLB just happened to be standing taking video and got itall on camera. Jakes mom comes running over and grabs him and gives him a bighug as you see in the photo. Fans were taking pictures and giving him HI 5's.Jake remembers seeing Orioles outfielder Corey Patterson looking up at him andJake asked his mom, "Is he mad at me?" She quickly assured him that he was notmad and was likely just as amazed by Jakes grab as everyone else. In fact ifyou look at the video replay of it Patterson seems to take a double take afterseeing that such a little guy made a great grab!

Jake's mom and aunt both mentioned the fact that he signed several autographs after he caught the ball. "It was truly amazing" both Stacie and her sister Sami said. Sami also added that she is the proudest Aunt ever. "Maybe I am making a big deal of it but to me it was pretty impressive."

The story doesn't end there though, Stacie's sister wanted them to go check out her work, a nearby hospital. 

As they walked into the hospital someone in the lobby looked at Jake and said "Hey you're the kid that caught that home run ball!" Then Jake let go of the comment of the night "Mom, I am almost, like, famous aren't I?" All she could do is smile and tell him that yes indeed he was now famous! 

The entire family could only think one thing "If you set your mind to do something and you want it bad enough anything can happen" and for Jake it did!

Jake caught that ball a couple days before school started this past week and he could not wait to get home and show all of his friends the video clip and the ball, A true Ballhawk indeed!

Congratulations Jake! An awesome catch! We just hope that now his parents understand what they are in for. It has been 34 years since my first catch and I am still at it, I am sure Jake will want to go to a lot more games now that he knows now that he can get a baseball on his own without mom and dad's help!

MyGameBalls.com is all about giving Ballhawks their 15 minutes and in this case it is a well deserved 15 minutes. Jake truly deserves to be on Leno or Letterman in our opinions and don't think we won't give them a call this week!

We hope that this is not the end of Jake's story so stay tuned ..... We might just have something else up our sleeves on this one! 

Jake and his family only live an hour from Yankee stadium and guess what team plays the Yankees in a little over a week?? 

Can anyone help us out?? If anyone from the Rays front office, Yankees front office or even Brad Hawpe reads this story please contact me at jwitt@mlballhawk.com 

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